DAC3 & AHB2 in 5.1 Surround - Kalman Rubinson, Sterophile

DAC3 & AHB2 in a 5.1 System

"In my September 2018 column, I wrote of my discovery of miniDSP's U-DIO8, which converts multichannel data fed to its USB port to eight S/PDIF or AES-EBU outputs at resolutions of up to 24-bit/192kHz. Armed with a U-DIO8, you can use three or four of your choice of stereo DAC."

"In the course of writing about the U-DIO8, I became attached to using a trio of Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 HGC DACs as part of my review of Paradigm's Persona 5F loudspeaker in last month's issue, and figured that they might benefit from a symbiotic relationship with Benchmark's AHB2 stereo power amplifier, which I reviewed in November 2015."

"I went commando with the DAC3s directly connected to the three AHB2s. All three DAC3s were set to Home Theater Bypass, and I used JRiver Media Center's volume control."

"For the first time I can recall, I heard no noise from my system, even with an ear flush against a tweeter."

"I know that we audiophiles can obsess about small changes and make them seem more important than they actually are, but that's what this hobby is about: Eliminating as many audible flaws as possible, however tiny. In this case, the effect was striking at first listen, and endured through everything I played, even tracks that had troubled me before."

- Kal Rubinson, Stereophile

Read more - "Music in the Round #94", Stereophile →