Headphone amps

Benchmark is great if you want to be friendly with ASR crowd. But, it is many times more expensive than the Topping China stuff, which measures the same or better. Now, of all the sudden, ASR crowd disagrees. So, what do you do? 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤔

The Topping pre90 preamp is nowhere as good as the HPA4 and LA4 preamps from Benchmark. I have had all 3. Even ASR folks agree about the short comings of the pre90 with certain amps. Though, one of the Stereophile reviewers uses the pre90 has his reference preamp over the LA4.

The Topping D90LE DAC is also not as good as the Benchmark DAC3B to my ears.

Here is an observation I had with 4 DACs and my RAAL VM-1a headphone amp. I tried the following DACs with everything else being the same:

1) Benchmark DAC3B

2) Lumin X1

3) Topping D90LE

4) Musetec 005

The DAC that stays in with the VM-1a is the DAC3B. The X1 was also excellent but there is something about the DAC3B and how it syncs with those VM-1a tubes that makes it my choice.

This weekend I was testing out the Lumin X1 direct to amp (LEEDH volume control) vs the Benchmark LA4 preamp connect to the X1. The LA4 was still a bit better. You could tell at low volume, and I even preferred it a louder volume. However, I decided to give the X1 a go over a second LA4 because I want to minimize boxes.

If I wanted the very best sound for the X1 system, I buy a second LA4 preamp over ANY other preamp at any price. At the moment the best sound is of secondary importance on the X1 system. I hated preamps that colored the sound. It irritated the heck out of me, don’t get me going on the noise from those preamps.

OP, 

if possible, listen to them with a DAC or etc. Same track. 

No experience with those but I will give a thumbs up for the Cayin HA-6A if you don't mind a tube amp.

I would not buy anything these days without a 4.4mm pentacon balanced connection if you plan to keep it a while.

I have a Benchmark HPA4 and use it to power Kennerton Rognir Planar, RAAL SR-1b, and JM Audio Editions XTC-Closed phones.  I previously had a Quicksilver headphone amp but found it just a little too warm and bass-prominent with these phones so the BM is just right for me--fast, detailed, transparent, and spacious.  I tend to like that type of sound versus phones these days that are entirely too bass-prominent and dark.  Maybe that is because I grew up when phones and speakers didn't have the overhyped bass that are everywhere nowadays.  I posit that we have become conditioned to bass-heavy music.  The BM also has a line stage that can power other amps.