Heed Audio Elixir Integrated amplifier

Heed Elixir Integrated Amplifier

The Elixir has a neat place amongst their Transcap technology amplifiers. It is the purest music performer of all, without any technical compromise and presents the music effortlessly. Besides the power amplifier, the headphone stage also benefits from the basic idea of the Transcap technology. Class-A, Darlington driven, capacitor coupled outputs feed your headphones like nothing else you have experienced before.

Key Features

• 50 Watt per channel into 8 Ohms (65 into 4 Ohms)
• 4 analogue and 1 Moving magnet phono inputs
  
• 6.35mm Class-A headphone amplifier
  
• Transcap – output capacitor technology
• Pre-Out connection
• Discrete bipolar transistor architecture

There are some very stable points in our world, music being one of them. Music reproduction by Heed is another one. For more than a quarter century, they have walked their own way, to show everyone that the world is far from flat.

The Elixir is the essence of how they think about music reproduction. This integrated amplifier puts down four important cornerstones that show a playground for the listener. A preamplifier with its dedicated output, a power amplifier with plenty of juice to drive anything reasonable, a phono stage to re-discover your Vinyl collection, and a headphone amplifier with way too much talents for a secondary function only. But they have built them into one box because these are the basic functions everyone should experience in “My First Hi-Fi System”.

As it happens, it is well enough for the second and the third as well…

The MM phono stage is based on the Questar’s circuit. As the standalone amp, this integrated incarnation is thick and warm and provides a great overall amplification for nearly all kind of MM cartridges. It’s a very easy way to find your way back into the analogue domain, and be a lifetime captive of the black vinyl.

Hifi Gear experience 

The Elixir has been in our shop for a little while now and we've tried a few different combinations of source and speakers to see what this "little" amp has to offer. A favourite of Jamie's in the shop has been the PMC Prodigy 1 standmount speakers, the Rega Planar 3 turntable with a Nagaoka MP-150 cartridge, using Chords clearway X speaker cable with ohmic plugs to connect the amp to speakers. What i've found remarkable about this set up has been the sheer scale of the sound. Thanks to PMC's signature ATL (Advanced Transmission Line) bass-loading technology the bass is incredibly solid and never feels over extended or over powering. Although I'd state the Prodigy 1's aren't the warmest of sounds, they come across more netural to me, the combo of Elixir/P3/MP150 offers a warm, well rounded sound which is remarkably engaging and fun. If you are looking for a quality, simple amplifier, this should be on your listening list.

Who are Heed

Heed Audio have been manufacturing truly engaging hand crafted high-end audio equipment for 30 years. The Beginnings their hi-fi story goes back, to 1987 when Zsolt Audio was formed to import famous U.K Hifi Brands into Hungary. After meeting Richard Hay, the legendary designer of Nytech, and later Ion Systems products they started to assemble on their premises the unique ‘shoebox-design’ Obelisk amps, use of balanced circuits, external power supplies, active crossovers, avoiding of DC coupling are typical of Heed designs.