Yeah, the review almost made me do a spit-take about halfway through.
But yikes - however one feels about specs & measurements, those are damned impressive. When even an independent tester is getting 21 bits out of the thing... You don't get that with magic stickers. This is high-end audio done right.
But yikes - however one feels about specs & measurements, those are damned impressive. When even an independent tester is getting 21 bits out of the thing... You don't get that with magic stickers. This is high-end audio done right.
Having had the opportunity to directly compare a DAC-1 and a DAC-3, I would say the DAC-3 sounds a little different, and it is slightly more detailed than the DAC-1.
They were compared mostly by playing some hi-res recorded music and listening for tiny amounts of distortion in the recording. For that type of activity, I prefer the DAC-3 a little bit over the DAC-1. However, for most purposes the DAC-1 was fine, no complaints. Both units are what DACs should be IMHO, which is transparent as possible.
The headphone amp in the DAC-3 is definitely somewhat better than DAC-1, although DAC-1 wasn't bad.
Also, both units use volume pots, not electronic volume control. That mean the pots can get noisy over time and need to be replaced.
They were compared mostly by playing some hi-res recorded music and listening for tiny amounts of distortion in the recording. For that type of activity, I prefer the DAC-3 a little bit over the DAC-1. However, for most purposes the DAC-1 was fine, no complaints. Both units are what DACs should be IMHO, which is transparent as possible.
The headphone amp in the DAC-3 is definitely somewhat better than DAC-1, although DAC-1 wasn't bad.
Also, both units use volume pots, not electronic volume control. That mean the pots can get noisy over time and need to be replaced.
Multiple playback-recording loop testing requires a good ADC, and separating out it's effects from that of the DAC would require some more work.
In addition, the test also is affected by the distortion perception threshold of the person doing the testing. Maybe some more work to identify the magnitude of that effect, if any interest in finding out.
In addition, the test also is affected by the distortion perception threshold of the person doing the testing. Maybe some more work to identify the magnitude of that effect, if any interest in finding out.
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I have owned each DAC and ADC made by BenchMark and also have access to their power amp. I have the PA at factory listening room to compare with new PA and the Parasound.
The DAC 3 is best yet. hard to imagine much better. So, for now I am done looking for DAC. Didn't care so much for PA.... maybe SR is too low... sounded hard/edgy.
THx-RNMarsh
With statements like this, it doesn't really surprise me...
But, that might be more relevant in another thread.
Yes, the Benchmark Media power amp is designed to be very high slew rate.
I wouldn't be too hasty, he puts up a lot of the usual red flags but I find his stuff quite interesting and would love a couple of evenings with him and his posse. For one thing, while his musical tastes include some interesting items, I have two of his "divinity" LP's in which I find little to like other than the reproduction. At some level he has the most extreme case of separation of content from reproduction that I have ever seen and I would love to find out more.
Says it was tested by three associates, not him, and in combination with the Benchmark preamp.
What I don't get is how people can compare DACs using only CDs.
CDs might sound slightly better to some people with less than perfectly clean reproduction all the way down to the LSB. Don't know.
Maybe a little pleasant analog noise down at the level of bits 15 and 16 to obscure the digital noise a little, that is to say, the dither and any leftover quantizing noise, down around that level?
Maybe a tiny bit of second and third harmonics to make CDs sound a little more full, yet detailed?
Agreed it would be interesting to listen to what it is they prefer and find out what it is.
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More wasted time... 6moons audio reviews: APL HiFi NWO 3.0-GO
But do read the postscript.
My Bybee has been shipped, I can't wait.
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