Originally Posted by
StanleyB
Absolutely.
I wouldn't use price as a guide to why someone prefers something. But I can see why it could subconsciously be taken into consideration.
The BM is different, but not necessarily better suited for everyone. As Anthony D and others have already pointed out before, manufacturers can flavour their DAC to taste through the use of caps, opamps, etc after the DAC output. Or, as in the case of the Rega etc., through additional use of digital filters. The BM on the other hand offers a completely unmodified signal to the amp or preamp that it is connected to. It has a passive output after all. The BM wasn't designed to be the best sounding DAC. It was designed to sound more neutral and accurate with a more accurate frequency response and signal separation. These might not be attributes that are necessarily to the taste of everyone, but at least there is now the possibility to buy a DAC with that kind of performance.