Note that this is a discontinued product. You may want to visit the brand's page here to browse their newer products.
What reviewers think
Bloggers and YouTubers have tried this product—so we've summarized their strongest opinions below. Links to full reviews follow.
Product Strengths
- Excellent build quality, crafted with precision
- A customizable amplifier that responds well to different tube configurations
- Rich, warm tones with exceptional clarity and detail
- Spacious soundstage
- Versatile, able to drive dynamic headphones well
Product Considerations
- Gets really hot due to the glowing tubes, requiring caution when handling
- Staging is not especially wide, though this varies with different tubes
- Not a powerful amplifier and is not recommended for planar magnetic headphones
- Tubes require around 15 minutes to reach their ideal operational temperature
- Not an amplifier for detailed retrieval
Takeaway:
The Elise is a well-built and customizable tube amplifier that delivers a rich, smooth, and warm sound. It is a great choice for those who enjoy experimenting with tube rolling and want to add a touch of euphonic sound to their dynamic headphones.
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Manufacturer details
- Impedance: 100k ohm
- Frequency response: 10 Hz – 60 Khz +/- 3 dB (300 ohm)
- Power output: 200mW
- Amplification level: 20dB
- THD: 0.4 % (300 ohm, 20 mW)
- Optimal headphones impedance: 32 – 600 ohm
- Headphones output: Jack 6.3mm
- Weight: 6 kg
- Dimensions: 30.6 × 20.3 × 19 cm
Brand highlights
Taking a step back to look at reviewers' thoughts of the brand's entire lineup—not just this product—what stands out most is the following:
- Feliks Audio specializes in crafting Output Transformer-Less (OTL) tube amplifiers, a design choice that emphasizes transparency and direct tube sound.
- Handmade in Poland, Feliks Audio amplifiers combine quality components with point-to-point UPOCC wiring for meticulous construction and signal purity.
- Feliks Audio amplifiers offer extensive tube-rolling capabilities, allowing users to customize the sound signature by swapping both power and driver tubes.
Select products
Echo 2:
- Positioning: Entry-level line, designed for affordability and compactness.
- Description: Offers a warm tube sound with detailed audio. It provides a more accessible price point compared to the Elise, while still delivering high-quality sound, making it suitable for those with a limited budget and smaller room setups.
Elise:
- Positioning: First step into high-end audio with a focus on sound quality.
- Description: Known for its ultra-low noise design and warm tube sound, offering a significant upgrade in sound quality over the Echo 2. It allows for extensive tube rolling and tuning, providing more customization options than the Echo 2.
Euforia Evo:
- Positioning: Mid-range offering with advanced OTL technology.
- Description: Features smooth, neutral, and dynamic sound, making it a perfect match for both dynamic and planar headphones. It offers a more refined sound and build quality than the Elise, with XLR and RCA outputs.
Euforia Anniversary:
- Positioning: Special edition of the flagship Euforia, celebrating 20 years.
- Description: Boasts ultimate OTL technology with single crystal copper wiring for enhanced clarity and smoothness. It surpasses the Euforia Evo in terms of premium components and finish.
Envy:
- Positioning: High-end headphone amplifier and preamplifier.
- Description: A Class A single-ended transformer coupled amplifier, delivering up to 8 Watts of power, ideal for driving demanding headphones. It stands out with its extensive customization options and balanced connections, offering the highest build quality and performance in the lineup.
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Product Strengths
- A lovely, lush sounding performance that's hard to dislike and sounds smooth but far from lifeless, delivering high levels of detail in a cohesive and musical manner
- A sympathetic performer, it prefers to play to its inferior partnering equipment's strengths than overly expose their weaknesses, as many hifi audio examples tend to do
- It can cater for a wide range of headphones and connections and it is a benchmark product that's highly recommended
- Zero musical flaws to report and is nearly perfect in execution
- A stunning design to the eye and ear, it is overall a wonderful addition for the perfectionist who wants the very best performance at home or even in the studio
Product Considerations
- The volume control operation lacks linearity, making it hard to make subtle changes in level
- No input selector, so one should only connect one type at once
- On some samples, the volume control is loose and wiggles in its chassis housing
- The octal AC socket is a bit of an odd choice, considering most users might prefer IEC
- The depth, snap and weight of the low end was dynamic and exciting on some recordings and less than stellar on others
Comparisons (according to reviewers)
- Vs Musical Fidelity M1 HPA—the MHA200 has a lush warmness to the music that brings strings to life in a way that makes the M1 HPA sound somewhat sterile in comparison
- Vs EAR Yoshino HP-4 reference—the MHA200 was a touch brighter than the reference, though only slightly
Takeaway: The MHA200 is an enjoyable product with a rich, balanced, and powerful sound, that's more forgiving than most rivals and can be enjoyed for years to come. This headphone amp is perfect for personal listening, design, and operation that will work its magic.
Video review
Our take on the brand
Product Strengths
- Delivers a lovely, lush-sounding performance that is hard to dislike, described as smooth but far from lifeless, delivering high levels of detail in a cohesive and musical manner
- Creates an astonishing space and three dimensionality to the sound, reminiscent of high-end systems
- Features a rich, balanced, and powerful sound that is more forgiving than most rivals
- Superbly made and engineered with solid casework
- Largely unphased by most headphones and can drive a wide range of headphones
Product Considerations
- Volume control operation lacks linearity, making subtle changes in level difficult
- Really needs a balanced source and headphones to deliver its best performance
- Has no input switching, so balanced XLR and single-ended RCA inputs cannot be used simultaneously
- Lacks a remote control for volume adjustment
Takeaway: The MHA200 is a well-built headphone amplifier that delivers a refined and musical listening experience with a spacious soundstage. It is ideal for users who want a dedicated headphone amplifier and appreciate the rich sound of tubes.
Video review
Our take on the brand
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The outstanding performance of the Kenzie headphone amplifier is made possible with custom wound ultra-high quality output transformers providing amazing frequency extension. The Kenzie does not use a voltage network, and has more than enough power to drive even the most difficult headphones. We chose 32 ohms and 600-ohm output taps to allow use with the widest variety of headphones; everything from Grado Labs, HiFiMan, Audeze, MrSpeakers, Sennheiser, and Beyerdynamic.
The Kenzie showcases the transformers on the chassis to frame in the unique 1626 single-ended tubes. We have included an Alps volume pot to allow attenuation and simplify the signal path. The Kenzie is one of the sweetest-sounding headphone amplifiers on the market. The 1626 is commonly referred to as the "Poor Man's 300B"; offering a similar level of warmth, texture, and soundstage depth. The 1626 is a WWII-era tube that was used as a transmitter tube in radar installations. The design is shy on pure output, but offers layers of texture and drive, and is paired with a massive choke and robust output transformers for ultra-quiet operation. As with all of our products, parts selection was crucial during this build and each chosen not for price, but for best quality and synergy.
Generation 2 of the Kenzie OG The close of 2021 has brought out more than 18 months of a global pandemic. During these challenging times, we at ampsandsound strengthened our development efforts resulting in new generation of our classic amps. 2022 adds the ability to chose 8/100 or 32/300 for output impedances when ordering. Though octal input tubes provide a romantic character that had defined the ampsandsound house sound, reminiscent of 1950s HiFi, the downside to this approach is a reduced noise floor and dwindling NOS options. With ampsandound moving to a 9pin front end, performance has been increased, NOS tube rolling has become nearly limitless, and yet we were able to enhance the sweetness and tone we are known for. The 9pin front end allows vastly increased options for tone rolling to find your balance and preference. With our front end's new development, we have improved our amps further, including both subtle and significant changes alike. Notable takeaways include increased power output, reduced noise floor across all our amps, increased bandwidth.
Product Strengths
- Unique 'tube character' enhances the sound in a positive way
- Known for sweetness, euphony, and richness of tone
- Enhances microdynamics, drawing attention to finer nuances of volume
- Creates a more involved and textured soundstage
- Is a completely neutral headphone amplifier, as long as the output impedance synergy is observed
- Inputs and outputs are located on the back of the unit, which can be inconvenient
Product Considerations
- Not suitable for very inefficient planar headphones like the HE6 or Audeze LCD-4
- Not generally recommended for IEMs
- Can be susceptible to interference from Wi-Fi signals or other electronic components
- Depending on the headphone used, the environment, and the output being used, the unit may produce some noise floor
Takeaway: The Kenzie is a special tube amp that makes music sound sweet and detailed, improving the listening experience with many headphones, assuming the right setup is used. It's a good option for those who want to go beyond solid-state amps.
Video review
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