active speaker, funny reviews i have found the end conclusion

[koogook]

This was a follow up to another thread that led me to this information;

 

our editor is reviewing the benchmark dac1, i think that his reviews are amusing and insightful, though to me i disagree with some of his theories in regards to his blatent loathing of accumalted years of hifi hype and misselling of 1000 pound cables, tak a look:

 

I am by now a little tired of harping on this subject but was still amused by John Atkinson’s comments on the Benchmark DAC1 in the May 2004 issue of Stereophile. John made sure to tell his readers that the Mark Levinson No. 30.6, which cost $17,500 before it was discontinued, still sounds better than the Benchmark, despite the latter’s perfect measurements. In a December 2004 followup (“2004 Editor’s Choice,” namely the Benchmark!) he adds the Theta Generation VIII ($10,000) and the Wadia 27ix ($9959) to the of-course-sounds-better list. I wonder what quality the Mark Levinson, Theta, and Wadia engineers dial into their products—above and beyond flat frequency response, low distortion, low noise, and the other usual suspects—that mysteriously makes them sound better. Maybe I should stop wondering after 28 years as an audio journalist and 57 years as an audiophile.

 

Now that I got that off my chest I need to add that I actually listened (yes!) to the DAC1 in a no-preamplifier hookup. The digital output of my CD player was plugged directly into the DAC1’s coaxial input and its unbalanced outputs were plugged directly into the electronic crossover of the Linkwitz Lab “Orion” speakers. The sound, needless to say, was mind-blowing (for lack of a better word), but mostly because of the quality of the speakers, though admittedly aided by the total absence of electronic distortion. I would gladly have set up a double-blind listening comparison of the CD player’s analog outputs versus the DAC1, but then I realized that it would be an apples-and-oranges situation. Red-book 16-bit/44.1-kHz PCM against a 24-bit/192-kHz converter? It’s not very meaningful. I’d have to scare up a late-model DVD-Audio player for a valid ABX test. I’ll do it, soon, but you know something? I don’t think I’ll hear a difference. Even so, I’ll take electronic perfection, any day of the week, if it costs $975 instead of $17,500.

 

---Peter Aczel

 

This tells me two things i should get the orion ++ speakers and continue with a dac and computer server and i wont be sorry and can get on with my life wihout worring about sound quality of my music collection.............thank you indeed!

 

to boot i can make the speakers which to me provides a more invested challenge and appreciation of the final product!!!!!!!