[Distroyed]

My Dac1 runs pretty hot after a few hours of having it on. Of course, there's no off switch, which makes me assume that Benchmark designed to be safe to run 24/7, even at the temperature it reaches (not enough to burn upon touch, but you can feel the heat a good inch away). Is this being presumptive; does one need to unplug the dac1 on a regular basis?

 

[dip16dac]

Mine is just warm and if I have one inch of space under it, it is barely warm. Have you opened it up to find out where all the heat is coming from? It should not be running hot. Seems like something is wrong.

 

[Distroyed]

Well, I guess it could be considered "warm" rather than hot...it's kind of borderline. But it warms up my headphone plugs for sure. I'll take a temperature reading later and post it. Would giving it an inch of space from the surface help cool things down?

 

[dip16dac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Distroyed Well, I guess it could be considered "warm" rather than hot...it's kind of borderline. But it warms up my headphone plugs for sure. I'll take a temperature reading later and post it. Would giving it an inch of space from the surface help cool things down?

Yes, the voltage regulators are bolted to the bottom as a heatsink. Air flow under it cools it better.

I plug it into a power strip and use that to turn it off overnight.

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Distroyed Well, I guess it could be considered "warm" rather than hot...it's kind of borderline. But it warms up my headphone plugs for sure. I'll take a temperature reading later and post it. Would giving it an inch of space from the surface help cool things down?

Mine has lots of space above and it gets slightly warmer than the Prehead amp.
Class A gear is supposed to get warm, this technology wastes a lot of energy in order to gain higher SQ.
The downside of running such gear 24/7/365 is a reduced life expectancy.
From what I've learned (I'm no expert) you can expect failure within 10 years due to broken caps.
My Benchmark is running about ten hours per day for 4 months now.

 

[Distroyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmopragma Mine has lots of space above and it gets slightly warmer than the Prehead amp. Class A gear is supposed to get warm, this technology wastes a lot of energy in order to gain higher SQ. The downside of running such gear 24/7/365 is a reduced life expectancy. From what I've learned (I'm no expert) you can expect failure within 10 years due to broken caps. My Benchmark is running about ten hours per day for 4 months now.

That blows! Is that costly to replace or will the damage be too excessive for an economic repair?

I measured the temp, it's running at 96* F... i threw a few thin pieces of wood feet under it so now it's raised up an inch. I'll retake the temp again in a few hours.

 

[Distroyed]

4 or so hours later, the temp is 91...but the room temperature dropped by 4 degrees, so that isnt conclusive.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I wouldn't worry about it. FWIW I leave mine on 24/7. I figure if my CPU can tolerate much higher temps 24/7 for years it should be ok..

 

[Distroyed]

Its back up to 95 after using it for the past few hours straight. I've emailed Benchmark about it, so they should reply by Monday.

Peter, have you measured the temp of your Dac1? Does it reach the 90's?

 

[Edwood]

90's in Fahrenheit should really be no problem.
You should feel how hot my SAC gets.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmopragma From what I've learned (I'm no expert) you can expect failure within 10 years due to broken caps.

Even the crappiest caps in computers can take 105 degrees F at least.

I'd really question Benchmark's build quality if it can't handle temps of in the 90's Fahrenheit.

-Ed

 

[dmoffitt]

i wouldn't be concerned. btw, it's the thermal stresses of turning a unit on and off repeatedly that shorten life - my mu-fi xcan has no power switch either, but i'm by no means worried... and i leave my mu-fi trivista dac on all the time too...

 

[kunwar]

i would recommend keeping the component separate from other stuff
my unit is running at a cool 73 F. then again it is only about 75-80 here at the moment.

We will see what it gets to in summers.
then again I run a fan that blows air onto my gear's components to keep them cool. that really works.
I have a fairly large desk so it helps.


Kunwar

 

[Distroyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunwar i would recommend keeping the component separate from other stuff my unit is running at a cool 73 F. then again it is only about 75-80 here at the moment. We will see what it gets to in summers. then again I run a fan that blows air onto my gear's components to keep them cool. that really works. I have a fairly large desk so it helps. Kunwar

Dude, 73??? That must be a powerful fan.

 

[kunwar]

I meant in summers it would be around 110-120 F.
Right now it is wintery spring weather here. so in the room it is about 18 C.= 70 F. if mistakes in calcs, then excuse my math.
so yeah.
in summers thought the temp inthe room goes upto about 40C which I think is 125-130F. that would be interesting to see as well