CEntrance finally managed to push their new tabletop amplifier in a Mac Mini form factor out. Mine is apparently production unit one, but they have also been doing other deliveries. In fact, Michael Goodman of CEntrance messaged me that they managed to get the temperatures down a bit more after my early delivery (to avoid counter-tariffs), and that he’d like to swap mine with an updated unit eventually. At that point, it was admittedly already seven months late from the initial estimate and I had been sweating bullets about whether it would make it in before a trade war.
I was not expecting *that* much from the unit despite its price: I purchased it for the tech and with the intent to have it be the last amp that I would ever need thanks to its very granular gain adjustments and 8W of power, plus variable tube level. But honestly, having added it to my system, I have been doing a *lot* more listening to headphones. And I was recently visiting family and doing critical listening with just my Mojo 2 linked to a JDS Synapse, and once I got back and added the AMP mini back (Synapse replaced with the Singxer SU-6 also in the picture but that's unlikely to contribute much of a difference), the difference with my modded HD600 was shocking. So, I was very positively surprised by the product which is why I decided to write about it here.
For me, the biggest benefit of the AMP mini has definitely been its gain adjustment which is framed as being matched with headphone sensitivity. It has felt really consistent in terms of where I end up putting the volume knob afterwards. The tubes are fairly subtle until you get to way too much distortion by maxing them. Which is also an interesting learning experience about what harmonic distortion actually sounds like since you can control its level. I have not needed the balance knob but I know of some people that were excited for it.
Connectivity is actually pretty interesting. Besides the use of a 4.4mm in the front for balanced (which I also really liked), it also uses balanced 6.35mm TRS and balanced 4.4mm in the back, in addition to unbalanced RCA. No XLR anywhere. This could honestly be a dealbreaker for some but it helps them save space with this form factor.
There is supposedly some kind of machine-learning module in it which allows it to recognize the headphones that you plug in over time, but I have not yet heard details about that from CEntrance. Plus, it apparently transitions gradually between types of amplification (voltage-based and current-based) depending on the impedance of connected headphones. Unsure how that works but massive differences in impedance did not affect the position of the volume knob to get to the correct listening level once the sensitivity knob was at the correct position. As I understand it, the gain level is also controlling its power source to help keep temperature down despite class A amplification, and it has internal power conditioning.
This feels like such a marketing spiel, but I am also just curious about how others find their design choices in these respects. Like I said, I got it for the interesting tech. It felt like it was doing something truly unique to try and justify its price. It was also funny to realize how in some ways, CEntrance has been a trailblazer before, too. Based on a Zeos review, their original Hifi M8 was among the first large, high-powered portable devices. And stuff like the Ampersand is still a uniquely powerful dedicated portable amp (out of production at this time, though), and I have heard some reviewers really praise the DACport mini dongle, especially for its power output well before similar levels became common among dongles.