I mate my DAC3B with the Benchmark AHB2 amp and a Conrad_Johnson tube preamp. Sound is smooth as silk and finely detailed. No screeching highs, which I could never put up with.
Is there anything other than a Benchmark DAC?
I own the Benchmark DAC3 and love it. I am looking for another DAC due to the addition of a second system. It will either go with a Boulder/Audio Research/(B&W or Vandersteen) system or a McIntosh/Bryston/(B&W or Vandersteen) system. I am looking to try to get something under 3k (maybe 4k) used. I've been looking for a month or so and have seen Bryston (DAC3 wanna be), Primaluna (too much distortion) and a bunch of really old stuff. I have yet to justify any purchase when a DAC3 is sitting there new around 2k with those untouchable distortion numbers. I would love to try a tube DAC tho another solid state DAC would be fine. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Given my DAC3 bias I would love to hear from those whose bias differs from mine.