Benchmark LA4 Preamp?

I owned the Benchmark DAC3 and AHB2 so I know the sound well. The LA4 is supposed to be just like the AHB2, that is silent as space. With that in mind I was considering pairing the preamp with a warm sounding amp. Those plans are in the back burner because I am going to demo a speaker that would require me to use DSP for my room. If that demo goes pair shaped, I will likely go back to the LA4. Though I would likely get the headphone version since that headphone amp is getting raves reviews, I do not have any headphones but you never know.

In my situation, if the HPA4 becomes a candidate again (if I do not need DSP), I would contact Rory Rail at Benchmark and ask him for a 30 day free home trial.

If I had a warmish sounding speaker I would consider the LA4/HPA4 with a neutral sounding amp such as the AHB2. My frame of reference was the AHB2 with a KEF LS50 and also Audience 1+1 V3. Both were just slightly warm to offset the stark neutrality of the AHB2.

     Thanks for the input, yysantabarbara.
     I formerly used a VTL 2.5L tube preamp, with a set of 4 NOS Mullard tubes swapped in, with my very low noise and neutral class D monoblocks. This really allowed the sound characteristics of the VTL and NOS tubes to predominate the overall system sound that I really enjoyed for several years.
     But my system was a combo of music and HT; the VTL had HT/Passthru, I had a separate Parasound AV2500 preamp-processor for 5.1 surround duties and I wanted to streamline my whole system. So, I removed the VTL and the preamp-processor and used my versatile Oppo 105 as a preamp for music, a preamp-processor for 5.1 decoding with surround outputs connected directly to multiple amps as well as a dac and a music server with attached 2TB NAS.
      This system configuration, with audio discs and hi-res FLAC files played back through the Oppo 105, sounds much more neutral but I surprisingly discovered I enjoyed music played through a more accurate and neutral system at least equally as much as through my formerly tube flavored system.
     As a result, I’ve decided to make some major system changes for both music and HT. For music, I purchased a Lumin D2 DAC/Streamer and 18 TB Synology NAS, bought an Oppo 205 to be delivered next Friday and likely a Benchmark LA4 preamp.  I’m even considering buying a used pair of class D Merrill Audio Veritas monoblocks.
     My thinking is this combination of components will create a high quality music system that’s main characteristics will be accuracy, very low noise, very low distortion along with high dynamics. I’m expecting this type of system will provide a soundstage illusion that’s dense, solid and stable that’s perceived as 3 dimensional and natural. However, my main concern is that it may sound sterile if I don’t fully commit to achieving it by investing sufficiently in the research, planning and gear.
     For HT, I’m going to upgrade to a 4K 75" OLED hdtv that, along with the Oppo 205, makes me much more confident in creating a high quality HT system.

Thanks,
Tim

@noble100 Funny that I am thinking of going the opposite direction as you. Being on the "other side" for a while with the Benchmark gear I would recommend you try the AHB2 amp and the LA4 preamp on the 30 day FREE trial. That is a neutral combo and it was very good with my slightly warm KEF LS50. 

You may also want to try A'gon professional reviewer, @Dougles_Shroeoder,  method of connecting the AHB2. I wish I had tried this when I owned the AHB2, just for curiosity sake.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/doug-schroeder-method-double-ic/post?highlight=double%2BAHB2&...

BTW - I have heard the Merrill amps that were $15K before the latest line came out. I think the AHB2 is still something to listen 1st, especially since it is a free home trial.

I'm hoping that there are more LA4 owners that will chime in with their impressions of how this unit sounds in their systems...and how it sounds in comparison to other preamps they have used.

As to the "Shroeder Method" cables...I'm guessing that some will try making their own....and the links to the already made cable that you can purchase are pretty darn expensive at what looks to be over $1k for a pair...   https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis925e2-teo-audio-double-double-jr-0-6m-new-model-interconnects