Manley Absolute High-end headphone amps for connoisseurs of cans require total adjustability - has Manley Laboratories delivered the goods with the Absolute Headphone Amplifier? Review: Ken Kessler Lab: Paul Miller

摘要

Veteran makers of headphone amplifiers for studios, Manley Laboratories is taking on the extreme high-end of the domestic genre with a £4500 unit - the Absolute - that marries audiophiles' sonic requirements with the total control demanded of professionals. Company CEO Eveanna Manley says, bluntly, 'Our goal was simply to produce the most awesome-sounding and sonically flexible vacuum tube headphone amplifier!'. To address consumer usage, the thing looks cool and is designed to stand proudly on a desk, nightstand or anywhere else one's headphone amp might be sited. Unlike Manley's lab-look stuff for studios, the Absolute is made with a sculpted-from-solid chassis in three colours - black, copper or silver. Hand-rubbed walnut burl veneer covers the headphone rest areas, the Absolute doubling as a stand.