Reviews

DAC3 HGC - "Astonishing Fidelity and Emotional Expressiveness"

"Benchmark Media Systems’ DAC3 HGC is evidence that an engineering-focused company—one that seems to spend more time staring at instruments than testing its devices with their ears, and that cares more about transparency than it does about whether or not you like the sound their products make—can produce a product of astonishing fidelity and emotional expressiveness."

"Science works ... never underestimate a good geek."

- Jim Austin, Stereophile

DAC3 HGC - "All I can say is 'Wow!'"

"The Benchmark DAC3 offers extremely low levels of harmonic distortion from all its outputs. Intermodulation distortion was similarly vanishingly low."

"No power-supply–related spuriae can be seen, and the random noise floor lies below –160 dBFS!"

"When the DAC3 decoded dithered 16-bit and 24-bit data representing a 1 kHz tone at -60 dBFS, the increase in bit depth dropped the noise floor by more than 30 dB, indicating that the Benchmark’s resolution is at least 21 bits."

"This as good as a DAC can currently get!"

"All I can say is 'Wow!'" - John Atkinson

DAC3 DX - "The DAC3 Hits the Mark"

"If we had to categorize the sound of the DAC3 using three words, those words would be precision, precision and precision."

AHB2 - "A Significant Powerhouse"

"Partnered with the AHB2 power amplifier, the system represents a significant powerhouse in a relatively small footprint."

"Dynamics were surprisingly tight, quick and responsive in a manner that would make most audiophiles take another look at the “pro” side ..."

- audio-head.com

DAC3 HGC - "At the Top of its Class ... Highly Recommended"

"I’m immediately struck by the way the depth presented by the current model immerses you in the recording."

"Having put the DAC3 through its paces with a wide range of tube and solid state amplifiers for The Audiophile Apartment, as the core of a high performance, yet highly compact system, the DAC3 is a charmer, indeed."

"The three-dimensionality is the best I’ve achieved on my reference system."

"This is a special digital product indeed."

"Since the introduction of the original DAC1, Benchmark has set the industry on its ear..."

"We gave the original DAC1 our first Exceptional Value award in issue 3, and the current DAC3 HGC is an equally good value, earning this award again in 2017."

- Marck Marcantonio, Tone Audio

DAC3 HGC - "The Goldilocks Spot in Tonal Balance"

"I am confident in saying the DAC3 has hit the Goldilocks spot in tonal balance ... it always sounded, just right."

"Benchmark was and is a pro audio brand at the forefront of the democratization of the recording industry and audiophiles became interested in the product line toward the end of the last decade."

"Despite looking very similar to the DAC1 and DAC1 HDR, and virtually identical to the DAC2 HGC, the DAC3 HGC brings a lot of ‘new’ to the table."

"There’s an intrinsic sense of honesty to the sound ... it always sounded, just right… in the Goldilocks sense."

- Alan Sircom, Hi-Fi+

DAC3 HGC - "As Close to Flawless Sound Quality as We’ve Ever Heard"

"There is an absolutely staggering amount of high-level technology packed into the tiny black box, and what it amounts to is this: glorious audio quality."

"Whether we were using it as a preamp, a headphone amp, or a straight DAC, it was nothing but outstanding. What grabbed us, more than anything else, was the clarity and realism. We genuinely felt like we were hearing every single note like it was meant to be heard, with almost no coloration or distortion."

"Although it worked well in all genres, it particularly excelled at things like heavy metal, offering mids and highs that really allowed the guitars to bite. And again, everything was just crystal clear, with no distortion whatsoever. It got to the point that we were throwing different styles and genres at it, just to see if we could get it to falter. It didn’t. No matter what we tried, the DAC3 never missed a beat."

"As far as we’re concerned, it comes as close to flawless sound quality as we’ve ever heard."

DAC3 HGC - "Benchmark has Moved it to the Next Level"

"Benchmark has taken an already remarkable product and moved it to the next level."

"Benchmark Media Systems, Inc.’s DAC series of high-performance digital-to-analog converters (DACs) have earned the respect of audio enthusiasts and professional users alike for their state-of-the-art performance, including exceptional audio transparency and vanishingly-low levels of noise and distortion."

"Now Benchmark has made its DAC3 even better with the upgrade to ESS Technology’s new ES9028PRO DAC chip."

DAC3 HGC - "Musical Truth"

"So, what exactly is musical truth?"

"The truth is when your senses receive what the artist intended to portray. When the audio quality gets to your ears at a more accurate level, the groove and emotion of the music improves accordingly, getting you closer to exactly what occurred in the studio or at the live concert, in a blood, sweat and tears kind of way…" - Marty Feldmann

"The folks at Benchmark Media, with their background in the recording industry, are driven to get that musical truth into the home with their products. With the release of the original DAC1 models and the second generation DAC2, Benchmark has been on the bleeding edge of digital technology trends, especially from a price/performance perspective."

"In my time with the DAC3 I kept going back to my musician days, and the time I would spend in the studio. The immediacy and intimacy of how everything sounded, from single tracks to the completed mix of a song all came to mind. That says a lot to me about this DAC…! Musical truth…"

- Marty Feldmann, The Connoisseur, Connoisseur Corner

DAC3 HGC - "Outstanding - Amongst the Best"

"A versatile and well thought-out unit that's a good all-rounder when it comes to sound quality, the DAC3 HGC is unlikely to disgrace itself even if partnered with the finest ancillary equipment."

"Headphone listening was also a most enjoyable experience, and builds on the unit's strengths as a DAC."

"The DAC HGC presentation can be remarkably detailed - without being overly analytical."

- Martin Pipe, Hi-Fi World

DAC3 - "Its Sound is Among the Best at Any Price"

"The DAC3 soundstage is highly accurate, and its sound is among the best at any price."

"Benchmark Media began in the mid-1980s providing audio equipment to television broadcast facilities. Today it is recognized amongst recording professionals and high-end audio enthusiasts for producing high-end, sonically transparent components. This philosophy is inherent in all of Benchmark's products--digital-to-analog converters, analog-to-digital converters, preamps, and amplifiers--and it plays right into the sweet spot of high-resolution audio."

"After Benchmark announced the release of the DAC3 HGC, I was quick to contact the company and request a review sample. I was excited after reading about Benchmark's enthusiastic endorsement of the new ESS PRO SABRE chips and had a hunch that the new DAC3 could be a significant step forward in Benchmark's DAC lineage."

"The DAC3 also possesses an uncanny ability to resolve hidden details that typically get lost in a mix. With more resolved detail, the tonality of instruments sounds more real."

- Ben Shyman, Home Theater Review

DAC3 HGC - "Expansive Soundstage Populated with Nicely Layered Instrumentation"

"Tonally things are well balanced, with no part of the frequency range gaining undue prominence. This is coupled to a good dose of refinement, so any aggressive tendencies in recordings, while revealed, are never overemphasized."

"Like all the best products, the Benchmark manages the difficult feat of stepping out of the limelight and letting the music take center stage."

"There’s a high degree of transparency here, and a fluidity of dynamics few rivals can match."

- What Hi*Fi?

DAC3 HGC - "A Genetically Modified Version of the DAC2"

"With the implementation of the latest ESS9028PRO chip from Sabre ... a genetically modified version of the already popular DAC2 is born."

"Harmonically the DAC3 produced definitions of clarity that pushed away inner walls, giving height, depth and a feeling of surround sound."

"The precision in which the DAC3 produces each note is combined with a real flow to the music."

"My system felt like a dominant force when I introduced the Benchmark DAC3 HGC to the middle shelf of my rack."

- Dan Worth, Hifi Pig

DAC3 HGC - "Everything You Like About the DAC2 Only Mo' Better"

"The older Benchmark DAC2 and the new DAC3 are practically indistinguishable visually."

"The underlying ES9028PRO chipset is the big difference in the new DAC3 – everything else is pretty much the same. …even the USB drivers are the same."

"In short – it's everything you like about the DAC2 only mo’ better."

"I think it’s a fantastic sounding D/A converter. On well recorded material it does an outstanding job with detail and resolution."

"It brought new life to CD quality 16/44.1 material - even on tracks that weren’t particularly well mastered."

- "T Bone", Head-Fi.org

DAC3 HGC - "More Space, Increased Precision"

The Benchmark DAC3 is the first product to ship with the new ESS Technology ES9028PRO D/A converter chip.

"It may look like the DAC2 HGC, but the new DAC3 HGC offers a slew of better measurements and more notably, an incremental boost in sound quality."

"Via headphones I definitely could hear more space around the instruments and an increased precision in transients — like cymbals and upper-register piano notes."

"In terms of new functions, the DAC3 switches a lot faster between inputs, and gone is that audibly phasy transition when you initially switch between two digital sources."

- John Gatski, Publisher, Everything Audio Network

AHB2 - "A Silent Transmitter of Musical Energy"

"You probably know Benchmark for its long-available ADC and DAC units. The ADC1 analog to digital converter has been used by recordists and mastering engineers for years."

Active vs. Passive Monitors

"Although many studios, particularly smaller at-home outfits, use active monitors (speakers with built-in power amps) ... almost no powered monitors include really super-quality power amps because of the compromises necessary to fit electronics into a speaker cabinet and meet a price point."

"While many of the active monitors get plenty "loud," they often sound un-dynamic and harsh, at least to my ears."

Amplifier Upgrade

"I decided to look into modern alternatives to my circa-1980s Audio Design Associates (ADA) FET300 power amp."

"I thought it was the cat's ass and didn't even consider swapping it out, until I started reading descriptions and reviews of the Benchmark amp."

"As soon as I unplugged the ADA amp and swapped in the Benchmark, it was clear how nice it was to hear less fan noise. I cranked up the monitor volume all the way ... and confirmed there was zero hiss, hum, and other power line hash. I put my ear right to the speakers - still dead silent. The ADA is near-silent but not dead-silent."

"I then started listening to music and other audio - projects I recently completed plus favorite albums. I did this for several weeks ..."

"In every case, I heard the amp as essentially transparent - a silent transmitter of musical energy."

DAC2 HGC - "I Purchased a DAC2 HGC to Replace my DAC1 HDR"

"I liked the feature set on the DAC2 HGC enough to buy it for my big listening room, replacing the DAC1 HDR. I bought the AHB2 power amp for my studio and have started filling the piggy bank to buy one for the big listening room."

- Tom Fine, Tape Op