AHB2 Technical Analysis - Robert E. Green, The Absolute Sound
AHB2 - "A Technical Tour de Force Without any Question"
"The Benchmark amplifier is quieter than any other amplifier I am aware of."
"It has noise of around 110 dB down relative to 1 watt, and since it has 100 watts of power, the signal-to-noise ratio that is relevant to resolution is around 130 dB. Not quite enough for 24 bits in theory—130 dB corresponds to 21.5 bits—but in practice enough for anything."
"Each bit gives one 6.02dB of dynamic range. So 130dB of dynamic range corresponds to between 21 and 22 bits. This means that the amplifier is very unlikely to be a limiting factor in terms of signal-to-noise ratio—or equivalently, resolution."
"Do you hear noise from your speakers when there is no signal present? If not, making your amplifier quieter will not make any difference."
"But if you have for instance very high sensitivity speakers so that one watt is going to correspond to a lot of sound (e.g., over 100 dB for Klipschorns), and you are not going to go beyond that one watt very often, then the quietness of the Benchmark, of noise being 110 dB down from one watt, may come into play more emphatically."
"Most amplifier manufacturers give noise down from full output level, typically something like 110 dB down. If an amp has 100 watts, that is 20 dB above one watt, then the amount by which noise is down from one watt is maybe only 90 dB. So with a speaker with 100 dB sensitivity will put out 10 dB of noise. K-horns usually hiss a little at you when they are not playing if they are fastened up to a turned-on amplifier."
"In any case, no matter what kind of speakers you have, you are going to find the Benchmark dead quiet."
"The Benchmark also has extremely low distortion—among the lowest around and surely far below known thresholds."
"The Benchmark can be used in bridged mode, to give 400 watts into 8 ohms (actually 380W is specified). That ought to be enough for most applications except in extremely large rooms."
"The Benchmark AHB2 amplifier is a technical tour de force without any question."
- Robert E. Green, The Absolute Sound, April 2016
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LA4 Review - Mike Prager, FutureAudiophile.com
"Benchmark Media Systems made its reputation in both pro audio and audiophile circles by designing gear with extraordinarily low noise and distortion, and selling it at reasonable prices."
"What Makes the Benchmark LA4 Preamp So Special?"
"A high-quality volume control is much of what makes a superior preamp shine, and the Benchmark’s volume control is outstanding. The Benchmark LA4 uses a bank of precision resistors switched by gold-contact relays to set volume in 256 steps of 0.5 decibels each."
"If accurate reproduction is your wish, you won’t find a preamp with meaningfully better objective performance than the Benchmark LA4, especially one made in the United States at anything near the LA4’s price."
"Very few preamps at any price reach the LA4’s level of objective performance."
"On the subjective end of things, the Benchmark LA4 preamp puts the lie to the old audiophile myth that neutrality means clinical, cold, or sterile sound. Instead, here neutrality means musical, involving sound, with precise, stable imaging, a sense of space (if one is on the recording), and exceptionally truthful timbres."
- Mike Prager, FutureAudiophile.com
AHB2 Review - Mike Prager, Future Audiophile
"For years, the audio world acknowledged one main contender (at least at sub-five-figure pricing) for the quietest, cleanest, most neutral power amplifier around. That was the Benchmark AHB2, whose specifications are still, for all practical purposes, unsurpassed, even by today’s excellent Class-D amps."
"10 years after its release, the Benchmark Media Systems AHB2 stereo power amp is still a standard-bearer in clean, neutral sound in the audiophile world."
"I greatly enjoyed having a pair of AHB2s in my system – their purity, neutrality, and seemingly unlimited power provided a clear window on the music and a lot of joy."
"I especially appreciated the AHB2’s smooth, well-integrated treble, free of splashiness or grain, and its natural reproduction of the human voice."
- Mike Prager, Future Audiophile