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  • LA4 - Lab Report - John Atkinson, Stereophile

    by Benchmark Media Systems December 24, 2019 2 min read

    LA4 - Lab Report - John Atkinson, Stereophile

    "Benchmark's LA4 is the widest-bandwidth, widest-dynamic-range, lowest-noise, lowest-distortion preamplifier I have encountered."

    - John Atkinson

    "I measured the Benchmark LA4's performance with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It")."

    Audio Precision AP2722

    Frequency Response

    "The preamplifier's frequency response in both balanced and unbalanced modes was flat from 10Hz to 200kHz both into the high 100k ohm load  and into 600 ohms was taken with the LA4's volume control at its maximum setting; both the response and the superb channel matching were identical at lower settings of the control."

     

    Benchmark LA4 Silver

     

    Gain Accuracy

    "The gain for the balanced inputs to the balanced output with the volume control set to "+15" was exactly 15dB, and reducing the control to "0.0" resulted in a gain of 0dB—ie, the output voltage was the same as the input voltage."

    Benchmark LA4 Rear Panel

    Input and Output Impedance

    "The LA4's balanced input impedance was both usefully high and higher than the specified >50k ohms, measuring 80k ohms (40k ohms per phase) at 20Hz and 1kHz and still 75k ohms at 20kHz."

    "The balanced output impedance was a low 61.5 ohms, the unbalanced impedance 201 ohms, both values consistent across the audio band."

    Channel Separation

    "Channel separation was simply superb, at >140dB, R–L, and >132dB, R–L, below 2kHz, respectively decreasing to 130dB and 112dB at 20kHz."

    "The superb separation measurement is a testament to excellent circuit-board layout, something I have commented on before with Benchmark D/A processors."

    Noise

    "From balanced inputs to balanced output, the Benchmark preamp offered extremely low noise, with virtually no power-supply–related spuriae in its output."

    Headroom

    "The LA4's balanced output doesn't clip (ie, when the THD+N reaches 1%) until a very high 24V."

    THD

    "I looked at the spectrum of the distortion at a similarly high output level; while the second and third harmonics can be seen, these are still at astonishingly low levels: each harmonic is at or below –120dB (0.0001%) and is close to the residual level of these harmonics in my Audio Precision SYS2722's signal generator."

    Benchmark LA4 THD FFT - John Atkinson, Stereophile Magazine

    IMD

    "Tested for intermodulation distortion in balanced mode with an equal mix of 19 and 20kHz tones at peak level of 5V, the second-order difference product at 1kHz was effectively absent, and the higher-order products all lay at or below –114dB."

    Benchmark LA4 IMD FFT - John Atkinson, Sterephile Magazine

    Conclusion

    "Benchmark's LA4 is the widest-bandwidth, widest-dynamic-range, lowest-noise, lowest-distortion preamplifier I have encountered."

    - John Atkinson, Stereophile Magazine

    The above is just a brief summary of John Atkinson's independent lab tests. Please follow the link below to read his entire test report which includes 9 high-resolution test plots (including the two shown above).

    Read the entire review here →


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    • Subtle aesthetics? Check.
    • Unobtrusive size? Check.
    • Solid build? Check.
    • Made in America? Check.
    • Transparent? Check.
    • Best in class? Check.
    • Superior performance proven by Amir? Check.
    • Superior customer service? Check (and not just in audio world; best customer service I have experienced from any company, anywhere, ever).
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    • Worth it? Yes.
    • Would I do it all again? Absolutely.

    - @KellenVancouver, AudioScienceReview.com

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    AXPONA Show Report - Stereophile Magazine

    by Benchmark Media Systems April 21, 2023 1 min read

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     "The Note received signal through the introductory version of the company's Liquid Cables. Each cable contains 27,000 wires. The company's introductory Elephant memory player joined Benchmark Media's AHB2 power amps, DAC3 B D/A processor, and interconnects."

    "With the aid of a forthcoming DEQX HDP4 processor that's due in the fall, the system sounded super on a 16/44.1 file of the famed rendition of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, recorded by Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra for Reference Recordings."

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