Anyone own one of these preamps ?

@steve_zettel  I actually exchanged emails with Keith this morning….he and Joan are very much enjoying retirement, but he is still active with regard to his products that are already out there.   One of the nicest guys in the industry and exceptionally knowledgeable in audio circuit design and engineering.

I couldn't have said it better. Keith and Joan are wonderful folks.

The Benchmark LA4 is neutral, and it will not add anything to almost any source signal. It measures better than almost everything else and does not seem to add to the source signal. I had it for a decade and I used it with a CODA #16 amp and various sources. I loved the combo.

A recently discovered a type of preamp from Allnic Audio using an OTL/OCL design. The unique aspect of these tube preamps is that they are detailed liked the Benchmark LA4 but also holographic. I think they are the best preamps around. The best one I heard was a $33k one but the lower priced ones from Allnic were also better than most other designs.

Since I like the Allnic OTL/OCL so much but have no cash I bought the $500 Schiit Audio Valhalla 3 OTL/OCL preamp with some custom tubes (approx. $100). Not as good as the Allnic but I like it more than the LA4. However, the Valhalla 3 is not one that is feature rich and easy to use so it is hard for me to recommend. I use it in my office 3 feet from my desk, so I have overcome one limitation (no remote).

I was selling, okay trying to sell, gear frequently, in the mid '70s.  Now that I am in my mid 70s I finally updated to a Mac C2700 tube preamp to go with the Mac MC275 amp.  I have had friends who are or were musicians raise their eyebrows in surprise at what my system sounds like.  One guy was quiet so long I thought he had fallen asleep until he suddenly exclaimed:  "It's like she is standing right in front of me."

Mind you, I have spent my lifetime striving for the most natural sound I can achieve on a reasonable budget.  Reasonable means making sacrifices in other parts of a lifetime to get your true priorities at the top of the list.

I will recommend what I tell others; listen to a lot of gear.  Take your wife and your dog with you because if you have done unthinking male stuff in your life, you can no longer hear what the spouse and dog still can.  At least not without hearing aids, tuned specifically for music.  That's where I am and frankly, live music is much too loud even with my hearing aids turned all the way down.

Seriously, listen in the dealer's rooms to the music you often listen to and are completely familiar with at home.  I burn a highest density CD of about 10 completely varied tracks that I enjoy and have the dealer play it through equipment I am interested in buying.  If you're into vinyl, take a Sheffield Labs recording with you and do a lot of A-B listening.  When you settle on what seems best at the dealer's, make an arrangement to take it home and plug it into your system where you spend serious time enjoying music.  Turn down or turn off the lights and let your ears tell you if your choice really fits in your environment.  Play it at all levels.  Many systems do not sound as good at various levels of volume, especially lowere levels.  Most of all, enjoy the search as much as the acquisition.  That is as fun as the listening to come ahead.

I believe you should try if possible the CODA 0.7x preamp.  I just got mine three days ago and it's been eye opening for me.  I loved my Pass-Labs XP-22 however for my taste in music presentation, the 0.7x really fills the bill and it's less expensive than the XP-22.  Vocals sound more believable, and high instrument notes are sparkling without harshness.  I also noticed some improvement in the mid-bass range for lack of a better term, body.  I highly recommend you read others comments here and in What's Best Audio/Video Forum about it.  I'm hearing the same things in my system that they've cited, and my 0.7x isn't even broken in yet.  For me, this was a great purchase...