Benchmark DAC3 B

REVIEW
Alan Sircom
May 13, 2025

Benchmark Media Systems’ no-nonsense approach to all things audio is rare today. The company doesn’t make products with mind-bogglingly heavy chassis. It doesn’t use components made by the Capacitor Ancients or circuit boards resting on magic pads made from panda eyelashes. It doesn’t charge its customers like a wounded buffalo. And it doesn’t opt for rare file formats that no one has ever used, despite enthusiasts thinking they sound clever. All that might be a double-edged sword in the Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B digital converter.

Why? The Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B’s on-paper specifications are truly impressive if you know what to look for. If you don’t, and digital audio is another game of ‘bigger is better,’ the DAC might not immediately stand out. For example, MQA and anything above DSD64 are MIA; for some, that means it is DOA!

PCM tops out

Similarly, PCM tops out at 24bit, 192kHz through USB and the same pathway process 2xDSD and 4xDSD through DoP 1.1, but it does process these files natively. Coaxial S/PDIF bumps the PCM figure up to 24bit, 210kHz but optical is resolutely 24-bit, 96kHz. There’s no AES/EBU for audiophile CD replay or Ethernet connection for streaming. Audiophiles might be disgruntled at those numbers; although, in fairness, that’s not a group known for being easily gruntled.

In addition, the fit and finish of the DAC3 B is very ‘studio’ (there’s even optional rack-mount ‘ears’ that help reinforce that pro-audio heritage). It has good, solid RCA and XLR outputs, but unlike many DACs on the domestic audio circuit, these aren’t ‘name brand’ connectors, lovingly plated with bragging rights grade materials. As a DAC with a built-in switch-mode power supply, its case doesn’t need to be huge or made from inch-thick aluminium. Those with interconnects so thick and heavy you could use them for mooring a cruise-liner will grumble that their ‘peak butchness’ wire could lift the DAC off its equipment table. Still, even the most ‘light the pitchforks and sharpen the torches’ angry audio mob will like the Benchmark name etched deep into the DAC3 B’s front fascia.

Power in reserve

The beating heart of the Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B is the ESS Technologies’ ES9028PRO converter chip. The DAC3 B runs internal digital processing and conversion at 32-bits, summing the ESS chip’s eight converters into two output channels. This gives the DAC3 B 3.5dB of headroom above 0dBFS, meaning the DAC3 B has overload protection not seen on other DACs. It also has the latest version of Benchmark’s jitter attenuation system (UltraLock3) and doubles down on the digital demon with its multi-mode asynchronous USB system. This is effectively two asynchronous systems in one; controlling the transfer of data into the DAC, and further controlling that data as it moves from buffer to conversion. Benchmark also uses the distortion compensation facilities built into the ESS chip to reduce second and third order distortion.

The net result is a DAC that delivers lower distortion, lower noise, less passband ripple, faster signal switching and locking onto signals and a more linear frequency response. But, y’know… set against that it doesn’t do a grade of DSD where you’ll be lucky to find more than five tracks worldwide.

A dog in the fight

Audio people love their analogies, and they are usually car, watch, or camera-related because they are often common interests. Not this time though; we’re at the dog show. There seem to be two kinds of DACs in the world; floofy show dogs and utility dogs. The floofy things are high maintenance, sit in a handbag and draw ‘cooing’ sounds from admirers. Utility dogs just get on with the job. The Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B is very much on the utility side of things.

It doesn’t do the sort of immediacy and fireworks that many audiophile designs make such a song and dance about. Neither does it do that warm, round and cuddly sound that represents much of the other half of audiophile digital conversion. There is no magic to the DAC3 B’s sound… in a good way; no tinkly, unrealistic treble, no running-away-with-itself dynamics or plummy bass. It hands all the fireworks over to other parts of the system.

I’m used to DACs at its price being more impressive and seemingly detailed than the DAC3 B. But this isn’t that kind of DAC. Calling the company ‘Benchmark’ more than fits the bill; it’s a true benchmark in audio. In the proper sense of ‘something by which other products are judged’ and not ‘this is the best thing on the planet.’

Should it be lean?

It’s not that it’s ‘more neutral’ than other DACs. Instead, it asks the question; should this rival DAC really be ‘lean’ or ‘bright’ or ‘dark’ in the first place? It should be just a neutral component in the chain; well-engineered, yes, but engineered toward the goal of removing itself from making an impact on the sound, rather than stamping its footprint on the music. The Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B is very much in the ‘leave no trace’ school of good audio.

This all sounds like ‘damning with faint praise’ and it’s not meant to be, but the DAC3 B’s signal-processing goals are so at odds with what audiophiles have come to expect from a DAC it’s hard to describe the performance of a DAC that is singularly competent. It doesn’t trade bass for speed or accuracy for excitement and consequently those wedded to one of these aspects of a musical presentation will find the DAC3 B wanting. It isn’t at all. Yes, if you compare it to a DAC that has been artificially tailored to produce a particular sound, it won’t sound the same, but that doesn’t mean the tailored one is ‘right’.

This is a DAC that’s uniformly good at everything. It resolves well, has good imaging properties, although it’s wide more than deep, and there’s not much height information coming through. Vocals are articulate and project well, standing proud of the image if that’s in the mix. There’s a good sense of dynamic range too, neither overblown or insipid. It keeps pretty decent time, too. You could play any piece of music through the Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B and it returned an honest, accurate performance in all cases.

Bring on the LA4

I would have stayed being ‘okay’ with the DAC3 B were it not for another box that came with the DAC. The small £2,999 LA4 balanced line preamplifier also has ‘studio-chummy’ styling, and also happens to be one of the most transparent preamps I’ve heard.

Putting the two Benchmark products together suddenly made the DAC3 B talk sense to me. You don’t want the DAC to make its mark; it should sit in the background gently letting digital music turn analogue. That earlier ‘utility dog’ analogy was wrong; the DAC3 B is like the invisible yet super-competent musical butler. It doesn’t guide your music’s hand, it just makes sure that hand is available when needed. Couple a DAC with no intrinsic character with a preamp that does the same and suddenly that neutrality is something to strive for. There’s no magic here… just cool-headed enlightenment. And it’s great.

With all that digital headroom on tap, the DAC3 B shines in a way almost all other DACs cannot. It takes the recordings audiophiles find vile and offensive and makes them more approachable. Even that famed casualty of the Loudness Wars – Metallica’s Death Magnetic – gets a shot at redemption here. Sure, it’s still completely undynamic, to the point where even the silences are too loud, but that extra few dB above full-scale means the DAC isn’t screaming in pain at 0dB… and neither are you.

Not for show-offs

The Benchmark Music Systems DAC3 B isn’t the DAC for fireworks or showing off your system. Instead, it makes a balanced, honest sound that allows you to sit and listen to music for hours. That is what makes Benchmark’s products consistently popular with audio engineers. You don’t want ‘bright’ if you sit at a mixing desk 10 hours a day.

Maybe it took the fabulous LA4 preamp to see that neutrality in a positive light, but once there, it’s hard to step back. It may need that level of system rethink to find out just how little digital magic you really need, but the Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B will wait for you to catch up.

Technical specifications

Digital Inputs: 1x USB, 2x Optical, 2x Coaxial S/PDIF
Analogue Outputs: 2x RCA, 2x XLR
Input Sample Frequency range: 28-210kHz (coaxial), 28-96kHz (optical), 44.1-192kHz (USB)
Maximum input word length: 24bits
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz
THD+N: -113dBFS
Signal to Noise Ratio: 125dB
Crosstalk: -137dB at 20Hz, -130dB at 1kHz, -116dB at 20kHz
Input impedance: 75ohm
Available in black or silver, standard or rackmount
Dimensions (WxHxD): 24.9×21.6×4.5cm
Weight: 1.36kg
Price: £1,999/$1,899/€2,390