Review: Feliks Audio Euforia – Quality

With Headphones

 

The source used for this analysis is the Chord Electronics DAVE hooked up to my laptop running ROON.

The dynamic driven Beyerdynamic DT199PRO is a headphone I’ve been rediscovering and enjoying a whole lot lately. With the Euforia it presents you with a fast and tight sound on a completely black background. The 250Ohm Beyer is dead silent, very detailed and the clarity level is exemplary. Bass has good body, excellent layering and good depth. The mids are very clear and detailed with slightly more forward vocals. The treble is also a bit more forward but it never becomes harsh or shrill. The v-shaped sound of the DT1990PRO is very well audible but you get great dynamics and transparency. The Euforia will not make this Beyer headphone more linear and balanced but it will on the other hand give you an excellent sounding v-shaped sound. For some the treble on this headphone might still be too much, but that’s totally on the DT1990PRO and not the Euforia.

The 300Ohm Sennheiser HD800 is also perfectly silent and you get a very wide stage, excellent layering and absolute transparency. Bass and mid body isn’t the biggest and the dynamic driven HD800 won’t get a warmer tone, this is neutrality combined with an analytic character. Bass, mids and treble don’t sound the fullest and I have for sure heard the HD800 bigger bodies and warmer, but with the Euforia the HD800 is oh so precise and clean, a reference/high end sound.

The Audeze MX-4 is a planar technology studio reference headphone and it has an impedance of only 20Ohm. The MX-4 sounds a bit fuller than the HD800 with the Euforia and you get more bass body though it’s still at a neutral level. The mids are also a bit thicker and the voices sound more realistic, softer, aka more natural. The treble is very different from the HD800 as the MX-4 doesn’t extend as far and it is softer and easier to listen to. I really like the neutral, yet full, precise and clean signature of the Audeze MX-4, and the pairing with the Euforia is excellent.

The Focal Utopia is another dynamically driven headphone and it has an impedance of 80Ohms. It’s one of my all-time favourite headphones and it sounds excellent from the Euforia with a wide soundstage, excellent layering, good transparency and dynamics. The Utopia hooked up to the Euforia sounds clean, fast and shows excellent layering. It’s impossible to not appreciate this technical marvel from the Euforia, and I love how it combines tis technical excellence with a musical delivery. Perfection.

The orthodynamic Hifiman HE-1000V2 also is a great match with the Euforia, though I like the heavier bass V1 version even more. The V2 and Euforia sound dynamic and transparent but don’t get the full bodied sound the V1 version had. That of course has nothing to do with the Euforia and if you “dig” the V2 sound, then you will certainly love the way the Euforia makes it sound. A wide sound stage, top clarity, fast and precise. A great combo, just not the fullest sounding one.

No matter what headphone you hook up to the Euforia, high impedance, low impedance, dynamic or planar, the Euforia does them all effortlessly. The Euforia is always dead silent, shows great clarity, excellent dynamics and impressive transparency.

This usually isn’t the type of amplifier you would buy to listen to IEMs or custom monitors with but it can be perfectly done as the Euforia is dead silent at all times with all of my BA and dynamically driven IEMs and CIEMs. Even my most sensitive monitors that love picking up noise if there is any, are perfectly quiet from the Euforia, it’s just impressively designed.

End Words

With the Euforia, Feliks Audio has built an excellent sounding and sexy looking top of the line tube amplifier. As Feliks Audio says, the strong points of the Euforia are in its transparency, dynamics and perfectly back background under all circumstances.

The Euforia, and certainly for it being tube driven, is a more neutrally tuned and balanced/linear and clear sounding amplifier though different sets of tubes will allow you slightly tube the sound signature.

If you’re looking for a technically strong , neutrally tuned tube amp that can handle anything, the Euforia is an amp that absolutely has to be on your short list pure from the performance point of view. On top of that it looks really pretty, it’s built with the highest care and it’s very affordable. What’s not to like ?

 

4.1/5 - (81 votes)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

8 Comments

  • Reply October 11, 2018

    Krzysztof Maj

    Hello Lieven,
    Fantastic review and fantastic headamp from my country – Poland! I wish I had money to buy one, but because it has tubes, my questions are:
    1. How many producers of tubes for audiophiles we have already on the market and if those are easy obtainable?
    2. Do they provide the heat protective cover for the tubes – quite important if you have children playing around the house?

    • Reply October 11, 2018

      Lieven

      thanks. There are still new tubes being built in Russia and Asia and these are easily obtainable, but the really good tubes date back to the 50s-80s and you’ll have to source them via tube dealers. There are also other high end tube boutiques which are producing tubes at this time.

      The covers depend on the design, in most designs it’s not foreseen but you can build a custom cover yourself or buy one on the web

  • Reply October 11, 2018

    Piotr

    Hi Lieven,

    great review – as always. My question is, how would you rate Euphoria vs Auris HA2SE in terms of soundstage, technicalities etc.

    Thank you in advance for the reply, best, Peter

    • Reply December 12, 2018

      Booker

      Agree, I just read the Auris HA2 SE review too. They’re almost the same price and clear competition, both with very positive reviews here on Headfonia. Could you offer some thoughts on comparisons?

  • Reply February 7, 2019

    Jonathan

    Hey there, great review! I am definitely intrigued by this amp! I’m still quite new to tube amplifiers. If tubes are still being made in Russia and Asia, is there any particular reason why they wouldn’t be just as good as really old tubes? It doesn’t seem to be something that would get better with age.

    • Reply February 11, 2019

      Lieven

      It has to do with the technology used, the component quality and manual labor from back then.

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