I'm familiar with Benchmark's DACs by reputation, but I've never heard one in real life.  And I can't think of any of the usual posters around here who have one, although I may very well be wrong. I'll say this in general, there is no reason you can't build a satisfying system around Decware and any high quality DAC, but your satisfaction is going to depend on your taste and the rest of your system including your room. Let me give you (briefly) my digital journey as an example.

Before I discovered Decware I had a fully Stereophile approved system (Audio Research and Pass Labs) that I thought was pretty much last word in transparency. And I had what I thought was a nice DAC/SACD player for digital, specifically a Yamaha CD S2100. But when I got my UFOs I was blown away by how much more transparent and resolving they were  then my previous amp, and they started to show the limitations of my digital front end. Not that there were obvious problems, it was more that the Yamaha (which was a little on the warm side) wasn't a good as I thought. What sounded like "smooth analog detail" on my previous system was really a digital veil, what I think of as "air-brushed detail" with the higher resolution Decware amps. This lead me to a massive upgrade of my digital front end, which you can see in my sig. And it has held up very well, esp. after recently replacing my UFOs with UFO25s, that are even more transparent and resolving.

So it isn't about "warm" IMO (and I would quibble with the idea that Denafrips adds warmth). If you have a Decware amp you have a lot of control over "warm" by the tubes you choose. It is about synergy between your different components and your room, and what Steve calls the weak link(s) in your system. Because with a Decware amp you will hear the rest of your system like you never have before, for better or for worse.

HTH.

Thanks for both of your responses. This Decware (Torii Jr) is going to be my first tube amp.

There are too many positive reviews for the Pontus for me to ignore.  I just have to bite the bullet and get a preamp too.  I plan on pairing this set up with the new Caladans.  Can't wait.

J

I want to jump in with James, as a Pontus owner myself, I  consider it as one of my best buys. I am sure you will like it 👍 Good luck with the system!

Tony

That's very interesting. I know a lot of (on-line) people with Denafrips DACs but I don't remember anyone with an amp. I would imagine your 3L will sound really nice with the Apollo amp.