Benchmark VS older ultrahigh end dac's in these...

I have owned many high end cdp, transport/dac combo's (wadia 860se w/GNSC statement mod, AAero, Meitner combo/ one box and seperates, Burmester 979/980, Resolution Opus 21 w/GNSC mod, to name some)...all excellent. I am living very happily with a PC based system run into a benchmark dac 1 with reflection audio mods. the mods run about $900 so they effectively double the price of the stock unit but the quality is superb. I have no connection with refelection but this is the route that worked for me.

I have more favorable feeling about the Benchmark than some of the comments above, which just underscores how much our individual preferences and systems vary. I think it's a terrific unit and, in answer to your original question, probably beats all older top-of-the-line DACs. Lots of time has passed and my system has changed a lot as well, but I would expect to prefer the Benchmark over several earlier units I had, including the Levinson No. 39, the Dodson 217 upgraded, and a heavily modified Sony SCD 777ES.

The treble on the Benchmark is definitely not from the Cardas school, but I don't feel it is incorrect. Last night, I compared mine to an Audio Note DAC1 Signature, which is a NOS, filterless, tube design. The AN is definitely sweeter and a bit softer on top, but what surprised me was that the two units sounded more alike than I would have expected.

My experience with the Benchmark matches Drubin's. I've owned one for more than a year and used it with solid state amplification from Sim Audio and tube amplification from AES/Cary. I've found it to be very transparent and neutral, never harsh or fatiguing at all. It has seemed to me to be a clean window into the rest of the system and the music.

I suggest you take Steve Nugent's "Spoiler" USB tubed DAC, clocked with his "Pacecar" into account and discussion here. As far as sound staging, width as well as depth, is concerned it has bettered in conjunction with a dedicated laptop both the DCS and the top of the line Zanden combo to these here ears. Not an easy feat. I believe Nugent also has mods for the Benchmark in his program. Should be interesting.

I replaced my musical fidelity tri-vista dac with a tube audio designs TADAC because I like the sound better. My guess is the Benchmark would loose out to the TADAC then.