Feels weird reviewing something whereas so many more here have much more experience than me but here goes. I started off with my Rega Elex R , Marantz HD DAC1 and Proac DT 8 speakers. really wanted to try the Benchmark AHB2 so I got one to audition and run my rega pre through it. Sounded much better. More detail, tighter low end etc. I was impressed. Like shoot this is good. When I first got my rega I tried a NAIM X3 next to it and didn’t like the NAIM at all. Sorry for those who like those amps. After listening to the benchmark AHB2 for a week I of course got the itch to try the Benchmark LH4 pre. If their power amp sounds so good , the preamp much be good as well ok so seriously blown away. I waited a month listening to these to review them. Wanted to wait before I reported back on my listening. yes it’s miles ahead of the rega. Mind you the rega for listening pleasure is seriously good. Would recommend it in a heartbeat. on with the Benchmarch AHB2 and LH4 pre. it just sounds right. My biggest surprise were the transients. It’s fast but perfectly so. What I mean is that the NAIM was fast but congested. Compressed. The timing of the benchmark AHB2 and LH4 is spot on. I am a musician and know what instruments sound like. The attack , punch, timbre is spot on. It’s perfect. Don’t know what to say. That was my biggest surprise. I have a few tracks I know really well. As in practiced them and know how to play them. They sound spot on with the benchmark gear Yes putting in the LH4 preamp made a huge difference. Reverb trails were long and spot on. You can HEAR the room they are playing in. I put on Van Halen II. Very very familiar with it. I have a Marshall plexi like Ed’s and I know what it sounds like. This album through the Benchmark gear blew me away. I’m not joking I felt like I was in sunset studios listening to them. I could hear the outline of the rooms. it was pure magic. Yeah I put on the rega again. Magic lost. Put back the benchmark I was there in the studio again. Mind blown. To those who say it sounds sterile. I have zero clue what you are taking about. It’s so engaging , so real, so spot on. Highs sounds like what they should. If they are warm they are warm. Trumpets sound spot on. Piano, guitar, voices , etc. all spot on low end is tight. Whatever the mix was. Articulate There is detail out the wazoo. Nothing sounds etched. It’s just real sounding. Imaging is unreal. The rega was good. This is a whole different level. Depth is just what the mix and room it was recorded in says. Yes reverb trails if the mix had that in it. im blown away. No joke. Most real natural sound I’ve ever heard. Anything you put on. Violins sound like violins. Sweet if they were mixed that way. Yes it’s sweeter than my Rega. High hats, drums, sax etc. oh and the noise. What noise? It’s eerily quiet. Black background. dynamic as f$ck. You can turn it up all the way, put your ear to the tweeter...........and nothing. complete silence. I was gonna keep just the AHB2 and send the LH4 pre back. Just wanted to try it. I can’t send any of it back. No joke. Its that good. yeah now I have to get their DAC and audition it. sorry if this wasn’t articulated well and long winded. I’m really blown away.
I'm keen to try the Benchmark LA4 (don't have 'phones) with my Gustard X26Pro DAC and active ATC's after hearing one at a friends place. Looks like you are hearing the same things so my keenness levels are definitely rising!!!!!
I love my Benchmark AHB2, wish I can get another and bridge them. Mine is connect to the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge + Lumin U1 Mini. Decided to go without a pre at the moment. Sounds fine. Am replacing the Mytek with the Matrix Audio X Sabre Pro, that’s gonna be better than the Mytek. In the past I used the Cary SLP-05 as pre and it’s a super sweet set up.
@Tone? thanks for the humble review ..really interesting ...i have a Benchmark DAC1 HDR that i use mainly as a pre (from CD ...Musical Fidelity A5 CDP, i really like its part tube output stage) into a pair of Cyrus Mono Xs and routinely my tv goes through it (where it acts as the dac & pre plus from time to time as a headphone amp ... in all 3 uses it excels, i've been curious about the up to date BM kit so you have scratched an itch for me that may well lead me to trying the kit out in person as you have done ... thanks again ..
ha I got it right? Had a few drinks before writing this last night , but my review still remains true. lol maybe should have put less “ blown away “ and “ spot on” . Ha. but it’s seriously good. At some point I would like to hear what a good tube preamp will do to the sound with the AHB2.
Great write up @Tone?. I bought a Dac3 HGC a few months ago and have been considering/researching the AHB2 ever since. Your review makes me want to take the plunge.
Hope it didn’t sound too silly. Was a few drinks in. Lol well I was thinking to myself. Shoot muscidirect has a 60 day return policy. Why not try it out? And that was it. Lol
I also talked to Roy at benchmark and asked about getting just the DAC3 and using it as a preamp with the AHB2. He said the LH4 preamp sounds better than the DAc. Lol. So I might have to take the plunge and try out their DAc 3 now. I mean they got the other stuff right. but I’m getting poorer. Lol
I can testify that the BM Dac1 HDR has given and continues to give sterling service ...i was told when i got it (2014) that they built it to studio use standard, so i could put it in place switch it on and literally leave it powered on for the next 15 years or longer and it would simply get on doing its job and since then i've met a couple of sound engineers that still use the BM DAC1 in their studios..well as of 2017 & 2018 ... So i'm sure you will enjoy the sound from DAC3 and get a good service life from it should you keep it after a trial ...
so... did you like it? so so? just messin with ya... i want to hear it! but i don't want it hard to go back to listening to another more entry level setup
I read a review of the AHB2 where the reviewer used it with the Dac3 as preamp, and then with the LA4. He thought the amp fronted by the LA4 was better. He basically said the LA4 was the best preamp he'd ever heard if the goal was being faithful to the source.
Well not all distortion is bad. And plus that’s what this journey is all about as well. Trying different things. What makes it fun too. Thousands of tube owners can be all wrong.
dude that’s what I’m afraid of. I’m already $6k poorer. Ha I initially set out to just get the AHB2 to audition. Ran it with my rega pre section. I was so impressed that I’m like how good can that preamp of theirs be. So I got it and it was so so much better that I can’t send it back now.
I know I’m repeating myself. But now I’m sober too. Lol What impressed me the most out of the LH4 is how perfect the timing is. You can hear it with everything but now rock sounds as it should. My Rega was a bit smeared in that dept. I thought the NAIM X3 would get it since they boast about timing. But no. I really didn’t like it at all. The correct timing makes everything sound as it should. Scale size, Timbre is what it should be. Like I said. I play guitar and have a clone of Eddie Van Halen’s amp. I know what a plexi on ten sounds like. The rega didn’t capture it. The benchmark has it nailed. Well of course I don’t have the experience others have with audio gear on this forum. the rega by comparison is a bit bloated. But it’s still a great amp.
Good to hear @Tone? ! I use the HPA4 with my AHB2 as I get a little headphone time mixed in as well. There is nothing I can add to your review other than I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said! Like you, I had upgraded my power amp to the AHB2 and was startled by how much better the overall sound took, it literally just "leveled up" lol. Happened to come across the HPA4 and was looking at upgrading both my preamp and headphone amp so the timing was perfect. I was worried that possibly it would be "too much of a good thing" but the HPA4 simply took everything I loved about my rig and just took it another level. Thanks for posting!
even turning up the volume is different. With my rega when I turned past 85dbs things got a bit squirrelly. I suspect because it’s not as flat. The Benchmark just adds more volume. Doesn’t distort. Things sound as good than at lower volumes.
