Hi,
I'm aiming this at fellow engineers who work mainly in orchestral recording. Since I was here last, I've taken a 'regular' recording gig and cut way down on remote work. I find myself doing a fair bit of post production from home though and am considering upgrading my DAC. What I'm using at work now is DAW -> Grace m905 via AES -> Classe amp -> B&W 902D. What I have at home is DAW -> Grace m905 either via USB or TOSLink -> Genelec 8240A.

I'm in the process of troubleshooting the Grace at home w/ USB, as it is not getting along well with my DAW of choice, especially at 96k where I do most of my work. Since it's a bit older, I'm wondering if now's a good time to just jump ship and find something else.

I'm accustomed to the sound of the Grace DAC, so there's one reason to go up to the m920. However I don't have a current need for DSD. Also I would need the monitoring controller functions, a good headphone amp and at least the same I/O - XLR balanced, RCA unbalanced, TOSLink, USB (with ASIO drivers), AES and SPDIF inputs. Thunderbolt could substitute for USB. For outputs, I need XLR and headphone, with the ability to toggle or at least control them independently.

What should I be looking at? Beside Grace, I've had good experiences with Mytek and am curious about the Stereo 192 Preamp version. I am trying to keep this purchase under $1500 so that rules out the Brooklyn, as cool as it looks! Am I missing any viable options here?

Cheers,
-charlie

A used Benchmark DAC? We use the Benchmark DAC-1 and it sounds GREAT in our video production suite with no problems. We also use the AVOCET in our mastering studio and it too sounds great

There are lots of choices in the DAC marketplace. It seems to be based on personal preferences and cost.

Best of luck!

I have recently switched from a Benchmark to a Cranesong Solaris on one of my editing rigs. The change offered a dramatic increase in sound quality.

Since my recordings often have a lot of depth and a wide soundstage, I wanted to really hear those aspects. Accurate timbre is also a strict requirement.

The new Solaris is a stellar dac and has a lot of the features you mentioned.

Hi Charlie,

I'm sure you've already thought of this, but have you checked with Grace to see if there is a firmware/driver upgrade to make it play nice with Pyramix? Or, try ASIO4all, see if that works better.

If you're happy with the sound of the grace d/a, why not get a USB/thunderbolt interface that spits out spdif or AES?

Hope you're well!

Rick

Thanks for the responses so far.

I've not been a fan of the Benchmark DAC in the past, something about the 'smile' curve. I am a fan of their mic pres and headphone amps, though.

Rick, hey, hope you're well too! ASIO4All is how I've been making the TOSLink output work. However, it doesn't allow me to run iZotope RX Connect along side Pyramix. I'm working with Grace directly on the driver issues, but I'm also a little proprietary running Windows 10 on a Mac Mini via Bootcamp.

Hudson, I will check out the Crane Song. Didn't see you at the last EARS meeting. Have you been busy again?

Cheers,
-c

RX Connect is such a great thing, when it works with Pyramix, which is rarely, at least for me. Most of the time, I end up doing it the old fashion way cause it's just faster.

Have you had it work successfully with other interfaces?

Rick

I am not sure to what you are referring??? The Benchmark stuff is pretty flat frequency wise and there is no EQ in a DAC-1.

FWIW

The Benchmark DAC-2 is noticeably more transparant then the DAC-1. I did not hear a m920 yet, but I find the previous generation of Grace dacs only around the same class as a DAC-1, with different problems.

Yes it worked great with the RME MADI card on my bigger rig.

As far as the Benchmark, I think Yannick nailed it. The DAC 1 had a 'smiley face' 'hi fi' curve to it. Whether it was EQ or something else that did it, it wasn't something I enjoyed.

The Solaris looks nice too, but at $1900 it's more than I have budgeted at this time.

Does anyone have any experience with the Mytek or the Dangerous ST? I might be spoiled with the ergonomics of the Grace...

I think if this had balanced ins and outs, I'd be set: Fostex HP-A8mk2