All Benchmark System Question

Regg
i have the Benchmark amp with the Dac3 and Harbeth SLH5 Anniversary.
Still dialing in the “ perfect” placement but at times I feel the same as you that I want a touch warmer tone/sound.
Detail is amazing, sound floor is dead quiet…
The seller of the Harbeths told me that he had great success with Triod Wire Labs speaker wires… warmer overall. His second choice was the LFD Hybrid wire which is sold by the USHarbeth distributor.
I currently use the Benchmark wires and am thinking hard about getting some Triod wires.
They might be that small adjustment you ( and I) are looking forward.
cheers
Z

Guys like @atmasphere say that if the gear supports the AES48 balanced standard (like Benchmark) different XLR cables should not effect the sound much. I feel that way with the Benchmark gear. I use the BM XLR between the preamp and amp (15 feet). The source to preamp are all Audience AU24SE expensive XLR cables. I had these Audience cables from long ago and compared them with the BM XLR’s. I thought the AU24SE were a little better, though that could be phycological because I spent a ton more money on them.

Speaker wire from the AHB2 to the speakers had a big effect on the sound. I tried 3 different cables and my preferences from most to least.

1) Audience FrontRow (with SpeakON termination)
2) Audience Conductor SE
3) Benchmark speaker cable with SpeakON

BTW - I did test the DAC3B with the headphone amp so that I could eliminate the 15 foot preamp to amp cable from the test

BTW2 - I have a warm sounding SONY SCD-1 SACD player from 20 years ago hooked up to the HPA4. It has never sounded better than today. I did not like it as much on the CODA 07x. Maybe too much warmth.

A mea culpa for me on the CODA 07x preamp making a hiss on my floorstanders (not RAAL SR1a headphones). This was really bugging me and some other folks on WBF were telling me they do not have a hiss. So tonight I removed my D-Sonic amp and put in a single AHB2 with the CODA 07x. The hiss was gone for the most part as was with the HPA4. The HPA4 seemed a tiny bit quieter.

It looks like I should get the CODA #8 amp for my floor standers sooner than later.

@yyzsantabarbara , i have the same preference as you with respect to the speaker wire and am using the Audience FrontRow with SpeakOn as well. I also think it bested the Benchmark cables, not by an enormous amount but by enough. The rest is Benchmark XLR. I would love to try the AudioByte but it looks like two boxes which may be tough. It looks like there is a lot of Benchmark love out there and we all seem to want to add a little warmth sometimes, but just sometimes, when needed. Lots of great suggestions for me to try, thanks!

@regg You should try the Gustard X26 Pro on the home trial.  Having that Gustard even as a backup DAC is a big win.

The reviewer I referenced actually compares the AudioByte to the Gustard. He loved both with the AudioByte slightly preferred. The AudioByte does have great potential to become great with the firmware updates and also the HUB. With the Gustard you are set with the existing sound unless you get the external clock which may make things better or worse.

I must say that this tread has got me a bit annoyed with that hiss I reported with the Class D amp and the CODA07x. It was much lower wit the HPA4. It did not bother me until I paid attention when I made that post. I was going to buy the AudioByte tomorrow and then the CODA #8 later in the year (close to 2022) but I may flip that around.

The Benchmark DAC3B is pretty good in the current setup. It is also great with the CODA 07x.

I am surprised that you also have FrontRow with SpeakON. I thought I was the only person that did that. On my RAAL SR1a the FrontRow cables was more noticeable than on my floorstanders. Seems crazy to have $4K speaker cables on a $3.5K headphones but spending 4K on cables is also kind of crazy.