I compared Bel Canto and Benchmark at home in my system.
Liked the Bel Canto much better - much more involving, smoother, deeper soundstage, much more relaxed sounding throughout the entire spectrum, deeper bass. Benchmark kind of upset me a little, because I liked the features and the overall look of it better than Bel Canto, however, I care more about the sound, which in my system it was clear - Bel Canto came out as a winner. Both dacs were used with same transport, same digital cable. Differences between these 2 are very obvious in my system.
Benchmark sounded very much like what it is, a professional tool for recording studios. It did not have that kind of involvement Bel Canto offers. As far as comparing either of these dacs to Cary player, I can't say anything about that, sorry had never a chance to compare, but my assumption would be that if you like the way Cary sounds, chances are you won't like Benchmark DAC-1. Just my opinion. See the advantage with either of the dacs is that you can try 'em out if you order from audio advisor. Cary is the opposite, most likely it will not be possible to have a home audition of the player. It's all subjective as far as what you are looking for in sound. Just putting my $.02 in....
Hope this helps...
Liked the Bel Canto much better - much more involving, smoother, deeper soundstage, much more relaxed sounding throughout the entire spectrum, deeper bass. Benchmark kind of upset me a little, because I liked the features and the overall look of it better than Bel Canto, however, I care more about the sound, which in my system it was clear - Bel Canto came out as a winner. Both dacs were used with same transport, same digital cable. Differences between these 2 are very obvious in my system.
Benchmark sounded very much like what it is, a professional tool for recording studios. It did not have that kind of involvement Bel Canto offers. As far as comparing either of these dacs to Cary player, I can't say anything about that, sorry had never a chance to compare, but my assumption would be that if you like the way Cary sounds, chances are you won't like Benchmark DAC-1. Just my opinion. See the advantage with either of the dacs is that you can try 'em out if you order from audio advisor. Cary is the opposite, most likely it will not be possible to have a home audition of the player. It's all subjective as far as what you are looking for in sound. Just putting my $.02 in....
Hope this helps...