Are DAC's overpriced?

So, amps are behind DAC’s...



D/A conversion technology has outpaced the development of new power amplifiers. This means that the power amplifier has become a limiting factor in many audio systems. For example, the noise and distortion produced by the Benchmark DAC3 D/A converter is 20 to 30 dB lower than that produced by most high-quality power amplifiers. Until now, this meant that the DAC3 could not be fully appreciated. Benchmark set out to solve this problem by creating an amplifier that matches the performance of the DAC3.

I owned the Benchmark DAC3L + AHB2 amp for about a year. I took both to an audio store and compared them to Mark Levinson 585 (and also some ML separates) with the Magico A3. The ML gear sounded a heck of a lot better. I did not play the volume too loud so I was not straining the AHB2. I sold my Benchmark gear after that. After that demo, I realized that specs are not the end all.

@yyzsantabarbara

You sold your $5000 Benchmark gear because it sounded worse than a $12,000 integrated?

Mark Levinson is owned by Harman, who also believes in designing gear based science/specs/human trails. Revel is also owned by them.

Mark Levinson is owned by Samsung now, isn't it?

Samsung bought Harman, for $8,000,000,000.