Should a dac run hot??

Cerrot - Benchmark gets hot when you place something on the top of it or enclose it otherwise. My Benchmark, sitting on the open shelf, is luke-warm.

Depends on the voltages inside and whether it uses linear regulators for DC. The more voltage drop through a linear regulator, the hotter it gets. Most use linears. Also if the transistors or op-amps run class-A, this will generate heat too.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Harnellt - Wadia is on the expensive side and you would probably like to keep it for a long time. The only perishable item, I know of, is electrolytic capacitor. Its life is temperature dependant and it shortens by half for each 10 deg C (18 deg F) temperature increase. The only way that unit (DAC) can dissipate temperature is thru air convection. If temperature is too high it means that convection is too low. Increase it by removing it from enclosed space, by increasing space around it and finally by using very small quiet fan. Tiny slow moving fan should be plenty - anything is better than free air convection.

Kijanki,

Thanks~I just checked it. I have my squeezebox on top of my benchmark (black diamond racing cones under benchmark and it's all on a taller shelf) and it is luke warm. Funny thing - when the benchmark input light is blue, it's warm; when it is red (no digital connection going through), it's hot. I make sure that it's on blue and all ok.

Thanks for your input.

Cerrot - Red light and hot - yes it is puzzling. Internaly AKM chip detects non-pcm stream and turns off processing. It should get cooler if anything - strange. I will check Benchmark's forum - maybe there is an explanation for that.