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Benchmark Dac3

I purchased the Benchmark DAC3 and hooked it up (with just the included Monoprice USB cable) to my MacBook Pro playing lossless files ripped from my CDs. Using the HT bypass to play through my Krell integrated amplifier into Audio Physic Virgo speakers (as well as listening through the headphone amp and HGC volume control driving Beyerdynamic DT 880s). With the panoply of input options I was able to do direct A/B comparisons between my Krell CD player and iTunes as well as between the digital and analog outputs of the CD player. I immediately discovered the balanced XLR connection making a huge difference in bringing out subtle details such as the breath of vocalists and the note decay of wind and string instruments.  Is this the case with all sources or just with this DAC?  If it is the case with all sources then I could never imagine purchasing a DAC (in an equivalent price range) which only provides RCA interconnections.  Is this more about the Benchmark DAC or the difference between balanced and single-ended operation?  Would you purchase a DAC without balanced XLR connections?
dave1215
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,151 posts
 
All recent DACs do not sound the same for sure, however, there are many very excellent sounding ones these days for not very much to the point where in many cases any quality device with a DAC is no longer likely to be the weakest link in the playback chain. Not so much the case just a few years back. DAC technology appears to have mostly matured in recent years I would say  and very good ones can be found even in very small devices like newer smart phones for example.  Bad news for "high end audio" unfortunately.
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
@mapman 

To your point, I'm told that the end resulting sound is much more than the DAC itself. Case in point, I mentioned to the Benchmark sales rep that the DAC3 has a "Sabre ES9028PRO" DAC while my Oppo UDP-205 has the more advanced "Sabre ES9038PRO" DAC. He immediately dismissed that as essentially being irrelevant and steered the conversation towards the rest of the electronics, citing how they (Benchmark) have implemented the DAC and are getting the most out of it given the rest of their circuitry.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,151 posts
 
I have no doubt both BEnchmark and Oppo make excellent sounding DAC products.

Chord DACs are interesting to compare to others like BEnchmark and Oppo in terms of technical approach.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,476 posts
 
If you trust measurements then Benchmark is outstanding compared to anything else.

If you trust ears then your taste is what matters and no amount of research can help as you need to audition....

That said, I am definitely hearing the lower noise floor with the DAC3 and it is truly remarkable to my ears. I honestly did not think I could hear the difference between a typical high end 110 db noise floor and the 128db of the DAC3 - so what I am hearing goes against my expectation bias.
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dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Excellent advice from the Benchmark rep re: the greater importance of accompanying digital and analog circuitry, minimization of noise, robustness of power supply and quality of AC filtering, vibration damping, etc on sound quality than the relatively small specification differences between two great DAC chips, R2R, FPGA, etc. on a test bench.

Dave
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