Kijanki - tell me more. It outputs analog, so I assume you mean input? The literature says it downsamples to 110 even though ithas 192 kHz DACs - that is why I am confused by it. So you are saying they are doing that because they found with that particular DAC chip downsamples to 110 to reduce THD? That could be. But then we aren't getting the fluidity or fullness or whatever from 192, no? At 110, we could just as soon stay with 96? The whole point of going to 192 is to double the info over 96. The Bryston doesn't lower it and neither does the Berkeley, so perhaps it sounds better with the particular DAC chip the Benchmark uses - so in their case it could definitely be better.
The biggest thing the Benchmark has going for it is value. The Benchmark could be the best way to get into this movement, and then as prices come down and more quality is available later, maybe 3 - 5 years, and in the meantime participate in downloading the 24/192 music and building a library - even though you would only be listening to it at 110. If you get the Berklely at 5k at this point, I wouldn't want to replace it in 3-5 years, but in 5 years it could probably be beaten at 1k or even less I would suggest.
DACs are subject to the same phenomenon as digital cameras and other digital nonsense that falls in price by half each year. My amp is something like 12 years old and still seriously kicks butt. DACs don't age like that, so I'm hesitant to spend more than 1k on a DAC. People spent 20 or 30k on the dcs equipment not 8 or 10 years ago, and there are those who claim that the 2k Bryston is in the class of the '99 era dcs gear. (I have absolutely no idea myself, as I don't play in the 20k+ gear range.) The Bryston, while over 1k, does have me intruiged, though. But 5k is too much for something that devalues with such strong intensity - I'm not that well off! Pretty good, but not that good! 5k is still a lot. Heck, 1k is still a lot!
The Altman Attraction does look interesting, I'll continue to read more about it.
The biggest thing the Benchmark has going for it is value. The Benchmark could be the best way to get into this movement, and then as prices come down and more quality is available later, maybe 3 - 5 years, and in the meantime participate in downloading the 24/192 music and building a library - even though you would only be listening to it at 110. If you get the Berklely at 5k at this point, I wouldn't want to replace it in 3-5 years, but in 5 years it could probably be beaten at 1k or even less I would suggest.
DACs are subject to the same phenomenon as digital cameras and other digital nonsense that falls in price by half each year. My amp is something like 12 years old and still seriously kicks butt. DACs don't age like that, so I'm hesitant to spend more than 1k on a DAC. People spent 20 or 30k on the dcs equipment not 8 or 10 years ago, and there are those who claim that the 2k Bryston is in the class of the '99 era dcs gear. (I have absolutely no idea myself, as I don't play in the 20k+ gear range.) The Bryston, while over 1k, does have me intruiged, though. But 5k is too much for something that devalues with such strong intensity - I'm not that well off! Pretty good, but not that good! 5k is still a lot. Heck, 1k is still a lot!
The Altman Attraction does look interesting, I'll continue to read more about it.