Its tax refund time! got me abouts $1600. Right now with that money im planning on getting darth beyers and a source. One catch is that it has to do double duty to output sound for dvds and give solid playback for reg CDs. External dac or DVD player, I dont care long as i can use it to enjoy movies on my 1080p westinghouse LCD/speakers or Cds with my headphones/headphone amp. I prefer warm, foward sound with lush mids. You can say i like things thick and have weight. I also love bass, particularly punchy midbass slam.

right now this is what im using

sony dvp-nc85h > pioneer elite a-35r > yamaha ns-am370s/k1000

front runners right now are either:

denon 3930ci
benchmark dac1 w/sony as transport
lavry da10 w/sony transport
lite audio lite 38/60 /w transport

any other suggestions pls

If you like anything close to lush, I wouldn't get the Benchmark. It's a nice DAC (I have one, but it sits idle) but it's not what I would consider "lush".

larry

I run my Benchmark via digital XLR from my CEC CD-3300 transport; I'd call it approaching lush. My Denon 2910 did not fair nearly as well w/the benchmark as a transport, however. i did alot of experimenting with my Benchmark and have concluded the following:

Toslink: very, very neutral
Coax RCA or BNC: More edge
AES/EBU: smack dab in the middle between Toslink and Coax. Neutral, but not boringly so---with no edge or grain. The smoothest of the 3, IMO.