My review of the Benchmark AHB2

RichPA

Don't drive angry
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I’ve been living with the Benchmark amp for a couple of weeks now, so I thought I’d share some impressions. This amp replaced Wyred4Sound mAmps, which I liked (and do like) very much. The Benchmark, however, is significantly better. It is very smooth and transparent, with excellent detail and texture. The soundstage depth is outstanding, with great “depth of field” – that is, in focus front to back. In this respect, it’s better than any amp I’ve ever had in my system. It does a great job of showing all of the detail in complex music, without any sense that the detail is due to extra brightness – the detail is just there.

The Benchmark has significantly less power (100W/channel) than the mAmps (250W/channel) but I certainly don’t hear any lack of power, even at high volumes.

That pretty much uses up my annual allotment of audiophile terminology. Suffice it to say that it’s not going back at the end of the 30-day trial period.

For those curious about the rest of the system, see post #89 in this thread: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/richpas-main-system.356545/page-5
 
have you had any other amps in there for comparison?

For a direct, short-term comparison, only the already-mentioned mAmps. Over the years, though, I've had quite a few amps in the system, including a couple of generations of Bryston amps, Channel Islands Audio, Bel Canto,, Forte, Hafler, Audio Research, and others.
 
Interesting,
I was entirely unfamiliar with this. Looks like a nice piece. I'll have to do a little reading. How'd you happen down this path (if you don't mind me asking)?
Thanks for the review. Enjoy!:thumbsup:
 
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