DAC Measurements vs Actual Experience

Sixfour3, 
You have come to the point of recognizing that what measures well doesn't ensure sounding well. Conversely sounding well doesn't necessarily correlate with measuring well. IMHO listeners are in the long run much better off choosing audio components that sound best to 'their own ears. It doesn't matter what others may think or hear differently than you. It's purely subjective.  Just be happy and select what you determine to be the better sounding more satisfying component. 

As this thread has clearly demonstrated people are simply going to disagree on how a particular audio component sounds. Some posters here find Benchmark to sound excellent and others aren't impressed with them by any measure. In my own encounters with this brand's products they struck me as clinical/analytical/sterile. If you find the P.S,Audio DAC more enjoyable and engaging,  trust your own ears. I wouldn't obsess over the measurements at all.
Charles 

I must say that I have no clue how to interpret the measurements on the HPA4 and DAC3B combo.  I just listened, especially to the silence.

The best ESS based chip DACs I have heard were not the Benchmarks but the $6K Mirrus DAC from these guys, who now seem out of business.

https://resonessencelabs.com/

To my ears, better than the Benchmark and also any of the Linn stuff. I apply the concept of Law of Diminishing returns to DACs over any other audio component. For $1560 new that the DAC3B cost me I am consider it a big win.

I have heard a lot of DACs. I am not saying my choice is going to be great for anyone else just saying it is amazing fro me. 

But even your ears can trick you. An audiophile bought a pair of well reviewed speakers and loved them at the store and initially when he got them home. But over time he just felt there was something "wrong". Some music sounded amazing, some not so much. I was able to tell him in 15 minutes with a laptop and microphone that the crossover frequency was too high, hurting dispersion and it looked like some cone breakup. Sounded awesome on vocals, guitar, even most pianos as it was in the sweet spot of what was a very good driver, but used wrong at a system level.

I have tremendous respect for the good people at Benchmark. If you want 2+2 to equal exactly 4, they're your guys.  But to audiophiles 2+2 can equal  4.3 if you pick the right 2's.  If we like 4.3 better, that's our issue and not theirs. 

I had my Benchmark DAC2 HGC going into a VAC amp and thought the system sounded really good.  I tried their Benchmark HPA4 but for me it was uninvolving.   Then tried a used Modwright 36.5 with NOS Mullard and really loved the sound.  But I came into some mad money so madly bought the Denafrips Terminator out of curiosity.  My first impression was that the Benchmark was better, but after going the Windows Driivers Hell, and realizing I needed to increase the volume two clicks to correct the sense of receded voice, I find the Terminator to be a wonderful instrument that often puts me on stage with the performers, and the bass, percussion, guitar are no longer somewhere behind lead singer.  Everything is there, clearly heard.  Was listening to early REM, (Murmur)and I'm in the garage with all the limitations of what four guys can do, but in a wonderful way.  Each instrument, note and vocal cord there to clearly perceive. Oh, and it's clear when those recording engineers and mastering engineers create an over-processed, over-compressed sonic turd.  Sad when an upright bass of a folk group has more dynamic range than a Marshall stack.

The measurement that impresses me is that I have been measured as an active, involved listener every single day since getting the Denafrips dialed/burnt in.   In an odd way, streaming has changed the equation for me.  Once I achieved the quality I now have, I'm just thrilled to have a pretty good seat at the theater for all the high-quality (and ancient treasures) that are easily accessible, and my audio-nervosa over cabling and product-of-the-month seems to have disappeared.