To upgrade or not?

[Sailor4W]

If I were you I would either be happy with your current model or switch to Benchmark. Benchmark has an easy system to allow you to test one in your home - why not give them a try? (not sure if they do this outside the US...)

But you'd need a preamp or at least a DAC that can drive the power amp directly. I agree that the Benchmark amp is interesting and you could easily swap DACs, but the DAC chip integrated in Devialet's ADH can not be compared directly to a separate DAC. Not even the same chip in a separate DAC would sound the same as the one integrated. ADH is quite unique.
I believe the 220 Pro CI is a bit better than the 120. The only way to know for sure is to try both the Benchmark and 220, if possible. Also, quite a few members of this forum upgraded from 120 to 220 Pro CI and would be able to comment on the difference.

Benchmark says that the DAC3 is designed to drive the AHB2 directly as it has a volume control and the units can be matched perfectly in terms of DAC output and amp sensitivity.

I do see that it is difficult to compare Devialet's DAC concept with other DACs. What I meant more was that the Devs remain to be restricted to 24/192, as far as I understand.