Native DSD and PCM Conversion, Studio-Quality Naturalism, and Trademarked Jitter Reduction Equate to Stellar Sound: U.S.A.-Built Benchmark DAC 3 B Also Features Harmonic Compensation

Want a reference DAC stripped to the core to keep costs manageable? Meet the Benchmark DAC3 B, which sounds exactly like its more expensive sibling, DAC3 HDC. How? It uses the very same circuit board and audio path, and simply eliminates a few extra features – the headphone amplifier, volume control, and analog inputs – to focus on the task at hand. Bolstered by an ESS Technologies ES9028PRO chip, trademarked jitter attenuation system, and active second and third harmonic compensation, DAC3 B offers native PCM and DSD conversion to analog. You'll experience finite details, spot-on precision, impeccable timing, and absorbing immediacy. Benchmark, indeed.

To make system integration easy, the American-designed and -built DAC3 B retains IR remote control (handset optional), 12 V trigger, and a programmable auto-on feature. It also adds a control-lock feature that turns off the remote control and locks the keypad to prevent tampering and accidental changes. The optional 1/2-width rack-mount faceplate allows the mounting of two units in a single 1-RU rack space. Benchmark's extended five-year warranty and our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee do the rest.

Sonically Neutral Studio-Quality Monitoring

All Benchmark converters are designed for maximum transparency. This transparency is absolutely essential in the studio monitoring chain. For this reason, DAC3 converters are ideal for critical reference-quality professional systems. Unlike many competing products, DAC3 is not designed to add euphonic coloration to the audio. Instead it is created to be as uncolored and natural as possible.

Virtually Perfect Jitter Reduction With Trademarked UltraLock3 System

The lightning-fast UltraLock3 is an improved version of the UltraLock2 system and provides virtually perfect jitter attenuation. DSP processing is 32-bits, DSP headroom is 3.5dB, sample rate is 211 kHz, and jitter-induced distortion and noise is at least 140dB below the level of the music - well below the threshold of hearing. Benchmark's UltraLock3 system eliminates all audible jitter artifacts.

High Headroom Features 3.5dB "Excess" for Coloration-Free Playback

All of the digital processing in DAC3 is designed to handle signals as high as +3.5 dBFS. Most digital systems clip signals that exceed 0 dBFS. The 0 dBFS limitation seems reasonable, as 0 dBFS is the highest sinusoidal signal level that can be represented in a digital system. However, a detailed investigation of the mathematics of PCM digital systems will reveal that inter-sample peaks may reach levels slightly higher than +3 dBFS while individual samples never exceed 0 dBFS. These inter-sample overs are common in commercial releases, and are of no consequence in a PCM system until they reach an interpolation process. But virtually all audio D/A converters use an interpolation process. The interpolation process is absolutely necessary to achieve 24-bit state-of-the art conversion performance. Unfortunately, inter-sample overs cause clipping in most interpolators. This clipping produces distortion products that are non-harmonic and non-musical . We believe these broadband distortion products often add a harshness or false high-frequency sparkle to digital reproduction. DAC3 avoids these problems by maintaining at least 3.5dB of headroom in the entire conversion system.

Multi-Mode Asynchronous USB System Supports USB2.0 and DSD

Benchmark's USB system supports USB Audio 2.0, DSD, and USB Audio 1.1. It will follow sample-rate changes initiated by the computer and/or the media playback software. In all modes, the USB communications are asynchronous in order to eliminate unnecessary sources of jitter. DAC3 has a low-jitter master clock that controls the transfer of audio data from the computer to the USB sub-system. The computer asynchronously transfers audio data to a buffer in DAC3. The contents of the buffer are then asynchronously transferred to the D/A conversion subsystem. This second asynchronous transfer eliminates any traces of jitter that accumulate as the data is transferred between the USB and conversion subsystems. No traces of jitter-induced distortion are measurable to Benchmark's measurement limits (better than -150 dBFS). So you can enjoy the convenience of computer playback without compromise. The asynchronous USB system supports USB Audio 2.0 for high-resolution 192kHz and DSD playback. An asynchronous, driverless USB Audio 1.1 mode supports sample rates up to 96kHz. This USB mode can be selected from the front panel or from the remote control. The USB subsystem remains active when DAC3 is powered down to prevents interruptions to the computer playback operations and eliminate the need to reconfigure the computer every time the converter is turned on.

Incredibly Low THD Via Quad 32-Bit Balanced Conversion

Four balanced 32-bit D/A converters deliver audio to Benchmark's low-impedance current to voltage converters. The 4:1 redundancy reduces noise and distortion to beguiling levels. The conversion system at the core of DAC3 is superb and the analog circuits that follow the D/A converter carefully designed. The conversion system in DAC3 achieves a 6dB signal-to-noise improvement through the use of 4:1 summing. The ES9028PRO D/A is an 8-channel 32-bit converter. In DAC3, four channels are summed in the analog domain to form each of the two output channels. he 4:1 summing also improves the THD. The non-linearities in individual conversion channels are averaged across the four summed channels and incoherent non-linearities are attenuated by 6dB.

Two Harmonic Compensation Systems

The ES9028PRO chip has two distortion compensation systems that independently remove most of the 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortion in the D/A converter. Benchmark's ultra-clean analog output stages allow these systems to be fully leveraged in DAC3. To Benchmark's knowledge, no other D/A converter has lower THD.

Native DSD Conversion

All digital inputs on the DAC3 support native PCM or DSD conversion. From any input, DSD is transported with bit accuracy over DoP 1.1. DSD and PCM are both natively converted to analog. There are no DSD to PCM or PCM to DSD conversions to compromise the quality of the music. The DAC3 conversion system seamlessly switches between native PCM and native DSD conversion.

Direct Connectivity to Power Amplifiers

DAC3 converters are designed to directly drive power amplifiers and speakers. Benchmark converters feature adjustable low-impedance passive attenuators at the XLR outputs that can be used to optimize the interface to the power amplifier (or powered monitor). This unique Benchmark feature optimizes the gain staging between the DAC and the power amplifier. When audio stages are properly matched, each component in the audio chain is able to operate at its optimum signal level, and system performance is significantly improved.

Sample-Rate and Word-Length Indicators

Ever wonder why that 192 kHz 24-bit download on your computer just doesn't sound right? Your media player may be down-sampling to 44.1 kHz and/or truncating to 16-bits. Many computers and media players apply poor-quality sample rate conversion and truncation. Fortunately these problems can be eliminated with the selection a good frequency-agile media player. The sample-rate and word-length displays on the DAC3 confirm the proper operation of your media player.