LA4 Review - Gary L Beard, Positive Feedback
LA4 - "Audio Neutrality"
"My initial impression was simple: The LA4 preamp plays everything that is, and nothing that isn't...Neutrality in Audio... and that's really all this review needs to convey."
"The LA4 preamp may occupy neutral audio country, but it is a sweet piece of audio kit. I love its form-factor. I love its simple operation. And I love that it allows the sound of the signal to flow through to the downstream components. This means, of course, you'd better like the sound of your DAC or analog rig, because that is basically what you are hearing on the other side of the border crossing."
"The LA4's specifications are unquestionably excellent. When using pro-level balanced interconnects, the LA4 manages a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) greater than 135 dB, and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of -125 dB."
"The LA4 has a noise floor that is not just low, it's bats-strain-to-hear-it low."
Controls and Features
"The LA4's main frontal attraction is ... the capacitive touch screen."
"The screen uses graphics that are easily recognized from the listening chair."
"Less often used options that are not duplicated on the remote must be accessed from the touch screen."
"Audio options like channel balance and input gain boost / cut are controlled directly from the screen, as are other setup options, like input naming, and screen dimming."
"All features are easy to understand and simple to adjust, but just in case, there is a help button too!"
"I liked the option to adjust individual input gain by boosting or cutting the dB output up to 10 dB. It allowed me to match input levels between my digital, and analog sources."
Listening Notes
"I've found that stepped volume controls often fail to offer enough steps to ensure sufficient control, especially at lower volumes. The LA4's fully-balanced relay gain control takes care of that by providing two hundred and fifty six (!) steps in 0.5 dB increments. That makes dialing in the perfect volume level a breeze."
"One of things I look for when reviewing any component, is how well it reproduces music at lower volumes."
"The LA4 scales downward beautifully, maintaining a nice sonic balance."
"No matter the volume, the LA4 delivers a cavernously wide stage, startling dynamics, soaring treble, excellent timbre, and satisfyingly deep bass. It peels away the haze from each layer of music, unwinding musical information at a high level of detail and resolution, yet manages the magical-musical trick of never sounding sterile."
"In 2016, I reviewed Benchmark's AHB2 amplifier and DAC2 HGC digital to analog converter. Both are excellent, well priced, high fidelity components. The AHB2 was so good, I awarded it a Positive Feedback Writer's Choice award, so it seemed unconscionable to review the LA4 without its sidekick power-broker."
"The combination of the LA4 preamp and AHB2 amp serves up music with a transparently sunny disposition."
"The pair goes deep, with an effortless slam that belies their small size. The AHB2 is a very fast amp. The LA4 had no trouble providing a signal fast enough to show off the AHB2's speedy nature."
"The sound stage is excellent: depth, width, height, and the illusion of a performance space were fantastic. I really, really, really enjoyed the Benchmark duo's high level of detail, layering of instruments and voices, deep bass, and fast, furious dynamic swings."
"I really enjoy Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather's No Substitutions: Live in Osaka CD. This recording creates a nice feeling of being in a smoky, Japanese nightclub; cocktail glasses clinking amid the chatter and applause The LA4/AHB2 does an excellent job recreating the sense of being in the crowd, listening to these guitar masters. It also highlights differences between the duo's different guitar rigs, and playing styles."
"The Benchmark LA4 is an excellent preamp, an operationally solid spec-monster that also happens to sound great."
"A solid, high-quality audio component."
"Every change I made to my system—whether equipment or musical selections—could be heard."
- Gary L Beard, Positive Feedback
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