What’s funny is that the Benchmark stuff is so inexpensive compared to the super high end stuff that it flies under the radar; the audiophile jewelry snobs would never consider it, just based on price.
Way back in 2003/4 when computer audio was just starting to take off and external DACs were starting to emerge (still designed to be used with CDP transports) with people using internal sound cards like the E-MU0404 (PCI not the later USB external box) to send a digital output to an external DAC the Benchmark DAC1 was one of the most popular choices. The Bel Canto DAC2 was another popular DAC back then. As external DACs became more popular they were sort of "forgotten" since Benchmark never really advertised to this segment. Years later they would regain popularility when the the DAC lost its rack mount ears and gained a USB input.