Here is my first-hand experience with the Element 118 monoblocks along with the Christine preamp. First of all, I would like to thank Merrill for sending both the Element 118s and the Christine preamp to me for evaluation. I have had them in my home for the past few weeks. Full disclosure, I have no financial relationship with Merrill. Merrill was not even aware I would be posting this.
A bit of background. I have been in the hunt for my ideal amp for several years now, first for my Martin Logan Renaissance 15A hybrid electrostats and more recently, for my Wilson Alexia 2s. My priorities are fairly straightforward. Above all, I seek transparency and resolution but the presentation has to sound natural and non-fatiguing. For those that have been at this for awhile, you know that this is a tough ask.
While I listen to all genres, I listen predominantly to unamplified acoustical performances, especially large orchestral and chamber music. This is the most challenging type of music for an electronic audio system to convincingly reproduce. If my musical preferences consisted primarily of amplified studio recordings like Adele or Journey (and I do enjoy this type of music), I know I would have been content with my setup long ago. Furthermore, my preference is not to sit in the balcony or even the stalls, but on the stage itself. I crave immediacy and vibrancy but again, it has to sound natural and non-fatiguing. As a frequent patron of live unamplified performances up close, I can listen for hours and listening fatigue is never an issue.
Back in 2017, Merrill was kind enough to loan me a pair of his Thor monoblocks for audition. Some time after, I was able to briefly audition a pair of Merrill's Veritas that were owned by a colleague. I found these class D amps to not be my cup of tea. They were neutral sounding and very dynamic with excellent bass but to my ears and in my system, they sounded flat and uninspiring. While they did some things better than a Pass Labs X350.8 that I was also evaluating at the time, Merrill's amps did not sound as natural to my ears.
As I have read reviews of Merrill's new Element amplifiers, it seems everyone has been raving about them in comparison to Merrill's old Veritas amps. As someone who was never really a fan of Merrill's Veritas amps, I found these reviews to be unhelpful. What about comparing against amplifiers from other established top tier manufacturers like Dan D'Agostino, CH Precision, and Soulution? This is what a group of friends and I have done.
My speakers at home consist of a pair of Wilson Alexia 2s. We used digital sources only (Chord DAVE DAC and dCS Vivaldi 2.0 DAC fronted by a Paul Hynes powered music server that I built myself). Cabling consisted of a full loom of High Fidelity Cables Pro Series balanced interconnects and speaker cables. At some point, the High Fidelity Cables Pro Series speaker cables were swapped out for a set of Danacables Sapphire Reference Mk2 speaker cables (4awg).
The Element 118 monoblocks + Christine preamp were directly compared against a CH Precision M1.1 stereo amp + L1 preamp, a Dan D'Agostino Momentum Integrated, and Soulution 511 stereo amp + 520 preamp. While we would have loved to have conducted blinded listening tests, due to time constraints, this was not possible nor was it necessary. The sound signatures of these amps were so different that any untrained ear could discern differences easily. As to which amp was best, as any experienced audiophile can tell you, this comes down to system synergy and personal preference and there was no unanimous consensus as to which amp (and preamp) sounded best.
Soulution 511 + 520 -- This is an exquisite pairing and is both very transparent and very resolving although not quite to the level of the Element 118. This combo is a touch warm relative to the Element 118. No amp was as fast as the Element 118 although I would not consider the Soulution slow by any means. In fact, directly compared against anything from Pass Labs and a Luxman M-900u, I found the Soulution (both a 711 and 501) to easily outpace those amps. The Soulution is every bit as explosive as the Element 118. Where the Element 118 paints with fine lines, the Soulution paints with broad strokes and so the edges are softer and more forgiving. The Soulution's bass has more heft but the Element 118's bass is better defined. The Soulution's bass is better controlled although no one found the Element 118's bass control to be lacking. The Element 118's midrange has better clarity although vocals can sound a touch thin for my tastes and so this is where the source and cabling can make a difference. While I preferred the Soulution's midrange, I found the Element 118's treble to be superior and better resolved.
Dan D'Agostino Momentum Integrated -- This is the artist of the group. Also very fast and with tremendous slam but what sticks out with this amp is tone. Beautiful, rich, luxurious, and textured tone. For intimate vocals, I'm not sure this amp can be beat, even when compared against tubes. It doesn't have the bass authority or control of the Soulution or the speed, definition and depth accuracy of either the CH Precision or the Element 118 but it's not a slackard in these areas either and would probably best most other amps. It is, for sure, the least fatiguing of the group. This was one amp that I could listen to forever.
CH Precision M1.1 + L1 -- This setup is closest to the Element 118 with regards to sound signature. It is equally uncolored and very fast and incisive. With the wrong source and cables, it can sound a touch thin. With the right setup, it competes with the Element 118 as the most transparent and resolving amplifier of the group. It is also the most expensive setup of the group but in this case, you get what you pay for. It had the best explosiveness of the amps tested while remaining supremely controlled. It also had the best depth accuracy of the group. I'm not talking about the air around instruments that people equate to depth but rather true depth accuracy where an organ that is playing 30 feet away sounds as if it is 30 feet away. With the very best orchestral recordings we played, the CH Precision M1.1 + L1 edged out all the other amp/preamp combinations although the Element 118 + Christine were not far behind.
Element 118 + Christine -- Class D or otherwise, Merrill's flagships belong in the conversation of "best of" with respect to technical performance. I would agree with Merrill, I don't think I've heard a faster amp than the 118 and this is what is responsible for its tremendous transparency and resolution. Couple speed with a very low noise floor, excellent clarity, explosive dynamics but also subtlety and nuance, and you have a world beater regardless of price. Will it be everyone's cup of tea? If you are fully enamored by the qualities of your 300B SET, then this amp may not be for you although I wouldn't automatically dismiss it without a personal audition. You just might find its qualities too good to resist.
Are there downsides to the Element 118 + Christine? Again, these are personal preferences and so view them as such but the Element 118's speed comes at the expense of tonal body. Especially at low volumes, this amp can sound a touch thin. My Chord DAVE DAC, which is the most transparent and most resolved DAC I have heard (when paired with Chord's M-Scaler) also sounds a touch thin when compared against my friend's dCS Vivaldi and so while the Chord DAVE pairs extremely well with the Soulution, the Vivaldi is a better match for the Element 118. I would imagine that a Lampizator or Nagra would be an even better source. Same thing with cables. With both the Element 118 and CH Precision M1.1, the superior resolution of the High Fidelity Cables Pro speaker cables were too much of a good thing and I preferred the softer and more diffuse presentation of the Danacables Sapphire Mk2 speaker cables. I would imagine the Element 118s would be a dream with speakers that image diffusely like electrostats or magneplanars.
As for the Christine preamp, this is an excellent preamp with tremendous speed, dynamics, and an ultra low noise floor and not surprisingly, is an ideal complement to the Element 118. It incorporates a unique feature that Merrill calls a "soft landing." This means that transients never have a hard edge and this feature, according to Merrill, is responsible for the Christine's fatigue-free presentation. This quality turned out to be a double-edged sword for me. On the one hand, recordings with a hard edge were indeed much more listenable and less fatiguing, but on the other hand, I missed the sharp and crisp transient that one hears when a guitar is plucked. To be fair, there were some in my group who found this quality very much to their liking. I did try the Element 118 with other preamps including an Ayon Spheris III tube preamp and the Soulution 520 preamp and I found these combinations to definitely have their appeal.
There are other practical considerations worth noting. First of all, I found both the Christine and especially the Element 118s to indeed be sensitive to power cords and line conditioning. When I plugged either component into a non-dedicated circuit with 14awg wire in the walls using cheap 14awg power cords, SQ was good but nowhere as good as when these components were powered by my HFC Pro Series power cords and plugged into my dedicated circuits with 6awg wire in the walls. Perhaps the biggest difference maker was when these components were plugged into my Sound Application TT7 line conditioner by Jim Weil. This line conditioner made a tremendous difference with respect to even better transient response, clarity, smoothness, and noise floor. To be fair to the Element 118, Dan D'Agostino also states in his manual that under no circumstances should his amplifiers be plugged into a line conditioner and yet when I plug his Momentum Integrated amp into my TT7 line conditioner, the improvement heard is once again very significant.
One final consideration worth noting. With the Element 118 monoblocks and the Christine preamp, neither of these components consume more than about 15-20 watts each while idle. In fact, I measured each monoblock to consume 17 watts while idle. This is, of course, the benefit of using efficient switching power supplies and class D topology. Even after leaving the monoblocks and preamp plugged in and turned on for days on end, they always remained cool to the touch. In fact, these units don't have on and off switches since there's no point. There is a standby function which, according to Merrill, serves only to "mute" these units. This means that these components are meant to be kept on 24/7 so that they're ready to play and sound their best at any time without denting your energy bill or heating up your room.
