Fresh From the Bench: KanexPro HAECOAX HDMI Audio De-Embedder

This review explains the merits of the KanexPro HAECOAX, an HDMI audio de-embedder, which extracts the PCM datastream from your players HDMI output and feeds the datastream to an S/PDIF output at the disc’s full resolution. Gary Galo discovered the device some time ago, enabling him to extract digital high-resolution audio sources from HDMI signals. This article was originally published in audioXpress, July 2016.

Sescom, a manufacturer of professional audio transformers and interface technology from Mount Marion, N.Y., introduced a new range of attenuating line to mic level cables that provide properly matched mic level signals to popular video-recording DSLR cameras and other devices accepting mic level audio only. Available in two models, with RCA male plugs or with XLR female plugs, both models are also terminated with a 3.5mm stereo plug.

Benchmark Media Systems' DAC series of high performance digital-to-analog converters (DACs) have earned the respect of audio enthusiasts and professional users alike for their state-of-the-art performance, including exceptional audio transparency and vanishingly-low levels of noise and distortion. Now Benchmark has made its DAC3 even better with the upgrade to ESS Technology’s new ES9028PRO DAC chip. The DAC3 HGC, reviewed here, combines an analog preamplifier with the DAC. This article was originally published in audioXpress, July 2017.

Inspired by a presentation by Bill Whitlock, President of Jensen Transformers - a three-hour tutorial seminar titled “Audio System Grounding and Shielding: An Overview” - during the Audio Engineering Society convention in New York in 2007, Gary Galo decided to investigate a little more into the subject and do some reviews of the mentioned equipment.