There's been a lot of buzz with the Benchmark DAC1, with a very glowing review in stereophile that compared it to ultra-high end stuff, also some of the headphone nuts over at head-fi have given it glowing reviews.
I have no first hand experience of it myself, but I'm very interested so I've been trying to arrange an audition somehow (no luck so far.) Not many used units out there either. Other DACs in the price range include the Bel Canto DAC 2 and the Musical Fidelity X-DAC with the optional beefed up PSU (supposedly mandatory) and optional Tube Buffer if you'd like some Tube like sound inserted into your otherwise solid state setup. The Benchmark DAC 1 supposedly has a pretty good integrated Headphone amp if you have Senn 650s or AKGs or the like.
I have no first hand experience of it myself, but I'm very interested so I've been trying to arrange an audition somehow (no luck so far.) Not many used units out there either. Other DACs in the price range include the Bel Canto DAC 2 and the Musical Fidelity X-DAC with the optional beefed up PSU (supposedly mandatory) and optional Tube Buffer if you'd like some Tube like sound inserted into your otherwise solid state setup. The Benchmark DAC 1 supposedly has a pretty good integrated Headphone amp if you have Senn 650s or AKGs or the like.