Fidelity vs. Musicality...........Is there a tug of War?

The Benchmark is a fine amp, and it hovers nearer the clean/sterile sound, some would say "white" sound as opposed to colored. It will not bring gobs of warmth as some prefer. This is all on a spectrum of characteristics, so opinions will vary, and that makes such discussion difficult.  Now, class D amps such as the Legacy Audio i.V4 Ultra have more warmth than the Benchmark and more resolution. See my reviews of these products at Dagogo.com. 

It's not the speakers. It's easy to characterize an amp when you use it in, say, 8-10 systems with five or six speaker genres, but if you only use it in one or two you have less understanding of the amp's character. However, different genres of speakers will influence how strong the character of the amp is expressed. Anyone who uses it in one rig and claims they know the sound only has a general idea regarding its character. 

One in the same concerning high end audio. Just that simple

Musicality and fidelity should be the same in the area of ​​high end audio. But there is a lot of equipment that pretends otherwise. This is the case of the 300B tube amplifier. it is the tube that has its own color so it is impossible to reproduce the steinway piano as steinway or Bosendolfer as Bosendolfer should sound in your system.

Be as critical as you care to be about the “sounds” of your reproduction system. If you are continually tweaking and searching for more/different products, you are failing, and possibly even miserable.  If your system doesn’t make cohesive, convincing music that tricks you into focusing on the performance by becoming emotionally involved, you and “it” have failed imho. I believe you have missed the point. Gear is cool, building a kit is fun, challenging, and possibly even truly rewarding.  Though for me, it is a necessary evil to get to what I have a true love for, and that’s the performance, the music. Don’t even go there with the crap that I have settled, or that I am trying to convince myself that it’s okay to not be constantly searching and spending and tweaking. We could mince words all day, let’s happily listen together instead. 

Here is conclusion from Absolute Sound review of AHB2, but it applies to subject discussed here:

"Because accuracy allied to absolutely reliable performance is the goal of all the Benchmarks, they are not products that tend to attract cults or other sorts of starry-eyed enthusiasts, wholly lacking any of the quirks, foibles, idiosyncrasies, sonic flavorings, euphonic distortions, and so on that characterize the objects of most audio cults. Professionals buy Benchmark because they know the products work and are reliable and accurate—indeed, reference caliber. Music lovers buy them because they are neutral and accurate and thus reproduce the tonal character of voices and instruments correctly (and also, I presume, because they are reasonably priced, most musicians, like most other people, being typically not wealthy). But audiophiles? Well, the longer I’m in this racket, the less I sometimes think I understand what audiophiles really want except that a lot of dallying about with components, equipment swapping, and coloration matching seems to be what amuses them. I’m not sure I can in good conscience recommend this amplifier to them as I am not sure they are in search of what it offers: a precision instrument designed to perform the precisely defined task of reproducing music and sound accurately, which it does essentially to perfection. But to anyone else, the AHB2 gets as high, enthusiastic, and confident a thumbs up as my arm is capable of reaching."