I've tried the Benchmark twice now. Once about a year ago in the original form, and recently a brand new USB unit which I got directly from Benchmark. The first unit I tried belonged to a friend. I listened to it extensively in several systems and found it to have a high end that grated on me. Perhaps it was over-emphasized...perhaps distortion...I'm not sure. I tried in three very different systems and could not bear it. Overall I found it very clinical sounding. I had high hopes hearing that the newer USB version had somehow refined the sound. When I first got the new one those hopes remained in tact as it definitely sounded smoother and more musical than the previous version somehow (though I've read not that much has changed in it?). This was a different system I was listening in now. The soundstaging/imaging was fantastic, and the resolution was wonderful, both without making the sound as sterile as the former version I'd heard. BUT, even after 100-150 hours of burn-in I was still hearing what, for me, was a kind of stridency in the high end. Vocals sounded a bit grainy and shouty, really making the overall effect 'artificial' to my ears. I had two units for comparison, my Modwright 9000ES, and a Paradisea+ USB DAC. Both were much easier to listen to than the Benchmark. The Paradisea presented a far more natural, rounded sound that seemed much more realistic and engaging to me. What it gave up very slightly on resolution it made up for in spades in overall PRAT and presence. This of course is not a "high-end" DAC, but a real sleeper IMO. The Modwright unit gave a similar superior performance, leaning more towards its solid state output (not tube buffered as the Paradisea is) rendering the same kind of micro resolution as the Benchmark, but completely without any stridency in the highs, and far more balanced and enjoyable in that way. Soundstaging was on par with the Benchmark in the case of the Modwright, and perhaps a bit less so with the Paradisea. I was surprised that the best bass performance of the three was with the Paradisea. Again, perhaps not the comparison you were looking for, but an observation nonetheless. Needless to say, though others seem to like it very much, and though I found it to be fantastic at soundstaging, overall, the Benchmark is not for me. I ended up taking up Benchmark on their 30-day trial and, to their credit, was given an RMA without any questions. It was sent back and full refund issued immediately. The original Benchmark I compared in three different systems (two tubed systems and one SS system) was compared against a Wavelength Brick, and a Muse Model 2 plus DAC, and one other unit which I cannot recall as the third system was my friend's. That competition wasn't even close and that unit was thoroughly burned in. The highs made it consistently fatiguing for me to listen to. Again, just my .02 Lincolns...obviously very respected folks in the industry love this DAC...I just don't share that enthusiasm.
Marco
Marco