Save 10% on up to 2 cables for each component ordered. Free shipping on USA orders over $700.

0

Your Cart is Empty

AHB2 Review - Ben Shyman, Home Theater Review

AHB2 Review - Ben Shyman, Home Theater Review

Benchmark AHB2 Audio Power Amplifier

AHB2 - "A Technologically Advanced and Remarkable Amplifier"

"It improved my listening pleasure for a song that I have probably heard 500 times."

"Listening to track after track on Audioslave's flip disc (Audioslave, 24/48) proved that the AHB2 also packs serious punch."

"Furthermore, the tonality of the AHB2 is also absolutely spot-on."

"As with a Class A amplifier, I could detect the muscle of the AHB2 and hear it in the sheer weight of presentation in the lower octaves."

"While many hard rock albums have a tendency to sound harsh or muddy, none of those traits were apparent here through the Benchmark AHB2."

AHB2 Rear Panel

"The AHB2 can drive virtually any speaker load with significant power--especially in monaural mode--yet it never lacked finesse on delicate passages."

"The AHB2 is sonically transparent, images beautifully, and authoritatively delivers tons of bottom end, which is likely a factor of it being so quiet."

"The Benchmark AHB2 embodies everything that a solid-state amp should. It is a technologically advanced and remarkable amplifier that can hang with any amp in its class because it is sonically transparent, images beautifully, and produces authoritative bass. While costing only $2,995, it is hard to imagine asking for much more in a power amplifier. In fact, if the AHB2 cost another $1,000, I would still call it a bargain. Interestingly, while my Focal speakers are easy to drive, the AHB2 can probably drive a set of modestly inefficient floor-standing speakers to reasonable listening levels without any strain whatsoever. If you are looking to spend between $2,500 and $4,500 on a stereo, solid-state amplifier, it would be foolish not to consider the AHB2 a strong contender."

- Ben Shyman, hometheater.com

Read the entire review →


Also in Reviews

DAC3 - Award Nominee - Best Digital Audiophile Product of 2024 (Cost No Object)

DAC3 - Award Nominee - Best Digital Audiophile Product of 2024 (Cost No Object)

by Benchmark Media Systems December 01, 2024

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."

Benchmark DAC3 B with Silver Faceplate

 

Read Full Post
Future Audiophile Logo

LA4 Review - Mike Prager, FutureAudiophile.com

by Benchmark Media Systems November 18, 2024

Benchmark LA4 Line Amplifier - front view

"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

Read Full Post
Future Audiophile Logo

AHB2 Review - Mike Prager, Future Audiophile

by Benchmark Media Systems September 23, 2024

AHB2 Power Amplifier with Silver Faceplate

"For years, the audio world acknowledged one main contender (at least at sub-five-figure pricing) for the quietest, cleanest, most neutral power amplifier around. That was the Benchmark AHB2, whose specifications are still, for all practical purposes, unsurpassed, even by today’s excellent Class-D amps."

"10 years after its release, the Benchmark Media Systems AHB2 stereo power amp is still a standard-bearer in clean, neutral sound in the audiophile world."

"I greatly enjoyed having a pair of AHB2s in my system – their purity, neutrality, and seemingly unlimited power provided a clear window on the music and a lot of joy."

"I especially appreciated the AHB2’s smooth, well-integrated treble, free of splashiness or grain, and its natural reproduction of the human voice."

- Mike Prager, Future Audiophile

Read Full Post