Looking at that article linked to, not a great deal has changed since their DAC 1 days technically. They have pushed their speed up so 192k is processed properly, not effectively downsampled like the DAC 1. Other than that this is very much the same quasi marketing output Benchmark have always used, blurring the lines between technical debate and self promotion. What I will concede is that if a USB bridge is of no benefit to their current products then they have sorted their USB input out to a greater degree than some. But the knowhow is out there, it isn’t information only Benchmark are privy to. I always liked my DAC 1, it represented good performance for sensible money.