"The Benchmark AHB2 solid-state stereo power amplifier immediately grabbed the audio world’s attention about 7 years ago when it was introduced." "The decision to purchase the review sample and make the Benchmark AHB2 a new, long term reference took over a month of listening and comparisons." AHB2 - "Instantly Grabbed the Audio World's Attention" If more power is needed, two amplifiers configured for mono can provide it." As it is right now, it's not very usable by my partner."The Benchmark AHB2 is a very fine sounding, easy to live with, zero-maintenance power amplifier that has enough power for most systems. I'd like to have the whole system more user-friendly. What does "SPDIF" vs "USB" mean for inputs? What do buttons 1, 2, 3, 4 mean on the remote? How do you know if you pressed the wrong one? As it is right now, it's not very usable by my partner. digital source - analog preamp - ADC to ddrc - DAC from ddrc - amp). But there really are not many digital preamps - I'd prefer to not have to go digital-analog-digital-analog-amp (i.e. I'm thinking of getting a more user-friendly peripheral system and using a minidsp ddrc-24 instead. Maybe I can put an IR on the RPI and unify the remote. That works pretty well, but I'm then split between my phone plus SHD remote for controls. It seems to take a fair bit of time for Volumio to come on-line from standby, and it's not a certified roon endpoint yet, so I use a rpi 4 via USB. I do not find the SHD streaming to be all that great. Personally, I think the room and speakers have the largest impact on sound, compared to most any decent modern amp, dac, etc. I think the DIRAC is great, it can help all sorts of speaker / amp / room combos sound pretty good. I also used the SHD + 2x B&O 4500 active speakers + 1x SVS Micro 3000. So, buying everything that has nice looking 19" rack options was also appealing. If I didn't want the DSP room correction, I would have gone with RME ADI-2 or D90SE plus the Topping Pre90.Īnother consideration is I decided to install 19" rack ears in my built-in shelves (which are conveniently 40" wide), so I can do 2x 5U racks. From the specs, it does not look like the SHD has the input gain needed. I thought about skipping the TT preamp, but I have an MC and am not certain if a 1:20 SUT alone would be enough for the SHD inputs + biquad EQ. I think if I add a DA-3000 to finally rip at lot of the old vinyl, I would go turntable - da-3000 - shd over AES. My only complaint is the SHD does not have a pre-DSP out, such as if I want to go to a recorder for the turn table. Once the SHD becomes Roon-certified, I can drop the Raspberry Pi streamer (RoPieee). As I was looking for room correction too, I did not want something like a D90SE or RME that went D/A and then A/D back to the DSP the D/A again. That is all that I needed (turntable + raspberry pi streamer + cd player via spdif). It has USB, toslink, and spdif coax, AES XLR, and RCA unbalanced. Is the Pre90 a good match for the AHB2 ? (considering the input/output impedance, etc.) The Topping Pre90 fits the bill but I'm wondering if there are other options? Able to see the volume level from my listening position Able to control the volume with a remote Balanced output to the power amplifier (XLR) SMSL SU-9) and get a "dedicated" good quality preamplifier to use with it? If so, maybe I could get a cheaper than D90 DAC (ex. I considered buying the Topping D90 to use the DAC and it's preamp, but I heard the quality of the volume control isn't very good. Hence my question: what preamplifier would you recommend for the AHB2 that is cheaper than the top of class LA4/HPA4 ? Unfortunately, it doesn't have XLR outputs (Audiolab 6000A has RCA out only). I am looking to upgrade my system starting with the AHB2 amplifier.Īt first, I wanted to use my integrated amplifier that has a pretty good DAC (I think ) and add the power amplifier to it. I'm new here, if my post is in the wrong forum or is a duplicate of another.
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