[decooney]

New Benchmark DAC3 B is out of the box, up and running tonight for a 1st listen.

I'M REALLY NOT SURE HOW TO WRAP MY MIND AROUND THIS THING STARTING OUT. I'm coming from an Arcam irDAC with Burr Brown chips set. Former DAC was kinda smooth w/some detail. Now on to this Benchmark. Its really different. Wow, maybe overwhelming.


First impressions hours 1-3: Not sure if I like it or not yet. Brain needs to adjust to this.

Early Pros:
-Larger and wider sound stage right off the bat. The first 10-15 minutes was a bit cold, edgy.
-A bit more forward than I'm use to with my lush tube preamp / tube amp vintage tubes.
-More sound and information coming out all over across the music spectrum.
-Hearing background details and echo sounds more than before forward, mid, back.
-It's almost like there is 15-20% more apparent sound now in comparison. Kinda odd 4 me.
-Break-in? Benchmark said "no break in" yet I hear a different at hour 3-4, a tad smoother.
-I can tend to play it at a lower volume and still hear a lot of detail if low-level listening is important.
-GOOD recordings can really sound great with this DAC. It brings out the good stuff. Can do the same with bad though.

Early Cons:
Can be a little overwhelming at first if you are use to a more laid back smooth sound like I am.
A little too forward at times for me, but this also brings other details I could not hear as much with my prior laid bak DAC.
Fatigue. I had it up a the same volume as I normally play. Wife complained it was "too loud". Maybe too forward, more detail, edgy at times.
My Dog barks more. It's as if he hears new stuff and background noises going on now, and runs outside looking for something. Kinda funny.
-BAD recordings still sound bad, harsh. No masking going on here like a smooth tube amp can do. This DAC brings out the bad stuff too.

Mid to Highs:
Definitely more open and transparent top-end 25% of range. Makes it more forward though.

Bass:
Seems tighter and faster. Lows go low, but I don't notice it going as low as before now that upper mid bass is more present, tighter, faster than before...for whatever reason.

Guitars:
I tend to focus on the sound of guitars and different tracks. I play some older 80s/90s music that was not recorded as well (on purpose). Also, tried a few newer songs where i'm use to the sound of a particular guitar and player and can say one thing for sure, this DAC gets guitars RIGHT. Was not expecting that.

Pianos:
Sounds pretty natural. Better than my last two DACs. Definitely hearing better tone with guitars and pianos, or maybe I just key in on these things.

Voices:
More tone and gravel to voices comes through for sure. Perhaps this is because the overall sound is more transparent, i don't know.


Initial impressions 1st night:
For the first 15-30 minutes I felt as if I would be sending it back quickly. While my tube preamp and tube amplifier was already warmed up I gave this DAC a chance to run now for 4 hours solid. Now going into the 5th hour all the sudden it's as if its starting to smooth out a little (opposite of what the Benchmark Tec said), he told me there was "no break-in required". Not sure why, its not my ears, it's starting to grow on me a little now after more time on it the first night.
The part that is playing tricks on my brain is how more overall sound seems to be present, it makes it seem as if the sound is a little more forward, yet if I listen closely, I can still hear stuff going on in the background too.

There is no discernible signature to the sound. its as if I can hear everything now. Different.

It's almost as if it's TOO PERFECT if there is such a thing.

Closing Thoughts 1st night:
I am using my softer sounding interconnects and speaker cables too. No way i'd want to use my more transparent cables, it would be too much, too detailed. I'm more use to a smoother "polite sound" with my tube amps. With this new Benchmark DAC3 B, it's a tad closer to my former solid state sound or maybe about half way between my former SS amps and my tube gear I'm running now. Very interesting. Had no idea a DAC change could change the sound that much. Better, not sure, different, yes, engaging, yes. Smooth, sort of, getting better with more burn in time on the DAC, not sure why.

QUESTION:
I'm wondering IF this new Benchmark Dac will smooth out even more with more break-in time (opposite of what the Benchmark Tec told me) This week I found two guys had this Bemchmark, kept their other dacs and this one too, maybe i see why. I'm running through all of my music hearing new subtle details with every song.