This is a review and detailed measurements and comparison of Lynx Hilo professional DAC and ADC. The unit is on kind loan from member DallasJustice who uses it as an 8-channel DAC to drive his active JBL M2 speakers (together with Benchmark DAC3). In this review, I will be evaluating its DAC performance and comparing it to Benchmark DAC3. In Part 2, I will be measuring its ADC performance and comparing it to RME ADI-2 Pro.
The Lynx Hilo is a few years and today it retails for $2,300 from US major supplier of pro products, sweetwater. The Benchmark DAC3 despite being the same price, is DAC only. The Lynx Hilo has a large (though a bit grainy and low contrast) color touchscreen. That makes navigation far easier than competing devices. Its companion host control panel allows easy control just the same. So if you want a pro soundcard that is not a nightmare to navigate, this is it.
The unit is quite chunky but still desktop sized. Here you see it compared to Benchmark DAC3:
The unit only has balanced connectors so that is how I tested it. Levels of course can be adjusted and you can convert the balanced lines to levels compatible with consumer gear. For this testing, I focused on +24 dBu to match the Benchmark DAC3 I had just reviewed.
While the Lynx Hilo goes through some kind of USB plug-n-play configuration it does not expose itself as a sound card that way. As such, installation of drivers is mandatory for any operation which I did.
Let's get into the measurements and see how she does.
Measurements
As usual, let's look at our dashboard:
Looking at the frequency response it is ruler flat (earlier post was incorrect):
Comparing the THD+N distortion products versus Benchmark DAC3 we see higher levels:
It is unfortunately that its differential rises above DAC3 in mid-frequencies where our hearing is most sensitive.
The DAC3 out distances itself just the same in intermodulation distortion versus level:
That is a 9 dB difference. The DAC3 also doesn't go into clipping until -5 dBFS whereas the Lynx Hilo does so at -8 dBFS.
Our favorite measurement, the linearity, shows essentially perfect output from both DACs:
For pedantic reasons I have marked the 0.1 dB deviation points if you want to split hairs (in which case the Benchmark DAC3 goes to -114 dB vs -110 for Lynx Hilo). But again, both are at the limits of the measurement and variations can occur in each run at these levels. Error even at -120 dBFS is well under 0.5 dB.
Finally, here is the waveform for -90 dB sine wave:
Sans noise that is expected, it is an ideal looking sine wave indicating that reproduction of CD rate will be near ideal (the test however is run at 24 bits, not 16).
Summary
The Lynx Hilo is essentially without faults in its DAC performance. Yes, the Benchmark DAC3 is a bit cleaner with lower distortion but lacks ADC functionality, touchscreen UI, etc. So value wise, the Lynx Hilo is much better and is a recommended product.
Edit: fixed the incorrect frequency response graph.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchases using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).
The Lynx Hilo is a few years and today it retails for $2,300 from US major supplier of pro products, sweetwater. The Benchmark DAC3 despite being the same price, is DAC only. The Lynx Hilo has a large (though a bit grainy and low contrast) color touchscreen. That makes navigation far easier than competing devices. Its companion host control panel allows easy control just the same. So if you want a pro soundcard that is not a nightmare to navigate, this is it.
The unit is quite chunky but still desktop sized. Here you see it compared to Benchmark DAC3:
The unit only has balanced connectors so that is how I tested it. Levels of course can be adjusted and you can convert the balanced lines to levels compatible with consumer gear. For this testing, I focused on +24 dBu to match the Benchmark DAC3 I had just reviewed.
While the Lynx Hilo goes through some kind of USB plug-n-play configuration it does not expose itself as a sound card that way. As such, installation of drivers is mandatory for any operation which I did.
Let's get into the measurements and see how she does.
Measurements
As usual, let's look at our dashboard:
Looking at the frequency response it is ruler flat (earlier post was incorrect):
Comparing the THD+N distortion products versus Benchmark DAC3 we see higher levels:
It is unfortunately that its differential rises above DAC3 in mid-frequencies where our hearing is most sensitive.
The DAC3 out distances itself just the same in intermodulation distortion versus level:
That is a 9 dB difference. The DAC3 also doesn't go into clipping until -5 dBFS whereas the Lynx Hilo does so at -8 dBFS.
Our favorite measurement, the linearity, shows essentially perfect output from both DACs:
For pedantic reasons I have marked the 0.1 dB deviation points if you want to split hairs (in which case the Benchmark DAC3 goes to -114 dB vs -110 for Lynx Hilo). But again, both are at the limits of the measurement and variations can occur in each run at these levels. Error even at -120 dBFS is well under 0.5 dB.
Finally, here is the waveform for -90 dB sine wave:
Sans noise that is expected, it is an ideal looking sine wave indicating that reproduction of CD rate will be near ideal (the test however is run at 24 bits, not 16).
Summary
The Lynx Hilo is essentially without faults in its DAC performance. Yes, the Benchmark DAC3 is a bit cleaner with lower distortion but lacks ADC functionality, touchscreen UI, etc. So value wise, the Lynx Hilo is much better and is a recommended product.
Edit: fixed the incorrect frequency response graph.
-------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchases using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).
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