Bearwarrior we are an Anthem dealer so we are going to be a bit biased.
Personally we don’t feel this is a fair comparison as the Benchmark amp is $3,000.00 and a good preamp is also going to be around $3k vs a $4,500.00 integrated.
Also you are getting a good dac and room correction with the STR.
The Anthem Room correction is indeed excellent and may be a huge improvement with the Golden Ear’s whose bass response may exacerbate room issues.
When you factor in the cost of a good dac to the Benchmark combo you are now comparing an $8-9k package vs a $4,500.00
You are indeed correct about digitizing an analog source do you actually have one? If not no big deal, most people including the Anthem engineers feel that even analog through one of these units gains more from the room correction than the more purist approach to pure analog preamplification.
The Anthem STR preamp at $4k plus a good amplifier tube or otherwise would get you even better performance and would still retain the excellent dac and room correction.
We are going to get the Golden Ear loudspeakers after hearing them sound incredible at AXPONA. so we can advise you on our findings.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Anthem dealers
Personally we don’t feel this is a fair comparison as the Benchmark amp is $3,000.00 and a good preamp is also going to be around $3k vs a $4,500.00 integrated.
Also you are getting a good dac and room correction with the STR.
The Anthem Room correction is indeed excellent and may be a huge improvement with the Golden Ear’s whose bass response may exacerbate room issues.
When you factor in the cost of a good dac to the Benchmark combo you are now comparing an $8-9k package vs a $4,500.00
You are indeed correct about digitizing an analog source do you actually have one? If not no big deal, most people including the Anthem engineers feel that even analog through one of these units gains more from the room correction than the more purist approach to pure analog preamplification.
The Anthem STR preamp at $4k plus a good amplifier tube or otherwise would get you even better performance and would still retain the excellent dac and room correction.
We are going to get the Golden Ear loudspeakers after hearing them sound incredible at AXPONA. so we can advise you on our findings.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Anthem dealers