An interesting question. The DIP switches provided change RCA line in voltage from domestic to professional standard and overall gain. This seems to me to be mainly of relevance when using headphones with regard to the impedance/sensitivity of the cans in question. Of course with speakers there is another amplification component in the chain - the power amp and its input requirements. Unless you have some strange amp ( the current ATCs with an input sensitivity of 1v are pretty standard) there is no need to consider this. We do not have 600ohm loudspeakers .
Unless the speaker/amp combination provides too low a volume at a reasonable advancement of the volume control then this would seem unnecessary. For insensitive headphones with a high impedance ( e.g. in excess of 300ohms) then adjustment may be required. For the line outputs frankly I am not even certain that the DIP switches for overall gain have any effect.
Stereophile today came with a new review of the Benchmark HPA4:
I concluded my report on Benchmark’s LA4 preamplifier by saying it 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 headphone outputs.—John Atkinson
A very convincing argument for the LA4.
I am awaiting a UK supplier to get this and the Townshend into my listening room at the same time.
I understand I could be waiting a fair time at the moment, all understandable.
Keep well…
Sean, please report back to us all when you have done the comparison. This will be very interesting. Like Erno, I have the HPA4, but if there is one other pre-amp that I would like to hear then it would be the Townshend. BTW, I think the only non-favorable comments about the Benchmark that I’ve seen from a reviewer were by Jason Victor Serinus (Stereophile) in a review of - I think - D’Agostino’s latest and greatest pre-amp. I do normally trust Serinus’ reviews (even though he has a self confessed ‘footer fetish’).
So having started this thread in Dec 2020 here is what has happened:
I contacted about 4 retailers who looked as if they could supply the Benchmark LA4 and then asked them if they could also obtain a Townshend Allegri Reference. The former element was good, the latter part resulted in comments along the lines of “ummm”, “maybe”, “not straightforward”, “not sure”, “they may or may not be able to get us a unit”. These were all on the basis of buy both units, trial them and return the unit I did not wish to keep.
So I waited…
I waited some more…
I did some reminding.
I did an extra bit of waiting…I mean there is a virus about and we have to count our days maybe…
I waited a bit for luck…
…actually I am not sure I really am very lucky…
I waited one more time…
I squeezed that very last drop of waiting out…
…I ran out of waiting:
…and in the last few days (March 2021) went back to the 4 Benchmark retailers and asked for their best price, no trial, no comparison with Townshend, not even a coffee and biscuit.
You may like to know that there is a pleasant variation in the price here in the UK so I think I ended up with a circa 10% discount and a free remote control.
So the 1/4 (or is it 1/2) size LA4 box is sat on top of my Bartok, the silver is a reasonably close match too.
Question of perhaps ERNO and Simon_C
ERNO or Simon_C I think you also have a Bartok/Vivaldi with a LA4?
How have you set this up? Just relocated the cables to XLR Input 1 on LA4 , add some XLR interconnects and move Bartok/Vivaldi volume to 0bB?
Anything else I should be doing?
Any hidden switches, or menu choices which make a difference?
Sorry no Ken Kessler type review and insightful comparisons.
Welcome to the club. I have the Bartók and the HPA4, same as the LA4 but with an extra headphone amp.
I have set my Bartók to 6V out and 0dB, and connected its XLR out to the XLR input 1 on the HPA4, the HPA4 XLR out to my power amp in.
That’s all. You could go into the menu of your LA4, and change its standard Input 1 name to BARTOK.
Congrats with your purchase and good deal, and I look forward to hear if you like what you hear.
Stereophile recently compared the LA4 with the new PassLabs XP-32. What an honour to the LA4, considering it is about 7 times less expensive than the XP-32! However…
I had two high-performance preamplifiers on hand with which to compare the Pass XP-32: the MBL N11 ($14,600) and the Benchmark LA4 ($2599).
While the LA4 is considerably less expensive than the Pass XP-32 and MBL N11, its measured performance is on par with that of those two technical high-fliers.
The LA4 ($2599) is an excellent preamplifier, especially considering its price, but it was outclassed by the XP-32 ($17,500).
I think Ernos has said almost everything. I have the HPA4 too, with Vivaldi. As you’ll have seen from the Benchmark manual, it is intended to work with both typical consumer and pro signal levels, so is very happy with a dCS 6V output. My setup is essentially the same as Ernos describes. Btw, if your ATCs have variable input sensitivity, you might want to find out the setting with the highest S/N ratio. The power amp that I feed from my HPA4 has two gain settings, and the lower one has the highest S/N. There is helpful discussion about gain and distortion in the Benchmark manual. And, yes, set your Bartok to 0dB. Finally, it is possible in the Benchmark menus to ‘mute’ unused inputs. I couldn’t say whether it improves the sound! And now all you need is a subwoofer to plug into that lonely looking mono XLR output on the back of the Benchmark…
Congratulations on your deal. I think I achieved something similar, but had bought the power amp at about the same time and so had scored a few points with the dealer so to speak. The dealers seem to grumble about Benchmark margins being low, because they sell direct in the US, and so can’t really sell here for a much higher price or the customers - at least this one - would object.
So the LA4 is installed.
Cables are “make do” and can be perfected over time.
The first thing that strikes my thick ears is improved presence and impact at similar listening volumes as before.
I already have a JL Audio Fathom plugged into the mono output as I run a 2.1 system. This seems to add just the same lower audio spectrum environment.
There are some lesser issues; the smaller case size of the LA4 means the XLRs are very tightly packed on the back panel and my 90degree Neutrik XLRs really are an awkward fit and I will need renew/replace the terminations to suit. Some of the 90degree XLRs are just not going to engage, so think about this if you are purchasing.
Overall I feel that at the price point it is also a suitable/ideal match for the Bartok and ATCs.
Ideally I would have tried the Townshend Allegri Reference but this has not been made available.
Were I running a Vivaldi I might investigate the Townshend further, although I think I am aware that it is not a fully balanced unit in that it runs XLRs but the balanced aspect is broken internally by the circuit design?
Agreed on this — both @PaleRider and I were happiest with our Allegri References using XLR connections. Now I don’t have right-angle connectors, but Neutriks definitely fit…
Yeah, it’s not balanced. Don’t know that I would call it “broken,” but yes it is by design, in order to avoid the use of transformers. One less thing, so to speak. For my use, running XLR ICs was the easy choice, because they were much quieter than the RCA ICs I tried, and even for the stiff Iconoclasts, I had plenty of room both on the back panel itself and behind my cabinet. The Allegri Reference is easily the best outboard volume control I tried. It had less SQ impact then any other, and seemed to preserve the Vivaldi SQ at all ranges of volume.
Erno, I have auditioned the HPA4 preciously, around the same time that I began investigating the Bartok. You won’t hear me say anything bad about the Benchmark, but it did not “grab” me. I found it a bit sterile. I think Benchmark offers exceptional value, as does, for example, PS Audio. But I don’t think either is a reference standard. By the time I decided I needed a volume controller for the Vivaldi stack, I was pretty focused on passive units. The only exception I made was for the Ayre KX-R Twenty, which my dealer enthusiastically recommended, and which I was able to borrow from a friend. While I am glad I tried it out, it confirmed for me that I did not want another amplification stage in my chain.
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