I too have owned the Nova and the Benchmark. I greatly preferred the Nova (though only it's DAC section, the amplifier is not very good at all). I completely agree with the build quality comment, the Nova was very cheaply built, where as the Benchmark was particularly well built considering it's price point. To my ears, the Nova pulled the same level of detail as the Benchmark, but did it in a far more musical way.
I have also owned the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC, I prefer this DAC to everything else I have heard, though I had reliability problems with 2 units and ended up returning them both.
My DACiT should be here by the end of the week, I am curious to see how it can compare to the Eastern Electric's sound, given that it uses the cheaper, less sophisticated Sabre 9022 instead of the Sabre 9018. Should be interesting.
I have also owned the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC, I prefer this DAC to everything else I have heard, though I had reliability problems with 2 units and ended up returning them both.
My DACiT should be here by the end of the week, I am curious to see how it can compare to the Eastern Electric's sound, given that it uses the cheaper, less sophisticated Sabre 9022 instead of the Sabre 9018. Should be interesting.