Instruction Manual for DAC3 HGC and DAC3 L with 2.X Firmware Page 5
Introduction
Applications
The DAC3 is a professional reference-grade
audio digital to analog converter with
Benchmark's HPA2™ headphone amplifier.
The DAC3 supports 24-bit D/A conversion of
PCM at sample rates up to 192 kHz. It also
supports direct conversion of 1-bit DSD at a
2.8224 MHz sample rate. It is designed to be
very transparent and this makes it well-suited
for critical monitoring in studio control rooms
and mastering rooms.
The DAC3 is also well-suited for high-end
hi-fi environments. It includes a generous
collection of inputs and outputs and can serve
as the central component in any stereo hi-fi
system. The DAC3 provides D/A conversion,
source selection, volume control, and
headphone amplification. A remote control,
12V trigger, and home theater bypass
function provide the features needed in a
home environment.
The DAC3 is designed to directly drive a wide
variety of power amplifiers and powered
monitors. The balanced outputs include low-
impedance passive pads that can be adjusted
to optimize the interface between the DAC3
and the power amplifier. This optimization can
provide substantial improvements in the
system-level SNR and THD+N performance.
DAC3 vs. DAC2
The DAC3 builds upon Benchmark’s highly
successful DAC2 product family. The DAC3
maintains the familiar DAC2 form factor, but
adds the higher performance available from
the new ES9028PRO D/A converter. The
DAC3 offers the following improvements over
the DAC2:
• Active 2nd Harmonic Compensation
• Active 3rd Harmonic Compensation
• Lower THD
• Lower passband ripple
• Improved frequency response
• Increased Dynamic Range
• Faster PLL lock times
• Faster switching between inputs
DAC3 vs. DAC1
The DAC3 and DAC2 add these features that
are not found on the DAC1:
• Asynchronous 192kHz USB Audio 2.0
• 32-bit D/A conversion system
• Word Length Display
• Sample Rate Display
• Polarity Control
• Direct DSD D/A Conversion
• -20 dB DIM
• Bi-Directional 12V Trigger
• Power Switch with Auto-On Function
• Home Theater Bypass
• Digital Pass-Through
• High-Headroom DSP
• Dual-Domain Hybrid Gain Control
• Additional I/O
DAC3 Technologies
4:1 Parallel Conversion Structure
The conversion system in the DAC3 achieves
a 6 dB signal to noise improvement through
the use of 4:1 summing. The ES9028PRO D/A
is an 8-channel 32-bit converter. In the
DAC3, four channels are summed in the
analog domain to form each of the two output
channels.
The 4:1 summing also improves the THD. The
non-linearities in individual conversion
channels are averaged across the four
summed channels and incoherent non-
linearities are attenuated by 6 dB.
Harmonic Compensation
The ES9028PRO has two distortion
compensation systems that independently
remove most of the 2nd and 3rd harmonic
distortion in the D/A converter. Benchmark's
ultra-clean analog output stages allow these
systems to be fully leveraged in the DAC3.
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