I have more favorable feeling about the Benchmark than some of the comments above, which just underscores how much our individual preferences and systems vary. I think it's a terrific unit and, in answer to your original question, probably beats all older top-of-the-line DACs. Lots of time has passed and my system has changed a lot as well, but I would expect to prefer the Benchmark over several earlier units I had, including the Levinson No. 39, the Dodson 217 upgraded, and a heavily modified Sony SCD 777ES.
The treble on the Benchmark is definitely not from the Cardas school, but I don't feel it is incorrect. Last night, I compared mine to an Audio Note DAC1 Signature, which is a NOS, filterless, tube design. The AN is definitely sweeter and a bit softer on top, but what surprised me was that the two units sounded more alike than I would have expected.
The treble on the Benchmark is definitely not from the Cardas school, but I don't feel it is incorrect. Last night, I compared mine to an Audio Note DAC1 Signature, which is a NOS, filterless, tube design. The AN is definitely sweeter and a bit softer on top, but what surprised me was that the two units sounded more alike than I would have expected.