I just bought a Benchmark A/D converter after having a very long conversation with a tech at Benchmark. I had previously bought a Tascam DA-3000 which has a very poor sounding analog front end. I plan to use the Benchmark to do the A/D conversion, and feed the digital to the Tascam. Then let the Tascam generate the digital WAV files from the 24 bit/96K digital stream from the Benchmark.
The benchmark does not use a discrete component analog front end like the Ayre, but they do use some of the best sounding opamps in use currently. AD797s (John Curl's reportedly favorite opamp) and LME49860. They also use a minimum of coupling caps that are triple bypassed with NPO ceramics.
I will be testing this setup in the next few days and report back. I was impressed by the Benchmark tech as he really new nitty gritty details of their product, and emphasized they do a lot of listening in the design process (they are not just "pro-sumer" like Tascam, Berringer, and other companies).
The benchmark does not use a discrete component analog front end like the Ayre, but they do use some of the best sounding opamps in use currently. AD797s (John Curl's reportedly favorite opamp) and LME49860. They also use a minimum of coupling caps that are triple bypassed with NPO ceramics.
I will be testing this setup in the next few days and report back. I was impressed by the Benchmark tech as he really new nitty gritty details of their product, and emphasized they do a lot of listening in the design process (they are not just "pro-sumer" like Tascam, Berringer, and other companies).