"Today, is a very special day for me, since I believe I am hearing the best overall performance out of my headphones."
"Headphone listening at the Hi-Fi level is a big part of my life. I purchased my first headphone amplifier back in 2006 when just mentioning “a headphone amplifier” in the audiophile circles would rise both eyebrows and suspicion of sanity, today having one is a must have if you care about headphones in general."
"The distance performance-wise between HPA4 and my second-best headphone amp is Night and Day!"
"What I am testing today is the only headphone amplifier on the marked that is based on the top of the line dual-mono THX AAA-888."
"Like other audio components designed and made by Benchmark, HPA4 has an impeccable build quality top to bottom."
"The CNC milled front panel houses a very big and feature packed touch-screen LCD, a ¼” (6.35 mm) single ended headphone out, a 4-pin XLR balanced headphone out, a standby/mute button and a very special 256 step fully-balanced relay-controlled volume pot... using four 256-step relay-controlled attenuators and another four 16-step relay-controlled boost amplifiers."
"Together these are forming two fully-independent and fully-balanced stereo volume controls. One dedicated for the line-out (pre-amplifier) and one for the headphone amp. Each has a +15dB to -122 dB range in 0.5 steps."
"I didn’t know I would love the touch-screen so much, it is incredible how many features and settings can be controlled from there."
"I never seen such an advanced feature-set on a 100% analog headphone amp. From there you instantly mute any of the output, you can instantly lower the output by 20 db, select the desired input or output, you can even rename the analog inputs so you know what are you listening to. If your audio source has a lower power output, you can boost its signal by up to 10 db, or in case your source has super-hot power output, you can lower it down by 10 db. There are other, many other settings..."
"The THX-888 chips will deliver up to 6W of power into 16 Ohms, up to 11.9 Vrms into 300 Ohms and up to 1.5 Amperes! Since you can easily damage your headphone with those numbers, Benchmark incorporated several protection systems to avoid that from happening."
"The bandwidth of HPA4 extends from 0.01 Hz to over 500 kHz! This means HPA4 will deliver a very precise amplitude and phase accuracy over the entire audio bandwidth. It seems it’s time to upgrade my hearing apparatus with bat ears…"
"It never crossed my mind that I will hear new nuance, more hidden information out of my favorite tunes that I am listening to more than 15 years."
"It is like my favorite bands suddenly improved their recording and mastering equipment, there is more of Everything."
"HPA4 possesses an incredible fluidity and acoustic tonality."
"To this day there were many designs that had a very low noise floor but none of them were completely noise-free with IEMs, not a single one...With all that transparency, airiness and zero background noise to me HPA4 is having the most life like depth I encountered with headphones."
"It is quite unusual hearing depth information on all X, Y and Z axes."
"I personally loved every single headphone with it, from sensitive IEMs, portable ones to desktop and hard to drive ones, everyone shined and shown what they can do and what they can’t."
"This headphone amplifier and line pre-amplifier receives my highest recommendation and scores the highest rank in my book."
"It spoiled me so much, that for the past 3 days I’m waking up at 5 A.M. so I can listen, tap my feet and head-bang just a little bit more. I for one, started saving for one, I’m sorry but I can’t go back to regular amps."
"Without a doubt Benchmark HPA4 is an end-game, top of the line headphone amp – it’s The One to rule them All."
-Sandu Vitalie, SoundNews.net
"There are many things that come into play when putting together a hi-fi system, one of which is synergy."
"After the arrival of the Benchmark Media Systems AHB2, I immediately thought of the matching HPA4 that colleagues Jaap and Yung were very pleased with."
"The key question, of course, was whether the HPA4 would really provide an audible improvement."
"Well you bet! The synergy between preamp and power amplifier is nothing short of magical, not to mention the DAC3 B that I got from importer Helios for the occasion."
"Not only a few curtains disappear, the whole window is gone."
- Geoffrey Vanhouwaert, Alpha-Audio
"The Benchmark AHB2 is a very fine sounding, easy to live with, zero-maintenance power amplifier that has enough power for most systems. If more power is needed, two amplifiers configured for mono can provide it. The decision to purchase the review sample and make the Benchmark AHB2 a new, long term reference took over a month of listening and comparisons."
"The outstanding musicality of the Benchmark AHB2 takes some time to convince the listener of its wholly musical presentation. This subtle excellence assures long term satisfaction."
-10 Audio, Perfect 10 Award
Alpha-Audio.net tested 10 DACs side-by-side. Only one received the "Alpha-Audio Approved" award. That DAC was the Benchmark DAC3.
"Are you looking for the best DAC (d/a converter) in the price range from 1500 euro to 2500 euro? That’s great! Because we’ve put ten beauties side by side. And we tested it live on camera for you."
"It was incredibly instructive to put so many converters side by side. We clearly hear differences - and the viewers could as well."
"One of the models we all agreed on is the benchmark DAC3. This is a delicious musical product. Virtually no coloring, nice stereo image and plenty of inputs."
DAC3 - Alpha-Audio Approved!
