Hi Elias,

Thank you for your reply and apologies for my delay in responding. I don't track this forum all that frequently.

I have a Behringer DEQ 2496 (the 2496 indicates 24 bit, 96Kbps sample rate processing) digital equalizer which performs quite sophisticated filtering and equalising functions in the digital domain. Specifically I want to use this unit to provide LF room equalisation to match studio monitoring loudspeakers to a smaller room than they are normally intended to be used in.

The Behringer has both analogue and digital input and output connections but I want to use the digital connection to avoid multiple unnecessary AD/DA conversions when the input signals are available digitally anyway. In modern audio systems sources are typically digital - CD/DVD players, digital tuners etc. Their final D/A stages are of variable quality and it seems sensible to keep the signal in the digital domain as long as possible and to convert to analogue in a common DAC of known quality. However if one wishes to perform intermediate processing, this also needs to be in the digital domain, hence the need for an external "digital loop" capability. I have not yet found a digital input switching / DAC device that incorporates such a loop.

The recently announced NAIM DAC looks like a nice unit. It has multiple digital input selection, a lot of attention to detail and fine qualty of construction but, like the Benchmark DAC 1, it doesn't have a digital loop facility and the manufacturer has stated (to me) that they have no intention of including this feature. The Cambridge Audio DAC Magic has some limited input selection and a digital output but there is no way of feeding a digital signal back into the unit to complete the loop.

So I am still looking!

Hope this is helpful,

Best regards,

Philip Statham

Hi Elias,

Thanks again for your reply.

No. To be honest I have not heard anyone else requesting such a facility and I do not know whether my request is an idea whose time has arrived or merely a low level niche requirement. I have a feeling though that there will be a growth in the market for external high quality DAC devices as opposed to a DAC in each source provider,  which in turn will mean more of the mainstream signal path will be digital with conversion to analogue at the final speaker stage. In this scenario if any intermediate signal processing is needed it will also have to be in the digital domain, which means that there will need to be a break point between the input selection and DAC stages. This could be provided by having separate signal selection and DAC boxes, in which case the signal processing box would plug in between the two boxes; alternately a single selection/DAC box (like the Benchmark DAC1-Pre) which has a digital "loopout" capability.

Best regards,

Philip Statham