I don't want to beat a dead horse but I'm bugged.

Show me just one audio electronic manufacturer that doesn't use aftermarket cables to demo their gear.

Ok - let’s take the Benchmark ABH2.

On the back we find a pair of Neutrik SpeakOn connectors, like we find on many other pro audio pieces… amps and speakers.

Many other amps also use those and they are common item for hooking up amps and speakers.

AVS tests measurements. It test well or it doesn’t - facts are facts. Good info but not the final decision for art or what a person likes. Some people like paintings that are hyper detailed (like a photo), some like impressionist paintings, which are a bit ’blurred’. I feel music is the same. Some like very detailed, some like a softer sound. Like any art form, the key is to make yourself happy.  I think both are important when comparing equipment.  For example, if you like a speakers particular 'sound' then you may want neutral DAC/AMP to not color the sound of the speaker you like.  Likewise, if a speaker is a bit to crisp, then an amp with a bit of softness to it may be just what you need.  Testing can help us get on the right path.  

I always hear this color issue from the measurement objectivists, they use the term accuracy as if it has no color. What proof do they have that accuracy has no color? Yes, measurements have correlations to qualities of sound reproduction, but our brains interpret these qualities in both common and unique ways. I've interpreted color from every single audio system I've ever heard, and that would range all the way from sterile to extremely romantic. Perhaps some believe accuracy lies somewhere outside this all encompassing bell curve. Please suggest to all us deluded audiophiles a single outlier system that is accurate and devoid of color, I really want to hear music reproduced with absolute accuracy. And then to prove that accuracy, it must conform to the original recording, we must be present at the time of that recording and/or the production/engineering of said recording. I'd say the objectivists have a tall task in front of them.

I'd say the objectivists have a tall task in front of them.

It is even worse than ^that^, as the recordings have been coloured in a rainbow fashion by the recording engineers.

If we use the term “high fidelity”, then at least we can say that we do not want the playback system to be supplying further changes to the recording.

This may be what Olive referred to as, “the circle of confusion?”

@sns 

I've interpreted color from every single audio system I've ever heard, and that would range all the way from sterile to extremely romantic. Perhaps some believe accuracy lies somewhere outside this all encompassing bell curve. Please suggest to all us deluded audiophiles a single outlier system that is accurate and devoid of color, I really want to hear music reproduced with absolute accuracy. 

Astute observation/comment as is the norm from you.

@holmz 

I haven't heard Atma-sphere latest solid state amplifiers. I'm very familiar with his OTL amplifiers which I find really good. 

I've heard benchmark on several occasions and don't share the enthusiasm some listeners /owners have expressed,  if you like their sonic performance then good for you. Again I believe that you and I simply have different taste and preferences as to what sounds right.  Not unexpected in the realm of High End audio so neither you nor  I can be declared right or wrong,  just different. 

Charles