Go for the Yggdrasil. You won't find much better no matter what you spend. The best thing is that you get a 15-day trial period... plug it in, wait two days to burn it and try it out.
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For instance, take a look at this current discussion. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/which-dac-benchmark-mytek-audio-mirror-holo-audio-mojo-audio |
@rvpiano I recommend you read around a bit more. There are a LOT of DACs out there in your price range. My conclusion is that there are at least three categories of sonic presentation: strictly neutral, slightly warm and forgiving, and warmer still. Benchmark definitely falls in #1, though the '3 model is less ruthless than the '1 and '2. If it were me, I'd be inclined to find a PS Audio DirectStream Jr (category #2) discounted by 1K. The Snowmass downloadable upgrade is supposed to be very good indeed. |
Benchmark DAC3 beats pretty much everything at its price and most all above, but it’s already practically totally transparent. An SMSL SU-8 is very close to performance (backed by measurements) and costs a lot less. The Bryston doesn’t offer anything over the Benchmark. Similar/worse performance for more money; it’s excellent, just overpriced. I do dislike the asthetics of Benchmark though. |
I have a Bryston DAC3 which thanks to Trump’s trade war with Canada is now slightly over your budget, but you still might be able to pick up a demo for 3K. I love it but I haven’t heard the BDA 2; but I’ve read the main difference between the two models are the HDMI inputs on the BDA 3. If you don’t need the HDMI feature then the DAC 2 might do the the trick. Otherwise the usual suspects—Mytek Brooklyn, Benchmark, the various Chord products, Border Patrol is rose colored distortion is your thing... |