Merrill Audio Element 116 Review

Speakers:        Wilson Audio Sasha 2

DAC:                Chord DAVE

Source:            MacMini, Roon, Sonore microRendu with Uptone Audio UltraCap LPS-1.2

Music:             Mixture of redbook and hi-rez via HDTracks, Tidal and Quboz

I’ll start this review by saying that at the end of our listening period we contacted Merrill to purchase the amplifiers. I have had the Merrill Audio Veritas since January 2014 and have definitely enjoyed owning them. In parallel to this recent home audition we had also arranged with my local dealer to audition some other amps and we didn’t end up pursuing that option. I felt bad about this, but he understood our decision and admirably said about Merrill “They have treated you well and deserve your support”.

Some high-level thoughts

·      Beautiful looking amps, very solid, seem well put together and aesthetically pleasing

·      Overall these are a major upgrade: here are a few quotes from my wife

·      "I feel I am hearing it the way it was meant to be for the first time"

·      "I have heard people say it was almost like been there but this is the first time I have experienced that”.  

·      "I was expecting some small improvements here and there but this is big s..t"

The Element 116s use 20A power IEC connectors (though don’t require 20A feed) this meant I couldn’t use my usual Lessloss DFPC cables with the amps, so all my listening was done using the stock cables supplied. I am going to change my cables to use Oyaide C-236 20A IEC connectors, so they work will with the amps.

My preference when listening is for a sound that is true to the recordings without any added coloration. Having heard many of my favorite artists live, some only as recently as the last few months back I think the amplifiers do a great job of delivering on this and in a way that is engaging and never tiring. There is a slight extra presence to vocals now that elevate things in a subtle but noticeable way. The flip side of course is that the amps do no favors to poorly recorded material – they tell it as it is.

When introduced to our system these amplifiers represented a significant improvement. Our week-long listening session was peppered with exclamations such as “did you hear that?”, “I never knew there was so much going on in that song before” or “that is the best I have EVER heard it”. The amps may lose out ever so slightly in terms of overall punch compared to a much more expensive set of monoblocs I listened to a few weeks back but from my memory they are close. That listening session was in a different room with similar but different speakers so it is difficult to really compare but I remember on one particular song we stopped playing because it just didn’t sound great yet at home on the 116s it was better. It is easy to say what something is good at, I am not so good at identifying negatives so can’t tell what the amps might not be excelling at but I didn’t notice any negatives and the following improvements were abundantly clear. 

Bass was more evident and tighter; bass lines came through in ways they have never before, the sound was more cohesive then ever and everything had better separation and incredible detail. Voices had more air to them and in harmonies instead of just hearing a chorus you could pull out spatial details and male vs female separation. They produced a very full sound and enveloping soundstage that was engaging, had a real depth to it presenting a more 3D rather than 2D experience and one that was full of detail and really impressive transients and decay. In short all the areas I wanted improvements on were just there, I didn't have to listen carefully or dig for them they were just there.