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
Benchmark Converters at Abbey Road - Geoff Pesche
"What are the Latest Advancements in Mastering?"
"Geoff Pesche weighs in on how the mastering team at Abbey Road Studios achieve first-class results." - Mix with the Masters
"The biggest sonic improvement in mastering in the last 5 or 6 years is D/A and A/D converters and that's very very important - what you have at the front and the back of the chain."
"We use fairly new Benchmark converters front and back."
"Abbey Road like a uniformity between the rooms so all of the rooms have the same A/D and D/A conversion."
- Geoff Pesche, Mastering Engineer, Abbey Road Studios
DAC3 Review - Alan Sircom, hi-fi+
"A Damn Good, No-Frills Digital Converter"
"Benchmark Media Systems’ no-nonsense approach to all things audio is rare today."
"Uniformly Good"
"This is a DAC that’s uniformly good at everything. It resolves well, has good imaging properties."
"It makes a balanced, honest sound that allows you to sit and listen to music for hours. That is what makes Benchmark’s products consistently popular with audio engineers. You don’t want ‘bright’ if you sit at a mixing desk 10 hours a day. "
"Leave No Trace"
"It also has the latest version of Benchmark’s jitter attenuation system (UltraLock3) and doubles down on the digital demon with its multi-mode asynchronous USB system."
"Benchmark also uses the distortion compensation facilities built into the ESS chip to reduce second and third order distortion."
"The net result is a DAC that delivers lower distortion, lower noise, less passband ripple, faster signal switching and locking onto signals and a more linear frequency response."
"The Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B is very much in the ‘leave no trace’ school of good audio."
- Alan Sircom, hi-fi+
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."
