Heard this at a shop the other day.
First and most obviously, the amp is stunning. I've always been a minimalist at heart and that applies to design as well. I don't really like the sight of tubes popping out like sore thumbs (yea well I suppose it might be beautiful in a geekish sorta way for some) so the Element was almost by default going to be one of the nicest amps aesthetically that I could find.
Build quality as well was excellent. Connectors and the volume knob were really nice. Nothing seemed cheap or loose or wobbly.
Unfortunately my actually play time with the Element was super limited because I spent quite a bit of time auditioning the Campfire Audio Lyra, and when I did move over to the Element, the shop lady told me her mouse for the Mac (which the Element was connected to) was wonky. She got it fixed for me but I only used it for 3-4 minutes before it died again, so take my sound impressions with a pinch of salt:
To me it's a very neutral DAC/Amp, not unlike the O2/ODAC. Don't think any particular frequency range stood out for me, and in fact I can't really find the words to describe the sound. Those who are accustomed to tube goodness should probably stay away. I was using it with my Earwerkz Supra 2s, which is obviously overkill for The Element, but it was the only thing I had on me which I knew well enough to use to test gear. I paused the music and turned the volume knob near its max and even then there wasn't a lot of noise. Audible, but not bothersome at all.
I've not been following this thread too closely but I presume The Element is foremost a desktop amp with a DAC inbuilt, but in all I think the unit was excellent value for those whom like a no-frills setup. Perhaps quite disappointing was the lack of outputs, but at this pricepoint I guess there can't be too much complaint.