How good is Benchmark DAC1 comparing to......

I have some interesting news. There is a little company called Audio Space (AS) from Hong Kong and they make amplifiers as well as digital stuff. A friend of mine swore by the AS dac (also called DAC1), claiming it to be the best he's heard. He replaced his Mark Levinson 360s with it. His cousin replaced his Wadia 27 with it. So, I thought I might want to AB this dac with the Benchmark.
Know what? No contest. The AS wins hands down. I returned the Benchmark the next day to the dealer. The stock AS only cost $1500 and you can upgrade it for another $350. This is a tube dac (I have nothing to do with this company). You guys may want to check this out.

Is it available in the US? Where can you find it?

Abrahavt, I'm not sure if you can find it in the US. You may have to contact them in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I don't have their contact details. I will ask my friend to see if he has their contact number and I will revert to you as soon as I can.

As I have stated in other Audiogon forums, the DAC1 is great value for money, so much so that I could not resist buying one even though it spends most of the time in its box. BUT is not unique in being great DAC value for money.

I own both the Lavry Blue and the DAC1 and like them both. Neither sound like a good tube DAC, but if tube DACs are not your cup of tea then the Blue and DAC1 come close to the best DACs around in a medium cost system. In a top class system however the difference between them and the best DACs is indeed significant. I prefer my USD1200 Lavry Blue over my DAC1. The Blue costs more and it has only XLR connectors, and no switching or volume control. But the sonic improvements are significant.

I agree with the comments that the DAC1 sounds relatively thin through the mids and upper bass, but it does so without introducing anything objectionable to the sound - and that is its trick. The result is a degree of clarity that is very engaging. It is not what I hear live, but it is very musical and sounds lively even when the recording is a bit flat. In that respect the DAC1 is coloured, but it does not offend one's musical sensibilities in any way. But switching to the Lavry the naturalness of the sound improves, images are more palpable, subtle details are more apparent, textures are more like live sounds, soundstage is larger, bass is fuller, dynamics are better, etc.

My main point is simply that the DAC1 is not unique in being great value for around a grand. Look at the Lavry Blue, the Stello, even the Mytek, perhaps the Audio Space. I am not telling you, don't get a DAC1, get a Lavry Blue - just that there are some other great value DACs you should listen to as well.

Despite my preference for the Blue over the DAC1, I hasten to add that I really like my DAC1. If I owned a DAC1 and then heard the Blue, I wonder if I would be bothered to make the change if it required me to take a loss on the DAC1 (unless the thinness of the DAC1 was creating a problem in my system, which it doesn't), simply because the DAC1 is so much fun to listen to.

I would also like to provide some balance to the reference to great reviews from audio engineers above. I follow pro audio and in everything I could find on the internet, whenever a pro audio guy compared the DAC1 with a Lavry Blue the Blue was preferred. Be careful of just accepting Benchmark's edited highlights of comments from the pro world. Benchmark is doing nothing unusual or shonky in its quotes, but do a little of your own research too.

Redkiwi, the Benchmark DAC1 is equivalent to the $8,500 Lavry DA2002 (not the much less expensive $1,250 Lavry Blue that you like so much), according to John Atkinson in his review of the $8,500 Lavry DA2002 in the 8/04 issue of S'Phile. This would seem to imply that the Benchmark would be superior to the cheaper Lavry Blue. I own the Benchmark but haven't heard either Lavry so I can't personally comment but I'm very glad you like your Lavry Blue.

According to JA in the article (regarding the $8,500 Lavry): "the Benchmark offers superb sound and suberb quality...", "in the low frequencies there was basically no difference between the ($8,500) Lavry and the Benchmark", "the Lavry's lower midrange had more bloom than the Benchmark...which wasn't always a benefit... robbing the bass guitar of some of its leading-edge energy".

In another comparison, he said that the $8,500 Lavry was "not outclassed" by the $12,000 Nagra DAC. So, if Benchmark DAC1=$8,500 Lavry DA2002, and Lavry DA2002=Nagra DAC, then it follows that Benchmark DAC1=$12,000 Nagra DAC.

To conclude: $975 Benchmark DAC1=$8,500 Lavry DA2002=$12,000 Nagra DAC. QED.