Benchmark Preamps and Amp - For real?

@mayordaley

it was too lifeless to me

If you mean not altering the music, then that’s exactly what I want. I don’t want to hear my amp, my DAC, my speakers, my cables, etc., I just wanna hear the music (with DSP to combat room modes). Some people wanna hear their gear, but I’m a eyeglasses > tinted glasses kind of guy.

I mean more in the sense that it did not feel like there was enough power.  Not that I listen at loud volumes, but the energy just wasn’t there.  The Benchmark was similarly neutral, but had enough juice to make things sound more correct than the Pass.  The Pass was designed to have just enough power, but in some cases, it feels lacking in drive.  It would likely match awesomely with the right phones, just not with what I heard it with. 

@mayordaley

My bad, I thought you meant the Benchmark was lifeless by comparison (the same naming scheme threw me off).

The Benchmark headphone amp outputs more than double the Pass Labs’ one (at least into 300ohm), so your assessment has backing.

I've been using the AHB2 for a couple years.  I wanted an amp that introduced no coloration through noise and that's what this is.  It can be run as monoblocks or stereo.  You can also adjust the input sensitivity (gain).  I've never had a problem powering either my speakers.  More than enough juice and I run my speaker pair with one amp at the lowest sensitivity, or gain.

@yyzsantabarbara  Sorry, haven't been back to this thread. With both the DAC3 and AHB2 set for no attenuation, as recommended by Benchmark when used with the LA4, there does seem to be greater transparency.  A bit more depth to the soundstage, a bit more detail in the texture of voices, etc.  And the volume control is much more pleasant, with easily repeatable levels, and it's easy to make fine volume adjustments by remote.