All Benchmark System Question

@ivanj ,
I agree with you completely, the Benchmark equipment only shows what’s on the recording and that is amazing most of the time. I guess the question I have been pondering is what is the best way to make the Benchmark system more forgiving in those cases where the recording is not so great, or if I just want a different flavor part of the time. You cannot change filter settings on the Benchmark DAC. I have a Gustard x26 pro DAC on order, @yyzsantabarbara  has had much success with that DAC in his Benchmark System. My guess is that the Troubador is warmer still and if the Gustard is not to my liking I will try that. People also uniformly rave about the Halo KTE, which is also on the radar.

I had the all Benchmark system but decided to sell the preamp, even though it was the best one I had ever used. I find that no preamp is better - more transparent. It is as if you are in the room with the performers. Not warmer, just more real. More emotion! I use the EVS Ultimate attenuator: http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/custom_modsultimate_attenuators.html
to control volume. At the moment I am all digital so I don't have to switch cables. Streamer and cd transport just plug into the Benchmark DAC 3b. I have tried two other interconnect brands but always returned to the Benchmark cables. This surprised me; when I substituted well-reviewed much more expensive interconnects, things took a turn for the worse. Details went missing and the immediacy of the performance disappeared. Incidentally I use the Amphion 7LS speakers with Isoacoustics Gaia 2 feet. 

@gagliano01 I recently had a long conversation with Ric Shultz about his modded Putifi amps. I wish I had known about the EVS Ultimate attenuator. I always wanted to try one. It is the same price as the Topping per90 that I just bought. Though I expect that preamp to be perfect for my needs.

I have the  opposite observations with the HPA4 in-between the DAC3B and AHB2. I thought everything was better. Volume control at low levels was much better with the HPA4.

This next observation confuses me. With the all BM stack I feel the single AHB2 is not enough juice for the Thiel CS3.7 (it is pretty good). However, with the CODA 07x I feel the single AHB2 is still lacking a bit of power but the sound itself seems more powerful. Now this is a hard rocking album so the more powerful sounding CODA seems to sound better with the AHB2.

I wrote this about the HPA4 not sounding as powerful as the CODA 07x and not making sense. I figured out how this happened the next day. I forgot to post that here.

When I brought up the HPA4 from downstairs I wired up the MONO output to the RIGHT speaker. I was doing this without looking and forgot that the RIGHT channel is the middle connection on the HPA4. So that explains the quote above. I later disconnected everything, cleaned the gear and set it up with a nice layout and less jumbled wiring.

The next observation is also not fully correct. The part about the soundstage being smaller was an artifact of the MONO connection. The greater detail and harder on top than the CODA still applies. I compared this again.

On the all BM stack there is a bit more detail, such as on the first song. There is also a tiny bit of hardness to the sound that was not there on the CODA 07x.The soundstage also seems a little smaller than with the CODA.

The preamp output connection (for both preamps) I use now will not get changed in the future. Only the XLR connection at the amp end.

As a Coda 07X owner, I tell you, it’s hard to beat. For the money required, very hard indeed. Buy the Coda. You may find yourself drifting away from the Benchmark.