What do you Benchmark fans/users think?

[Eurasian]

 

[walt99]

I have the LA4/DACB/AHB2 all in black, they are not stacked so the size part doesn't matter to me personally, the only changes I would like to see would be relatively easy to implement I think:
Volume level numerically displayed in place of 'LA4' in the display, and larger text for 'source' so I can read both from 15'.
Dimmable LED's on the DAC

 

[TLEDDY]

DAC3; AHB2 x 2; Lyngdorf Room Perfect
Harbeth 40.1

Not much better at any price..,

 

[JeffS7444]

I agree that when stacked they look a bit mismatched, and the headphone amp's wooden side panels seem like an incongruous touch. But realistically, it's not a combo I'm likely to encounter as I drive headphones directly from DAC2 HGC,while most speakers I might wish to try either include their own amplification, else they need more than 2 channels of power.

In any event, while the headphone amp ought to be located within easy reach, it's not a requirement for the other components. Perhaps headphone amp was designed to sit beside your favorite listening chair, apart from the other devices.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I wouldn't buy anything Benchmark, solely based on the aesthetics. I have to live with it as well as listen to it.

While I find the design of the AHB2s simple and functional, their design is irrelevant since I only listen to them and do not see them. Their size allows them to sit behind my speakers which are, of course, much larger.

 

[MaxBuck]

I'm glad I have an AV cabinet that allows me to select components independent from their appearance. But I actually think the Benchmark look great in black.

 

[Helicopter]

I'm glad I have an AV cabinet that allows me to select components independent from their appearance. But I actually think the Benchmark look great in black.

Their amp looks decent in black in a cabinet. The Schiit amps get this aesthetic 10x better. NAD does it better too... and that's not even mentioning the better aesthetics, which I would hand to Accuphase, Luxman, Technics for current production.

 

[Jim Matthews]

DAC3; AHB2 x 2; Lyngdorf Room Perfect
Harbeth 40.1

Not much better at any price..,

Two amps? You're my kind of demented.

 

[TLEDDY]

Two amps? You're my kind of demented.

Thank you… thank you so much! Great to be recognized

 

[rdenney]

All this looks a lot better than my stack, which (from bottom up) includes an Adcom preamp, a commercial Yamaha PEQ, a Carver tuner, a Cambridge CD transport, and a Naim CD player. At some point, the sheer heterogeneity of it becomes a style statement.

Rick “whose one Benchmark component, and ADC, looks just like it ought to” Denney

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Two amps? You're my kind of demented.

Only two?

 

[Jim Matthews]

Only two?

Fine, space heaters are expensive... go wild.

 

[Jim Matthews]

I also have mine in black as i think the brushed aluminum looks better in black. Obviously this is an entirely personal and subjective preference.
View attachment 141990

"Dead sexy, and you know it."

 

[Blaspheme]

For a long time I just assumed Benchmark were rubbish because the tacky logo font didn't look at all credible. I shouldn't have judged a book by its signature.

 

[JP]

Only two?

 

[Blaspheme]

View attachment 142106

Yes, they look better in black, and in quantity !!

 

[audio2design]

The Benchmark DAC1 predates the IPhone by 4 years.

My original DAC1 works just fine, parked next to my WiFi 6 mesh router.

https://benchmarkmedia.com/pages/manuals

Old TDMA phones made almost every audio product make noise when close. CDMA had no issues.

 

[MattHooper]

I prefer my audio gear to be nice looking when possible. My Benchmark DAC1 looks pretty yucky. But it’s small and discrete enough that placed further back on my rack I don’t see it.

 

[restorer-john]

Only two?

Two, is just a start when they are run in BTL. Simply not enough power for dynamics otherwise. A 40V (RMS) swing is where high fidelity starts, not 28V.

 

[Tks]

The lack of consistency is due to each product releasing seemingly far apart from each design. But when I say lack of consistency, I don't mean in totality, I mean simply in virtue of looking at Eastern products that produce constantly new versions, so they have the luxury of thinking about each part of a stack.

I also don't think the power amp is mean't to be stacked with anything due to the heat a power amp produces. As far as the DAC and the HP4A, It's somewhat close, but I see your point (things like feat size and height really have no valid excuse in my book). Since this is a New York outfit (these devices, if finished with Matrix Audio levels of enclosure design, would be in the 5-figure range given the performance) you should expect some corner cutting in terms of the enclosure design and cohesion.

But I think Benchmark isn't concerned with this. They want to offer a device with Benchmark levels of performance, and no corner cutting on things like safety and functionality. I don't think they really care all the much about a product looking like it hails from an Italian design studio or something like that. If they did, they would make updates more often (the ABH2 is I think now over half a decade old). Side note, pretty interesting to see no one is even close on the SINAD charts in terms of power amps, even after all this time. There's a clear noticeable bump over ever other power amp measured. Why the industry is so nonchalant about Benchmark reigning like a King is beyond me (then again with the amount of shovelware that ends up doing fine on the market, it's not really much of a surprise).

EDIT: Forgot to include image of what I mean't when I mentioned Matrix Audio. Check out the milling work done on their Sabre DAC. This would be at an insane cost if you were going to get them CNC'd here in New York.