Manley Labs has unveiled the company’s latest product for the Hifi market at CES 2016, The Manley Headphone Amplifier which they say has been built to meet the demand of audiophiles turning to personal headphone listening.   

Information from Manley’s website says “There are twelve independent controls designed for maximum performance and customizable handling of sonic adjustments for a wide variety of audio experience. Of special import are the custom hand-wound air-gapped dual-mode MANLEY IRON^Ⓡ output transformers, designed and manufactured at the Manley Labs factory in Chino, California. With a push of the button, these transformers are easily user-configured to drive three ranges of headphone loads, from 12 to 600 Ohms or greater”.

The output stage of the Manley Headphone Amplifier can be switched on-the-fly between all-triode Push-Pull and Single-Ended topology.

The Volume Control is performed by a Precision Stepped Relay ladder matrix whilst left-right Balance control is provided to trim out uneven recordings. The Manley Headphone Amplifier operates fully symmetrically, enabling it to drive balanced headphones through its XLR outputs but of course non-balanced ¼” jacks are also present. A direct preamplifier output which routes your first line input through the system to feed an external power amplifier or powered loudspeakers is also available when the headphone amp is powered down.

The Manley Headphone Amplifier also, and somewhat unusually in this day and age, incorporates bass and treble tone control to allow listeners to adjust the flavour of the sound to their preference… but you can totally bypass of the EQ circuits also.

The Manley Headphone Amplifier is available in three different colours fu: Champagne & White, Titanium & Bronze, or Copper & Black.

Details

• Vacuum Tube design, 2 x 12AT7A Drivers, 4 x 6AQ5 Triode Strapped output tubes
• Single-Ended or Push-Pull amplifier operation
• Precision Stepped Relay Volume Control with Thumb Wheel
• Selectable headphone load settings: 12-50 Ohms, 50-200 Ohms, 200-600 Ohms
• Variable Feedback Control: 0–10dB of negative feedback
• Balance, Treble and Bass Controls use silent conductive plastic potentiometers
• Tone Bypass for purist signal path
• All switching via high-grade gold-contact relays
• 3 x Stereo Outputs: Balanced XLR headphone outs, Unbalanced standard ¼” TRS headphone jack, RCA Preamplifier Outputs
• 2 x Analog line-level RCA inputs
• Mono / Stereo function
• Mute Switch
• User adjustable Headphone Overload Protection System
• MANLEY IRON^Ⓡhand-wound wide bandwidth air-gapped output transformers
• Preamplifier Direct output routes Input 1 direct to output when unit is in standby
• Soft Start, mute-controlled power-up sequence
• High Speed, Low Impedance, Low Noise custom switching PSU
• Operating Mains Voltage: 90~250VAC universal works worldwide
• Mains Voltage Frequency: 50~ 60Hz
• Solid Aluminum Billet Chassis
• Real Wood Walnut Burl Trim
• Maximum Output Power: 1W
• Unit Dimensions: 11.5 x 5.5 x 8.2” (LxWxH)
• Unit Weight: 12 lbs.
• MSRP: $2950