Subjective review below...
Went from a Parasound a23+ to the AHB2 after viewing this thread. Using a media PC to Topping e70 DAC directly into amp (balanced) powering Kef R5 speakers
Woofers: This is the first time I've noticed my speaker woofers utilizing their capability, even though there are less advertised watts of power in the AHB2. It's not like adding two huge subwoofers to the room, but the R5 woofers are now present and useful
Imaging: a23+ has three rather distinct locations for sound to sit when playing tracks that utilized stereo channel separation. Left / center / right. Not much in between. AHB2 does not present like that, I now perceive audio in more locations between the speakers. And when something is far left / right it doesn't seem like there is a hard edge of where it stops, more of a general area on left / right. This is a weird one to me, not sure what would cause this from a technical standpoint, speakers haven't moved. Interested to know, if its placebo I'm fine with that too
"Flatness": As some reviews stated, I also had the impression that the sound was somewhat "flat" when compared to my a23+. After listening for a few hours I plugged the a23+ back up, immediately felt a23+ was thin. I think I confused presence of bass from AHB2 as being flat, wasn't used to hearing fuller range of sound. Removing a23+ and switching back to AHB2 the sound felt correct, like I disabled a high pass filter
Enough Power: I sit about 9 feet away, have not gotten the amp to clip with my speakers. Volume reached my pain threshold so I stopped, no lights came on
Sound "Depth": a23+ did have one aspect I liked, most audio tracks felt like they were not playing right in my face. Adding a subtle
VST reverb filters helps me perceive more depth when desired
Neutrality: The output is what I perceive to be more neutral in my current room setup. Looking forward to customizing the sound using filters. Couldn't do much with the a23+ as all my filter attempts made things sound uncomfortable or funky. Was locked into the base flavor
Smooth Loudness: I believe it's subtly smoother sounding compared to a23+ when playing louder volumes
Visual Appeal: I like the way it looks in black, smaller proportions work well with topping sized DACs / Preamp boxes
Power LED: AHB2 has no way of dimming "power on" LED that I can find when searching the manual online, it's brighter than I like. Is this adjustable?
Price for Value: About double the price of an a23+. I am willing to pay that extra for what it offers after demoing in my room. But this wasn't a life changing experience. More of "Oh, this is very nice, I can keeping listening to this". Gut response I would pin the value at $2,700 or less. I wasn't confident enough to buy used so I paid $3,500 directly
Thanks ASR for helping me part with my money faster than before. I've got two E15HP2 subs on the way...(they were out of stock of F12's in white)
