Benchmark DAC-1 on a Sony DVP S9000ES??

You might want to be careful about that. I have a DAC-1, which I found had significant problems with SACD players. I had Benchmark on the phone with me trying to figure it out and, at least at all the settings I tried, the Benchmark gave error messages with all the SACD players, and the message only disappeared with a non-SACD player.

As a Chord DAC-64-owner, I have compared it to the Benchmark. The Chord clearly is better, especially in the bass area. However, at 3100 dollars, it should be better. If you can find a used DAC64, it would certainly get your system to another level - unless you want to use the Dac as a preamp, too, which you can do only with the Benchmark or the Grace M902, not with the Chord.

Thanks for the link Bigkidz!

i was using a cal audio tube dac with my 9000es for a couple of years. it made a big difference in redbook playback. harshness was gone and it was just more full sounding. (i also did some tube rolling to tailor the sound). i recently demo'd a new manley dac which was nice but had some annoying clicking each time it read the disc. after trying out a few more dacs, i ended up buying an older audio research dac that cost $3500 when new. big improvement over the other dacs i demo'd. i liked this dac over some of the newer 24/192 dacs that i listened to.