"The comparison system consisted of PS Audio DirectStream DAC and BHK Signature preamp and, variously, PS Audio BHK 300 and Pass Laboratories XA60.8 monoblocks." More broadly, I wanted to determine whether the two systems sounded meaningfully different." "This article is unusual in that my goal was not to take the measure of a particular component but to determine whether Benchmark's entire low-noise system could resolve musical detail that a more typical audiophile system, with noise and distortion levels that are low but not as low, could not. Wanting to know what that means musically, I asked Benchmark to send me a pair of AHB2 amplifiers to complement the DAC3 HGC already in my possession." "This article is unusual. The signals this combo sends to loudspeakers should be cleaner-truer to the source-than any other audio components can achieve. "With the DAC3 HGC and the AHB2, Benchmark seems to have achieved the lowest-noise, lowest-distortion system of source and amplification on the planet. it now sits in Class A of Stereophile's 'Recommended Components.'" Bridged to mono, the AHB2 has a claimed A-weighted dynamic range of 135dB . "Benchmark created an amplifier that more than matched the DAC3's dynamic range: the AHB2. A good-measuring high-end solid-state amplifier is likely to have a dynamic range-the highest attainable ratio of signal to noise-of about 100dB ref. That's well above the dynamic range that most power amplifiers can achieve. and corresponds to a dynamic range-the ratio of the highest achievable digital-domain volume to the DAC's internal noise-of 128dB. " John Atkinson's measurements corroborated Benchmark's claim that the DAC3 is capable of "at least" 21-bit performance.
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