Article: Power Amp Comparison | Cambridge Edge W, Benchmark AHB2, Bryston 4B Cubed

[feelingears]

Out of curiosity, did you ever consider the Raggy 2?

 

And also out of curiosity, could you describe what drew you to the list of amps you've auditioned and now tested? I'm wondering what sonic characteristics made you explore what seem to be very different amp design reputations.

 

And maybe they're not so different and I am just unaware? Emotiva, NAD, Classe, and Benchmark? Interesting...

[feelingears]

22 hours ago, JoshM said:

I think the above comments are all related in my mind. When I think about equipment, I don’t necessarily first categorize them by price. What drew me to all of the amps I tried is that they either measured well, got good subjective reviews, or both. So, for example, even though I don’t tend to like Class D amps, the NAD M22 got great reviews, measured well, and I found one used at a good price. I tried it, didn’t like it, and resold it. 

 

This has been my process as well, although I have tended to group amps/designs together into certain categories based on the semantics of the reviews. Over time and reviews/-ers, there are some commonalities and that is what I was after with my question; price is very much secondary. I am curious if you had sonic qualities in mind but maybe the measurements are your common denominator.

Anyway, thanks for the comparative review. I'll have to check out Bryston sometime.


 

[feelingears]

Shucks, I'm just thinking about branching out from my Naim loyalty for fun. Maybe an esoteric preamp with a Bryston 2B^3 or heck, a Schiit Aegir...

 

Maybe someday an AirBnb experience will be hopping around a city to some local audiophile homes for auditions of insane setups like @pga's. Actually I could see a kind of documentary/slight mock-umentary film about audiophiles and the search for the perfect amp going along these lines...

[feelingears]

18 hours ago, pga said:

One slightly off topic point worth mentioning is how much of an engineering company Bryston and Benchmark truly are, and how important this is.  I’m less familiar with Schiit and Cambridge, but I suspect that is also true there.  There is no substitute for great engineering.  
...

One lesson I learned is don’t try to fix a room response problem with cables or subtle differences between electronics,  the only real way to fix this is either with a new room or EQ. 

 

Largely agree, although I think engineering is important but not the be-all, end-all. Even Schiit, which has a few distinctive in-house technologies behind their designs in both digital and analog, does not design simply by engineering. I don't know if you're trying to say this so I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. In Schiit's case, they are quite open about listening tests and even the differences in impressions between the founders (Stoddard and Moffat). Case in point is the latest DAC upgrade which you can read about elsewhere. I wish/think other companies should follow Schiit's openness as it builds community/brand and fosters better products.

 

Not to go totally off-topic, but preferences are huge and as it happens, I read about a Bryston owner's preference for Sugden. Having heard the latter recently, I can only imagine because I think Sugden doesn't get enough credit for the extremely high quality of their sound. And, I think their slogan is along the lines of "getting technology out of the way of music."

And to your point, our rooms and room-treatment are definitely an under-discussed topic. Drapes are a huge part of mine and when they were out for a week for cleaning, OMG I never imagined my system could sound so. incredibly. terrible. And, I almost couldn't believe I heard that bass traps "work" when I put one in.

 

Back on topic: I'll be sure to have my drapes and traps in place when I audition a Bryston!