Dac with rythmical drive to the music?


I invited a friend , who just have bought a Benchmark Dac-1
to listen to it in my system.We compared the Benchmark Dac to my DIY Dac, built by a friend then tweaked by me. My Dac has costed me about $ 300 (in parts costs), and a short comparision of the two Dacs can be of interest.

Benchmark; somewhat leaner in the bass, bass sounds a trifle "shorter" ,it might dig a tad deeper, and also with a bit more resolution in the upper registers, and at the same time a tendency to sound shrill in the treble.This flaw would prevent me to play as loud as I´m used to .
Rythmical drive is perceived as good , but not excellent.
Overall a sound that I could live with, but not without flaws, maybe a somewhat fuller , more organic sound is more satisfing...no I´m not talking about me wanting more distortion :-)

My Dac; has superior rythmical drive(compared to Benchmark), has little less clarity and resolution in the upper register, but as a paradox, in the treble e.g. the sound of cymbals are more real to me, the upper register isn´t shrill(if recordings are OK) and you wouldn´t feel listning fatique as easely with this dac.

Although I consider the Benchmark to be a very good Dac, I don´t feel the need to buy the Benchmark, and the owner of it, said the two dacs were equally good. They sounded, at the same time,both different , but had also a common trait.A good trait, I think.And both have a more modern sound that I prefer, having listening to someone´s McCormack Dac-1 deluxe, I believe in an evolution!

So why am I interested in a new Dac? Well , my Dac is a heavely tweaked one, and I would not move it , as something in it can make a shortcut.It not that reliable.It also radiates RFI , and disturbes part of the FM-band, -not a good thing!I have shielded it with copper sheets. But when it comes to rythmes , it´s mere excellent.
I mainly listen to Reaggae and Afro-music , thus rythmical
drive, is essential.I have heard all to many systems , even very expensive ones, that don´t awakes the right emotions in me.
I have read some positive things about the Lavry Blue, but living in Sweden , it´s hard to check it out.

My system is a temporary one , actually mono at the moment.
Speakers should be finished before end of spring,this I have promised myself. They are hard to describe, but consists of three boxes per channel and will weigh about 350 lb per channel.I have used several sorts of material for the enclosures.I´m using Accutone ceramic elements, Volt bass drivers, and Eton ER 4 AMT treble units.
With a lot of room tuning , bass is about the best I´ve heard, perhapes it sounds like I´m raving, but I´m not!

Transport is a Sony SCD 777-ES , preamp is a Rowland Synergy II, and I will tri-amp, but by now I´m only bi-amping with a Danish LC-audio Patriot(Class-A) amp and a Norwegien Dynamic Precision A 1 power amp , which is a splendid bass amp to my kind of music.Of course , I have a
active filter for the bass, a tweaked VMPS.

Can someone recommend a Dac that can be of interest to me, given the circumstances?I would not pay more than $ 1400.


salmonfly
Thanks,
There are a lot of Dacs to choose from. The reason that I don´t want to spend more, is that I still hope for a better digital audio system to turn up. Data storage prices going down support this hope of mine.And prices of decent audio gear seem to decline, due to more competition, I welcome this! BTW, I enjoy Disco , jazz , and classical as well.
Any more recommendations?