Benchmark DAC-1, Lavry DA10, Altmann Attraction

The Bechmark is detailed almost sterile presentation while the Altmann is a more relaxed almost analog presentation. The Altmann's soundstaging is superior too

What everyone is alluding to is that Benchmark DAC1 is so clean it sounds "thin" especially in the lower mids (think in the direction of a horn sound - that kind of clarity) and the exact phase between the two channels makes the soundstage smaller - less depth and less width. If you prefer a laid back slightly less in phase relaxed sound then almost any DAC will sound preferable to the DAC1. If you have a test CD with in-phase and out-of-phase signals then you will know what I mean - it is nothing near as dramatic as a test CD ( maybe 2% or 3% versus the 100% difference on a test CD) but you get the idea.

Anyway this is my observation and it seems to be backed up by what everyone else seems to hear.

I have had the Benchmark DAC for a while now and here are my experiences.
I'm feeding it directly into a power amp, using the built in analogue volume. I never felt it needs a preamp unless you have more than one source.

I observed it to have very clear and non-fatiging highs because of the lack of distortion and harshness.
I find the bass dryish and therefore very revealing of what's going on in the lower frequencies, without sounding muffled or dark.
I found the midrange just about right, though a little laid back.

Overall it was a little cool sounding but not thin, and I felt that I was a bit removed from the music. That is until I played around with various powercords.
I found that adding a robust sounding power cord transformed this beautiful sounding DAC into a full bodied, robust, and warm sounding unit. I was shocked as this made a bigger differance than interconnects made.

Incidentally the better more detailed interconnects didn't make the DAC sound thin, but just made you know what this DAC is capable of. The powercord on the other hand unchoked the power and let it really sound big and powerful, w/o any loss of detail or soundstage.

These are my experiences so YMMV.

So what powercord worked best for you?

I've tried very few so I have limited experience,. A basic 14 ga PC made an improvement, and my $200 Dynamic Design prototype made a huge diference. I therefore deducted that trying PS Audio's with good bass, or one of the robut sounding PCs available would do what my DD PC did for me.

Couldnt agree more with the prior post about power cords and how they benefit the benchmark dac1. I went from a taipan helix to a python helix. Incredible the impact both cords made.