Benchmark Media Systems. Right or wrong

@yyzsantabarbara My Benchmark DAC3B is definitely too hot on the top end. I do not use it on 2-channel but on my RAAL VM-1a tube headphone amp running in Pentode mode I love the DAC3B.

I came to a similar conclusion. Had hoped to like it more on my 2ch system. Tried that dac with multiple sets of Cardas, Audioquest, Aperture, and others. No dice in my particular system. The description above by @audphile1 about his being "cool, dry, matter of fact rendition" is a great way of describing what I heard with DAC3B. Engineers there were NOT interested in hearing my feedback, in order to help suggest a different sound result or maybe trying for a different version of itself. 

  I was looking for a different type of sound and presentation. Paid off to keep trying, and the next three dacs went in a better direction for me. 

I had the LA4 preamp for a brief while. At first I liked the dynamics it produced, but it was fatiguing after a while. Many people call it transparent,  but it did have a sound of it's own. Like a sheen layered over the music. Hard to describe, but in the long run, not very pleasant.

In many instances a very neutral piece of equipment will expose deficiencies in a system. Someone with a system that is too "hot" will prefer a DAC that is rolled off.

A neutral system (flat frequency response curve) will sound too hot (sibilant) at higher volumes. This is why Loudness Compensation was so popular.

Most of the audible problems with stereos are issues of amplitude or frequency response. It only takes 0.5 dBFS at any given frequency between 100 Hz and 10 kHz to make an audible difference in sound quality. I think what we tend to do is compound errors to achieve a curve we like. You can accomplish the same thing with digital EQ and if you measure your system after you have achieved the sound you like you will be able to adjust your system to any component. This is called a target curve.   

or maybe many listeners just don’t like Benchmark gear...and yes, we do know how to listen and how to set up systems..

I had the LA4 preamp for a brief while. At first I liked the dynamics it produced, but it was fatiguing after a while. Many people call it transparent,  but it did have a sound of it's own. Like a sheen layered over the music. Hard to describe, but in the long run, not very pleasant.

Or could it be that the LA4 revealed a “sheen” inherent in either your source or amplifier? I suggest this possibility because I had that very experience with the LA4 until I upgraded my source (to the Electrocompaniet ECD-2).