Benchmark Media Systems. Right or wrong

I had the LA4 preamp for a brief while. At first I liked the dynamics it produced, but it was fatiguing after a while. Many people call it transparent,  but it did have a sound of it's own. Like a sheen layered over the music. Hard to describe, but in the long run, not very pleasant.

Or could it be that the LA4 revealed a “sheen” inherent in either your source or amplifier? I suggest this possibility because I had that very experience with the LA4 until I upgraded my source (to the Electrocompaniet ECD-2).

or maybe many listeners just don’t like Benchmark gear...and yes, we do know how to listen and how to set up systems..

Possibly, but the impression I get is most audiophiles don’t even understand the principles of impedance matching, let alone good speaker placement or room treatments. 

Benchmark equipment is not sterile, it is neutral, very nicely made and fairly priced. After that you can take it anywhere. Want an analog glow? Add a turntable with a tube phono stage. The difference with good electronics pales in comparison to the difference in speakers.

Benchmark amps sound quite sterile. All my SS amps from different manufacturers are way juicier (expensive and cheaper ones). I actually tried out that sterile crap and sent it back in a hurry.

ASR Golfing panther equipment --> Benchmark + Revel (oof)... That one fanatic and his reviews have brought so much sterility into the lives of many. 

Or could it be that the LA4 revealed a “sheen” inherent in either your source or amplifier? I suggest this possibility because I had that very experience with the LA4 until I upgraded my source (to the Electrocompaniet ECD-2).

I was telling the person who bought my LA4 today this same thing. If you hear a "sheen" or some other nastiness first assume it is another component. I replaced the LA4 with the Benchmark HPA4 preamp.  

I did this when I was trying to figure out how to drive the Yamaha NS5000 speakers. I like to use the LA4 preamp to figure things out because I feel it is not going to mess up anything.

After figuring out what amp and DAC to use with the speakers. I was getting a bit of that sheen and fatigue in the sound. I tried 2 different WyWire speaker cable, Benchmark speaker cable, and Audience AU24 SX speaker cable. All were giving that sheen or gremlins but at different frequencies.

I bit the bullet and bought Audience FrontRow and that eliminated that bit of nastiness. The LA4 did what I needed it to do. Let me hear my other gear.

The LA4 also plays nicely with about a dozen amps I have used it with. Just love this preamp. If I did not want headphone support in my big system preamp, I would have kept the LA4 and sold the Holo Audio Serene preamp. I would have been very happy with the LA4 and HPA4 in my 2 systems.

@deep_333  Sterile? In relationship to most tube amps that would be better described as accurate. I suspect you would not like Boulder amps either. 

@jl35 Really? Do you have a measurement microphone? Do you have the experience of listening to systems with various target curves? Do you know what a flat response curve sounds like? Most audiophiles have never heard a system that images correctly. Many audiophiles are operating on mythology. 

IMHE, accurate equipment in summation leads to better performance in all respects. Many systems are the end product of compounding errors and will never perform at the state of the art. These systems may suite the taste of some listeners, but taste is a moving target. If a person's system is on the bright side when he or she hears an accurate system it will sound dull. If you listen carefully to the bright system the cymbals will be in your face like an ECM recording, not accurate. Not only this, but a system's characteristics change with volume. A system that sounds fine at 85 dB will sound harsh at 95dB. Then there are recordings that are mixed to various volumes. The Funkadelic recordings were mixed for high volume and sound awful at 85 dB, but turn the volume up to 95 dB and they sound great. ( for early 70's recordings)