As an avid audiophile, I've been following Audioholics for years, so great to see Gene and company finally looking at Benchmark. Personally, I discovered Benchmark over ten years ago, when I was suffering from the upgrade itch. I ended up getting the AHB2 and DAC 3 back in 2017 (since paired with the Amphion Argon 7LS). The fact that Benchmark has yet to introduce another amp since then is a testament to the AHB2 being not only a giant slayer but a true endgame. Music may be my medicine, but Benchmark cured me of the upgrade itch.
I thought maybe there was going to be a new product launch. I was scared. Why would I be scared for a new Benchmark product launch? Because I just brought an AHB2 😂
Please ask for new products and if they will make a new DAC. I know the DAC3 is state of the art and I have one, but it would be cool to have a new DAC made by them to have some Audiophile options maybe on it. Like maybe an option for a NOS mode to use with HQplayer to use with different filters. I mean you have to keep your customers happy and offer some new products. I have the DAC3 , LA4 and AHB2, but would love to see a new DAC. Man that was so great! Awesome video!
I plan to do a deep dive into the AHB2 power amplifier in the next video. I will try to do this in a way that the layman and the engineer will both appreciate. The AHB2 is, without question, the most unique power amplifier on the market today. It is very different than all other amplifiers. It has feed-forward and feed-back error correction, dual sets of output rails, an offline protection system, a low-noise resonant switch-mode power supply, internal star-quad power and signal distribution, a low-gain amplification stage, and more. The specifications also set the AHB2 in a class by itself. If you have specific questions about the AHB2, please post them here and I will try to address them in the next video. - John Siau
First time learning of it. Shocked and extremely saddened. John Siau is a living legend, an industry giant. . .and a remarkable engineer. What a tragedy.
@@dfknyc78 Thank you for you kind words. My son David was our Production Manager. We all miss him. He laid down his life to save his wife and two of his children. His life was an example to all of us. - John SIau
Would love to see LA4 upgrade to include x2 channel output for subwoofers and independent output channel crossover / filter / phase adjustment mapped to input selection all in the analog domain of course. I know easy for me to say. SPL has their crossover but limit phase to only the low end output. Trying to integrate two subs to mains is a bear without adding another ada conversion and no one offers a means to manage the phase/delay of the mains unless you are going with a digital pre (still limited to delay). It would certainly differentiate itself from anything else on the market.
This is end game for people that are after neutrality and uncoloured sound. If you dont like the sound you are hearing, it is your speakers, room, setup, the actual recording or your personal preference.
Great video. I do have a follow up question for John. Big expensive amplifiers always have a large bank of big capacitors, the AHB2 doesn't have many. Wonder why and if doesn't limit the the AHB2 to deliver peak currents quickly? And impact the low frequency performance of the amplifier?
A line-frequency supply can only charge the output capacitors twice per cycle of the AC line. This means you have 120 charging pulses per second if you are on 60 Hz AC power. In contrast, the switch-mode power supply in the AHB2 charges the output capacitors about 1 million times per second. This alone could reduce the size of the capacitors by about a factor of about 8,000:1. In addition to this, the switch-mode regulator is able to make about a million regulation adjustments per second and this means that the regulation is much faster than any voltage changes caused by the audio signal loading. This high-speed regulation completely eliminates the need for any energy storage on the output side of the power supply. A small amount of capacitance is required to prevent ripple at the switching frequency. In other words, the switch-mode power supply delivers current on demand while maintaining a constant, and well-regulated output voltage. In the AHB2, audio-induced ripple is not present on the output rails. In contrast, audio-induced ripple is always present on the outputs of a conventional non-regulated power supply. Bigger caps, reduce the ripple on conventional supplies, but these big capacitor banks are no substitute for the wide-bandwidth, tight regulation that we use in the AHB2. - John Siau
I really like benchmark but stopping using them due to the poor volume (cumbersome) control of the HGC. Small steps are hard. It was about 1db difference left to right from 9-o’clock to 12-o’clock on the RCA. I adjusted the trim with the pads on the balanced. Otherwise great product. I would rather see a digital volume without the crap volume/motorized volume. The HPA4 is not the solution at $3500… for a digital only system.
The DAC3 HGC volume control is a hybrid system (HGC = Hybrid Gain Control). Digital inputs are digitally controlled with precise 0.5 dB steps over a range of 0 to -127.5 dB. The rotary pot position controls the digital gain. There are no L/R balance issues when using the digital inputs. In contrast, the analog inputs are controlled by a conventional pot. Like all pots, you can encounter some L/R balance issues especially at very low volume settings. We have a trim pot that matches the L/R balance at mid range so that the overall balance issues are much less than for typical dual-gang pots. Pots are not perfect and this is why we developed the LA4 and HPA4 with stepped relay-controlled attenuators. These two products provide analog gain control in 0.5 dB steps over a range of +15 dB to -128 dB. No other stepped relay system provides this range or accuracy. And, no other relay system is as quiet when switching. The relay closures are precisely timed to prevent clicks in the audio output. This technology brings the accuracy, range, and purity of a digital volume control to analog signals. In some ways it is better because it attenuates the noise and signal of a DAC when the stepped attenuator is turned down. The stepped attenuator allows the DAC to operate at its optimum output level while optimizing the gain staging between any DAC and any power amplifier at any desired listening level. In other words it creates an optimized match between any DAC and any power amplifier and that optimization applies to all gain settings. -John Siau
@@BenchmarkMediaSystems thanks for the replay and I owned that unit. The left to right balance was unusable over RCA from 9-12:00 o’clock on the volume knob (1db off in that range). Luckily the XLR can be balanced with the internal pads. From a customer standpoint I stopped buying any benchmark equipment due to that hybrid volume control. It is far too granular from the remote. An independent digital volume separate from the mechanical analogue volume would make the unit much better imo. Regardless of technical performance i sold the unit and no longer consider benchmark a solution due to the hybrid volume control. Adding a LA4 just to improve the volume control/precision seems excessive for digital sources. I understand there is improvement in the LA4 but at typical listening volumes it would be extremely hard to hear that improvement.
$3,500 plus tax is a lot of money and frankly not everyone can afford it. However, the amount of engineering that went in, the amount of cutting edge, proprietary patents that they have to license, all the labor from R&D to assembly to QC to post sales support are all done in the US. The reliability of these products (they are designed and engineered for the pro audio world). And a 5 year warranty. None of that comes in cheap and if you take all of that into consideration, this is actually a good deal. Many can't afford this, but you can consider the second hand market to own a piece of audio history.
@@seanb3303 If you are hawking the ASR stack ranking then you are not getting the entire picture. There are no amps currently on the market that is this load independent, frequency independent, power independent with the amount of power the AHB2 has with the low level of distortion and noise it has. The only other amp is possibly the new Topping B200, which is yet to be bench tested. But there are a lot of reports on the poor reliability of these non class D, "Chi-Fi" amps. Not to mention, with Benchmark, you are getting a 5 year warranty, their products are made for the pro world which takes a lot of abuse and wear and tear, so you know it will stand up to the test of hard use. And people always underestimate after sales support, it's not an issue when you don't need it, but when you do, dealing with someone in a different country, who struggles with keeping up with the language and only communicates over email and only replying overnight while you are sleeping is not a good experience.
@@dfknyc78 The problems will come if the Chinese copy it and even improve on it. Happened already with DAC's and other amps. They you will see that it was better long term to swap production to Asia and lower the prices. After all a large % of the electronic parts in it will be made in China anyway.
I've had the benchmark stack for years. I'm all set - no need or desire to upgrade further. It's endgame full stop.
As an avid audiophile, I've been following Audioholics for years, so great to see Gene and company finally looking at Benchmark. Personally, I discovered Benchmark over ten years ago, when I was suffering from the upgrade itch. I ended up getting the AHB2 and DAC 3 back in 2017 (since paired with the Amphion Argon 7LS). The fact that Benchmark has yet to introduce another amp since then is a testament to the AHB2 being not only a giant slayer but a true endgame. Music may be my medicine, but Benchmark cured me of the upgrade itch.
I thought maybe there was going to be a new product launch. I was scared. Why would I be scared for a new Benchmark product launch? Because I just brought an AHB2 😂
Gene thank you for doing this!!. Benchmark doesn’t get the attention they deserve. I am so impressed with my benchmark gear!
Please ask for new products and if they will make a new DAC. I know the DAC3 is state of the art and I have one, but it would be cool to have a new DAC made by them to have some Audiophile options maybe on it.
Like maybe an option for a NOS mode to use with HQplayer to use with different filters.
I mean you have to keep your customers happy and offer some new products. I have the DAC3 , LA4 and AHB2, but would love to see a new DAC.
Man that was so great!
Awesome video!
I plan to do a deep dive into the AHB2 power amplifier in the next video. I will try to do this in a way that the layman and the engineer will both appreciate.
The AHB2 is, without question, the most unique power amplifier on the market today. It is very different than all other amplifiers. It has feed-forward and feed-back error correction, dual sets of output rails, an offline protection system, a low-noise resonant switch-mode power supply, internal star-quad power and signal distribution, a low-gain amplification stage, and more. The specifications also set the AHB2 in a class by itself.
If you have specific questions about the AHB2, please post them here and I will try to address them in the next video.
- John Siau
Excellent thank you Gene for this video
excel,lent presentation, excellent information
So sad what happened to John Siau’s family.
First time learning of it. Shocked and extremely saddened. John Siau is a living legend, an industry giant. . .and a remarkable engineer. What a tragedy.
@@dfknyc78 Thank you for you kind words. My son David was our Production Manager. We all miss him. He laid down his life to save his wife and two of his children. His life was an example to all of us. - John SIau
Would love to see LA4 upgrade to include x2 channel output for subwoofers and independent output channel crossover / filter / phase adjustment mapped to input selection all in the analog domain of course. I know easy for me to say. SPL has their crossover but limit phase to only the low end output. Trying to integrate two subs to mains is a bear without adding another ada conversion and no one offers a means to manage the phase/delay of the mains unless you are going with a digital pre (still limited to delay). It would certainly differentiate itself from anything else on the market.
Great video! Very educational
This is end game for people that are after neutrality and uncoloured sound. If you dont like the sound you are hearing, it is your speakers, room, setup, the actual recording or your personal preference.
Great 👍 information
Great video. I do have a follow up question for John.
Big expensive amplifiers always have a large bank of big capacitors, the AHB2 doesn't have many. Wonder why and if doesn't limit the the AHB2 to deliver peak currents quickly? And impact the low frequency performance of the amplifier?
The AHB amp uses a switching power supply like most Class D power Amps, however the amplifier's output section is class A/B.
A line-frequency supply can only charge the output capacitors twice per cycle of the AC line. This means you have 120 charging pulses per second if you are on 60 Hz AC power. In contrast, the switch-mode power supply in the AHB2 charges the output capacitors about 1 million times per second. This alone could reduce the size of the capacitors by about a factor of about 8,000:1. In addition to this, the switch-mode regulator is able to make about a million regulation adjustments per second and this means that the regulation is much faster than any voltage changes caused by the audio signal loading. This high-speed regulation completely eliminates the need for any energy storage on the output side of the power supply. A small amount of capacitance is required to prevent ripple at the switching frequency.
In other words, the switch-mode power supply delivers current on demand while maintaining a constant, and well-regulated output voltage. In the AHB2, audio-induced ripple is not present on the output rails. In contrast, audio-induced ripple is always present on the outputs of a conventional non-regulated power supply. Bigger caps, reduce the ripple on conventional supplies, but these big capacitor banks are no substitute for the wide-bandwidth, tight regulation that we use in the AHB2. - John Siau
@@BenchmarkMediaSystems thank you for the clear and precise explanation.
I really like benchmark but stopping using them due to the poor volume (cumbersome) control of the HGC. Small steps are hard. It was about 1db difference left to right from 9-o’clock to 12-o’clock on the RCA. I adjusted the trim with the pads on the balanced.
Otherwise great product. I would rather see a digital volume without the crap volume/motorized volume.
The HPA4 is not the solution at $3500… for a digital only system.
The DAC3 HGC volume control is a hybrid system (HGC = Hybrid Gain Control). Digital inputs are digitally controlled with precise 0.5 dB steps over a range of 0 to -127.5 dB. The rotary pot position controls the digital gain. There are no L/R balance issues when using the digital inputs. In contrast, the analog inputs are controlled by a conventional pot. Like all pots, you can encounter some L/R balance issues especially at very low volume settings. We have a trim pot that matches the L/R balance at mid range so that the overall balance issues are much less than for typical dual-gang pots.
Pots are not perfect and this is why we developed the LA4 and HPA4 with stepped relay-controlled attenuators. These two products provide analog gain control in 0.5 dB steps over a range of +15 dB to -128 dB. No other stepped relay system provides this range or accuracy. And, no other relay system is as quiet when switching. The relay closures are precisely timed to prevent clicks in the audio output. This technology brings the accuracy, range, and purity of a digital volume control to analog signals. In some ways it is better because it attenuates the noise and signal of a DAC when the stepped attenuator is turned down. The stepped attenuator allows the DAC to operate at its optimum output level while optimizing the gain staging between any DAC and any power amplifier at any desired listening level. In other words it creates an optimized match between any DAC and any power amplifier and that optimization applies to all gain settings.
-John Siau
@@BenchmarkMediaSystems thanks for the replay and I owned that unit. The left to right balance was unusable over RCA from 9-12:00 o’clock on the volume knob (1db off in that range). Luckily the XLR can be balanced with the internal pads.
From a customer standpoint I stopped buying any benchmark equipment due to that hybrid volume control. It is far too granular from the remote.
An independent digital volume separate from the mechanical analogue volume would make the unit much better imo. Regardless of technical performance i sold the unit and no longer consider benchmark a solution due to the hybrid volume control. Adding a LA4 just to improve the volume control/precision seems excessive for digital sources. I understand there is improvement in the LA4 but at typical listening volumes it would be extremely hard to hear that improvement.
I wish they offered a more competitive price for the AHB2.
$3,500 plus tax is a lot of money and frankly not everyone can afford it. However, the amount of engineering that went in, the amount of cutting edge, proprietary patents that they have to license, all the labor from R&D to assembly to QC to post sales support are all done in the US. The reliability of these products (they are designed and engineered for the pro audio world). And a 5 year warranty. None of that comes in cheap and if you take all of that into consideration, this is actually a good deal.
Many can't afford this, but you can consider the second hand market to own a piece of audio history.
@@dfknyc78true but their product line up is getting long in the tooth and falling down the ASR rankings. No longer state of the art
@@seanb3303 If you are hawking the ASR stack ranking then you are not getting the entire picture. There are no amps currently on the market that is this load independent, frequency independent, power independent with the amount of power the AHB2 has with the low level of distortion and noise it has.
The only other amp is possibly the new Topping B200, which is yet to be bench tested. But there are a lot of reports on the poor reliability of these non class D, "Chi-Fi" amps.
Not to mention, with Benchmark, you are getting a 5 year warranty, their products are made for the pro world which takes a lot of abuse and wear and tear, so you know it will stand up to the test of hard use. And people always underestimate after sales support, it's not an issue when you don't need it, but when you do, dealing with someone in a different country, who struggles with keeping up with the language and only communicates over email and only replying overnight while you are sleeping is not a good experience.
@@dfknyc78 The problems will come if the Chinese copy it and even improve on it. Happened already with DAC's and other amps. They you will see that it was better long term to swap production to Asia and lower the prices. After all a large % of the electronic parts in it will be made in China anyway.
@@fx-studioThe Chinese brands' reliability in high power amps are very questionable and after sales support is almost non existent.