DAC2 HGC Review - DAC2 vs. DAC1, Jeff Chan, jeffchan.com
DAC2 vs DAC1 - "Prepare for emotional impact"
"The DAC2 measured specifications are a significant improvement over the already very impressive DAC1, due to the very high resolution ESS SABRE DAC, better components and improved circuit topology."
"However, the impressively improved measurements don't really prepare for the emotional impact of music played through the DAC2. Improvements in objective aspects of performances are there: I can hear keyboard, voice, drum, string and jazz saxophone articulation, timbre and instrument sound much more clearly. The intention of the artists through the mechanics of their playing is much more clearly audible."
"But the communication of emotion is even more greatly improved. Jazz swings better. Classical storms, soars and sings better. Rock would rock harder if most of it didn't have such dismal sonics to begin with. Great playback can't really improve bad recording. That said, well-recorded pop like the 96 kHz x 24-bit Fleetwood Mac Rumours DVD-Audio remaster reveals great writing and outstanding musicianship. 2014's fantastic 96 x 24 remaster of Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road absolutely rocks in its many special ways. At times, bluesey, orchestral, rocking, funky, overtly beautiful, and occasionally silly, the added resolution of this recording and this playback is magical. The title track really engaged me in a way I had never experienced before; a spine-tingling, outrageous serenade."
"Test conditions were informal A/B tests using CD and 96/24 DVD over Toslink from Pioneer Elite DV-58AV, and lossless FLAC CD rips over 96/24 USB from Foobar2000 Windows audio player, on Sennheiser HD 600 headphones with Cardas cable. Also, having listened daily through the DAC1 for several years I was highly familiar with its sound, so the DAC2 differences were immediately apparent. It just sounds much better, and that leapt out to me immediately. It was not at all subtle, and that surprised me."
- Jeff Chan, jeffchan.com
Also in Reviews
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
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+