HPA4 Review - Peter Pialis, Headphone.guru
HPA4 - "Rediscovered so Many of My Favorite Works"
"This THX-888 amplifier is driven by a Benchmark line amplifier that features relay gain control, relay input selection and relay muting. The gain control has a whopping 256 steps in impressive 0.5 dB increments so that you can get exactly the volume that you want to hear!"
"You get a brilliant Touch Screen that in the end provides easy access to the plethora of features and settings on the amplifier. Everything from balance control, input level offset selection, personalized input names, screen dimming, remote control and function-locking are only a touch or two away with the intuitive user interface. Throw in an optional remote control, and you really get everything you’d ever need with a dedicated headphone amplifier."
"The HPA4 is 100% analog and is driven by an upstream D/A converter (DAC). The THX-888 can easily deliver high voltage into low-sensitivity high impedance headphones and it can conversely deliver high current into low impedance headphones. It easily drove all of the headphones I had on hand from my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD800S, to my 32 ohm Grado PS2000e and power hungry Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC orthomagnetic headphones. Heck, it was also dead silent on lower gain with all of my in-ear monitors too like the Grade GR10e IEMs. It literally is both a jack of all trades and master of all!"
"I plugged in the HD800S headphones and quickly selected Holly Cole’s “Collection Vol. 1”. This collection of classic Holly Cole songs is one of my favorite “go to” albums."
"The tonality of the piano in “Trust in Me” was simply “life-like”. The tonality and detail of Holly’s piano playing was as if I was transported to a jazz club with Holly paying in front of me. Her vocals were seductive, transparent and perfectly portrayed. The HPA4 amplifier offered an incredibly close look into this recording with the ability to mine out the smallest details that other amplifiers would seem to gloss over."
"Since the HPA4 arrived, I have rediscovered so many of my favorite works all over again with improved detail retrieval dynamics and transparency that it’s hard to pull myself away!"
"It drove my power hungry Abyss Phi TC headphones with complete authority, but it was still dead silent and nimble enough to amplify my easy to drive Focal Utopia headphones."
"Rarely have I come across such a wonderfully revealing amplifier that can drive many different types of headphones so darn well! The solid build construction and various controls make the price tag seem a bit low based on the other headphone amplifiers in this market space."
- Peter Pialis, Headphone.guru
November 6, 2019
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