Feliks Audio Elise Loaner Program

Looks like there's also a lot of hype surrounding this amp at HF, hope it doesn't turn out to be a bummer like the MicroZOTL2.0 was.

 

Is there room on this tour for additional members? I'm New Your State if that means anything for logistics...

 

I just bought a Feliks Audio Elise and HD800S in the Head-fi classifieds. Will post some impressions of the amp soon and bring to the next Boston area meetup.

 

I'm curious to read what will be your opinion on Elise.

 

Is this loaner actually happening? If yes, where are the impressions? Eagerly awaiting some solid opinion outside the HF-rave...

 

Nobody heard this yet?

 

To be clear I liked Marv's post above not to get an elise loaner, but to pretty much do the opposite. HF hype threads are wrong more often than they were right. The MicroZOTL that was purchased for the loaner program was pretty universally disliked, even though it had "superior topology and great timbre" from the guys that snuck over to promote here. I feel like the Elise could fall into that same category. Money could be better spent on high value products to show new friends the strength of the Force.

 

I don't need to say it again, do I?

 

Why not do a loaner for something worthwhile like properly modded HD650's?

 

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/hd650-loaner-request.1233/

This happened at one point. A modded pair and an unmodded pair were sent around for comparison. But a couple permanent loaner items such as HD650's, vali 2, valhalla 2 etc might not be a bad idea. Would be a pain in keyster to manage

 

Ah right, never pay attention to loaners since they're usually conus only.

 

The HF Feliks thread was, for a long while, budget-conscious enthusiasts innocently having fun sharing observations with tube rolling and not bothering anyone around them. Things started to get silly, as they usually do over there, however when the comparisons started rolling in. You'll find Zana Deux and other targets if you search the thread, and that's when HF goes HF on me and I stop reading.

Regarding the ZOTL2, perhaps controversially I will say it is not what it has been made out to be by some here, in my opinion. It was also demonized even before the loaner materialized, and final opinion seemed a somewhat foregone conclusion. But that's just my feeling. And on the other hand, it is also absolutely not the godsend that it has been made out to be on HF. I had heard and previously brought to light many of the observations later made in the reviews of the stock unit here. In the end, I think it primarily suffers from poor price to performance ratio by the time you ARE able to make it perform. However it does have strengths and is liked by at least one well regarded charter member here, who hasn't said much about it.

 

I have an Elise. It's not life-changing bliss like some in the HF thread suggest, but I do like it. Unfortunately I don't have enough knowledge or experience to do a useful review.

I read the Guide to Loaner Programs and don't feel comfortable sending it out to a long list of folks based on points, etc. Could I ship it to you and have you ship it to just one or two other trusted reviewers who would evaluate it, write up impressions for the group, and then send it back to me?

 

Thats a great initiative.. Will be great of this amp is reviewed and the mystery is settled

 

Wow that would be awesome. Even if only one reputable member here could have a listen to it... Me personally would love to hear @Marvey 's take on it. His ears have been a good reference for me, and given his hand in EC amps, he knows what to listen for.

 

@Marvey confirmed via PM. I have it all boxed up ready to ship whenever he tells me that he has the time to do this.

To keep things simple and avoid risk of damage, I'm just going to ship to him and he'll send it back to me when he's done rather than sending it to multiple folks. I'll try to bring it to a Boston / NE meetup at some point as well if folks are still interested to hear it, but unfortunately it's not looking like I'm going to be able to make the June meetup.