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

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