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AHB2 Review & Bench Test - Andrew Everard, Hi-Fi News

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Benchmark AHB2 Power Amplifier

AHB2 - "I Was Struck by Just How Much Focus and Clarity Was on Offer"

"I was struck by just how much focus and clarity was on offer. It’s not one of those ‘oh, I never heard that before’ things: instead it’s just a delicious sense of the music having more presence and vitality about it ..."

"This is an amplifier with very serious slam, and – even better for those with less sensitive speakers, big rooms or just a hankering for ‘just in front of the PA stack’ listening levels – it keeps it all together however loud you decide to play things."

"This is an amplifier seemingly impossible to wrongfoot, and capable of delivering a quite remarkable sound from a seemingly impossibly small package. If that doesn't make you smile every time you listen, I don't know what will."

- Andrew Everard, Hi-Fi News

"Benchmark has avoided any obvious ingress of switching noise into the audio band as its AHB2 has quite the widest A-wtd S/N ratio of any amplifier I've measured in some 30 years."

- Paul Miller, Hi-Fi News

Read the full review →


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AHB2 - A-Rated Recommended Power Amplifier - Stereophile

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by Benchmark Media Systems September 15, 2023

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AHB2 - Receives Stereophile's Highest "A" Rating for Power Amplifiers

"Benchmark's AHB2 makes use of THX Corporation's Achromatic Audio Amplifier (AAA) technology, in which a low-power feed-forward amplifier drives a low-bias class-AB output section."

- Stereophile, 2023

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"A tonal balance that sounded more 'right' than any of [the other amps on hand]." - Kalman Rubinson

"An extraordinary amplifier." - John Atkinson

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"Benchmark's usual approach to design is to out-spec the competition, and so it is here. Like other Benchmark equipment he has tested, the affordable LA4 challenged the resolution of John Atkinson's test instruments, with 'superb' channel separation, 'extremely low noise, and virtually no power-supply-related spuriae.'"

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DAC3 HGC, DAC3 B - Receive Stereophile's Highest "Class A+" Rating

"The DAC3 B is a stripped- down, lower-priced version of the DAC3 HGC, which omits the headphone amplifier, balanced and unbalanced analog inputs, volume, mute, and polarity controls." - Stereophile

"The DAC3 was all about depths, in several respects...I heard deeper into the music."

"All I can say is Wow!"

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"In a Follow-Up, JCA wrote of using the Benchmark processor with the same company's AHB2 power amp—a combination of high source output voltage and modest amplifier gain that he describes as 'optimal for minimizing noise and distortion' —and reported hearing 'richer and more interesting' reproduction of very subtle details."

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