HPA4 Review - Tom's Corner, What's Best Forum
HPA4 - "The Best Sounding Headphone Amp I've Heard"
"While you may think that any amp whose quiescent residual noise you cannot hear from your usual listening position is quiet enough, that has not been my subjective experience. This is one reason I'm now a big fan of the Benchmark equipment, including the AHB2 amp. I've been using a pair of them in bridged mono, as well as the Benchmark DAC3 HGC to drive my Harbeth M40.2s for awhile now."
"With this combination of electronics, for the first time in my audio life I can pin my ear to each speaker driver and hear absolutely no sound coming from the speakers in a quiet room with the system volume control at any position from minimum to maximum with no source material playing. Most amps produce quiescent noise under such conditions loud enough to be clearly heard at least a foot from a speaker driver, often more like several feet."
"I find that lowering the background noise paints the music on as black a canvas as possible and thus seems to bring out realistic low-level detail in recordings. While I may not actually hear residual amp noise as hiss/hum/rumble/roar, I more clearly hear the environmental ambient noise captured on the recording if the amp noise is lowered and this increases my perception of hearing the music in its recording venue, as well as my perception that the music is being made by real humans producing little noises like forceful breathing in rhythm, sub-vocalizations, lips parting, risers and chairs creaking, etc."
"For best headphone sound, use the four-pin XLR connector on the front panel of the HPA4, rather than the 1/4" TRS jack on the HPA4 ... the four-pin XLR connector has no chance of producing measurable distortion."
"Expect to hear quite-audible-from-the-listening-seat rapid clicking/chattering when adjusting the volume up or down with either the remote or front-panel volume controls. That's the sound of the HPA4 relays. If your SPL is already moderate or higher, the sound of the music may well cover up the sound of the relays. Just to be clear, this noise is purely mechanical and comes from the HPA4 chassis. There is no electronic clicking noise audible at all through speakers or headphones when the volume is adjusted."
"My reference headphones are the Audeze LCD-4 fitted with an aftermarket "balanced" Moon Audio Silver Dragon cable with a 4-pin XLR connector at the amp end."
"The whole presentation sounds more "solid" with the HPA4 than it did with the 430HA, giving the impression that the amp has a more solid grip on the drivers. The presentation gains a more "out front" aspect, with the presentation seeming significantly more in front of my head than it was before, while having equally wide spread. This is especially true of the NAD Viso HP50 headphones, probably because the subjective frequency response of those phones lacks any depression of the presence range and lower highs whatsoever and especially because of the "RoomFeel" response technology built into those phones."
HPA4 - "The Best Sounding Line Amp I've Yet Heard"
"The Benchmark HPA4 is the best sounding line amplifier I've yet heard. It's innovative approach to controlling system volume/SPL results in what for me is a uniquely transparent-to-source experience. It is also the best sounding headphone amp I've heard, both for very-insensitive, hard-to-drive phones and those sensitive enough to easily be used directly from a smart phone. The HPA4 truly stands apart in terms of measured and subjectively low background noise and distortion when driving either loudspeakers or headphones."
- tmallin (Tom), Moderator of Tom's Corner, WhatsBestForum.com
Note: Above quotes are from a very lengthy and well-written review of the HPA4 by tmallin (Tom) at What's Best Forum. We recommend following the links below and reading Tom's complete review.
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