benchmark and apogee

just bumping this aged thread up as I am interested, too.

left a lengthy response the other day, but don't know what happened, never got posted. lets try again in short form. basically, liked the apogee slightly better than the benchmark, and picked up 2 apogees and 1 belcanto dac2 for my 3 different sonos setups. bottom line: apogee was slightly fuller sounding, whereas the benchmark was maybe slightly more analytical but drier. since the apogee was several hundred cheaper new vs new price, i went with apogee. test system includes B&W 803s2, acurus dia100. hope this helps. feel free to email if you need more info. regards jeff

Jeff,

What you report about the Benchmark DAC1 is very consistent with what I observed and many others have reported. To my ears it happens to work well with my speakers so I am happy with a less "full" sound. I have not heard anything quite as detailed as the DAC1 without sounding harsh and I understand that many people will not like this aspect but it suits me. I admit though that there is not a lot in it between one good DAC and another - at least to my "tin" ears.