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
DAC3 - Award Nominee - Best Digital Audiophile Product of 2024 (Cost No Object)
2024 Nominees
- Benchmark Media DAC3 B DAC, $1895
- Bricasti M3 DAC, $6000
- Bricasti M19 CD-SACD Player, $10,000
- T+A DAC 200, $7620
- Weiss Engineering Helios DAC, $21,995
"There was some debate about whether anybody can hear the differences above a good Chi-Fi DAC like the Topping D90. Unless you are missing most of your high-frequency hearing, you can hear where a high-end DAC makes a difference."
The Bricasti M3 is a great example of that performance in a $6,000 DAC."
"The Benchmark DAC3 B is an audiophile DAC, with pro audio roots, that punches way above its weight."
LA4 Review - Mike Prager, FutureAudiophile.com
"Benchmark Media Systems made its reputation in both pro audio and audiophile circles by designing gear with extraordinarily low noise and distortion, and selling it at reasonable prices."
"What Makes the Benchmark LA4 Preamp So Special?"
"A high-quality volume control is much of what makes a superior preamp shine, and the Benchmark’s volume control is outstanding. The Benchmark LA4 uses a bank of precision resistors switched by gold-contact relays to set volume in 256 steps of 0.5 decibels each."
"If accurate reproduction is your wish, you won’t find a preamp with meaningfully better objective performance than the Benchmark LA4, especially one made in the United States at anything near the LA4’s price."
"Very few preamps at any price reach the LA4’s level of objective performance."
"On the subjective end of things, the Benchmark LA4 preamp puts the lie to the old audiophile myth that neutrality means clinical, cold, or sterile sound. Instead, here neutrality means musical, involving sound, with precise, stable imaging, a sense of space (if one is on the recording), and exceptionally truthful timbres."
- Mike Prager, FutureAudiophile.com
AHB2 Review - Mike Prager, Future Audiophile
"For years, the audio world acknowledged one main contender (at least at sub-five-figure pricing) for the quietest, cleanest, most neutral power amplifier around. That was the Benchmark AHB2, whose specifications are still, for all practical purposes, unsurpassed, even by today’s excellent Class-D amps."
"10 years after its release, the Benchmark Media Systems AHB2 stereo power amp is still a standard-bearer in clean, neutral sound in the audiophile world."
"I greatly enjoyed having a pair of AHB2s in my system – their purity, neutrality, and seemingly unlimited power provided a clear window on the music and a lot of joy."
"I especially appreciated the AHB2’s smooth, well-integrated treble, free of splashiness or grain, and its natural reproduction of the human voice."
- Mike Prager, Future Audiophile