HPA4 - Stereophile 2025 Recommended Component - Headphone Amplifiers
HPA4 - Receives Stereophile's Top "Class A" Rating for Headphone Amplifiers
"The HPA4 adds a THX888 amplification stage to Benchmark's LA4 line preamplifier to allow it to drive even low-impedance headphones with aplomb."
"It keeps the LA4's balanced and single-ended preamplifier outputs and adds a headphone output on a 4-pin XLR jack and a single-ended headphone output on a 1/4" jack."
- Stereophile, 2024
"The HPA4 showed each instrument in dramatic bas-relief. It accomplished this by presenting cleaner, better-articulated bass and manufacturing a sharper midrange focus than I had experienced previously with either my solid state reference, the Pass Labs HPA-1, or the tubed Linear Tube Audio Z10e." - Herb Reichert
"The LA4 preamplifier was the widest-bandwidth, widest-dynamic-range, lowest-noise, lowest-distortion preamplifier I had encountered at that time. . . . To those virtues, the HPA4 adds equally superb balanced and single-ended headphone outputs." - John Atkinson
Also in Reviews
DAC3 - Stereophile 2025 Recommended Component - Digital Processors
DAC3 - Receives Stereophile's Highest "Class A+" Rating
"The DAC3 was all about depths, in several respects...I heard deeper into the music."
"All I can say is Wow!"
- John Atkinson
LA4 - Stereophile 2025 Recommended Component - Preamplifiers
LA4 - Receives Stereophile's Top Rating for Preamplifiers
"Benchmark's LA4 is the widest-bandwidth, widest-dynamic-range, lowest-noise, lowest-distortion preamplifier I have encountered."
- John Atkinson
"The LA4 is probably the most transparent and revealing audio component I've ever used. It does not seem to leave any fingerprints on the sound."
- Kalman Rubinson
AHB2 - Stereophile 2025 Recommended Component - Power Amplifiers
AHB2 - Receives Stereophile's Top Rating for Power Amplifiers
"An extraordinary amplifier."
- John Atkinson
"Much more apparent low-level detail in already-familiar recordings"
- Kalman Rubinson