Why do you own Benchmark products? - AudioScienceReview.com
Why Did You Buy Benchmark Gear?
"I'm asking because clearly Benchmark is a highly regarded company here, and plenty of ASR members own Benchmark amplification/DACs."
"We know they are top of the heap in terms of measured performance, outdoing plenty of the competition in terms of typical distortion measurements."
- @MattHooper, Forum Member, AudioScienceReview.com
Some of the Replies from Forum Members:
"I bought the AHB2s because I liked the sound from the get-go and the excellent measured performance was a great confirmation. I also like the size/weight."
- @Kal Rubinson, Forum Member, AudioScienceReview.com, Stereophile Reviewer
"Been using Benchmark since the DAC1 came out. When I find something so much audibly better than anything else I will continue to experiment and try everything else I can get my hands on but the killer product remains in my setup until displaced. So far the only thing to displace a Benchmark product has been newer upgraded Benchmark products."
- @SoundGuy, Forum Member, AudioScienceReview.com
AHB2, LA4, DAC3
- Subtle aesthetics? Check.
- Unobtrusive size? Check.
- Solid build? Check.
- Made in America? Check.
- Transparent? Check.
- Best in class? Check.
- Superior performance proven by Amir? Check.
- Superior customer service? Check (and not just in audio world; best customer service I have experienced from any company, anywhere, ever).
- Expensive? For me, yes. Limit of my budget, but buy once cry once.
- Worth it? Yes.
The above subjective factors met my human needs. Amir's test results met my rational need. Amir's review was the tipping point in my decision-making process.
Bottom line after two years... Would I do it all again? Absolutely.
- @KellenVancouver, Forum Member, AudioScienceReview.com
Read the entire thread here:
Why Did You Buy Benchmark Gear?
Excerpts from Amir's AHB2 Review and Test Report:
"It goes without saying that the Benchmark AHB2 breaks new ground with respect to performance of power amplifiers."
"Using it, you can be assured that any distortion that you hear is from other sources (speaker, source, content, etc.). This is what I look for in high-end audio: absolutely the best performance so no second guessing is involved. You buy once, and you are happy forever!"
"All of this comes from a company that is a model of transparency with proper and accurate measurements of their products on their site. And importantly, volunteering to have that data shown to be correct by independent sources such as us."
"Needless to say, the Benchmark AHB2 gets my strongest recommendation."
- Amir Majidimehr (@amirm), Forum Founder/Admin, AudioScienceReview.com
Read the entire test report and review at AudioScienceReview.com →
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