Benchmark AHB2 Impressions (vs. Vidar)

While I can't say that I agree with the negatives you've written so far aside from being limited in soundstage depth, the back panel can certainly be frustrating. That being said, I've been using the Speakon outs recently instead of the normal terminals. I feed a sub from the amp outs as you do and found I could fit two 12awg cables twisted together into the Speakon screw terminals after removing the little piece of clamping metal. It kinda frees up a lot of space on the back. I still wish they had just made it a little wider overall so that space was less of a concern (it looks utterly ridiculous with the rack mount faceplate).

As to why we hear the amp differently? It's probably got at least a little to do with me using a rather inefficient speaker compared to Marv's (maybe it likes to work a little harder?). I can't really get my system up to 85dB in medium or low gain with the knob maxed out, so I can't say that I've ever really evaluated the lower gain settings.


*Also, what happened to the knob on the Freya?

 

No judgment on sonics but I realized AHB2 seems to use a switching power supply. I am sure it is well put together but for MSRP would be nice if less compromises were made. It's not a power amp but a Yamaha AS-2100 for similar MSRP price weighs 51 LBS vs AHB2 12.5lbs.






Yamaha for comparison:

 

The PSU design used is actually quite key to the performance of the Benchmark according to their literature: https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/ap...audio-myth-switching-power-supplies-are-noisy

 

For some reason AS2100 is significantly discounted in Singapore (~2300USD). Might be worth seeing if it's worth shipping over.

 

Everybody jumped on me questioning my chain and preferences when I did not like the AHB2 here and I had written that I preferred the $500 Anthem MCA20 over the AHB2. There is no involvement factor and it sounds thin to me. Generally boring. @Marvey you might not find it thin with speakers, but that difference can also be attributable to headphones vs speakers considering speakers can reproduce bass better. With regards to the pairing of AHB2 and HE-6, considering HE-6 are bright unless someone is deadening them/killing the treble with fuzzor and vegan pads etc, the AHB2 doesn't help at all given its lean signature.

Talking about good SS amps, If you get a chance to demo the First Watt J2, you should, to see how you like it. It is priced reasonably.

 

Keep it coming guys, I want my cheap second unit!

 

I heard this thing at @Jozurr 's place through those modded HE6s before he used my ZDS to blow them up.

Thinner than Ally McBeal. Flatter than Keira Knightly. Less balls than Matthew McConaughey. And owing mostly to the HE6s themselves I'd guess, not much in the way of transient snap. Although that Anthem amp did better with attack through those same HE6s, as well as in all the above categories. So, I was more shocked than Rick Pitino when Jozurr told me the price. In fact, I almost pulled an Al Rocker.

 

My thin grasp of American celebrity culture only got me 2 of those 5 references...

 

With HE-6?
If so, the soundstage assessment part doesn't make much sense vs better dynamic phones, even less so vs speakers.

 

What's with the corp-speak, Negura?

Probably the PSU is fine. Any noise should be well out of the audible band. Most likely it's just a mediocre sounding amp design (with a good PSU, and good measurements).

That's the thing with Benchmark, and why I kind of still stand by my earlier (tongue in cheek) comment. Either they are spending way too much time with instruments and not actually listening to their gear at all, or they have worse critical listening skills than an 8 year old. The DAC2 measures well (I assume) but sounds far worse even compared with other Sabre DACs. I mean, painfully bad. So if they happen to release good, or even mediocre sounding gear, it seems more by accident to me.

I hate to use bad words on a public forum, and I know political or religious discussions are not allowed by the rules, but I think they might be... Objectivists.

 

With dynamic phones, when it comes to soundstage you're stuck with westminster cathedral for everything (hd800) or tunnel vision (Utopia). Hardly an ideal situation.

Have you ever heard a modded 4 screws he6?

 

Stock HD800 indeed is, hard to say cathedral like about HD650. HE-6 then is like 360 deg stuffed with mineral wool 3x2x2m bedroom studio.

Can't remember which one was it, probably 4 scr version. I even modded it to ohgg's spec myself.
Yes, one of the best planars, but soundstage was defo nothing to write home about.
(HD650 murdered it in everything except depth wrt soundstage, not even mentioning modded HD800. This horse has been beaten to death 2 times to many already. )
I have heard couple of EC amps with speakers: hugely bold claim to say a transistor amp beating these at soundstaging.
But then I thought HE-6 had little business with triodes anyway, it doesn't put dht strengths to use.
Perhaps the AHB2 is simply lucky synergy with HE-6?

 

Thanks for the laugh

Anyways, had both amps, as well as hd800 and he6, side by side. Been there done that. This is slipping onto "daïnamek" vs "playnar" and we both know this is not going anywhere.

 

Wow, I was so close to pulling the trigger on a used one of these last week. But at 2.5x what I paid for Vidar, I thought there was no way it could be THAT much better, so I backed away. Doesn't sound like I would have preferred it over Vidar either.

 

If you're talking about the pair that were on CAM, those were at a stupid good price. I was very tempted to pick up a second one (or even buy the matching pair then sell my single silver faced one) as they are quite hard to come by here in maple syrup land.

There are a number of us here who have the AHB2 and enjoy it very much. That said, I don't disagree with anything that Marv has said. He has his ears and his set of experiences and reference points. I have my own. If you were taking out a second mortgage for gear, ok yeah then it wouldn't have been a good idea. But if you have the funds... Play a bit, resell when you're done, rinse repeat. Saying you dodged a bullet is just adding negative association to someone else's opinion.