Benchmark Preamps and Amp - For real?

I listened to the HPA4 at Axpona this year while auditioning headphones.  I now have an HPA4 in my home system, as it paired astonishingly well with the Audeze headphones.  It is dead quiet and just gets out of the way.  Great bass extension and clarity.  I got it to be my headphone amp, but it also ended up taking the place of my tube preamp (in front of 300b monoblocks).  The tube pre has a little more bloom and spatial sound to it, but you really have to pay attention to notice.  What was more apparent to me was the absence of a subtle distortion in the tube preamp that I did not know was there until the HPA4 did not manifest that same distortion. 
Get it with the remote control - it is absolutely worth the extra $100 at that point. 

I heard the Benchmark HPA4 at the Audeze table in the eargear room.  I also heard it in the Benchmark room (floor 6) through closed-back Audezes.  I specifically wanted to hear the Pass Labs HPA1.  Unfortunately, I did, and it was too lifeless to me.  After three hours of back and forth auditioning (including LTA, Chord, Schiit, Woo (my second favorite) and several others), the Benchmark won me over.

I mean more in the sense that it did not feel like there was enough power.  Not that I listen at loud volumes, but the energy just wasn’t there.  The Benchmark was similarly neutral, but had enough juice to make things sound more correct than the Pass.  The Pass was designed to have just enough power, but in some cases, it feels lacking in drive.  It would likely match awesomely with the right phones, just not with what I heard it with.