Best Dac with USB input for $1,000 or less

05-31-10: Mb9061
Sorry, as the others have said, the Digilink III from PS Audio may do the trick too for USB under $1k, but some have reviewed it and compared it to the Benchmark DAC1 (analytical/detailed sound).

I'm not a Benchmark fan and have listened pretty extensively to that DAC having owned a USB version and borrowed the previous version. I can tell you from my perspective I would have never thought to compare the DLIII with the Benchmark sound - they do not remind me of each other at all. I find the DLIII to be more natural sounding, not at all sterile or strident and very engaging. The Benchmark would always grate on me, especially in the upper frequencies...but overall it always sounded to me rather artificial and squeeky clean, and yes, sterile. I've heard it sound good in other systems at shows, but not in mine nor my friends. Anyway, I can't imagine what similarities it shares with the the DLIII in terms of sound qualities. Just my .02 cents.

Decware ZDAC-1 ??

Haven't heard this since it's just out since April but it looks interesting. Personally, I would need higher voltage, balanced output.

I don't know if it's the tube that is the thing that makes me like it or not? Probably I guess. I have here on hand a Bryston DAP-1 DAC and I have been comparing extensively against the Havana. I really want to like the Bryston better. It has extra inputs that I am looking for. At first swap you'd think heck yeah the Bryston is clearly better even smoother than the Havana but there is something going on here that my finger starts to look for the skip to the next song button with the Bryston where as I'm more inclined to enjoy the whole song with the Havana. The Paradisea is the same way not the most spectacular but something very natural engaging about it. Personally I think even the Paradisea sounds better than the 3500 Wavelength Cosecant V2 and that uses tubes as well.

The Benchmark does a very good job on USB as well as the SPDIF. You just can't argue with their Jitter reduction. Some years ago some reviewer wrote that it was analytical sounding and so it seems everyone "Parrots" that review. It's system dependent, just like every other component. If you have a good system, it sounds good... if not, well you can answer that one as well as me.

I am feeding it to an ARC LS-26 preamp, and the combination is wonderful. Sure it's detailed...why would you want no detail and accuracy, but the music is alive and great! There are far more really bad recordings and poor quality files than bad DACs. I have just converted some Vinyl to 24/96 FLAC files and they sound incredible.

There's probably better DACs and worse DACs but the Benchmark does a good job... at least in my system. And that's coming from a 40 year analog guy.
Paul

There's probably better DACs and worse DACs but the Benchmark does a good job... at least in my system. And that's coming from a 40 year analog guy

Agreed. It is great value. Of course it works best with very neutral equipment - so it only fits with a limited number of setups.