DAC2 HGC Review - Noble Hi-Fi
DAC2 HGC - "The Audio Quality is Pretty Stunning"
"The audio quality of the DAC2 is pretty stunning and like a lot of high quality amplifiers the first thing to jump out here was the soundstage. This and instrument separation gave a presentation which is hugely revealing and very enjoyable with good recordings although that comes with it an obvious double edged sword (depending on your preferences). After these wow factors came the detail, now I'm not saying the detail is the 3rd best aspect, it's just that it hit me in that order."
"I think the best way to describe the detail is precise and edgy. Combine this machine with a pair of headphones that already display those traits and you have yourself a pretty impressive experience."
"This is a neat, light and well constructed little machine. It's straight forward simplicity and low-key flair seems to reflect it's sound design as well."
"The DAC2 also boasts features like four balanced 32bit DACs, a Bi-driecrional 12v trigger (HGC only) and a configurable coax to name just a few. The latter feature turns one of the digital coax inputs into a digital output, which can pass through Dolby Digital, or DTS (eg. to a home theater receiver) and even bit-perfect DSD."
- Noble Hi-Fi
Read the full review →Also in Reviews
HPA4 Review - AP Mastering
"This is the best headphone amplifier that I have ever tested. In every conceivable metric, absolutely perfect."
"If you've got the money and you want something that is an engineering masterpiece, this is such a thing."
- AP Mastering
Benchmark System Review - Ricky Dasler, Living Sound, New Zealand
"With over 40 years as an audiophile and more than half those years as a hi-fi retailer, I feel I’ve finally put together a stereo that ticks all my sonic boxes. Those being in order of priority, dynamics, scale, tonal accuracy, fatigue free resolution and soundstage."
"For the last 25 years I’ve been fortunate to have a dedicated listening room. I use acoustic treatments from Real Traps, Vicoustic and Primeacoustic."
"My Benchmark components consist of the DAC3 B (connected to a Naim NDS streamer), LA4 line amplifier and two AHB2 power amplifiers run in bridged mono mode. All cables are Benchmark too."
"The Benchmark gear in my system has brought what I have wanted in my list of sonic priorities as listed above and then some. They have delivered way beyond what I thought could be possible in my system in my room."
"I’m delighted and stunned daily as my vast music collection comes to life on a whole new level."
- Ricky Dasler, Living Sound, Nelson New Zealand.
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
