Vandersteen 3a Signatures compared to Treo’s

@patrickdowns - my selection process was much less thought out than yours.
I had a Krell Preamp and an Adcom 5800 amp paired with my 3a’s for twenty plus years with really no changes. I was definitely satisfied but figured that over twenty years that , like in everything technical, the price to performance metric had shifted to the more for less.
I started looking and reading reviews and the Benchmark , especially the amp, jumped out of the pack to me as a value.
An amp that cost 3k was being lumped into “ one of the best” “ reference” level with other unlimited budget amps. The negative that people repeatedly bring up is that the amp and dac ( dac used as my dac and control unit) is that they are “ neutral”.
That sounded good to me as I like my listening to sound real and if that is a bit raw balanced with detail and life then that’s good to me.
Got the dac first as the amp was back ordered and it was a solid gain to me and the amp in unison made a huge leap in my system. Detail, soundstage, depth... and no harshness or too neutral/ dry sounds.
Yes, if the recording is crap then that is magnified, just like it should be in my opinion.
Probably have not answered your question but I am very happy with my benchmark stuff including their balanced cables and speaker wires.
As a slight aside I have a set of their balanced connectors, 25 feet and super inexpensive. I am prettying up my listening room and wanted to go a bit longer with the interconnects so did a ton of “ research” and bought some well thought of cables that cost many multiples of the benchmark ones. I have done a few A to B swaps and maybe, maybe I hear the tiniest soundstage difference with the lower register stuff. Maybe.
as a FYI my 3’s are latest spec, all new intervals per Richard.

@patrickdowns 

If your Audio Alchemy is not truly balanced but just a single ended design with a pair of XLR outputs, as it appears, then you are not really gaining anything by swapping to a balanced amp other than a cable change.  You also have the option of having Klaus swap the guts of your Kismet amp to a Stratos case which does have "balanced" inputs.  

Hi jackd

From Peter Madnick, an email reply when I asked him if the DDP-1 is fully balanced: "DDP-1 is fully balanced."

I have spoken to Klaus Bunge specifically about moving up to the Stratos case to get balanced connections, and he scoffed. Strongly harumphed that he’s not a fan of balanced. I can’t remember why and didn’t debate it (because I’m not qualified!). I have friends who prefer balanced, especially when using monoblocks.

Benchmark only offers balanced inputs on their fine amp, so they’ve staked out their position (they also scoff at many super expensive cables, and theirs are a bargain and get good reviews, iirc). The varying opinions among talented builders and designers is interesting.

Cheers.

Not surprised that Klaus is not in favor of building fully balanced amps as it would double the cost but he has offered the XLR inputs on the Stratos case for over 20 years for people that want to have the option of both.  I  suspect that if you just tell him that's what you want to do he will give in and do it.  Much of Klaus' outlook comes from his mentor, Rolf, of Symphonic Line.

jackd

Roger that on Klaus!

re:

If you liked the sound signature of your McCormick and now Odyssey you will find the Benchmark to be completely different.

That is the big question! Benchmark have a 30 day home trial so I think it’s worth experimenting maybe. I am not wedded to my previous amps’ "sound" I guess. Wish I had the budget to experiment with other brands and combinations and not break the bank. I have an obsession with the LTA zOTL preamp (tube) that I would like to try with a good solid state amp too.