Benchmark DAC

A couple of reasons... they recieved a good review in Stereophile so that sold a huge amount of them. Secondly, after those people bought them, they realized that they weren't a panacea to the usual problems that plague us, mainly digital issues.

You'll notice this phenomena with any component you see a lot of. For example, the good reviews Totem products get, for a while it was the Zu Adiagio, I could on and on but you get the picture. A great review in Stereophile will make a company and then a year or two later you'll see lots of that product for sale on the 'gon.

Not that they're bad products by any means, just the usual cycle of buying and selling. I wouldn't worry about it, don't expect miracles, but the more popular brands, Krell, McIntosh, etc. you'll see a lot of for sale along with a strong naysayer contingent. Buy what you want and don't worry too much. The more obscure or less mainstream the brand as a general rule the more trouble you'll have reselling.

They are everywhere. They are cheap. They are good. No surprise really. People try them and then try something else without breaking the piggy bank. They aren't going to solve a room acoustics, a speaker, aesthetics, sound flavor or an amplifier problem though. People buy and sell for many reasons - some may even prefer distortion over clean sound (why else are there CD loudness wars). They are great tool to clean up any old jittery digital (they claim to be able to clean up jitter down to 1 HZ which few designs can achieve)

The DAC1 does a fantastic job of cleaning up jitter and will put a smile on your face for a day or two. Then you may realize it's bright (or that it exposes the rest of your system as being bright), or just shows you that your music collection may have some awful recordings. I had one for 10 months and tried it on no less than 3 different amps, eventually sold it. That said, a lot of people love its sound. You can always try it and sell it if it's not for you (I sold mine in a day, literally, though I lost a few hundred as I bought it new).

The Benchmark DAC is easy to set up. It's a bargain used and even new seems a good buy. In fact, I'd love to find good one on Audiogon but, after a recent glut of them, they seem to be in short supply now. I owned one for a good while and, as is the way in this strange hobby, sold it in order to try something new and different. I have not heard anything since that I prefer to the Benchmark, although, if memory serves, the Cambridge 840 CD player might be its match. I liked the Benchmark better than two CD players I owned, a Rega Apollo and a Naim CD5i. The Benchmark does not smooth over rough edges or add midbass warmth -- it seems, to my ears, both neutral and engaging, clear but not bright. It won't do wonders for a lousy recording, but that's no fault of the DAC. I liked it. I miss it!

Benchmark is fairly detailed, but a decent NOS dac will smoke it for overall musicality delivering better vocals, acoustic piano while matching its detail. Head to Head with an Audiosector/Audio Zone for example it's no contest.