HPA4 Review - Tom Fine, Tape Op
HPA4 - "Cleanest, Quietest, Most Neutral, Dynamic and Precise"
"Allow me to rave about the HPA4’s built-in headphone amp. Designed using similar technology as the AHB2 and licensed from THX (Benchmark calls it the THX-888 Amplifier), this is the cleanest, quietest, most neutral headphone amp I’ve ever heard."
"The HPA4 has no trouble playing music dynamically and precisely through any headphones I own."
"When the folks at Benchmark suggested a review of their HPA4 for Tape Op, my first reaction was, “Isn’t this aimed more at the audiophile market?” Benchmark’s Rory Rall replied that I should consider its use as a reference-grade monitor controller, with a world-class headphone amp built-in. He recommended I pair it with my Benchmark DAC3 B digital-analog converter and use it to drive my Benchmark AHB2 [Tape Op #111] power amp."
Four Years Experience with the AHB2
"When I previously reviewed the Benchmark AHB2, I described it as being as close to a straight wire with gain as I’ve ever heard – “a silent transmitter of musical energy.” I stand by that description after four years of living and listening to it."
"With the DAC3 B and HPA4 ahead of it, the whole signal chain runs silently and transparently."
The HPA4 Allows the DAC to Run Wide Open
"The HPA4 is built on the idea of avoiding any sort of bit-stripping volume control in the digital realm. So a full-output DAC sends it line-level audio."
"Inside the HPA4 is a precision relay-controlled analog attenuator, with exact channel-to-channel matching and a measurable/repeatable gain or attenuation (expressed in dB on the large color touch-screen front panel display). The volume knob is a 256-step precision encoder, driving relays that engage resistors, in 0.5 dB steps."
"You can memory-set a gain level for each input, so for instance, if you wanted to compare an analog source to a digital transfer, you can precisely level-match. Or (like I often do) measure an original LP release against a digital remaster. Or set your mixer’s output with what’s coming out of your digital rig. The possibilities are limited only by your line-level sources and the HPA4’s four inputs."
Headphone Amplifier
"Finally, in what may be a case of “burying the lede,” allow me to rave about the HPA4’s built-in headphone amp. Designed using similar technology as the AHB2 and licensed from THX (Benchmark calls it the THX-888 Amplifier), this is the cleanest, quietest, most neutral headphone amp I’ve ever heard."
Headphone Output Power
"The HPA4 has no trouble playing music dynamically and precisely through any headphones I own."
"I don’t turn the HPA4 any louder than -30 dB, and lower than that for rock music. Putting it in numbers, the THX-888 headphone amp is capable of peak-to-peak voltage swings of 25V and an output of 1.5 amps. It puts out 6 watts into 16 ohms! This should give you the idea that this thing will drive any low-efficiency cans you want to plug in."
The Price
"For all this silence and neutrality you have to pay a pretty penny, but is it worth it? As with all pieces of your system, it depends. For a precision monitoring setup for mastering, detailed mixing situations, or even a top-shelf listening system, you’ll have to look hard (and maybe spend more) to get this close to the fabled “straight wire with gain” sound."
Conclusion
"I can’t think of anything else that will get you closer to the sound coming out of your sources. Combined with Benchmark’s DAC and power amp with excellent speakers and headphones plugged in, this is quite the monitoring chain."
"When playing music you love, it will fire all the pleasure synapses."
- Tom Fine, Tape Op
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."
