DAC3 Review and Test Report - John E. Johnson, Jr., HomeTheaterHiFi.com
DAC3 DX - "Will Bring the Studio to Your Home Audio System"
"Benchmark’s DAC3 DX DAC is designed for recording and mastering studios, but it is a great product for consumer use as well."
"The Benchmark Media DAC3 DX is the successor to the DAC2 DX. The differences between the DAC3 DX and the DAC2 DX are (1) active 2nd harmonic compensation, (2) active 3rd harmonic compensation, (3) lower THD+N, (4) lower passband ripple, (5) improved frequency response, (6) faster PLL lock times, (7) faster switching between inputs, and (8) adjustable calibration."
"For the bench tests, I have moved to using much more sensitive measurements with the Audio Precision ... the distortion is so low, it is beyond the Audio Precision’s capability."
"With the digital test signal at minus 5 dB, the distortion peaks are below minus 130 dBr (Figure 6, below)."
Figure 6
In Use
“Hymn to the Virgin”
Hymn to the Virgin, available from 2L in Norway by download, has become one of my go-to albums, not just because I love it so much, but that I now have all the nuances in the memory portion of my auditory cortex, so I know if anything is missing. Well, nothing was missing.
Frank Bridge “String Quartets Nos. 2 and 4”
"This Naxos album has Frank Bridge’s String Quartets Nos. 2 and 4, along with the Phantasy Quartet. It includes piano with the strings. The soundstage was perfect, the deep resonant piano tones were wonderful, and the strings were easily separable."
Francesco Corbetta “La Guitarre Royalle”
"Guitar is a wonderful test for any audio system. The transient peaks that occur when the strings are plucked make the difference between sounding live or sounding like a recording. The DAC3 DX was able to handle all of the transients perfectly in this Linn Records album of Francesco Corbetta’s La Guitarre Royalle."
Hiromi “Brain”
"Hiromi is one of the finest jazz pianists I have ever heard. Her best album, in my opinion, is Brain, on Telarc disc."
"Her lightning fast fingers, combined with a fine jazz drummer, were an easy job for the DAC3 DX. If you are a jazz aficionado, you should purchase this album."
- John E. Johnson, Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity
Read the full review (includes Audio Precision measurements) →
Also in Reviews
DAC3 - Award Nominee - Best Digital Audiophile Product of 2024 (Cost No Object)
2024 Nominees
- Benchmark Media DAC3 B DAC, $1895
- Bricasti M3 DAC, $6000
- Bricasti M19 CD-SACD Player, $10,000
- T+A DAC 200, $7620
- Weiss Engineering Helios DAC, $21,995
"There was some debate about whether anybody can hear the differences above a good Chi-Fi DAC like the Topping D90. Unless you are missing most of your high-frequency hearing, you can hear where a high-end DAC makes a difference."
The Bricasti M3 is a great example of that performance in a $6,000 DAC."
"The Benchmark DAC3 B is an audiophile DAC, with pro audio roots, that punches way above its weight."
LA4 Review - Mike Prager, FutureAudiophile.com
"Benchmark Media Systems made its reputation in both pro audio and audiophile circles by designing gear with extraordinarily low noise and distortion, and selling it at reasonable prices."
"What Makes the Benchmark LA4 Preamp So Special?"
"A high-quality volume control is much of what makes a superior preamp shine, and the Benchmark’s volume control is outstanding. The Benchmark LA4 uses a bank of precision resistors switched by gold-contact relays to set volume in 256 steps of 0.5 decibels each."
"If accurate reproduction is your wish, you won’t find a preamp with meaningfully better objective performance than the Benchmark LA4, especially one made in the United States at anything near the LA4’s price."
"Very few preamps at any price reach the LA4’s level of objective performance."
"On the subjective end of things, the Benchmark LA4 preamp puts the lie to the old audiophile myth that neutrality means clinical, cold, or sterile sound. Instead, here neutrality means musical, involving sound, with precise, stable imaging, a sense of space (if one is on the recording), and exceptionally truthful timbres."
- Mike Prager, FutureAudiophile.com
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