[TommyCat69]

I have only been a member of Head-fi for about a year and most of my posts are on the Audeze LCD-4 and King amp threads. I will be upgrading to the dac3 HGC and own the dac2 HGC. (Don't want to get myself in trouble here) Is there some sort of marketplace on this site that would allow that? Would be much better than going to eBay due to the target audience. Any comments/help very much appreciated.

 

[nordkapp]

I have only been a member of Head-fi for about a year and most of my posts are on the Audeze LCD-4 and King amp threads. I will be upgrading to the dac3 HGC and own the dac2 HGC. (Don't want to get myself in trouble here) Is there some sort of marketplace on this site that would allow that? Would be much better than going to eBay due to the target audience. Any comments/help very much appreciated.

You can click on the forums link here, where you will see sextion to sell. My suggestion is Audiogon. I have sold a huge amount of gear there. I think you will have better luck there.

 

[headwhacker]

Unfortunately, my local dealer won't receive the DAC3 until next year. He is still going to talk to Benchmark to arrange a sort of upgrade or trade in program. I decided not to return my DAC2 since I'm enjoying it so much. The difference is just not huge enough to me to wait for the next 2 months without the DAC2.
 
But I will definitely give the DAC3 a listen soon as I get my hands on a demo. So I will leave it to you guys for any impressions whoever gets the DAC3 soon.

 

[T Bone]

If you do decide to get one, let us know your impressions.

 
I just pulled the trigger on a Silver DAC3 HGC.  
I hope that this is the significant upgrade over the Oppo HA-1 and a good match for my Audeze LCD-3 headphones that I am expecting.  

 

[TommyCat69]

Will drive the LCD-3s no problem

 

[nordkapp]

I just pulled the trigger on a Silver DAC3 HGC.  

I hope that this is the significant upgrade over the Oppo HA-1 and a good match for my Audeze LCD-3 headphones that I am expecting.  

Awesome. Do give us feedback.

 

[nordkapp]

Benchmark will be releasing the DX model in several weeks.

 

[headwhacker]

   
I just pulled the trigger on a Silver DAC3 HGC.  
I hope that this is the significant upgrade over the Oppo HA-1 and a good match for my Audeze LCD-3 headphones that I am expecting.  

 
Great, waiting for your impressions.

 

[headwhacker]

I have only been a member of Head-fi for about a year and most of my posts are on the Audeze LCD-4 and King amp threads. I will be upgrading to the dac3 HGC and own the dac2 HGC. (Don't want to get myself in trouble here) Is there some sort of marketplace on this site that would allow that? Would be much better than going to eBay due to the target audience. Any comments/help very much appreciated.

 
You may want to do an AB test first before selling DAC2. After all, you can return DAC3 within 30 days if you don't think it's good enough improvement over DAC2.

 

[T Bone]

My Benchmark DAC3 HGC arrived last night.
I am not quite ready to give a full review, but here's a few teaser/unboxing pix. 
Sorry for the picture quality - just a few crappy iPhone pix I snapped while unpacking the DAC3.
 

 
 

 

 
This will probably be the only time the remote sees the light of day.  I have no use for it.
Barely visible in the bag w/ batteries is a spare fuse.  You don't see that often.

 
Visually, it's practically indistinguishable from DAC2.  

 
All business in the back!  Just what you would expect from Benchmark.

 

 

[T Bone]

I had a bit of difficulty getting the Benchmark DAC3 to play DSD content out of the box, but I quickly figured it out.
 
JRiver Media Center (Version 22) was throwing the following error.  

 
In Media Center, check the driver properties and make sure DSD bitstreaming is configured.

 
Next you must make sure the driver is streaming DSD in DoP format!
This is the step that I forgot!  ....don't make my mistake!

 

[T Bone]

When I was initially considering the Benchmark DAC3 HGC, I was a bit dismayed that the there was only a single-ended headphone jack.
At the > $2k price point, I felt the absence of a balanced headphone output was significant. 
....then I read an interesting blog by Benchmark's VP & Director of Engineering - John Siau.  (link below)
 
Audio Myth - Balanced Headphone Amplifiers Are Better
 
I am in no way qualified to argue for or against his position.  I am sharing it here in this thread to help other Benchmark buyers understand the REASON you won't see balanced headphone connections on Benchmark latest headphone DAC/amp. 

 

[nordkapp]

Congrats T Bone. Yeah I had to sort out the Jriver DSD settings myself. They make a good case for single ended vs. balanced outs. It makes sense to me-is speaker wire balanced? No.

 

[T Bone]

Do you own a screwdriver?  Do you like taking crap apart?  How about tiny screws and even tinier jumpers?  ...then the Benchmark DAC3 is for you!
 
If you want to adjust the gain of the headphone jacks or the XLR output - you'll be doing that by setting jumpers.
 
Here's a pix of the four jumpers controlling the XLR gain settings

 
Same story with the headphone gain.  These little b*stards can be a little difficult to reach - tweezers are recommended.

 
...and since the cover is off, how about a gratuitous shot of the inside of the unit for fun.

 

[T Bone]

One of the quirky features of the Benchmark DAC3 is the boot sequence / lamp test.  
It's not uncommon for manufacturers to configure their equipment to perform a lamp test at startup.  Benchmark takes the idea one step further by incorporating a flashing light sequence to indicate the firmware version.  The rapid simultaneous flashing of the A1 & HT lamps indicate version that this device is on version 1.1 of the firmware.  pretty geeky.  (sort of reminds me of some old networking gear I configured in a previous life) 
Also you'll notice the volume control moving on its own accord.  It zeros itself out at power off and buzzes to the last known setting at power on.