HPA4 and LA4 Review - Ruud Jonker, FWD Magazine
HPA4, LA4 - "Pro Audio Products in the Home"
"It has already been noted in previous reviews that the professional market often offers products that may also be of interest to the 'ordinary' consumer. In Japan in particular, home systems often consist of a mix of consumer equipment and (vintage) professional items."
"Benchmark was founded in 1983 and started building professional audio equipment."
"The goal, from the outset, is to build sound-transparent equipment of the highest quality. The employees are musicians, audiophiles and audio technicians. So sound quality is top notch."
HPA4 vs. LA4
"The HPA4 and LA4 are preamplifiers and largely identical. The HPA4 also has a built-in headphone amplifier."
Rear Panel - (HPA4 and LA4)
"The inputs (2x XLR balanced and 2x RCA unbalanced) are switched by gold relays. The volume is then controlled via a rotary encoder that can make 256 steps of 0.5 dB. The balance control also works via the four 256-step attenuators in the HPA4. Two attenuators are for the line outputs and two attenuators are for the headphones."
Impressive Specifications
"The specifications of the 100% analog line stage of both devices are impressive, as are the specs of the THX-888 Headphone amplifier module present in the HPA4."
"For the analog line amplifier, consider a frequency range of 0.1 Hz-500 kHz within the -3 dB points and a signal-to-noise ratio of 137dB (A-weighted between 20-20,000 Hz). The deviations in the frequency range shown below are extremely small (0.003 dB at 10 Hz, -0.001 dB at 20 kHz). That makes these preamps a straight line with gain."
This review covers Loudspeaker Applications Only
"The HPA4 was used for the listening test, but the headphone output was not listened to. In order to be able to listen to the HPA4 properly, speakers, power amplifiers and cables were chosen as neutrally as possible."
"They bring the essence of the recording closer to the listener"
"A striking observation is, listening to a system that is as neutral as possible, that the true character of a recording becomes very recognizable. If a recording is superior, it will be fully featured. However, if recordings are of lesser quality, then these are not provided with coloring distortion by such a system and sometimes by the listener judged as pleasant additions caused by woofers, phase misery, hissing tweeters, driver resonances, cabinet -resonances, frequency range deviations and other nonsense."
"That's not to say that a lesser recording always sounds bad on such a neutral system, but you just hear the real quality."
"The Benchmark HPA4 and LA4 preamps deliver a very high quality neutral and transparent signal."
"Developed from a professional focus on sound reproduction, they bring the essence of the recording closer to the listener."
"That elementary and almost direct link with what happened during the recording is the fascinating thing about such neutral equipment. It requires listeners who are further along in their audiophile development."
- Ruud Jonker, FWD Magazine, fwd.nl
Also in Reviews
AHB2 Review - Constantine Soo, Dagogo
"The AHB2 bridgeable stereo amplifier ... was the topic of a recent discussion between American electrostatic panel speaker manufacturer Sound Lab’s president, Dr. Roger West, and me."
"In our discussion, he related his highly positive experience in driving even his largest, $55k Majestic 945 panels with the $7,000 pair of Benchmark Media AHB2 monoblocks, along with the $3,050 LA4 Preamplifier and factory XLR cables."
"Dr. West described the AHB2 as a class AB design using “feed-forward distortion reduction [thus removing] any possibility of pushing the margin of safety of a standard feedback loop, used in most amplifiers, into an unstable oscillatory mode.”"
"He further shared with me that “this is of most concern on powerful musical transients. The distortion of the amplifier in the balanced mode is astonishingly low even at just below the clipping level of 380 watts.”"
"The prospect of the AHB2’s specified distortion level of 0.00015% or lower when at full volume is comical at first glance, but upon actual audition the impact of the achievement is very audible from medium-high listening levels and upward."
"It was unlike any other sub-$20,000 amplifier I have auditioned."
"My audition of the Benchmark Media AHB2 amplifiers underscores the reason Dr. West is so taken by it, and confirms the design is best described as a watershed moment in the high-end audio industry."
- Constantine Soo, Dagogo
DAC3 Review - Jerry Del Colliano
"Benchmark is a stalwart brand in pro audio, but has carved out a very respectable niche in the audiophile world with their diminutive but powerful components."
"The audiophile world sometimes looks to the professional audio world for enlightenment, especially on the digital side of things, and Benchmark Media is one of the companies that we put high on a pedestal."
"They are hardcore digital engineers freezing their asses off in upstate New York as they come up with some pretty innovative ways to get your varied digital sources sounding as much like the master tape as possible. Thank you for your service, gentlemen."
"If you really want to hear what your music sounds like in today’s streaming-driven world, this might just be the DAC that you need to test out."
- Jerry Del Colliano, Future Audiophile
DAC3 & AHB2 - System Review, Trevor Butler, The-Ear.net
"I began with the DAC3 HGC and AHB2 powering the glorious Morel Avyra 633 three-way floorstanders."
"This pairing created a full-bodied sound which brought the recording to life."
"Notable from the off was the bass from the DAC3 HGC and AHB2."
"Wow! It was deep, tight and conveyed a real feeling that the electronics were in charge of the transducers."
"Involuntary foot-tapping confirmed the timing ability and the overall presentation was spot-on, the Benchmark electronics created a fluent sound across a vivid soundstage; performers evident both tonally and spatially in an easy-to-believe presentation that brought the performance close."
"The Benchmark’s ability to retrieve deep-down detail and display it so well across the soundstage, with accurate positioning and convincing layering, made for a glorious re-creation of the recordings."
"To my mind the AHB2 is an amplifier with no obvious characteristics of its own: the level of transparency is sublime."
"Above all, the improved transient response performance stood out in a presentation that was not only lively but incredibly fast and revealing. The attack and decay displayed was awesome and not something I expect at this price point."
"The Benchmark DAC3 HGC and AHB2 are cracking products, sonically superior to a lot that’s available and well priced."
"They are superbly designed and built to an extremely high standard."
- Trevor Butler, the-ear.net