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