Benchmark DAC1 Master Reference Converter
Benchmark DAC1 Master Reference Converter
The measurement standard
The Benchmark DAC1 has been the reference-check converter in professional rooms for twenty years. Its jitter immunity and flat, uncoloured output make it the perfect second opinion.
Our use for it
Cross-referencing. When a master sounds a certain way through the Violectric and the Avocet chain, we check it through the Benchmark before it leaves. If the two agree, the decision was about the music. If they disagree, something in the chain needs attention.
Headphone duty
It also drives the Audeze LCD-X for detail checks — clicks, edits, mouth noise, fades — where the monitor chain is the wrong tool.
How it sits in our chain
The Prism Sound Dream ADA-8XR is the main DAC and ADC on the Maselec MTC-2 and the converter feeding the Trinnov. The Benchmark DAC1 is one of the alternative DAC options — with the Crane Song HEDD and Violectric V800 — used as a cross-check against the Prism when we want a second, entirely uncoloured opinion on a decision.
Hardware info
Comparatively modest against the rest of this list, and one of the best value-per-decision purchases in the studio.
Hear it on your record
Book a master
This chain is available on every stereo and stem master we deliver from Manchester.