AHB2 Review - Russtafarian, AudioCircle.com
T.H.E. Show - Newport Beach 2014
"The more time I spend with Benchmark products, the more I'm impressed"
AHB2 - "Revealed a whole new layer of chorused vocals, reverb trails and swirling ambient space"
"Wow! What a great weekend. One of the highlights for me was hearing the Benchmark amp in my own system. Rory Rall graciously allowed me to take his back-up amp home Friday night. Paired with my DAC2 HGC, I was pretty stunned by what I heard. I expected quiet, resolution & transparency. What I didn't expect was the way the system relaxed and allowed the music to just flow. Playing the new Beck LP, the amp revealed a whole new layer of chorused vocals, reverb trails and swirling ambient space. Pretty impressive."
"The other Benchmark moment I'll share was at Mark Waldrep's AIX table. Mark had an Oppo player sending identical feeds to a Benchmark DAC2 HGC and an Oppo HA-1 DAC/ headphone amp with Oppo PM-1 headphones plugged into each. Once levels were set, comparing the two DACS was as easy as swapping phones. After listening back and forth for a few minutes, I looked at Mark and asked "am I hearing what I think I'm hearing?" He just nodded and smiled. The DAC2 was doing a much better job of driving the PM-1's than the HA-1. Ouch!"
"Call me a fan boy, but the more time I spend with Benchmark products, the more I'm impressed."
Thanks to Mal Kenney of Part-Time Audiophile for snapping this shot of Rory & I."
- Russtafarian, audiocircle.com
Also in Reviews
HPA4 Review - AP Mastering
"This is the best headphone amplifier that I have ever tested. In every conceivable metric, absolutely perfect."
"If you've got the money and you want something that is an engineering masterpiece, this is such a thing."
- AP Mastering
Benchmark System Review - Ricky Dasler, Living Sound, New Zealand
"With over 40 years as an audiophile and more than half those years as a hi-fi retailer, I feel I’ve finally put together a stereo that ticks all my sonic boxes. Those being in order of priority, dynamics, scale, tonal accuracy, fatigue free resolution and soundstage."
"For the last 25 years I’ve been fortunate to have a dedicated listening room. I use acoustic treatments from Real Traps, Vicoustic and Primeacoustic."
"My Benchmark components consist of the DAC3 B (connected to a Naim NDS streamer), LA4 line amplifier and two AHB2 power amplifiers run in bridged mono mode. All cables are Benchmark too."
"The Benchmark gear in my system has brought what I have wanted in my list of sonic priorities as listed above and then some. They have delivered way beyond what I thought could be possible in my system in my room."
"I’m delighted and stunned daily as my vast music collection comes to life on a whole new level."
- Ricky Dasler, Living Sound, Nelson New Zealand.
Benchmark Converters at Abbey Road - Geoff Pesche
"What are the Latest Advancements in Mastering?"
"Geoff Pesche weighs in on how the mastering team at Abbey Road Studios achieve first-class results." - Mix with the Masters
"The biggest sonic improvement in mastering in the last 5 or 6 years is D/A and A/D converters and that's very very important - what you have at the front and the back of the chain."
"We use fairly new Benchmark converters front and back."
"Abbey Road like a uniformity between the rooms so all of the rooms have the same A/D and D/A conversion."
- Geoff Pesche, Mastering Engineer, Abbey Road Studios
