Sometimes I am asked to compare the Elise with my Valhalla2 or Little Dot MKIV SE amps. It has been months since I powered up my LD. I may get around to doing a comparison with the it in a few weeks, but for now I can report on the comparison I have been making between the Elise and the V2.
I have been using the EL3N/5998 combo in the Elise for purpose of the comparison. This is not necessarily my favorite combo. I chose it for this purpose because it sounds very good to me, yet uses tubes that are still generally available, albeit admittedly pretty expensive.
For the V2 I have stayed with the stock power tubes, but am using Amperex Bugle Boys for the drivers, which I bought from Ebay for $46. The Bugle Boys do improve the performance of the V2.
If I had never heard the Elise, I could be happy with the V2 – happy but not thrilled. With the Elise I’m thrilled every time I listen to it with just about any of the tube combos I have. While listening to the Elise I have trouble ending my listening sessions – it is that involving. With the V2, I don’t have nearly as much trouble ending a session. In fact, after a while I start to experience a mild form of listener fatigue. I’m not sure why, but it is real for me.
The V2 is a brighter amp. Initially that led me to conclude that it might be more detailed. But I believe that “detail” is not always a useful term. I prefer the term “information”. For me “information” is a more comprehensive term. It describes what I believe is the degree of fidelity to the live performance that was recorded. Of course, I can’t be sure because I would not have heard the live performance, but if I say that a particular amp, headphone or DAC provides more “information”, it means that what I’m hearing seems more natural and what my experience tells me is closer to live music.
In this sense, the Elise provides significantly more information than the V2. Vocals have more body and “flesh”. Instruments have more body and “bloom”. In comparison, the V2 sounds “flat”. It is less involving, and the sound stage is not as good. And when I say “sound stage” I don’t just mean from a dimensional viewpoint (depth and width), but also localization and clear placement of vocals and instruments within the sound stage. To use one of my favorite descriptive terms (shamelessly stolen from the late Harry Pearson), the air between instruments and vocals is far more noticeable and apparent on the Elise than it is on the V2.
All tube amps add some coloration because of the presence of even order harmonics. They also sound smoother than many solid state amps possibly because of a lower level of odd order harmonics. I cannot be sure how much of the “information” I believe I am hearing from the Elise is due to greater even order harmonics than with the V2. But what I’m hearing does not seem to be “distortion”. I hear subtle nuances in both male and female vocals with the Elise not present with the V2, as well as more timber in instruments.
Another area the Elise excels is dynamics. It is much more exciting than the V2, but not because it is colored. Rather it is the slam from top to bottom of the audible frequency range. It is unqualifiedly effortless without any sign of strain. I can’t say the same for the V2. There is something a little annoying about many of the loud passages I hear with the V2. It is not a huge problem, but it is certainly something I notice more than I prefer.
While I’m at it, I want to mention that lately I have been doing a lot of listening with my lowly Sennheiser HD598s. When I pulled them out and dusted them off a couple of weeks ago I was shocked at how wonderful the HD598s sound with the Elise. I had come to finally realize that I just couldn’t continue using my HD700s because of the listener fatigue I experienced from the treble spike over extended listening periods.
I have on order a new pair of HD800S, with a right of return. I must say that the backorder situation with the new S version is about the same as the Elise. I know I will probably destroy whatever credibility I might have as a critical listener, but I have to say the HD800S is going to have to be considerably better than my 598s to justify the price different. It is also going to have to be a lot better than my T1, Gen 2, phones, because I won’t be keeping both.
I am aware that the price difference (with tubes I’m using) between the V2 and Elise is substantial. But the V2 is a highly regarded amp, and hopefully what I’ve written will give someone who is considering the Elise a point of reference.
If someone were starting from scratch and needed to stay under $2,000, I could in good conscience recommend they order an Elise without tubes, a pair of EL3Ns for drivers, a pair of 5998s or similar power tubes, a Schiit MultiBit DAC, and a pair of HD598s (and upgrade the phones later if they felt inclined). They could probably also throw in a pair of Morrow MA3 interconnects (which I have) to use between the DAC and amp, if they believe cables make a difference, and still be under $2,000 (I think my math is right!!!).
Of course, as budget permitted, I would certainly not discourage them from trying other tube combos recommended here. But I would also have to tell them that I suspect that new money might be initially invested most effectively in trying other headphones including the T1 (Gen 1 or 2) and HD800 (Classic or S).
Much of the positive qualities of the Elise I describe above are, in my opinion, due in no small part to using the EL3N tubes for drivers. While the Elise even with stock tubes is very good, and as far as I can remember superior to the V2, the EL3N is significantly better than any other drivers I have tried (including Siemens C3G, Fivre 6N7G = ECC31 black plates . "with Horn" anno 1942, Philips MiniWatt FDD20 and 6BL7). I appreciate the pioneering efforts of @hypnos1 and @UntilThen with the EL3Ns for bringing them to my attention. And thanks to Feliks Audio for designing and producing an amp that could take such great advantage of these tubes.
There certainly may be tubes I haven’t heard that are equal to or exceed the EL3Ns. Just more icing on the exquisite and delicious cake - that cake being Feliks Audio’s Elise. I will readily admit I have never heard any of the megabuck headphone amps. But there is no real fairy dust in audio. The laws of physics still apply. I find it hard to believe that the designers of the big buck amps have discovered some breakthrough electronic secret that has eluded electronic engineers for decades and that can only be implemented at the cost of thousands. Of course, I could be all wet. But there is one thing of which I am certain. A significant percentage of the cost of most expensive audio electronics usually goes into cosmetics. Expectation bias anyone????
For less than 5 euro, this solved it though and there is still tubing left for at least 6 more adapters.
