I also have the Benchmark LA4. I find a volume control on a DAC not a feature but a bug. The LA4 is for people who do not want the pre to color the sound.
Using a preamp like the LA4 (or the almost the same Holo Serene) will take your DAC to sonic levels that a built-in volume control never did for me. I use my 2 preamps on costlier amps.
The Topping pre90 premp is much cheaper and measures like the LA4 (and Serene) but it had many negative issues for me.
I would also be concerned driving an amp directly from a DAC.
This was a big issue for me when I used the Musetec 005's DACs volume control. Those little buttons also make it hard to quickly lower the volume.