Time to replace the MuseII DAC?


I'm moving into a much smaller office/listening room than I had before, and am switching out the Kochel K300s for a pair of alnico Super6 floor-standing Omegas. So while I'm at it, I wonder about the old trusty Muse II DAC. The curent system is Sony SACD1 as transport for redbook CDs (better than the Theta Basic I used before), into the Muse II via AES/EBU, then single ended into Wavac MD300s with either WE or Mesh 300Bs. Tried the Monarchy DIP in the chain, but it made things worse.

Listening habits all over the map: classic rock, Zappa, Matthews, big band (Rich, Ferguson), opera, symphonic over the top, female voice (Ian, Krall, Cole, Lang, Barber), blue grass, etc. Mainly need female voice and acoustic recordings to sound right. I have a Kochel sub that I may use for <35hz, but we'll see with this new small room.

So, while looking at the Omegas, I see the Benchmark DAC1, BelCanto 2 and 3, PS Audio with or without the Cullen mod. Happy to go to $2.5K or so, including used.

What say y'all?
And thanks!
Doug
dwaxelrod
I have never heard the Muse but if I didn't already have a Benchmark, I'd jump all over a Bel Canto Dac3 - right in your budget.

I've read all the reviews and can't justify dumping my benchmark but if I had to do it over, I'd go for the extra dough and hit the Dac3.