Best used or new DAC under $3500

Without actually HEARING each of the three in a high-resolution system in a room whose acoustics we ourselves are familiar with, we are merely guessing which one is "better."
I owned a Benchmark many years ago, but certainly not within the past 10 years. Based on THAT incarnation, I wouldn’t buy one today. However, I’ve heard it has improved. Many people swear by it, even some eminent reviewers. (I mean, why introduce ever-newer incarnations if they do not address the less appealing aspects of the older models)?
I’m happy with the Yggdrasil. On my GOOD cds, it reminds me of the sound of music in the halls I hear symphonic music in (as I’ve said many times before). That said, any system is only as good as its weakest link. 

Give Holo Audio Spring Dac a look. Ive owend one for well over a year and am very satisfied.

The problem is your decision here... " 1) Yggdrasil: Sold it as the staging was too narrow/flat and it seemed a little lifeless".

If you had this impression of the best DAC under $3500, then your other components are junk.  At which point you should have sold them and kept the Yggy!

@jozurr OP, I’d have a very, very difficult time parting with the Chord Dave, and you say: "I LOVE it."

Is there any other way you can save some ’dough’ as you put it, and keep the DAVE?

Denafrips has not been mentioned yet. There are new models that would meet your target budget amount. The Denafrips Venus is listed at SGD $3,850 or ~ US $2,900 new.

Also not mentioned (I think) is the Soekris DAC1541.

Yggdrasil is old news, it does not support usb mounted file play back nor dsd. This is old bb product, beafed up at analogue output but less rhan a true vacume tube iv / buffer stage.
My old bb 1704 based moded sonic frontier family dac even sounds better for playing red book cds. I just cant understand why people buying thus ygg hype. Go figure gold ears.