Dust Settled Consensus- is the Benchmark AHB2 an Audiophile Amplifier?

@holmz I have more than a few amps and I would have to put the AHB2s back in my system to give you more up to date impressions. But here are a couple of things. I tend to do most of my listening to jazz. A large amount of piano. A large amount of ECM label. This lends itself to a quiet distortion-free amp. I do occasionally listen to rock and have had no issues that I can recall. But one thing I should note is that there are LEDs on the front of the AHB2 which will let you know if the amp is clipping. I have not had any issues with clipping. I would say that if you are looking for an amp to color your sound, these are not the amps for you. But if you are looking for clean detail and all the other audiophile amp characteristics, then this amp is a contender. 

It measures really good, offers good value, and Benchmark is big in pro audio market so that means audiophiles will tend to discount it compared to whatever other “audiophile” amp it may be that manages to catch their ear or eye for whatever reason. So if you want to buy objectively check out Benchmark. Otherwise have at it and take your pick for whatever reasons that might turn you on. It’s a free country. Personally I consider it an “audiophile” amp.   No objective reason to consider it anything else.  It’s just semantics anyhoo. 

I have a single AHB2 with the HPA4 and Dac 3B in powering Harbeth P3’s in a small family room-Phenomenal. I also have a Belles Aria with a Dac 3B powering Harbeth P3’s in another small room-Phenomenal. Point is, the AHB2 is an amazing amp but it obviously has less coloration than other amps. Also different recordings, different room acoustics matter greatly. I would never let go of my AHB2 because when I am listening to the right type of music and the right type of recording it just can’t be beat. With other types of music and other types of recordings I change rooms. Having said all that I don’t know that if I had room or the budget for one amp that it would be the winner. I think there are other amps out there that may perform better as “jack of all trades” amps.

Thanks to all replies, very interesting.  It does seem that this amplifier has staying power.  

I heard it again at AXPONA this year driving some Aretai stand mount speakers.  Very punchy and clear.  

I am probably going to try one. While I love the sound of my Pass XA25 it is not as transparent as it was billed and at times sounds unnaturally warm and polished.

It took over a year for the XA25 to sound like this as it burned in.

Just trying to decide on two or one. Most likely one for starters.

Seems that the OP is hung up on the “audiophile” label rather than the components performance in its price range.  It’s the sonics, the price, and possibly the feature set that matters.