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
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+