Benchmark DAC1 DAC
A few years ago Benchmark has become one of the companies that gave an impulse to the current revival of DACs. The company's reputation spread across the network in the manner of the real viral marketing. And although the Internet sometimes gives popularity to absolutely marginal products, DAC1 is really a masterpiece of engineering art.
Design of the front panel will not appeal to everyone, but in fact its filling is the embodied dream of audiophile: a linear power supply source, digital receiver of the highest quality, perfect DACs. The creators have paid great attention to the headphones output which differs from the usual combination of an operational amplifier and a pair of resistors. Benchmark uses several highly-productive integral schemes for the control over head phones and their technical characteristics are much higher than required for this function. However, we do not complain!
As expected from the model, clearly designed for professionals, you can find here a balanced output and digital AES/EBU input, also there is a choice between the calibrated analog output (settable through a couple of rigged resistors on the back panel) and the output, controlled from the front panel. The build quality is superb and to use DAC is very easy. Benchmark expressly mentions its system of jitter decrease - UltraLock: details of its implementation are unknown to us, but apparently it is quite effective.
If there was the aspect in the work of this DAC which caused some confusion, this was the scale of sound. And the matter is not in imaging, but in overall effect, i.e. in the combination of imaging with dynamics and tonal fullness. However, maybe the mentioned circumstance is only a symptom of extreme purity of DAC1 manner. Sometimes too clear audio play is perceived a little worse than expected, especially immediately after the listening - just because based on the previous experience we expect to find the roughness at high levels, and when we don't find it we suppose the worst. The device plays enough details and is surprisingly characterized by neutral tonal balance. The imaging is accurate and stable, you clearly feel air around the performers. In addition, real energy and life is felt in sound - our listeners mentioned this in all given musical fragments. In Led Zeppelin and Rachmaninoff DAC1 equally clearly caught a rhythmic base and drive of music, allowing emotions to open fully, so the listening wasn't boring. And, by the way, we really can't finish this review without an additional compliment to the excellent headphones output, which makes the already attractive offer much better for those, who frequently use them.
