Dust Settled Consensus- is the Benchmark AHB2 an Audiophile Amplifier?

@ricevs I do remember reading about this GAN 1 amp now. Now that you have compared it to the Voyager, I will believe what you say. Ric's mod of the Voyager was great. It was almost like the AHB2 for my ears, with more power than the stereo AHB2. Since I had the AHB2 I decided to sell the Voyager.

BTW - the AHB2 monos (what I use) are close to 400 watts (or maybe 500) without increased distortion as you usually see when you switch a stereo amp to mono.

The GaN 400 is the same as the Voyager......the GaN 1 is the new digital input only amp. The Kef Blade 2 Meta’s do not have that low of impedance and are 87db sensitive, so 200 watts will get you at least 107db. How loud do you listen?

Nice to see folks are enjoying their Benchmark amplifiers and that there is not a ton of mud slinging here. 

@jeffseight LOL

I am driving Fyne F702 floorstanding speakers (92 db efficiency) with the Benchmark AHB2, with a Rogue Audio RO-7 preamp, Schiit Bifrost 2/64 DAC, Ifi Zen Stream with upgraded power supply, NAD C568 CD player (thru Schiit DAC), and the system sounds great, not at all sterile in our rather “dead” 13 x 20 living room.  Indeed, just last evening I fired up my recently-refurbed Thorens TD 126 MKII thru a Schiit Mani 2 and I was stunned by the realism from some MFSL and Sheffield records from the 1980s that have been stored for nearly four decades.  Excellent imaging, dispersion, clarity, tonal qualities, and the harmonics produced by the instruments all provided a realism that nearly placed the performers in my living room.  Even further from sterile than from digital sources, and I may have to invest more in vinyl and associated equipment.  Might I replace the AHB2 with something that some people consider truly “audiophile?”  Perhaps, if I had a rich uncle that passed away and left me a modest fortune, but, alas, no rich uncles in my case.  So, the AHB2 gives me superb sounding music with a vibrant sense of realism … which, after all, is what it really is all about … in my view.  So, again in my view, the answer is yes.