Benchmark DAC Questions - (Pro Studio Environment)

[gweb]

Hi, I've just signed up as I see posters have discussed the Benchmark DAC's in the past.

For a decade, I've used the DAC1 as my monitoring DAC in a pro studio setting. I recently decided to upgrade to the DAC3 HGC and start a new era, of sorts.

Without discussing the actual sound quality, on a practical level with the DAC3, I've noted that the volume control will go from zero - and the audio will stay inaudible whilst turning the knob clockwise until the sound suddenly 'kicks in'. Is this normal? I find it unusable as in the studio, an old trick is to monitor at super low volumes, to see if anything stands out... and I mean virtually silent. The DAC3 is not letting me monitor in such a way. The DAC1 will monitor as expected. I've now had to go back onto the DAC1 whilst I work out if I've missed something...

Can anyone shed light on the issue? Are DAC3's known for their inaccurate volume control?

 

[Martini]

I have both the DAC3B and HGC. Both of these have internal jumpers on the XLR Output, so you can adjust output to 0 dB, -10 dB or -20 dB. I suspect you need to adjust those to match the input sensitivity of your drive unit. The owners manual details on how to do this.

 

[gweb]

Thank you

 

[mdunjic]

Aren’t all Benchmark DAC3 variants set to 0db as default factory setting?