Anyone had any experience with this one? I’m “window shopping” end game amps, since, hell, there ain’t much else to do right now, and curious about responses, maybe from show exhibit sessions or otherwise. Been reading highly laudatory reviews, but haven’t seen any direct comparisons with, say, Woo or Ampsandsound (although Herb Reichert at Stereophile has written about the Pendant vs. the Woo WA-5). Not planning on making such a big spend anytime soon, but from what I’ve read the Manley is a lot of fun. (I owned Manley monoblocks back in the mid-90s and while they eventually proved too fussy and breakdown-prone, I really loved the sound and the look).
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I should add, that I am obsessed with having a tube amp again, but just can’t risk it for my main system. However, it seems perfect for headphone or “B” system use …
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Donald North Audio - DNA
You won’t be disappointed.
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I purchased one of these myself a while ago, so here are my (very subjective) thoughts on it.
Build
TL;DR: 8.9/10, losing points for putting the headphone connections at the back of the unit while the controls are at the front and (being nit-picky, which I think is OK given the price tag) somewhat jiggly buttons.
The build on this thing is rock solid. I’m 99.9% certain I’ll be gone before this thing undertakes any damage whatsoever. The sides are solid metal and clearly made to protect the precious internals. The plastic covering the internals doesn’t feel cheap in any way. The knobs are all solid and have no jiggle to them. The buttons have a little bit of play, but have a very satisfying clickiness to them.
Connectivity
This is an all-analog device, with decent connectivity:
Inputs
- 2x RCA
Outputs
- 1x RCA (unbalanced) - allows the Absolute to be used as a pre-amp
- 1x 6.35mm TRS (unbalanced)
- 1x 4-pin XLR (balanced)
My only gripe with the I/O on this device is the fact that the headphone outputs (the 6.35mm and 4-pin XLRs) are on the back of the device, which is insanely annoying. In fact, this is my only major gripe with this device. I finally had to give in and got a couple of custom Hart Audio interconnects made which I’ll wrap around it to give me front-side connectivity as soon as they come in.
Features
This is where the Manley Absolute Headphone Amplifier really shines. It’s a complete and total BEAST when it comes to features; it has:
- a built-in EQ for bass and treble,
- continuous variable feedback (0dB-10dB),
- two tube topologies you can choose from (push-pull or single-ended),
- a bypass mode for when you don’t want any tube-y-ness when used as a pre-amp (this does not apply to either headphone output, unfortunately),
- a stereo/mono toggle
- L/R balancing
It was really the topology switching and variable feedback features that caught my eye with this amp, since I don’t have a whole lot of room and didn’t want to get two separate amps to have access to each topology.
The only feature I find to be missing is a crossfeed function, but I have that functionality built-in to the Mini-i Pro 3, as well as my other DAC - the RME ADI-2 Pro FS R Black Edition.
Another feature which I didn’t quite expect was the complex way in which the multi-stage toggle buttons function. Rather than looping through each option, they bounce back and forth. So, for example, instead of the L/M/H gain options looping as {L, M, H, L, …}, they loop as {L, M, H, M, L, M, …}. This really threw me for a (differently-ordered) loop the first time I encountered it, so I thought it worth mentioning.
The last major feature of this amp worth mentioning is that it can definitely double as a mini hand warmer; it emits a lot of heat. This is great for me, since my hands tend to get pretty chilly while I’m working and I have it set up on my desk where I can quickly warm up my hands and go right back to typing. This is less great for everyone else in my house since this amp literally sits beneath our thermostat, which now believes our house is 3-7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it actually is whenever this amp is powered on.
Sound
Before we can really talk about the sound, we have to address the elephant (herd) in the room: there are literally an infinite number of combinations to how this thing can sound, depending on whether you operate it in Push-Pull or Single-Ended topology, how much feedback you opt for with its (continuous) Variable Feedback control, whether or not you apply the built-in EQ, and whether you’re outputting directly to headphones or using it as a pre-amp.
Therefore, I have limited my critical listening tests to RCA 1 in, 6.35mm headphone out (labeled “J”), stereo (rather than mono), no EQ, and the following topology/feedback configurations:
- Push-pull / 10dB Feedback
- Push-pull / 0dB Feedback
- Single-Ended / 10dB Feedback
- Single-Ended / 0dB Feedback
If you have specific questions about any other particular configurations, please don’t hesitate to ask!
My setup & Testing Methodology
For my critical listening for this review, I used Roon as the source, streaming to a Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro 3 which then fed directly into input 2. I then tested it with two headphones: HiFiMan Sundara and Focal Radiance (thanks @Chrono for the recommendation - these things are great!).
For this testing, I used the following Tidal playlist:
- “The Uruk-Hai” from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Soundtrack by Howard Shore
- “HIM” from The Thrill Of It All by Sam Smith
- “Hello” from 25 by Adele
- “Planet Earth II Suite: Main Theme” from the Planet Earth II Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer
- “Take It, It’s Yours” from The Queen’s Gambit Soundtrack, by Carlos Rafael Rivera
- “Little Girl Blues” from The Devils’ Music by Naomi & Her Handsome Devils
If you have questions about other songs, or if you want to know about other equipment/headphones/IEMs I have (RME ADI-2 Pro FS R Black Edition, Topping D90 coming soon, HD 6XX, Moondrop Blessing 2, or anything else listed in my profile), please don’t hesitate to ask!
Impressions
TL;DR: Push-Pull mode with 10dB of Feedback seems to be the most analytic, and the best for complex arrangements. Single-Ended with 0dB of Feedback has such a high noise floor with low-impedance headphones like the Sundaras and the Radiance I used that I really can’t recommend it, even on Low impedance mode. However, it’s absolutely fine on higher impedance headphones like the HD 6XX. Retrospectively, I should have used the 6XX and the Sundaras, but I didn’t; live and learn.
Push-Pull / 10dB Feedback
In Push-Pull configuration with 10dB of feedback, this amp feels very tightly controlled, and is similar to (if not just slightly more tube-y) than the direct headphone output of the Mini-i Pro 3, apart from being somewhat shrill at times. This is also the only configuration in which I felt like I was wearing headphones most of the time.
Listening to “Hello” by Adele on the Sundaras, it feels like Adele is right in front of you in the recording studio with background singers just slightly behind and offset. With the Radiance everything feels right up next to you, even Adele’s echos; quite a surreal and odd experience. Honestly, Adele felt just slightly unpleasantly close with the Radiance for my tastes.
However, listening to “The Uruk-Hai” or to the “Planet Earth II Suite: Main Theme” with this combo was fascinating. It felt almost as though I was sitting next to Howard Shore and Hans Zimmer as they conducted these incredible scores, with the orchestra gathered close around. You become immediately enveloped in sound in a pleasant way, but not in a way that takes you along with the music. Rather, you become enveloped in a way where the music surrounds you and fills you. Imagine being wrapped up in a magic carpet rather than flying around on one. This was such an nice experience I couldn’t help but to queue up the full Lord of the Rings and Planet Earth II soundtracks after my critical listening session, just for fun.
With “Little Girl Blues” and “HIM”, however, I felt like I was transported directly into the studio monitoring room, watching the artists perform right in front of me, but partly separated by a barrier.
In general, this configuration made everything feel extremely tightly controlled, clean, and brought the soundstage inward. It had no noise floor at any volume, and overall felt rather similar to other solid-state amps that I own for simpler compositions. Outside of my critical listening session, I have found that, broadly speaking, the more complex the song, the better it sounds on this mode.
One thing to be aware of…
… this configuration seems to produce very little bass on the Sundara. While listening to the Lord of the Rings and Planet Earth II soundtracks (after my critical listening session), I used the EQ functionality of the Manley Absolute to boost the bass just a bit and found it to be extremely enjoyable on the Sundaras. The bass boost was absolutely unnecessary on the Radiance, and was even harmful at times (especially with the heavier bass portions of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack).
An Aside on the EQ functionality
I really enjoy the way that the bass EQ works on this device with an exponential curve being applied to the lower regions. The EQ on this will boost sub-bass much more than mid- and upper-bass. This brings a better feeling of dynamicism to the music when applied. I have not yet felt the need to apply any EQ to the treble, so I can’t really speak to how well/poorly the exponential nature of the curve that is applied there works.
Push-Pull / 0dB Feedback
In Push-Pull configuration with 0dB of feedback, this amp begins to feel tubey, but only for certain songs. Specifically, for me, I found that complex scores like “The Uruk-Hai” and “Take It, It’s Yours” were very enjoyable, and started to bring me along with the music (think flying on a magic carpet, but flying just above the treetops). I also found that, for the Sundaras, piano tones became significantly more pleasant to listen to when backed up by an orchestra, such as in “Take It, It’s Yours”.
“Hello” still felt somewhat shrill at times, but was significantly more pleasant than with 10dB Feedback in this topology. I still wouldn’t recommend this configuration for this song, however, since I really had no desire to re-listen to this song with these settings.
Listening to “Little Girl Blues” and “HIM”, I felt transported from the studio monitoring room directly into the recording studio itself, a meter or so in front of Naomi and Sam Smith as they sang. I really felt that I could hear the reverb of the (insanely skilled and talented) musicians playing, their sound bouncing off and/or being absorbed into the various walls and fixtures. This is truly a wonderful configuration for these songs, and I’d expect similar songs to be similarly awesome.
Overall, this configuration brought me into the music more than the Push-Pull/10dB Feedback configuration, especially with complex, mostly orchestral scores. There was no discernable noise floor at any volume.
Again, this configuration seems to have less bass emphasis on the Sundaras than the direct output of the Mini-i Pro 3, but it does have more bass than they did with the 10dB Feedback configuration.
Single-Ended, 10dB Feedback
In this configuration, this amp generally feels slightly less tube-y than the Push-Pull / 0dB Feedback configuration for more complex songs like “The Uruk-Hai” and “Planet Earth II Suite: Main Theme”. However, for simpler songs like “HIM”, “Hello”, and “Take It, It’s Yours”, it was generally more tube-y. Pianos and Treble vocals were particularly gorgeous in this configuration.
With the Sundaras, I found that most songs felt distant, airy, and mystical. Songs like “HIM”, “Hello”, and “Little Girl Blues” seemed to be playing from concentric spheres around my head and enveloped me in the music. More complex songs like “The Uruk-Hai”, “Planet Earth II Suite: Main Theme”, and “Take It, It’s Yours” kept much more directionality but felt very airy and etherial.
With the Radiance, I found that songs sounded similar to how they did in the Push-Pull / 10dB Feedback configuration but with more grandeur. This especially applied to “The Uruk-Hai” and “Planet Earth II Suite: Main Theme”, which felt more like I was among the orchestra than near the conductor. I also noticed a bit better instrument positioning in this configuration with these headphones than with the Sundaras. Songs like “HIM” and “Hello” however felt like I was in a small, private concert hall being sung to directly. My two favorite songs in this configuration, though, were easily “Take It, It’s Yours” and “Little Girl Blues”. “Take It, It’s yours” Felt faerie-esque, with the woodwinds sweeping me along into the air, whirling around a Grand Piano playing in an open meadow. “Little Girl Blues” on the other hand felt like I was listening to a live band at the end of a dance floor, and I simply couldn’t stop moving my feet. Both of these songs in this configuration made me forget I was quarantined, stuck at home, wearing headphones.
Note that with the Radiance there was some noise floor in this configuration, but it was acceptable to me. The Manley website does mention that usage of this mode, especially with lower Feedback settings on low-impedance headphones such as the Radiance (only 35 Ohms) is a “disallowed state”.
Single-Ended, 0dB Feedback
The first thing I must mention about this configuration is the noise floor on low impedance headphones. It’s high. Like, really high. To the point of it being heavily unpleasant on the Radiance which only have 35 Ohms impedance. The Manley website does mention that usage of this configuration with low-impedance headphones (such as the Radiance) is a “disallowed state”. I did plug in my 300 Ohm HD6XX headphones and found that there was still some noise floor, especially at very high volumes, but at lower volumes the noise floor was entirely acceptable for me. In my day-to-day listening, I almost never bring the Feedback setting up to 0dB in Single-Ended mode. At most, I tend to use 5-7dB Feedback.
This is by far the most tube-y configuration. It makes songs drip with ooey gooey tube-ness.
Complex scores like “The Uruk-Hai” were utterly overwhelming. On the Sundara, instruments blended together and made me feel like I was standing right in the middle of the orchestra with gel in my ears. On the Radiance, the orchestra sounded distant, almost as though I was sitting at the center of a massive music hall.
Sam Smith’s “HIM” and Adele’s “Hello”, no matter which headphones I used, were both simply amazing. With the Sundaras, both songs’ lead vocals were airy while the rest of the song was clearly grounded by the background singers. Both songs made me feel like I was being sung to directly, rather than listening to a recording. With the Radiance, it felt like I was wrapped up in the song and pulled along by the lead vocalists, while the background singers pushed me along from behind. While listening to “HIM”, I wrote, “I’d chase this sound forever. Instead of ‘HIM’, it’s ‘ME’ that he’s talking about.” “Hello” on the other hand made me teary.
“Planet Earth II Suite: Main Theme” on the other hand felt mystical and, ironically, other-worldly. It felt more like I was surrounded by an orchestra I happened upon while taking a walk through the forest. This song made me forget about the noise floor, the headphones, even the very chair I’m sitting in, no matter which headphones I used.
“Take It, It’s Yours” on the other hand felt even more mystical than “Planet Earth II Suite: Main Theme”, but somehow was not other-worldly. I found that the piano section of it felt like the star of the show, no matter which headphone I listened with. With the Radiance, in particular, this felt much like what I imagine learning how to fly feels like.
Finally, “Little Girl Blues” felt amazingly realistic with this configuration. On both headphones, this song felt like it was being played live right in front of me, with the band located behind Naomi as she sings. I once again forgot that I was wearing headphones with this song.
Some Additional Notes
- I do not have a measurement rig of any kind. (But I’d love to ship it to someone who does; I’d also love to send it to a more experienced reviewer for their thoughts!) The mathematician in me is very curious as to what exactly it does that I love so much.
- As of testing this, the Mini-i Pro 3 is not yet Roon Ready-certified, so I couldn’t use RAAT on it. Instead, I streamed via the built-in AirPlay functionality since I wanted to test that out, too. I did some A/B testing switching between USB input and AirPlay and the differences were, in my opinion, negligible at the volumes I listen at.
- I have used this as a pre-amp going out to a Topping A90, but I couldn’t discern any major differences between using it as a pre-amp vs going straight to headphones in Push-Pull / 10dB Feedback, so I opted not to continue critical listening tests between the two.
- I don’t have any 4-pin XLR and thus could not test the balanced output at all. Once I get my Hart Audio interconnects I should be able to test this.
- This is my first review, so please be kind! I’d love to get as much helpful criticism as you’re willing to provide.
Conclusion
Is it good? Subjectively, yes. I love this thing.
Is it worth the $4,500 price tag? It depends entirely on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking to be able to tweak what kind and how much tube-y-ness your music has to meet your own personal preference and need it all in one relatively small package, this amp is 100% worth it. If you’re not looking for that kind of flexibility/control, I’d say it probably isn’t worth it. For me, I absolutely do not regret this purchase.
Edit 1: Fixed the price tag to reflect the current $4,500 value.
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Wow, super-thorough review! (Which I will have to read more closely later). Manley doesn’t F around. Although their stuff can be idiosyncratic perhaps to a fault (the jack in the back).
FWIW, I got a Stratus from DNA in November and am greatly enjoying it. I think it was the right price and amp for me. No fuss, but open for some tube rolling.
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Excellent review. Very comprehensive and full of detail.
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Thanks so much! I tried to make sure I was as thorough as I could be. 
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I couldn’t agree more!
I’m glad you like it! I looked at getting the Stratus, but unfortunately I live in an apartment with rather limited space, so I had to look elsewhere. 
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@eru_illuvitar Yeah, it has a substantial footprint. I had a good spot for it in the office but it is quickly turning into a stack of boxes and a tangle of cables back here. At some point I likely will abandon the idea of an office “system” and move the Memory Player and the Stratus into the main hi-fi (which has ample and ergonomically pleasing room for both), and just get a simple, inexpensive desktop amp/dac for basics. The Manley is smartly designed for desktop use in mind.
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If you’re looking for a superb (albeit not super inexpensive) desktop piece, the RME ADI-2 DAC/Amp is pretty epic. I bought the RME ADI-2 PRO FS R Black Edition (they really need to work on their naming scheme) and have used that as my primary driver for my Manley until I got the Mini-i Pro 3. On its own, it’s an excellent DAC/Amp which I actually bought primarily for its Analog-to-Digital interface but I wound up finding that the DAC/Amp in it is just as good.
Bringing it back to the Manley, though, I love its desktop footprint. I also looked in to some of the Cayin HA- series as well as the Woo Audio headphone amps, but those were also too big for what space I’ve got. My desk is a tiny 4’x2’ adjustable desk stuffed into our living room for WFH due to COVID, so space is truly at a premium and the Manley fits in literally perfectly.
One thing writing this post just reminded me is that I might be able to use the Mini-i Pro 3 as a source and the RME ADI-2 PRO FS R Black Edition to record the Pre-Amp output of the Manley to see if I can capture some actual output data with something like REW… Hmm. Yet another project to add to my backlog. If y’all are interested in something like that, I’ll bump that up in my project queue.
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I also just realized I forgot to talk about the insane lack of microphonics in this thing! My desk is adjustable-height and I can adjust the height of it without any of the typical “tube ring” appearing. I don’t know how Manley did it, but it’s pretty remarkable.
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