[Roasty]

Is there a way to turn off the led lights on the front panel?

 

[nordkapp]

Is there a way to turn off the led lights on the front panel?

Yes

 

[Roasty]

Yes

Great. How do u do it? I can't seem to find it in the manual.

 

[Kozwoz]

I've owned the dac3 for a long time now... there is no way of turning off the blue led's as far as I know. If it's really bothering you can use a couple strips of electrical tape although not ideal. I personally like the led's whilst also conveying useful information.

 

[nordkapp]

Great. How do u do it? I can't seem to find it in the manual.

Sorry. I thought this was the HPA4 thread. No. There is no way to turn them off

 

[rkt31]

Put a translucent paper tape on led or cello tape and color the tape with a permanent marker of your color choice . My ahb2 amp has blue led which can be bright and i did tape thing.

 

[Majestyk]

My impressions....airy, fast, dynamic, incredible frequency extension, neutral but others claim too analytical. Not the most romantic sounding. Different horses for different courses. Plenty of reviews. All positive.

Isn't analytical just a fancy way of saying neutral? Nevertheless, I'd rather a DAC be analytical than warm or smooth or "romantic" sounding. Coloring the DAC is never a good idea. Leave that to the speakers.

 

[Christoph]

Isn't analytical just a fancy way of saying neutral? Nevertheless, I'd rather a DAC be analytical than warm or smooth or "romantic" sounding. Coloring the DAC is never a good idea. Leave that to the speakers.

Some people associate analytical with a cold sound signature, but for me its as you mentioned neutral when you mean 'sound colour'.
But analytical is more than just neutral, apart from the sound colour it describes also the ablility of separation of instruments or sounds.

I agree that a DAC should sound as neutral as possible, a sound color will be added in most of the cases by the speakers / headphones.

 

[340519]

Isn't analytical just a fancy way of saying neutral? Nevertheless, I'd rather a DAC be analytical than warm or smooth or "romantic" sounding. Coloring the DAC is never a good idea. Leave that to the speakers.

I like my benchmark dac 1 and 2 neutral/analytical. I do not want warm or romantic, just the truth.

 

[Kozwoz]

The DAC3 is dry in the bass and treble. There is something about the bass and treble speed, the attack and decay which makes it incredibly fast and snappy. This is a sound profile in itself, a defining characteristic. 'Neutral' is just a oversimplifications. People who have listened to DAC3 for a short amount of time think it is colourless but I disagree entirely. Having listened to it everyday for nearly 3 years I can tell you it has a particular sound. I am of course referring to the analogue outputs. The headphone amp on the HGC variant is even more coloured.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Isn't analytical just a fancy way of saying neutral? Nevertheless, I'd rather a DAC be analytical than warm or smooth or "romantic" sounding. Coloring the DAC is never a good idea. Leave that to the speakers.

I completely agree with this! Except for the obvious spelling mistake of the word "colouring".

 

[Christoph]

DAC2 was introduced end of 2012 when i got it right.

DAC3: This thread was started Nov 2016 when the DAC3 was introduced.

DAC4: ???
No rumours about a DAC4 yet...in case it is the same product cycle, then we have at least wait until the end of next year (2020) ??? ...but just speculating...

 

[340519]

DAC2 was introduced end of 2012 when i got it right.

DAC3: This thread was started Nov 2016 when the DAC3 was introduced.

DAC4: ???
No rumours about a DAC4 yet...in case it is the same product cycle, then we have at least wait until the end of next year (2020) ??? ...but just speculating...

When I called benchmark and talked to Rory he basically said there would be no dac4. The 3 is the pinnacle and would be difficult to improve he said.

 

[Christoph]

@dmdm
This might be true, but there is always space for improvements. Otherwise this would mean the line is discontinued and this happens usually only to not successful products.

I don't think the DAC3 is the last DAC of all times from Benchmark, at least i hope it isn't.

It's also a question from the company point of view, if the current product (DAC3) still sells fine and how much engineering effort it's worth to put into a new product.

The update could be to the latest Sabre ES9038 Pro in dual mono mode, following the current concept - just as an example.
The user interface could also get some improvements, either dimmable LEDs as requested recently in this thread or a complete different UI.

 

[nycenglish]

In what way would you say the headphone output is colored?

The DAC3 is dry in the bass and treble. There is something about the bass and treble speed, the attack and decay which makes it incredibly fast and snappy. This is a sound profile in itself, a defining characteristic. 'Neutral' is just a oversimplifications. People who have listened to DAC3 for a short amount of time think it is colourless but I disagree entirely. Having listened to it everyday for nearly 3 years I can tell you it has a particular sound. I am of course referring to the analogue outputs. The headphone amp on the HGC variant is even more coloured.