I owned the benchmark and went to the Marantz 8260, and gave up a bit more top end air and got more body and weight in the bass. Better will require the Marantz albeit, more expensive ones, like the SA15 or up one more which I think is the SA11...clearly better. I auditioned both for some time.... more bass, tighter, dynamic, rhythmic, more open on top, and just more authoritative. Jallen
Upgrade from Benchmark Dac?
The Benchmark USB DAC is the first piece of digital gear that I've bought and been happy with. I still prefer analog but listening to 50,000+ wav files randomly is pretty sweet.
I've had an Audio Research DAC 3 as well as a CD1 which I thought sounded like crap. I have ARC electronics and love them but their digital offerings left me cold. On the value for money scale the Benchmark gets my highest rating although my local hifi emporiums claim the PS Audio or Bryston is better.
Anything out there in the digital world that will blow me away like the Benchmark? I don't want to spend ten times the dough to get a debatable 10% more "sound".
I've had an Audio Research DAC 3 as well as a CD1 which I thought sounded like crap. I have ARC electronics and love them but their digital offerings left me cold. On the value for money scale the Benchmark gets my highest rating although my local hifi emporiums claim the PS Audio or Bryston is better.
Anything out there in the digital world that will blow me away like the Benchmark? I don't want to spend ten times the dough to get a debatable 10% more "sound".