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Benchmark LA4 Preamp?

I’m seriously considering buying this $2,500 solid-state preamp and looking for input from anyone who owns or has heard this preamp.  The LA4 is identical to their HPA4 unit just without the headphone amp.

From all the reviews and Benchmark’s site that I’ve read, this seems like an extremely low noise and neutral preamp that may be a very good match for my extremely low noise, neutral and high powered class D D-Sonic M3-600-M monoblock amps that I use to drive a pair of Magnepan 2.7QR 4 ohm speakers.
My main source for 2-ch music is a Lumin D2 dac/streamer for music files and Tidal streaming. For HT, I’ll be using a yet to be determined 4K Bluray player as I’m also transforming from an Oppo 105 1080p player and 1080p hdtv to 4K. The LA4 has caught my attention since it has dual balanced XLR inputs to accommodate the XLR outputs of the Lumin D2 and whatever new Bluray player I choose. I plan on ordering the optional remote for the LA4 which would allow easy selection between music or HT as well as being a low noise, low distortion and neutral conduit for both.

I really appreciate any input on the LA4, or even options for a high quality Bluray player with balanced outputs, that you’re able to offer.

Thanks,
Tim
noble100
yyzsantabarbara
5,568 posts
 
It looks like I blabbered a lot on this thread. So here is one more:

I have some incredible sound in my office now. It is a small room with a big Thiel CS3.7 speaker. The system is composed of the following:

1) Benchmark DAC3B (connected to XLR1 on HPA4)
2) Benchmark HPA4
3) Benchmark AHB2 x 2
4) Benchmark StarQuad XLR between all the gear listed above
5) Audience FrontRow speaker cable with SpeakON amp connections

I also have 3 other sources connected to the HPA4:
- XLR2: Sony SCD-1 SACD (no DSP used)
- RCA1: Magnum Dynalab 102 tuner (no DSP used)
- RCA2: AudioMirror Tubadour III SE DAC (shipped tomorrow, will use DSP)

I mentioned earlier in the 11-17-2019 post that if I were to get a big speaker and use DSP I would not be able to use a Benchmark preamp. That was a wrong statement. I discovered ROON Convolution files that allows the application of DSP before the ROON server sends the bits to the DAC. I had these Convolution files remotely created for me by a professional sound engineer (a real star at this). They run on my ROON server which sends the bits to my Benchmark DAC3B (or AMT3SE DAC) and then that outputs analog to the Benchmark preamp.

This is such a good sounding system now. The only change I will ever need to to this office system is recalibrate the Convolution files if I move to a new house.

I should add that I also added Fibre optical streaming via a few components to the DAC3B. With the highly resolving Benchmark stack it was so easy to hear the improvement over my old microRendu streamer. So good that I bought a second set of the same streaming gears for the AMT3SE that is on it’s way.
arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,790 posts
 
@yyzsantabarbara Make sure you give your AMT3 at least 50 hours of break in. Of all the components I’ve owned, the change in sound was the most dramatic for this one. For the first 20 hours, I thought I made a mistake and was ready to return it. Glad I persisted though. 
yyzsantabarbara
5,568 posts
 
@arafiq  The AMT designer, Vlad, told me the same today. Minimum of 50 hours. However, I see others saying 100-150 for some caps that my unit has. This DAC will used mostly with the RAAL SR1a headphones and the CODA CSiB. I think it will be amazing.

The AMT will also get playtime with the Benchmark stack too. I was told I may not be able have the RCA and XLR DAC outputs connected at the same time with the AMT DAC. Unlike my Benchmark DAC3B which has no problem with RCA and XLR outputs connected at the same time to the CODA integrated and HPA4 preamp. Not a big deal to work around that though.
noble100's avatar
noble100 OP
2,419 posts
 
Hello yyzsantabarbara,

      And you claim you actually get work done in this so called office?  
     You lost me at Convolution files, it's the first I've heard mention of these.  Could you describe the concept and the audible benefits you perceive from using them?

Thanks,
   Tim     
yyzsantabarbara
5,568 posts
 
Thanks Tammy for bringing this thread back.

@noble100 You are right that I am not getting much work done. That is OK for now since I am on a quiet period work wise. The music sounds so good now that I spend a lot of time being distracted by music instead of concentrating on work. First world problems.

Take a look at the photos of my awful room. I need to update these photos with the new gear I described in the prior post.
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7605

A big speaker in what looks like a totally inappropriate room. Today after doing the steps that are described in the links listed below, the sound I have is pure perfection.

Watch the 20 minute video described in this current A’gon thread. The presenter talks about ROON Convolution for headphones. I use it for 2 channel not headphones. My Meze Empy and RAAL SR1a headphones do not have Convolution settings in the extension described in the video. So I just use Convolution files for 2 channel speakers.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/roon-10-things-you-don-t-know

I have these Convolution files created by this guy.
https://www.amazon.com/Accurate-Sound-Reproduction-Using-DSP-ebook/dp/B01FURPS40/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ML...
A Sound Engineer and a real superstar at his craft. He did this work remotely from Canada after I gave him my room acoustic measurements.

The next link is a deep dive to the details of how the Convolution files were created . You need to follow the links I lay out in my posts.
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/room-correction-roon-rew-room-eq-wizard/post?highlight=convol...
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