Well, I've decided to take the proceeds from my u89s and pass on getting another rig. I'm going to pay off some bills, have some money in the bank. But I'd still like a new toy 
I haven't totally ruled out getting the Sony 3000es but I'd like to look at some other options as well. I'm thinking of adding an upsampling DAC, I liked my Bel Canto DAC-1 just fine but I'm wondering what else is out there. In the used market I'm looking at spending around $700 or less... any recommendations?
It looks like the Benchmark comes in right around there, the Music Fidelity A3 also fits the bill. Anything else I should be looking at? Anyone have any thoughts on either of these two units?
IMO, the DAC in the sony rocks. the magic of these boxes lies in the signal being digital when it enters the unit. putting a DAC in front of it will sort of defeat the purpose, IMO. These sony's kick ass as a one stop box. I dont know how it would sound just relying on the digital drive amplification. Any analog signal goes through an A/D stage inside the unit...so I look at it as an extra hop in the signal chain.
the benchmark is a great DAC. heard it plenty. love it.
the MF A3 is supposed to be nice....but IMO...If I were looking to spend that much on a DAC i'd be looking into a nice CD player with digital gain and inputs. the Shanling comes to mind...
however, if going the sony route, then just get something that passes PCM at any resolution and works well as a transport and you'll be in like flynn on the short change investment.
IMO, the best cheap stereo you can put together would be something like the Toshiba 4960 universal player (for $140) and the 2000ES for around $500. I garruntee you'd have a very difficult time besting this $650 system w/anything less than a $2500 investment....and even that will require research and trial -n- error synergy matching between componants. Lets not forget the "right" cables either. Oye! what a mess.
Topic: Upsampling DAC's (Read 2266 times)