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
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+
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."
