DAC1 Audiophile Comments
The DAC1
The DAC1 is the most sensational product I have ever
come across!
I bought the DAC1 a couple of months ago; do you think I
am happy with it?
My wife has always been critical of all this stuff.
After I bought the DAC1 I arranged an audition for her, and when it came to
Katie Melua's “The Closest Thing To Crazy”, she was totally swept away, I am
almost sure I saw some tears in her eyes, she had to listen to the song 5 times
in a row…
My system now consists of:
- Denon DCD 2560, CD transport
- DAC1
- Basically dirt cheap cables, except for a Kimber
Select Interconnect from the
DAC1 to the amp
- Krell KAV 400xi
- Meadowlark Kestrel2
- Cables to be upgraded, hopefully two sub's will enter
the room, and finally a better CD transport will be provided (Probably A Creek
CD 50 Mk II or Arcam FMJ CD 36)
I have, however, not a well enough performing system to
even be close to approaching the limitations of the DAC1.
An example to illustrate this:
The most serious high end store (in my opinion) in
Bergen now solely relies on the DAC1. A couple of days ago I auditioned his new
top of the line system; some of the products actually carry quite a reasonable
price tag:
- A regular Vincent CD player as transport
- DAC1
- The messenger preamp (Considered to be the best preamp
in the world!!)
- Spectron Power amp
- Von Schweikert VR 2 speakers
- “Standard cables” from Norwegian Renaissance Audio
The performance of this system is out of this world,
there is absolutely no way of thinking that there may be any kind of electronics
here, the pure dynamics is so unbelievable that it's almost scary, the
soundstage is utter pure magic, and the musical pleasure of this system is an
order of magnitude higher than anything I have ever heard. This system makes any
other high end system a plain joke (Perhaps this is due to the Messenger
preamp). The DAC1 is not holding back… I can't wait to hear this system with
really high-end speakers and “signature” cables…
Bottom line, The DAC1 is well performing enough to run
in any system no matter the price tag of the system…
The only thing even close to this that I have ever heard
is a super optimized Burmester, Audio Physic setup that I listened to once, in a
very optimized high end room, but this is not getting all the way up there… And,
we're talking about a total system cost of 6 figures in US $ (Burmester 001 CD
player, twin Burmester 956 power amps, Audio Physic Avanti III, Twin Audio
Physic Minos sub's, Nordost Valhalla Cabling all through, a 200lbs Power Filter
+++ ).
Anyone buying a DAC or CD player without considering or
at least auditioning
DAC1 must be out of his/her mind. The DAC1 will be in
the system for the rest of my life, it's the best bargain I have ever come
across. In fact, the DAC1 has changed my life.
Best regards
Name withheld by request
An owner from Norway
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Dear Allen,
I've had my DAC1 for approximately one day and can honestly say it is one
of the truly magical experiences I've had in my life. I'm not a recording or
mastering engineer, but have been an audiophile for the last 35 years. The
DAC1 has provided me with every bit of reality in the music I listen to, but
until the DAC1, have only been able to fantasize or imagine!! After years of
piecing together different equipment to get the very best sound I could afford,
-
and falling short, I can now just sit back listen and enjoy with utter pleasure.
I'm having a DAC1 party this weekend and plan on introducing this gem to a
bunch of my audiophile friends.
Thank you for a great product.
Sincerely,
Robert Jackson
Houston, Texas
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Hello Mr. Burdick,
I just wanted to thank you for the Benchmark DAC1, it has been a major part of
finally completing a stereo system that brings me great pleasure and doesn't
leave me wondering what my next upgrade will be in pursuit of audio nirvana! My
system consists of the DAC1 (Sony S7000 DVD player), 300B ASL amps and Swans
Allure speakers. My vinyl was unneeded after this sweet digital hit my door and
that portion of my system is history, not to mention several preamps, that were
all trounced with the DAC1.
Bill Anderson
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“As to the DAC1, I
had quite high expectations after reading about it on the Mastering Webboard and
in the Gearslutz forum, and I must say that these high expectations have been
surpassed. Wow. It makes my PSX-100 sound like a Sansui in comparison.
I spent hours (and more to follow) rediscovering my CD collection. The width of
the image has grown a meter each side of my monitors. I am hearing things
never picked up before (have you ever heard the bumblebees buzzing on The
Division Bell?). Strength to Benchmark.”
Tim Lengfeld –
South Africa
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Well, my first response was a cautious
optimism; am I really hearing such a marked improvement or is it just in my
head? Now, after using it for some 20 hours of sessions, I'm convinced. What I'm
hearing is really great.
Words? Sweeter and more sense of the sound stage. And on a minor note, the range
of the front gain control is very good, especially when combined with the 20 db
pads.
I'm really happy with it.
Thanks again.
Steve Paglierani
West Haverstraw, NY
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Back in the UK - WOW! The DAC1 totally lived up to my
expectations. Hearing it was reminiscent of the first time I ever wore stereo
headphones - it's like opening up a whole new set of ears... my first impression
is that my very high expectations were totally justified.
Best regards,
Kevin
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Dear Benchmark,
I lost four hours of my morning when I hooked up my new DAC1. It took a minute
to connect and and well over three hours to pull myself away from the music. I
noticed that you added detents to the volume control—that was a wish I read in
some of the online comments. Very nice. But on to the sound.
I am thrilled, and appalled. The sound is everything that people have been
describing in their online comments: smooth, musical, very clean, detailed,
engaging, neutral, revealing. The bass is tight and extended (but not
artificially emphasized, what is recorded is what is heard). The midrange is
magical—liquid and pure and realistic (wonderful with vocals; palpable). And
the highs are crystalline—not harsh or brash or garish, just open and
uninhibited; again real and tactile. In complex musical passages (a mass of
strings, a choir, or Neil Young with Crazy Horse on "The Year of the
Horse") the DAC1 is wonderful at presenting the layers of sound, the
individual instruments and voices, the textures. And the sense of hall space is
also very real. There is nothing lacking in the music reproduced through the
DAC1 (except digital grunge).
The sales staff at Benchmark told me that badly-recorded CDs would sound
"bad." That's exactly what should happen with good equipment! I don't
find it "bad" to listen to poor-quality recordings on revealing
equipment—it puts me as closely in touch with the music as the recording
engineers have allowed, and that's a good thing.
What appalls me is that Stereophile could place the DAC1 in Class B of its
recommended components list (Oct. 2003). I own a Link DAC III, which has long
been a Stereophile Class B DAC, and the DAC1 is far better. There is really no
comparison, and anyone considering a DAC upgrade should be aware that the DAC1
is among the best available. In the Stereophile mini-review (http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/886/index1.html)
the author, John Marks, compares the DAC1 to the Grace 901, a $1500
headphone-only DAC that is listed as a Class A component. He concludes that the
Grace has a "slightly more luscious" midrange and a
"sweeter" treble: that's the extent of it. These are very subjective
judgments. I would bet that among ten listeners, at least five would find
"luscious" and "sweeter" to simply be a slight coloration to
the sound, a trade-off rather than an advantage. By comparison, however, the
DAC1 is leaps and bounds better, and objectively so, than my Class B Link DAC
III.
The MSB Link DAC III (with 96 mHz upsampling option) has a smeared and harsh
midrange, less bass extension and definition, and less detail across the
frequency range compared to the DAC1. The Link DAC III has a higher noise floor
(not velvet black like the DAC1), and it has grain that translates into
listening fatigue. The DAC1 is superbly non-fatiguing—a real joy. So consider
the Stereophile Class B grade to be a misprint: the DAC1 is Class A (and perhaps
down the road they will correct the error). I haven't heard the DACs that cost
thousands of dollars, but I'm not feeling jealous. I suspect that the
improvements, if any, are not earth shattering.
Finally, I reiterate a point made in another set of user comments: preamps can
become obsolete with the DAC1. I fed my Marsh A200s amplifier directly from the
RCA outputs on the DAC1 (using the factory-set output level) and the amp sounds
cleaner than it does when the signal passes through my Marsh P2000 preamp (which
is very good but can't compete with the direct path). In fact, the DAC1 is going
to earn me money: I can return the $1,200 Marsh under 30-day trial, and I can
sell my Berning MicroZOTL tubed headphone amp. I suspect that many people who
only need a system for CD playback could also profit from a DAC1, both
financially and audibly.
Many thanks to the folks at Benchmark. It's clear from the steady, minor
revisions to the DAC1 and from its exceptional quality that the people at
Benchmark are both talented and dedicated to the highest standards. The DAC1 is
one of those pieces of equipment that immediately befriends you for the long
term.
Yours,
Charles Dunlap
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