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AHB2 and DAC2 Review - The Poor Audiophile
DAC2 and AHB2 - "Absence of Noise and Distortion ... Beautiful Cloak of Silence"
"As I played album after album and track after track, I became increasingly sensitized to the absence of noise and distortion and the beautiful cloak of silence."
"It is so incredibly hard to put into words the experience that the DAC2 → AHB2 → Revel Ultima2 Salon setup produced. There was simply no distortion, no noise, just a blank stage. Regardless of genre, vocals and instruments popped to life and they did so with a almost true-to-life 'you are there' feel to them."
"The Salons are some of the most capable full-range speakers on the planet. When paired with the AHB2s in bridged mono, bass notes were the cleanest, most detailed, and most controlled I’ve ever heard out of the Salon2s."
"The delicate notes of violins resonated precisely, perfectly laid out and you were able to discern the tonal character of the strings and the warmth of the violin’s body. The resonant timbre of brass notes was spot on. The entire orchestra came together in a coherent, dynamic whole. If this is high-res music, then I will take it with joy every time. There wasn’t a single note where the DAC2/AHB2 combination didn’t bring out the immaculate character of the Salon2s. Crescendo!"
Also in Reviews
AHB2 - A-Rated Recommended Power Amplifier - Stereophile
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
"Much more apparent low-level detail in already-familiar recordings" - Kalman Rubinson
"A tonal balance that sounded more 'right' than any of [the other amps on hand]." - Kalman Rubinson
"An extraordinary amplifier." - John Atkinson
LA4 - Class A Recommended Preamplifier - Stereophile
LA4 - Receives Stereophile's Highest "Class A" Rating for Preamplifiers
"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.'"
"Benchmark's LA4 is the widest-bandwidth, widest-dynamic-range, lowest-noise, lowest-distortion preamplifier I have encountered." - John Atkinson
"In his listening room, Kalman Rubinson compared the LA4 to a cable—and couldn't hear any difference. He concludes, 'the LA4 is probably the most transparent and revealing audio component I've ever used. It does not seem to leave any fingerprints on the sound.'"
- Stereophile, 2023
DAC3 - Class A+ Recommended Processor - Stereophile
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!"
- John Atkinson
"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."
- Stereophile