Back in April/May of last year I auditioned, with the intent to buy, the AHB2. I read pretty much every report, paper, review, etc on this piece because I was in the market for an amp --looking for a good fit with my Dynaudio Contour S3.4 LEs. My first AHB2 amp arrived and a problem developed shortly after; I connected everything up properly, turned it on, played some music, then listened for a bit then it went into protection mode. I called Benchmark and they were phenomenal with sending me out a new unit. The second unit was stable with no issues. I found the sheer resolution very remarkable; The bass was tight and tuneful. The midrange was transparent and open. It easily drove the Dyns with precise control. After some time however, the sound grew fatiguing to me, and I noticed that it did not sound all that great when played at low to medium-low volume. In the past I drove my dyns with a Pass X250.5, Plinius SA102, and I know how amazing they can sound at pretty much any level. There was just something missing about the AHB2 presentation; like the soul was sucked out and I could not connect to the music.
At this time a lightly used Bryston 4B SST2 popped and I bought it. The Bryston was heads and tails a better match. Back the AHB2 went. I kept the Bryston. The Bryston has very low distortion on paper, perhaps not as low as the AHB2, but to me its another "who cares" lesson because its all about the end synergy. It’s either there and the system has that warm, organic sparkle, or its flat and annoying. The Bryston and Dyn match was superb.
Cheers
At this time a lightly used Bryston 4B SST2 popped and I bought it. The Bryston was heads and tails a better match. Back the AHB2 went. I kept the Bryston. The Bryston has very low distortion on paper, perhaps not as low as the AHB2, but to me its another "who cares" lesson because its all about the end synergy. It’s either there and the system has that warm, organic sparkle, or its flat and annoying. The Bryston and Dyn match was superb.
Cheers