Benchmark Dac 1 vs Bel Canto Dac 2 ?????????????

It's called the ole placebo effect.I participate(from time to time) in collecting data on control vs real vs placebo.We see this kind of thing all the time.The mind is a powerful tool and people are just sooo convinved by things they perceive but it is simply not based in reality.
You,I and everyone else rely and insist on these methods in every other area(Ie. prescription drugs etc).Yet audiophiles reject this very same validation techniques when it comes to audio.Audiophiles are a very strange lot.

I owned the Bel DAC2 and now own the Benchmark. The Benchmark is far superior to the DAC2; I don't know what you people are hearing.

Contraire to comment the DAC2 images better -- I found the DAC2 to bunch images together. Two guitars were as one guitar. I do use tube preamps with the Benchmark. I will admit I was not enamoured with the Benchmark run straight in the power amp. It did sound thinner and drier. Maybe it mates with only tube preamps, which it does very well and is a first class performer with clarity, detail, separation and a liveness that is musical in a defined way, not in a lush way.

I'll go with Kevziek on this as I run a Tube Preamp and find it mates very well the Benchmark. But I did find it was a little on the cold side and had a bit of a hard edge to it running straight to the Power Amp. Mine is 9 months old and has all the revsions. Unless they have been tweaking it again!