John Siau Tears Down a Benchmark DAC3 Converter

Accuracy and Musicality

The DAC3 converter is popular in studios due to its accuracy and musicality. Benchmark A/D and D/A converters are specifically designed to accurately preserve the analog waveshape through cascaded A/D and D/A conversions.

Analog waveform accuracy is achieved using high-headroom digital processing, linear-phase non-aliasing lowpass filters, and low distortion analog output stages.  This topology has created a family of converters that are trusted by many of the world's finest recording and mastering studios. They are also enjoyed in many home hi-fi systems.

This is John's third teardown video. Soon he will be answering some of the many questions submitted by viewers.

Digital Headroom - Most DACs Don't Have what it Takes!

The Root Cause of the "Digital Sound"

Not entirely happy with digital audio? Does it sound harsh? Are certain high-frequency sounds overemphasized? Do you find analog audio more relaxing?

The problem may be your DAC. Most oversampled PCM DACs have a hidden problem that produces bursts of high-frequency distortion. These bursts are very short, but they often reach 10% distortion, and they can occur multiple times per second.

John Siau discusses this phenomena with Gene from Audioholics. Best of all, he demonstrates these effects using a Benchmark DAC1 and DAC3. The Benchmark DAC2 and DAC3 converters have "extra" DSP headroom while the 20-year old DAC1 was built the way most DACs are still built (no headroom above 0 dBFS).

"DACs need to be tested for digital headroom." - John Siau

Discover digital with a true analog sound.

DAC Filters - Live Demonstration

Watch Digital Filters Fail!

On the bench, John Siau feeds analog signals into an A/D converter and then feeds the digital output to a D/A converter.

Do the analog input and output waveforms match?

What happens if we string 16 Benchmark A/D and D/A conversions in series? Will the analog waveforms match?

What happens if we insert one other D/A converter in the chain of 16?

What happens if we select "improved" filters?

Only one Filter Worked!

The others Crashed and Burned!

Discover the surprising truth about digital filters. 

Benchmark's lead Engineer, John Siau, performs these tests live while discussing the results with Gene from Audioholics.

Benchmark Media Systems

203 East Hampton place, STE 2, Syracuse, New York 13206, United States

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