Manley Labs Headphone amp
Mar 19, 2016 at 1:33 AM Post #16 of 38
They already have a TOTL headphone amp NEO Classic 300b, so they know what they are doing .

 
There have been conflicting reports for years about the suitability of that amp for today's low-impedance, high-current headphones (at one point I actually PM'd everybody on the board who reported owning one). If it wasn't for the Woo WA5 I would have flown to LA to check out this amp myself. Manley certainly never put any effort into reaching out to the headphone community to market the Neo Classic.
 
Sep 8, 2018 at 2:19 AM Post #21 of 38
well, 2 years later, and the amp is supposed to be at RMAF in less than a month! At least one thing to look forward to.
 
Feb 23, 2020 at 10:14 AM Post #23 of 38
There have a number of positive reviews on the review sites, I heard it at a few RMAFs and thought it sounded great, and all the options to fine tune the sound are fun, but dang it’s expensive. If you have money to burn, it’s a good amp. There are lots and lots of great amps at that price, so it all comes down to what you are looking for. The Manley is also a bit of a show piece, as are many of the amps at that price.
unless money isnt a thing for you, and/or music is your life and you listen to headphones all day, it’s hard to justify that kind money on an amp.
 
Feb 23, 2020 at 12:53 PM Post #24 of 38
There are lots and lots of great amps at that price, so it all comes down to what you are looking for.
That's the thing, sound-wise the Manley hit the sweet spot for me (heard it at Canjam recently). I'm looking for something with the same warm, lush tube sound at half the price. The Dragon Inspire and the Woo WA22 were candidates but the reviews say they don't sound "tubey" enough compared to others.

The Feliks Euphoria has glowing reviews and the price is right but at 250mw it's not ideal power-wise to run planars. The Mogwai seems like a great bet with stellar user reviews and decent power but I haven't heard it personally. Any input you can provide on the alternatives?

And thanks for the post!
 
Feb 23, 2020 at 3:08 PM Post #25 of 38
Mogwai is good, lots of options to upgrade
Anything from Eddie Current is good
Wolf Ear Audio Makoyi is good
DNA is Stratus is excellent (get one used)
ECP Audio T4 Headphone Amplifier (preorder)
Heck, the Lyr 3 is pretty darned good or the Liquid Platinum
Lot's of people like the Elekit TU-8600, but you need to make it

Given the ability to adjust neg feedback with the Manley, you probably will not find anything with that level of control. You could try a S.E.X. from Bottlehead and tube roll.
 
May 25, 2020 at 1:46 AM Post #26 of 38
Hey everyone!

I'm very new to the world of audio (a year in), and I currently have the Verite Open + Tia Trio connected to the Questyle CMA 400i. I feel like I'm not listening to the Verite's fullest potential.. so I have been thinking of upgrading the 400i to the CMA Twelve Master, although the idea of having a seperate Amp + DAC intrigues me. I am quite interested in the WA22, HA-6A, and Manley Absolute. The problem I am facing is that most of the reviews are positive, but the moment I look up what the community are saying it tends to be negative. Since I'm located in Indonesia, there isn't any demo units around here.. so it makes things much harder since it will be a blindbuy. Maybe you guys could point me to the right direction?

Cheers!
 
May 25, 2020 at 9:04 AM Post #27 of 38
Hey everyone!

I'm very new to the world of audio (a year in), and I currently have the Verite Open + Tia Trio connected to the Questyle CMA 400i. I feel like I'm not listening to the Verite's fullest potential.. so I have been thinking of upgrading the 400i to the CMA Twelve Master, although the idea of having a seperate Amp + DAC intrigues me. I am quite interested in the WA22, HA-6A, and Manley Absolute. The problem I am facing is that most of the reviews are positive, but the moment I look up what the community are saying it tends to be negative. Since I'm located in Indonesia, there isn't any demo units around here.. so it makes things much harder since it will be a blindbuy. Maybe you guys could point me to the right direction?

Cheers!
I've listened to all three and prefer the Absolute. Imo people jab at it because of the price to value ratio, and they're not wrong. A lot of work went in to making the Manley to not just sound like a luxury item but to look like one as well. People see the looks, the rear HP jack, the price, and instantly decide that it's not for them.

Thing is they most likely haven't listened to it. This includes the people on the Drop thread that are used to getting $300 THX amps.

If you're doing a blind buy I will say $4500 is in very risky territory, but if you want advice from someone who has spent time with all three then I'd have to tell you the Absolute is the best of the amps you listed.
 
May 25, 2020 at 9:22 AM Post #28 of 38
Hey everyone!

I'm very new to the world of audio (a year in), and I currently have the Verite Open + Tia Trio connected to the Questyle CMA 400i. I feel like I'm not listening to the Verite's fullest potential.. so I have been thinking of upgrading the 400i to the CMA Twelve Master, although the idea of having a seperate Amp + DAC intrigues me. I am quite interested in the WA22, HA-6A, and Manley Absolute. The problem I am facing is that most of the reviews are positive, but the moment I look up what the community are saying it tends to be negative. Since I'm located in Indonesia, there isn't any demo units around here.. so it makes things much harder since it will be a blindbuy. Maybe you guys could point me to the right direction?

Cheers!

I have the Manley Absolute and I think it is a great piece of kit and well worth auditioning if you can. You can ‘tune‘ the amp not only to different sets of headphones but also to different types of music to suit your taste. There are a lot of variables to play with but, once you understand how it works, it’s really easy to use.

I have always preferred listening to music through my speaker system and saw headphones as a lesser, but obviously very useful, alternative under different sets of circumstances. I also never really understood why people feel a need to use headphone amps either as I found plugging direct into my Chord Dave or Hugo 2 to be significantly better than using my old Burson Conductor headphone amp which I bought many years ago when I got the Sennheiser HD800 phones.

Since getting the Absolute, I am listening to headphones far more and often in preference to speakers. I run my old HD800 from the balanced output and the Focal Utopia from the SE output and find that makes for a very nice combination. Not only that, but it has given my HD800’s a completely new lease of life. I hadn’t realised until recently how important setting the amp to suit the headphones was - not just impedance, but also varying the amount of negative feedback and other fine tuning.

I run a Chord Hugo 2 into the Abolute and I actually find that I prefer that now to plugging headphones into my main system which comprises an Innuos Statement into a Chord BluDave combo. The BluDave combo has the edge in absolute clarity terms, but the ability to tweak and fine tune the Absolute to the headphones and the music actually gives me a more pleasurable experience.

The reviews are overwhelmingly positive which tends to make me a little suspicious, but they are actually well deserved in this case. It isn’t really designed for sticking in a rack imo and you need to have the amp within easy reach in order to get the most from it, but it has really changed my listening habits significantly. I understand a lot more now about the benefits of headphone listening which were lost on me before.
 
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May 25, 2020 at 10:09 AM Post #29 of 38
I've listened to all three and prefer the Absolute. Imo people jab at it because of the price to value ratio, and they're not wrong. A lot of work went in to making the Manley to not just sound like a luxury item but to look like one as well. People see the looks, the rear HP jack, the price, and instantly decide that it's not for them.

Thing is they most likely haven't listened to it. This includes the people on the Drop thread that are used to getting $300 THX amps.

If you're doing a blind buy I will say $4500 is in very risky territory, but if you want advice from someone who has spent time with all three then I'd have to tell you the Absolute is the best of the amps you listed.

Oh hey! The only reason I considered the HA-6A was because of your unboxing/review video, I enjoyed it very much!!

Yeah I definitely agree with the price to value ratio causing the negativity, which makes sense, it is very expensive. I fell in love with the design of the Absolute, it's just gorgeous.. the jacks on the rear can be annoying, but it's a minor issue IMO. I was also considering the ZMF Pendant to pair it with the Verite and Aeolus (hoping to get one in the future). My mindset was to get a high end tube amplifier right away, and not upgrade it for a long time. Then I'll focus on the next weakest link.

What I love about the Manley is being able to control how I want to listen to my music via the amp itself, which is a very cool feature, and that's why I don't plan on getting any other tube amps in the near future. Thank you for replying to my post, I truly appreciate it. I'll think about it over the next few days, although I'm quite certain that I'll be getting the Manley Absolute.

P.S. Keep pushing out amazing content :)

I have the Manley Absolute and I think it is a great piece of kit and well worth auditioning if you can. You can ‘tune‘ the amp not only to different sets of headphones but also to different types of music to suit your taste. There are a lot of variables to play with but, once you understand how it works, it’s really easy to use.

I have always preferred listening to music through my speaker system and saw headphones as a lesser, but obviously very useful, alternative under different sets of circumstances. I also never really understood why people feel a need to use headphone amps either as I found plugging direct into my Chord Dave or Hugo 2 to be significantly better than using my old Burson Conductor headphone amp which I bought many years ago when I got the Sennheiser HD800 phones.

Since getting the Absolute, I am listening to headphones far more and often in preference to speakers. I run my old HD800 from the balanced output and the Focal Utopia from the SE output and find that makes for a very nice combination. Not only that, but it has given my HD800’s a completely new lease of life. I hadn’t realised until recently how important setting the amp to suit the headphones was - not just impedance, but also varying the amount of negative feedback and other fine tuning.

I run a Chord Hugo 2 into the Abolute and I actually find that I prefer that now to plugging headphones into my main system which comprises an Innuos Statement into a Chord BluDave combo. The BluDave combo has the edge in absolute clarity terms, but the ability to tweak and fine tune the Absolute to the headphones and the music actually gives me a more pleasurable experience.

The reviews are overwhelmingly positive which tends to make me a little suspicious, but they are actually well deserved in this case. It isn’t really designed for sticking in a rack imo and you need to have the amp within easy reach in order to get the most from it, but it has really changed my listening habits significantly. I understand a lot more now about the benefits of headphone listening which were lost on me before.

That's great to hear! I do like the idea of being able to tune the amp to different sets of headphones or music. That was one of the main reasons why I wanted the Manley, and the overall design just screams luxury. I plan on using the CMA 400i as a DAC for the time being, and eventually get a Qutest or the Matrix Audio X-Sabre Pro. By keeping the 400i, I get to have a SS + Tube setup.

How's the build quality from your experience? I've heard some say that it feel plasticky or 'cheap'.
Does the 'click' sound on the volume wheel bother you? and how does the knobs feel?
Since I'll be using this near my Desktop PC (Monitors, Mic, Bluetooth mouse, etc..) will there be interference?

My apologies for bombarding you with a lot of questions. I am very happy to hear how the Absolute have changed your listening experience with headphones :)
 
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May 26, 2020 at 4:15 AM Post #30 of 38
How's the build quality from your experience? I've heard some say that it feel plasticky or 'cheap'.
Does the 'click' sound on the volume wheel bother you? and how does the knobs feel?
Since I'll be using this near my Desktop PC (Monitors, Mic, Bluetooth mouse, etc..) will there be interference?

My apologies for bombarding you with a lot of questions. I am very happy to hear how the Absolute have changed your listening experience with headphones :)

Build quality is very good and I have no concerns that it will stand up to long term use.
The click does not concern me. I don’t use the wheel as it is much easier using the remote. That still causes clicks (presumably relay switching?) but it’s no big deal. I only need to make large adjustments when changing headphones, otherwise, adjustments whilst listening are only very small which often causes no clicking anyway.
The knobs for fine tuning and the push-push switches all feel very good in use and make interacting with the unit quite pleasurable. I thought the rotary control knobs were a bit odd initially being so tall, but this actually helps in live use and they feel good.

Some people seem intent on finding things to criticise about things generally for some reason and very often without even owning or using a device, but I find the Manley to be very well designed, well built and sounds great whilst offering an excellent range of very useable variation. The only things that seem like genuine points are having the headphone outputs on the rear of the unit which doesn’t bother me, but I can see why it would put some people off the unit. Then the price - and high priced items do seem to attract proportionately more criticism.

The product reviews generally seem overwhelmingly positive and they are either all wrong or biased, or they are justified by the performance of the Absolute. As always, the only way to judge is to listen and make our own assessment - that’s all that counts really. But I do tend to agree with the reviewers which is why I own one. In particular, the range of adjustment on hand seems unmatched elsewhere and arguably provides all that you should ever need in one unit.
 

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