I have owned the Lavry for about 6 months and the latest Benchmark DAC1USB for about 9 months now.
Both are excellent DACs: The Lavry opens up a very nice widow into the recording. Soundstaging and instrument separation are excellent. Even tonally it is very easy to follow each instrument easily. It is very neutral and doesn't draw attention to itself. However, this also results in the Lavry being much less exciting than the Benchmark and boring at times. I wish I would have kept the Lavry around a little longer, as the resoltution and instuemnt separation are outstanding - I sold it as I was annoyed at the upsampling controversy surrounding the Lavry DA10.
The Benchmark shines with quick transient responses which gives it a fast exciting sound. Tonally it is very neutral and has more bass extension than the Lavry. In the long term, I enjoyed listening to the DAC 1 the most.
Both DACs lack the last bit of decays and flow in the music, which is what my Brick tube DAC does so well.
Both are excellent DACs: The Lavry opens up a very nice widow into the recording. Soundstaging and instrument separation are excellent. Even tonally it is very easy to follow each instrument easily. It is very neutral and doesn't draw attention to itself. However, this also results in the Lavry being much less exciting than the Benchmark and boring at times. I wish I would have kept the Lavry around a little longer, as the resoltution and instuemnt separation are outstanding - I sold it as I was annoyed at the upsampling controversy surrounding the Lavry DA10.
The Benchmark shines with quick transient responses which gives it a fast exciting sound. Tonally it is very neutral and has more bass extension than the Lavry. In the long term, I enjoyed listening to the DAC 1 the most.
Both DACs lack the last bit of decays and flow in the music, which is what my Brick tube DAC does so well.