Happybob,
The main issue, when trying to answer your question, is that, as I wrote in this thread, I first sold and then bought. Thus I couldn't A/B PS Audio and W4S DACs on equal basis.
The moment I got the DAC-2, DL3 and the preamp were gone.
Never got to run DAC-2 through the same preamp as the DL3. I noticed improved dynamics and clarity with W4S, better extension both ways, highs and lows and better imaging. The soundstage is so "real", I feel I could touch things in it. Also more texture and inner detail. All these quite substantially, not at all that subtle. And my W4S is still far from fully broken-in (still < 200 hours). As it breaks in, became a bit brighter now. I'm expecting from it to "shed off this brightness" as stated in the manual.
From my experience with Benchmark directly in my power amp, the MF preamp never worsened the sound, to the contrary, thus I infer that the improvements are mostly, albeit not totally, due to the DAC-2 itself. Eliminating the preamp and a set of interconnects definitely helped in immediacy and clarity.
Thus, as a guy with a modest system (MF A3CR power amp and Sonus Faber Concerto Domus speakers), I could still say "damn, this DAC-2 is really a nice step up from the DL3".
Again, this is only my opinion.
The main issue, when trying to answer your question, is that, as I wrote in this thread, I first sold and then bought. Thus I couldn't A/B PS Audio and W4S DACs on equal basis.
The moment I got the DAC-2, DL3 and the preamp were gone.
Never got to run DAC-2 through the same preamp as the DL3. I noticed improved dynamics and clarity with W4S, better extension both ways, highs and lows and better imaging. The soundstage is so "real", I feel I could touch things in it. Also more texture and inner detail. All these quite substantially, not at all that subtle. And my W4S is still far from fully broken-in (still < 200 hours). As it breaks in, became a bit brighter now. I'm expecting from it to "shed off this brightness" as stated in the manual.
From my experience with Benchmark directly in my power amp, the MF preamp never worsened the sound, to the contrary, thus I infer that the improvements are mostly, albeit not totally, due to the DAC-2 itself. Eliminating the preamp and a set of interconnects definitely helped in immediacy and clarity.
Thus, as a guy with a modest system (MF A3CR power amp and Sonus Faber Concerto Domus speakers), I could still say "damn, this DAC-2 is really a nice step up from the DL3".
Again, this is only my opinion.