AHB2 Driving Hifiman Susvara Headphones - Sandu Vitalie, SoundNews.net
"When I’ve received the mighty Hifiman Susvara, I felt overwhelmed by…disappointment. I said to myself: “This is really it? This is how the world’s best headphones are sounding?”"
"Months later, I’ve received a special adapter cable so I could power them with all sorts of integrated and power amplifiers (speaker amplifiers) and that’s when I felt connected to the all known universe, turning them into a gemstone of a headphone."
AHB2 - As a Headphone Amplifier - "My Daily Driver V2.0"
"Holy mother of Thor, this is dynamics, speed, transient response, resolution and transparency incarnate into a single metal box. There isn’t a clearer, a more resolving or a more transparent sounding amplifier out there, this is a wire with gain amplifier that doesn’t add anything into the mix."
"You can’t get a more impactful, a faster or cleaner sounding amplifier.
Resolution/Details: 10
Transient Response: 9.5
Dynamics: 9.5
Tonality: 7.5
Power/Control: 9
Stage Size: 8
Overall Score: 8.92
AHB2 Headphone Adapter Cable (SpeakON™ NL4 to XLR4):
!Two Benchmark AHB2 Power Amplifiers in Bridged Mode!
"380 Watts in 8 Ohms or around ~55 Watts in 60 Ohms…this is the pure definition of overkill."
"Be prepared hearing the most impactful Susvara, can it ever be too much bass slam and impact? It can! Electronica could become tiresome in the long run, it’s way too impactful sounding, but oh boy… I’ve never heard such dynamics anywhere else."
"This is next level, but if you already have an AHB2, I wouldn’t get a second one only for your Susvara. I’ve got the second one for my loudspeaker setup."
Resolution/Details: 10
Transient Response: 10
Dynamics: 10
Tonality: 7.5
Power/Control: 10
Stage Size: 8
Overall Score: 9.25
- Sandu Vitalie, SoundNews.net
Also in Reviews
DAC3 Review - Alan Sircom, hi-fi+
"A Damn Good, No-Frills Digital Converter"
"Benchmark Media Systems’ no-nonsense approach to all things audio is rare today."
"Uniformly Good"
"This is a DAC that’s uniformly good at everything. It resolves well, has good imaging properties."
"It makes a balanced, honest sound that allows you to sit and listen to music for hours. That is what makes Benchmark’s products consistently popular with audio engineers. You don’t want ‘bright’ if you sit at a mixing desk 10 hours a day. "
"Leave No Trace"
"It also has the latest version of Benchmark’s jitter attenuation system (UltraLock3) and doubles down on the digital demon with its multi-mode asynchronous USB system."
"Benchmark also uses the distortion compensation facilities built into the ESS chip to reduce second and third order distortion."
"The net result is a DAC that delivers lower distortion, lower noise, less passband ripple, faster signal switching and locking onto signals and a more linear frequency response."
"The Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B is very much in the ‘leave no trace’ school of good audio."
- Alan Sircom, hi-fi+
DAC3 - Award Nominee - Best Digital Audiophile Product of 2024 (Cost No Object)
2024 Nominees
- Benchmark Media DAC3 B DAC, $1895
- Bricasti M3 DAC, $6000
- Bricasti M19 CD-SACD Player, $10,000
- T+A DAC 200, $7620
- Weiss Engineering Helios DAC, $21,995
"There was some debate about whether anybody can hear the differences above a good Chi-Fi DAC like the Topping D90. Unless you are missing most of your high-frequency hearing, you can hear where a high-end DAC makes a difference."
The Bricasti M3 is a great example of that performance in a $6,000 DAC."
"The Benchmark DAC3 B is an audiophile DAC, with pro audio roots, that punches way above its weight."
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