Benchmark Media Systems. Right or wrong

I've said for years "Someone needs to build great electronics at reasonable prices". Benchmark has joined that small group of achievers.  It makes a lot of sense to me that they are primarily a pro audio manufacturer. I own a AHB2. I am smitten with it. Still, it won't be one amp for all. I do respect Benchmarks opinion however.

In any case this was a snake oil debate…we went off on a tangent. 

I am about to spend a small fortune on what some are saying are the best headphones in the world. The designer of the phones used the Benchmark AHB2 to design them.

He is now become more of a tube or distortion fan in his sound reproduction gear, but when designing his gear, he used the AHB2.

Interestingly, I traded my AHB2 for the Benchmark HPA4 preamp + headphone amp because I wanted to hear as clean a reproduction of the sound as possible with this new phone. My best headphone amp for this new phone is a tube amp that likely measures badly. I have not heard the HPA4 with the new phones.

@jnovak Correct. There is no such thing as one amp for all. Amps have to be matched to the loudspeaker. 

@audphile1 If I blinded you you would never be able to tell the difference between most DACs.

What recordings sound like in the studio can not be used as a baseline. Most recordingings can not be used either. Only a few live recordings are acceptable. Only with experience and the most accurate loudspeaker/room combinations can you determine what a component is really doing as the differences with the vast majority of electronics is very minor. Amplifiers are a special case because they have to be matched to the loudspeaker, a mismatch at best will sound bad and at worst will blow up the amp which I have had the pleasure of doing. JC 1s RIP.

Getting back to the question, right or wrong…

Generally, right.

But someone spent a lot of time writing an essay that likely won’t increase sales…and some of numbers were way off…like $200 isolation platforms…sign me up!

@macg19  That is why it was a brave thing to do. However, if all manufacturers of great equipment would take this stance instead of keeping their mouths shut, scared of losing sales, there would not be near as much mythology and people would have more money to spend on great equipment instead of pissing it away on garbage. People with an electronics engineering education can spot the BS right away. Most of us do not and we have a hard time filtering out the nonsense. However with some science background you can research almost anything on the net. It takes time and effort, but when spending serious money, worth it. I assume from the start that everything is marketing, and marketing is mythology designed to sell the product. Thus, it is up to me to validate any claims.  

 

mijostyn OP

8,196 posts

04-30-2024 at 07:13am

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@audphile1 If I blinded you you would never be able to tell the difference between most DACs.

If I cut one of your ears off you would be half blind. If I cut the other ear off you would be completely blind. This is because the hat that you were wearing when you came over to blind me would just fall over your eyes. We vcan then do a blind test where you will tell me if you can hear the difference.