Good measuring DACs vs.
I recently owned and compared a number of DACs in my system and was particularly interested in the sound of two "perfect measuring" DACs, the Mola Mola Tambaqui and the Benchmark DAC3 HGC. With either of those, it seemed every note came out clearly, cleanly, and accurately, without a hint of distortion. Both have been reviewed by Stereophile, and John Atkinson concluded his review measurements with,
"The Mola Mola Tambaqui offers state-of-the-digital-art measured performance. I am not surprised HR liked its sound."
and,
"Benchmark’s DAC3 HGC offers state-of-the-art measured performance. All I can say is "Wow!"
So, why is it that neither of these two objectively perfect DACs seem to emotionally engage me to the same level as my Mojo Audio Mystique EVO Pro, which is an R2R design using (basically antique) AD1862 "Z" chips? How can I not perceive the same levels of body, tone, or dimensionality from two DACs which exhibit "state-of-the-digital-art measured performance" and that really do nothing wrong?
Aha. Because the term "measured performance" means nothing. I can measure a ford truck and it is longer than a Ferrari. Does that make it faster? Just because numbers are published doesn't mean they sound better. That hack website that makes ridiculous claims to get clicks proves that. I won't name them. For engaging look at a Lampzator, any of the DHT models. Jerry |
I find the Stereophile review of DAC 3 HGC, to put it gently, weird. The reviewer was comparing it to PS Audio DSD by having PS Audio DSD connected to the Benchmark analog in, and stated he heard no difference between the two DACs. Well no 💩!!! I owned two Benchmark DACs, the DAC 1 years ago, and DAC 3 HGC fairly recently. I will say the DAC 3 HGC is slightly more musically engaging than the original DAC 1, but that’s not saying much. I sold it because it sounded like a studio monitoring tool, cool and dry, unable to convey emotion. Perfect measurements don’t translate to good sound. I stumbled upon an ASR review of the Marantz SA-10 SACD player on YouTube and watched it just for 💩s and giggles. The ASR crowd in the comments was hailing Amir for saving them $7400 because the $99 Chinese Toping DAC (his reference) measured much better. Well guess which unit sounds better and not just marginally… |
A lot of people like the sound of the Tambaqui and to clarify, I found it to be a more enjoyable sounding DAC than the Benchmark but neither provided the level of enjoyment for me in my system that my Mystique EVO Pro provides. Even the SMc DAC-2 is more musical. It is hard to verbalize since the Tambaqui basically had no audible flaws and had I not had other DACs here I probably could have been happy with it. Even the Benchmark is respectable for what it does, which is clear, clean, absolutely distortion-free sound, but for whatever reason, I am not hearing the level of emotion that I need in my reproduced music. Regardless of whatever flaws they may have, the EVO Pro and SMc DAC-2 both display a strong level of emotion in the music, IMO of course. m0ns List at sonusapparatus, under DACs, provides a description that is in alignment with what I hear from the Mojo Audio Mystique EVO Pro.
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