I don’t find the Benchmark DAC3 analytical at all. I find it full and dynamic sounding with just the right amount of detail. It replaced Bryston BDA-3 and I never looked back. Hope to audition a Denafrips DAC some day.
@audphile1 , To assess the full potential of some R2R offerings....
Here are a couple of pre-requisites
1) Speakers pulled out 5 to 6 from a treated front wall.
7 or 8 feet or so behind your couch and a treated back wall..
That is, if your placement has restrictions because of room size/layout, you won’t be able to perceive the layered detail, spatial cues, etc that some R2R/multibit dacs can create in front of you, to the side of you, behind you, etc.
2) There are some lardass speakers out there that can’t image for sht...Don’t get those, get some competent speakers instead.
3) Try some 24 bit studio masters, if have them available...Or you can buy them off Qobuz for dirt cheap (7 or 8 bucks a pop at times), if you’re a subscriber.
If you don’t have the above, don’t worry so much about exploring the nitty gritty of the higher end R2R. DeltaSigma with some wonderful looking sinad numbers (ASR Amir Majidimehr approved) is good enough....