Reviews

ADC1 - "Very Natural Sounding"

"The ADC1 USB is very natural sounding. What I put in, is what it captures. Should I wish to color a track, I can call upon other gear in my rack."

"In a mastering context, a neutral, flat-sounding converter is very desirable."

"Benchmark’s trademarked UltraLock clocking scheme delivers quality conversion even when slaved to a suboptimal external clock."

"The best standalone clock in the world becomes irrelevant if the receiving converter’s locking system botches the signal. Unfortunately, many manufacturers skimp on PLL synchronization. Thankfully, not Benchmark."

- Garrett Haines, Tape Op

ADC1 USB - Stereophile "A-Rated Recommended Component", 2016

"Housed in the same small case as Benchmark's DACs, the ADC1 is a 24-bit USB A/D converter with a Texas Instruments TAS1020B USB chip and a 128x-oversampling, delta-sigma AKM 5394 A/D converter chip."

"The Benchmark produced a natural, coherent overall sound, with clean high frequencies and weighty, extended lows, said JA, who also noted superb measured performance."

ADC1 and DAC1 - "8 hours a day, five days a week, monitoring and mastering"

"I rely on the DAC1 for monitoring in audio restoration and mastering. I am lost without it. I have used it, along with the ADC1, 8 hours a day, five days a week since 2005."

"I used the DAC1 and Samplitude in the “OLD-TIME SMOKY MOUNTAIN MUSIC” CD which was nominated in 2013 for a Grammy in historic recording."

John T. Fleenor, Archives Of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University

ADC1 - "Provides a sure fire way to get a jitter-free recording"

"In my experience, the ADC1 provided a solid and clear image of my stereo ORTF mics and Omni Flank mics. When paired with a clean mic preamp (Grace, Crane Song Flamingo) you can rest assured that what you hear is what you get."

"From Orchestral Recording to Sound Effects, the Benchmark Media ADC1 provides a sure fire way to get a jitter-free recording, not to mention a great dynamic range."

ADC1 - "I highly recommend the ADC1 for transferring your LPs to digital"

"Benchmark's versatile and full-featured ADC1 USB both measures superbly well and produces digital files that sound equally superb. It offers performance for which, a decade ago, you would have had to pay five times its price. It also offers better resolution than you get from inexpensive converters like E-MU's popular e404, whose nominally 24-bit A/D converter section actually has about 17-bit resolution."

"I highly recommend the ADC1 for transferring your LPs to digital."

- John Atkinson, Stereophile

ADC1 USB - "I've never used or heard a better analog-to-digital converter"

"The resulting sound of the files that ended up on my computer when using the Benchmark ADC1 USB had everything that Benchmark promises in their literature and more."

"The most noticeable quality of the Benchmark, even in my first casual listen off-axis to one of the first files that I recorded from LP was the separation of instruments in a huge soundstage. The inner detail of the music, that enabled me to hear instruments, sounds, and voices I thought once impossible to recover, and were made evident when making recordings of LPs of even the most complex orchestral and choral music."

"The take-away is that I've never used or heard a better analog-to-digital converter."

- Tom Lyle, Enjoy the Music.com

ADC1 - "I loved what the ADC1 did for my vinyl recordings"

"I loved what the ADC1 did for my vinyl recordings. At this point I don't want to be without it so I will look into buying this review sample (I've been upgrading my systems a lot lately so its getting kind of painful pocketbook wise)."

"This little gem provides grain free, fatigue free recordings that I crave."

"... with the Benchmark the backgrounds were deeper, blacker and the voices, instruments all had more space around them."

- Rick Schmidt, Home Theater and High Fidelity

ADC1 USB - "Every Benchmark converter PAR has ever measured has been clean as the digital whistle"

"Two years ago, I reviewed the Benchmark ADC1 A/D converter (PAR 12/05) and found it to be an excellent two-channel converter that could compete with even more highly priced converters. Now, the ADC1 has followed the course of its D/A brethren and has been upgraded to the ADC1 USB."

"You cannot review a Benchmark product without mentioning the UltraLock jitter-immune circuit, which is said to keep out the interface jitter and poor external clock performance from other sources. (Every Benchmark converter PAR has ever measured has been clean as the digital whistle.)"

"Benchmark’s ADC1 USB can be classified as accurate, with excellent imaging and bass control."

- John Gatski, Pro Audio Review

ADC1 - "Highly recommended for serious applications"

"The ADC1 is expensive in comparison to typical mid-market converters such as those from RME, Lynx and Apogee (the Apogee Rosetta 200 is similarly priced but includes a stereo D-A stage as well, for example). However, I feel justified in suggesting that the ADC1 performs at a significantly higher level and compares more naturally with serious high-end products from the likes of Lavry, Prism Sound and dCS. In that context, the ADC1 represents substantial value for money, giving only a little away in terms of ultimate resolution."

"The ADC1 is highly recommended for serious applications."

- Hugh Robjohns, Sound On Sound

ADC1 and DAC1 - "Benchmark’s reputation is well deserved"

"Many people I respect had lauded the DAC1, and I was interested to hear it in my home. Many reviews of the DAC1 had mentioned its headphone amplifier but had said little about it. Being an avid headphone listener, I wanted to see how well the DAC1 would stand up against my usual headphone amplifiers."

"Since then, months have passed during which I've used both the DAC1 and ADC1, and I can say with confidence that Benchmark’s reputation is well deserved. The three most important elements of any product -- build quality, sound quality, and customer support -- are all present in their designs."

"The ADC1 is the most powerful recording tool I've ever used, and is probably overkill for the casual recorder. But if you have a serious vinyl collection to archive, or are setting up a small digital recording studio, it should flawlessly perform to high standards."

"The DAC1 will have a wider audience and can serve many functions: headphone amp, digital preamp, and, of course, D/A processing."

- Eric Hetherington, GoodSound!

ADC1 - "I'VE BEEN CONVERTED"

"The Benchmark Media ADC1's superior down-conversion design — made possible in part by the latest chip technology, the unique UltraLock low-jitter clock, optimized analog input circuitry and the four multiformat digital outputs — makes it a worthy studio tool that will sound great for years to come."

"I highly recommend it as a way to instantly upgrade the recording quality of any studio."

- Barry Rudolph, Mix

ADC1 - "The sonic qualities are stunning"

"On original recordings of acoustic guitars, including a new Taylor concert-sized 712, the ADC1 transferred all the shimmer of the guitar and sound of the room space that could be heard during the performance, and there was no hint of harshness. The finger squeak decay from the guitar playing to the gradual fadeout of room reverb, this converter relayed all the information that was there. Stereo imaging at these high sampling rates is stunningly open. If you have the caliber of mics and preamps to make the best recordings, the ADC1 captures it in all its glory!"

"The Benchmark ADC1's sonic qualities are stunning; the converter has the ability to realistically reproduce all the fine inner detail and presence subtitles that only the best high-resolution converters can. Impressive. Put a set of these in your Pro Tools rig."

- John Gatski, Pro Audio Review

ADC1 - "I heard things I've not heard before"

"When I reviewed the DAC1 ... the DAC1's transparency and veracity pleasantly surprised me. It remains high on my 'wanted' list."

"Benchmark thoughtfully provided a DAC1 to complete the set so I was able to experiment and compare the ADC1 using both the DAC1 and my own everyday convertors. In the relatively short time available my earlier conclusions about the virtues of the DAC1 were confirmed. The ADC1 comfortably outperformed my console convertors, exhibiting similar clarity and surgical precision to the D-A."

"The astonishingly solid imaging I know the DAC1 to be capable of was maintained along with the impressive transparency and transient response. Again, I heard things I've not heard before."

- Rob James, Resolution

ADC1 - "Calling a Benchmark ADC1 a converter is like calling a Lamborghini Gallardo a car"

"On playback of the bass recording, it was striking how the ADC1 not only reproduced the full frequency range accurately, it preserved astonishing tonal details and character."

"The sound was clean, but it didn't become sterile in the conversion from analog to digital. A similar richness was evident with every source I tried through the ADC1, including voice, synthesizer and acoustic guitar. Chords on the Martin acoustic maintained the clarity and presence of the original source, which was recorded through a SoundDelux U195 condenser microphone into a Grace Design 101 preamp connected to the ADC1."

"No matter what analog source I ran through it, the ADC1 showed a remarkable ability to deliver the true characteristics of that source in digital form."

- Frank Moldstad, Digital Pro Sound