Reviews

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

DAC1 - "If you are looking to improve your monitoring ...you really must audition the DAC1"

"Its performance is quite extraordinary for the UK retail price, and it competes favourably against units costing considerably more."

"It is a very neat, well-designed package with an excellent feature set, including an internal mains PSU, usefully clean and powerful headphone monitoring, and the provision to configure the analogue outputs for fixed or variable levels."

"If you are looking to improve your monitoring, or to hear what your A-D converters are actually providing, you really must audition the DAC1. I must warn you, though, that this will be hazardous to your wallet — because you'll have to buy it once you hear it. I did!"

- Hugh Robjohns, Sound On Sound

DAC1 - "An Essential Companion"

"The DAC1 will be an essential companion when I next record on location. I bought the review sample."

"Whether considered as a standalone D/A converter or a versatile headphone amp, Benchmark's DAC1 is an audiophile bargain."

"Use it to revitalize the sound of your long-in-the-tooth CD player or the DVD player that you never thought sounded as good playing CDs as you had expected."

"Thanks, John Marks, for alerting both the readers and me to the DAC1."

- John Atkinson, Stereophile

DAC1 - "Genuinely High- End"

"At $850, the Benchmark DAC1 is, in my experience, the lowest-priced piece of digital gear that can give sonic performance that is not just improved mid-fi, but genuinely high-end."

"This column will examine two bits of kit from the polar ends of the price spectrum: Benchmark Media System's DAC 1 ($850), and TEAC's massive two-box Esoteric P-70/D-70 CD playback system ($14,000)."

"The Benchmark was slightly more articulate in the musical line, and slightly more detailed in spatial nuances, particularly the localization of individual images in space, and in soundstage depth."

"All you need is a transport to feed the DAC1, a digital signal, a power amplifier, speakers, and a few bits of wire, and you have a stripped-down hot rod of a system that is ready to rock'n'roll."

- John Marks, Stereophile