DAC2 HGC Review - Hans Wetzel, SoundStage! Access
DAC2 HGC - "Far More Refined Than its Price Would Suggest"
"The DAC2 HGC uses one of the best digital chipsets on the market today to produce a quality of sound that, until a few years ago, wasn't available for less than $10,000. It sounds far more refined than its $1995 price would suggest, and when you consider that it can serve as the keystone of a digital and analog system, on a desktop or in a listening room, it becomes all the more remarkable."
"The DAC2 HGC has a remarkable feature set that’s not available from any of the industry’s big names for anywhere near $2000."
"On the rear panel the inputs are plentiful, with a multimode asynchronous USB port that permits USB 1.1 or 2.0 connections, and input signals up to 24-bit/192kHz. Two optical inputs accept signals up to 96kHz, while a pair of coaxial inputs can support all sample rates from 28 to 210kHz, even nonstandard ones. All of these digital inputs support native DSD conversion. Outputs include two pairs of RCA ports and a pair of balanced XLR ports. There’s also a bidirectional 12V trigger."
"All of this is impressive. But the DAC2 also has two pairs of analog inputs, making it a traditional analog preamplifier as well as a digital preamp, and even has a built-in headphone amplifier with two 1/4” headphone jacks."
"As expected, the DAC2 was every bit as transparent and resolving as the DAC1 -- more so, actually -- but gone was the bite, the crispness that marked the DAC1’s treble, and gone too was its stridency. To say that the DAC2 sounded relaxed would be unfair, but it was more laid-back than the DAC1."
- Hans Wetzel, SoundStage! Access
Also in Reviews
Benchmark Converters at Abbey Road - Geoff Pesche
"What are the Latest Advancements in Mastering?"
"Geoff Pesche weighs in on how the mastering team at Abbey Road Studios achieve first-class results." - Mix with the Masters
"The biggest sonic improvement in mastering in the last 5 or 6 years is D/A and A/D converters and that's very very important - what you have at the front and the back of the chain."
"We use fairly new Benchmark converters front and back."
"Abbey Road like a uniformity between the rooms so all of the rooms have the same A/D and D/A conversion."
- Geoff Pesche, Mastering Engineer, Abbey Road Studios
DAC3 Review - Alan Sircom, hi-fi+
"A Damn Good, No-Frills Digital Converter"
"Benchmark Media Systems’ no-nonsense approach to all things audio is rare today."
"Uniformly Good"
"This is a DAC that’s uniformly good at everything. It resolves well, has good imaging properties."
"It makes a balanced, honest sound that allows you to sit and listen to music for hours. That is what makes Benchmark’s products consistently popular with audio engineers. You don’t want ‘bright’ if you sit at a mixing desk 10 hours a day. "
"Leave No Trace"
"It also has the latest version of Benchmark’s jitter attenuation system (UltraLock3) and doubles down on the digital demon with its multi-mode asynchronous USB system."
"Benchmark also uses the distortion compensation facilities built into the ESS chip to reduce second and third order distortion."
"The net result is a DAC that delivers lower distortion, lower noise, less passband ripple, faster signal switching and locking onto signals and a more linear frequency response."
"The Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B is very much in the ‘leave no trace’ school of good audio."
- Alan Sircom, hi-fi+
DAC3 - Award Nominee - Best Digital Audiophile Product of 2024 (Cost No Object)
2024 Nominees
- Benchmark Media DAC3 B DAC, $1895
- Bricasti M3 DAC, $6000
- Bricasti M19 CD-SACD Player, $10,000
- T+A DAC 200, $7620
- Weiss Engineering Helios DAC, $21,995
"There was some debate about whether anybody can hear the differences above a good Chi-Fi DAC like the Topping D90. Unless you are missing most of your high-frequency hearing, you can hear where a high-end DAC makes a difference."
The Bricasti M3 is a great example of that performance in a $6,000 DAC."
"The Benchmark DAC3 B is an audiophile DAC, with pro audio roots, that punches way above its weight."
