John Siau at CAF 2025 - Seminars and Interview - SECRETS of Home Theater and HiFi

John Siau Conducts Two Seminars at CAF2025

"One does not often run into John Siau from Benchmark Media Systems at an audio show, and here at CapFest, John was conducting a couple of seminars on both DAC and power amplifier design. Here are a few shots from John’s DAC discussion, where he drilled down on the issues of Intersample Over distortion in DACs and how not every manufacturer properly designs their circuits to deal with this issue."

"At SECRETS, when we bench test DACs, we test for Intersample Over issues using a custom test tone that John provided us with."

- Carlo

John Siau Interview at CAF2025

"John was also kind enough to sit down with me for an interview. We discussed a few things, including what makes Benchmark DACs stand out from the crowd."

- Carlo

Video Contents:

0:00 Intersample Overs and Interpolator Overload Distortion in DACs

9:35 DAC Chipsets

12:59 DAC Filters

16:13 The Advantages of Professional vs. Consumer Signal Levels on XLR Connectors

17:42 Benchmark LA4 Relay-Controlled Preamplifier

18:53 Carlo Describes the Sound of His Benchmark Signal Chain (DAC3, HPA4, AHB2)

21:32 Ten AHB2 Amplifiers Powering the Krix Room at CAF2025