Benchmark DAC1 PRE
A studio converter with a line input added. That was the whole point.
Overview
The DAC1 PRE is the version of Benchmark's DAC1 that finally lets analog sources in. The standard DAC1 and the DAC1 USB were digital-in-only converters with a headphone amp and a line out. The PRE adds a pair of unbalanced RCA analog inputs that bypass the converter entirely. They feed an all-analog signal path straight to the headphone jack and the line outputs. Benchmark's pitch was simple: customers loved the DAC1's sound and its headphone stage but couldn't run a turntable, a tape deck, or a console feed through the same box. Now they could.
The rest of the design is the same as its siblings. The converter section is the same ultra-low-jitter, low-distortion design that locks every incoming sample rate at 192 kHz and below to a 110 kHz internal rate. The 24-bit/192 kHz D/A conversion is the same award-winning circuit that made the DAC1 a fixture in control rooms. The headphone amp is derived from Benchmark's HPA-2 standalone, and it drives two stereo headphone outputs from the front panel. Around back there's a fixed/variable line-out switch. One more click of that switch mutes the line output for exclusive headphone listening, which owners of the earlier DAC1s never got.
The feature set leans toward the audiophile rather than the studio. There's no AES/EBU XLR digital input, which was standard on the DAC1 and DAC1 USB. There are no XLR balanced analog inputs either, just the RCA unbalanced input and an SPDIF RCA jack for wired digital, alongside TOSLink and USB. Balanced XLR outputs are present. The AdvancedUSB input supports native 96 kHz, 24-bit operation without driver software.
Pro Audio Review (September 2008, p.26) put the PRE through its paces and came away impressed by the analog side specifically — the reviewer found the RCA input's sound quality rivaling separate analog preamps costing three times the price, and noted the analog input's noise performance as excellent and very quiet. The same review confirmed the obvious: the PRE sounds identical to the standard DAC1 and the DAC1 USB, which is to say excellent, with 24-bit/96 kHz recordings rendered detailed and accurate with a wide, deep stereo image. In direct comparison against the reviewer's original 2002 DAC1, the newer analog-stage parts added a small but audible bit more detail at the edges of transients, especially through headphones.
That review also flagged the practical gripes. There's still no power switch on the DAC1 family. The reviewer complained about having to power down an entire strip just to turn off the Benchmark. The missing XLRs on both the digital and analog inputs were noted as a limitation for pro users, who can work around it with adaptor cables but shouldn't have to at this price.
Pricing wandered a little between announcements. Benchmark's own advertising billed the PRE as a "mastering-quality, stereo monitor controller" and a "stereo playback preamplifier" designed to act as the central hub in a high-performance stereo system, interfacing with CD and DVD players, music servers, satellite radio, digital cable boxes, and televisions. That's marketing copy, but it's not wrong about the use case.
For a collector, the PRE sits in an odd spot. It's a 2000s-era digital product, so the usual vintage-audio checklist doesn't apply. There are no capacitors to reform, no belts to replace, no mechanical wear to worry about. It does have a converter section that was considered reference-grade when new and a headphone amp that Pro Audio Review ranked among the best available, which is why the DAC1 family stayed in demand long after newer converters arrived. The PRE suits the listener who wants one box for both a digital front end and an analog source, with no separate preamp. The compromises are the missing power switch and the RCA-only analog input.
Pro Audio Review (April 2009, p.8) described the PRE as designed to be the central hub of a high-performance stereo playback system, and that's the most honest one-line summary available. It is not a pro console interface — the missing XLRs see to that — but it is a very good two-channel DAC with a genuinely useful analog input and a headphone stage that punches well above the box's half-rack footprint. Buyers chasing one today should expect the usual caveats for a digital product of this age: no power switch, driver support for the USB input tied to whatever operating systems Benchmark still accommodates, and a market that prices these on the strength of the converter rather than any vintage mystique.
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