DAC with wide soundstage, v. good depth and holography  

Benchmark Dac1 is great. If not, you may want to wait for the upcoming Schiit Statement Dac, should fit your budget nicely.

so the upcoming schiit dac has a wide soundstage, huh? 
 

 

Haha, who knows? But it should be pretty darn good, given the existing Schiit products, it should really excel at its price point.

You should take a look at the Atoll DAC 100

You might want to consider some of the dacs based on the Sabre 9018 chip, for example Anedio D1 (you'll have to wait for updated version), W4S, EE Minimax, etc.  Pricewise they would be competitive with the Benchmark Dac1,  but excel over the Dac1 in terms of soundstaging and holographic imaging.  I have the Anedio D1 and a Benchmark Dac1-USB, and have compared these 2 dacs -- there is no question in my mind that the Anedio presents a much better image.  By comparison the Benchmark's imaging seems flat and 2-dimensional (although finely etched and detailed - maybe too much so).   The Anedio is both.   I've only heard the Anedio, but have read similar comments about the other Sabre-based dacs.

Not all Sabre32 dac's are made equal. Yes they probably give you more detail than other dac chips but with the proper design do sound extremely musical.

My NFB-7 is proof of that, its a shame its no longer in production.

Not other DAC's in it's class no.
But when listening to live recordings, the background is never silent, there is air and depth, I can hear the surroundings behind the music are buzzing with activity out in to the far distance.

Good depth and holography.....you want what everyone wants.  I have heard lots of dacs from cheap to about $5k.  None give me great holographic images with most standard setups.  Reason is not the dacs but the source before it.  Definite changes in noise floor on the computer or source coupled with tweaks to the player, if using a computer, add more to that illusive holographic sound we are all seeking.  Not to mention associated components.  As for great depth.  It is also a function of low noise floor but more importantly of ambient cues in the recording.  The thing that reveals these cues the most is low jitter.  So be on the look out for low jitter dacs that work well in real world situations like async transports and good low jitter connections from your computer or cd player.  Another thing to note is if a dac consistently has good depth with most recordings it probably has a slightly recessed midrange like the Eastern Electric I had in my system for while.

 

Having owned two Benchmark DAC 1, I can tell you that it is fairly quiet but a bit dry and sterile sounding.  I have heard a few dacs under $1200 that are really good with the right transport like the Halide Bridge for example.  If you put the Halide with the Benchmark for example things get better, but when you put it with something like the relatively known Blue Circle BS-509 you get way good sound.  If I were you, I would want to hear the new Halide Designs dac coming out in October.  I also liked the PS Audio DL3 with the Halide bridge as a transport from the computer.  You can find used DL3 s fairly easily.  Being in Europe I would try to see if anyone has the Hegel or Metrum dac for you to hear or try.  These seem like good solid designs.

 

Good luck and let us know what you end up with.

It's difficult to find info on this DAC, there is some to be found on German sites, and of cause the 6moons review.