DAC3 DX Review - George Graves, The Audiophile Voice
"Benchmark has an unusual combination of DAC and headphone amp, and both sections work superbly!"
"There are three different DAC3 variants available from Benchmark: The DAC3 L, the DAC3 HGC, and DAC3 DX. They mainly differ in the number and type of
inputs."
"The volume control on the front panel of the DAC3 DX is governed by a 32-bit dithered volume control. This volume control can vary the volume of both headphone jacks on the front (not individually, though, I’m afraid) as well as the main and auxiliary output jacks on the back depending upon how you use the Mute and DIM buttons on the front panel. You can make either set of rear outputs fixed or volume-control variable."
"I found that the Benchmark is a highly accomplished DAC. Listening to Angel Cabrera tickle the ivories of a Steinway Concert Grand on the 24-bit/96-kHz Play The Classics release “Cabrera Plays Debussy” (download at www.playtheclassics.com) is a really stringent test for any stereo system, and I was astounded to hear that with this DAC, the piano leaps from the speakers and sounds like there’s a real concert grand in my living room!"
"This has always been one of my favorite test recordings because it is simply recorded, made in a good sounding venue, and has always challenged DACs. With some DACs, you get a hint of what’s there, and with others (like the wildly expensive dcS Vivaldi) the piano starts to come out of the speakers and into the room sonically. Not since I borrowed a Vivaldi (and its owner) for an evening, have I heard this recording, rendered so palpably!"
"The Benchmark delivers a huge and precise soundstage. Layering, front to back is very impressive."
"The soundstage remains precise, with instrumentation tightly seated in place even when the music becomes complex as in the 24/176.4-kHz HRx Reference Recordings’ “Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber,” with Michael Stern conducting the Kansas City Symphony. (CD, SACD or HRx, RR132) The rich texturing of this composition is rendered clean and focused with each voice in the orchestra impressively defined."
"I then repeated these same selections using the DAC3 DX’s headphone amp. The noise level of this amp is incredibly low with a dynamic range unusual in headphone amplifiers."
"If you think that you don’t like headphone listening, perhaps it’s due to what’s driving your headphones."
Conclusion
"There are many DACs available in what I call the 'sweet-spot' category of roughly $1800 to $2500. And while I haven’t heard all of them, the Benchmark DAC3 DX beats the ones with which I am familiar in terms of versatility and sound quality. If I had to use one word to describe the sound of the Benchmark DAC3 DX, that word would be 'transparent.'"
"In so many ways this transparency results in a presentation that punches way above the DAC3 DX’s weight and selling price. The build quality is first rate and it has a headphone amp worthy of any $750 standalone version!"
"'Many good things come in small packages.' The Benchmark DAC3 DX is one of those 'good things.'"
George Graves, The Audiophile Voice
Also in Reviews
AHB2 Review - Mike Prager, Future Audiophile
"For years, the audio world acknowledged one main contender (at least at sub-five-figure pricing) for the quietest, cleanest, most neutral power amplifier around. That was the Benchmark AHB2, whose specifications are still, for all practical purposes, unsurpassed, even by today’s excellent Class-D amps."
"10 years after its release, the Benchmark Media Systems AHB2 stereo power amp is still a standard-bearer in clean, neutral sound in the audiophile world."
"I greatly enjoyed having a pair of AHB2s in my system – their purity, neutrality, and seemingly unlimited power provided a clear window on the music and a lot of joy."
"I especially appreciated the AHB2’s smooth, well-integrated treble, free of splashiness or grain, and its natural reproduction of the human voice."
- Mike Prager, Future Audiophile
AHB2 Review - Constantine Soo, Dagogo
"The AHB2 bridgeable stereo amplifier ... was the topic of a recent discussion between American electrostatic panel speaker manufacturer Sound Lab’s president, Dr. Roger West, and me."
"In our discussion, he related his highly positive experience in driving even his largest, $55k Majestic 945 panels with the $7,000 pair of Benchmark Media AHB2 monoblocks, along with the $3,050 LA4 Preamplifier and factory XLR cables."
"Dr. West described the AHB2 as a class AB design using “feed-forward distortion reduction [thus removing] any possibility of pushing the margin of safety of a standard feedback loop, used in most amplifiers, into an unstable oscillatory mode.”"
"He further shared with me that “this is of most concern on powerful musical transients. The distortion of the amplifier in the balanced mode is astonishingly low even at just below the clipping level of 380 watts.”"
"The prospect of the AHB2’s specified distortion level of 0.00015% or lower when at full volume is comical at first glance, but upon actual audition the impact of the achievement is very audible from medium-high listening levels and upward."
"It was unlike any other sub-$20,000 amplifier I have auditioned."
"My audition of the Benchmark Media AHB2 amplifiers underscores the reason Dr. West is so taken by it, and confirms the design is best described as a watershed moment in the high-end audio industry."
- Constantine Soo, Dagogo
DAC3 Review - Jerry Del Colliano
"Benchmark is a stalwart brand in pro audio, but has carved out a very respectable niche in the audiophile world with their diminutive but powerful components."
"The audiophile world sometimes looks to the professional audio world for enlightenment, especially on the digital side of things, and Benchmark Media is one of the companies that we put high on a pedestal."
"They are hardcore digital engineers freezing their asses off in upstate New York as they come up with some pretty innovative ways to get your varied digital sources sounding as much like the master tape as possible. Thank you for your service, gentlemen."
"If you really want to hear what your music sounds like in today’s streaming-driven world, this might just be the DAC that you need to test out."
- Jerry Del Colliano, Future Audiophile