Benchmark Preamps and Amp - For real?

I'm curious as well. 

I'm currently auditioning a LA4, driving a Don Sach's KT88 amp. My previous experience with the Benchmark DAC2 left me with the expectation that it would be cold, analytical and ultimately un-involving. I was wrong.
It was very bright out of the box without a lot of bottom end. After a few days of burn in, it became extremely balanced and transparent. It gives a blank canvas for the amp to put down its finesse, power, and holographic imaging. I can agree with the Sterephile's review on the open window created by the incredibly wide dynamic range. The music is still very engaging. It's missing the magic harmonics of a good 6SN7 tube preamp, but I'm tempted to say the transparency more than makes up for that. I don't know if it's possible to have both attributes in spades.

@dr_joe  I'm very anxious to hear your opinion on the comparison.

I have a pair of AHB2'S, with a Tortuga Audio LDR passive preamp in front of them, and I'm really wanting to get the LA4.

I would love to hear how it sounds versus the Boulder, in your system m

Following up on my previous post, I've now compared the Benchmark LA4 to the Boulder 1012. Nothing systematic, or scientific, I just listen to the system with one preamp for several days, then switch to the other for several days, then switch back, around and around. . .

The Boulder does have somewhat more "heft" in the lower frequencies but other than that it's difficult, really, to distinguish one from the other.

The LA4 may, or may not, have a little finer resolution in the HF. The Boulder may, or may not, have a little more three-dimensional soundstage. 

Whatever the differences, they are not great.

However, in the interests of full disclosure, a good friend, who is committed to tubed amplification, borrowed both. He described the Boulder as "the finest solid-stage preamp I've had the pleasure of using," and while he praised the Benchmark in terms of value-for-money, he did not consider it at the same sound quality level as the Boulder.

Am edging closer and closer to selling the Boulder, but haven't quite yet decided to let it go, in part because of its excellent MM/MC phono stage, which of course the Benchmark doesn't have. So now I have to compare the Boulder's phono stage with the stand-alone phono stage I have, the Ayre P-5xe. . .

[Test system details: Mytek Manhattan II DAC, Roon Rock music server, MSB Platinum Data CD IV disc transport, Luxman T-117 tuner, Revive Audio-modified Ashly XR-1001 analogue electronic crossover, D-Sonic 4-channel power amp (2 x 1500W, 2 x 800W Pascal modules); generic 14 and 12 AWG AC cables, Mogami 3173 for both AES/EBU digital interconnect and for balanced analogue connections; Mogami 3103 speaker cable for both LF and HF; dedicated 20A AC line.]