Description
-Bliss Headphone Amp
The HoloAudio Bliss is here! This has taken a long time and tremendous R&D to deliver a head-amp that does everything well. Enough power for any headphone! And delivering our intoxicating sound signature that HoloAudio is known for.
Current production time is estimated for about 5+ weeks from time you place your order. We appreciate your patience and understanding. We try to deliver before this time, but this is an estimate for new orders. Inventory shown on the website is to control sales volume only.
Here at Kitsune HiFi, we have two versions of the Bliss Headphone Amp. Below are the two levels, and KTE being our Flagship model with all options:
Prices are as follows for May lineup:
Standard Bliss = $2998.00 + S&H
KTE Bliss = $3398.00 + S&H
General info:
LINE IN:
Single-ended RCA input (QTY 3)
Maximum amplitude 8.4Vrms
Input impedance 6.2KΩ
Balanced XLR input (QTY 2)
Maximum amplitude 16.8Vrms
Input impedance 12.4KΩ
HEADPHONE
OUTPUT:
4P XLR Output
Low impedance mode (LO-Z): Output impedance 0Ω, power 12Wrms@32Ω
High impedance mode (HI-Z): output impedance 15Ω, power 2.5Wrms@150Ω
4.4mm Pentaconn Output
Low impedance mode (LO-Z): output impedance 2Ω, power 12Wrms@32Ω
High impedance mode (HI-Z): output impedance 17Ω, power 2.5Wrms@150Ω
6.35mm TRS Output
Low impedance mode (LO-Z): output impedance 1Ω, power 3Wrms@32Ω
High impedance mode (HI-Z): output impedance 8.5Ω, power 0.6Wrms@150Ω
LINE OUT:
Single-ended RCA Output
Maximum amplitude 10Vrms
Output impedance 20Ω
Balanced XLR Output
Maximum amplitude20Vrms
Output impedance 40Ω
PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS:
Size 430x300x55mm / 16.93×11.81×2.17inches (W x L x H, Dimensions do not include protruding parts) additional 12 mm for machined feet
Weight 10kg / 22.05lbs
CONFIGURATION
Power Input (configurable, see label on bottom of unit for specified input)
220-230V 50/60Hz – Use Fuse Type 2A SB 5x20mm (when internal switches are set@220v)
110-115V 50/60Hz – Use Fuse Type 4A SB 5x20mm (when internal switches are set@110v)
Power consumption
50w
ACCESSORIES:
Included Accessories
AC Power Cable x1 (Applicable to North America only)
*Remote Control x0 (these can be ordered, but neither model comes with remote as they are headphone amps and should be in reach.)
Download Manual: click here to download HoloAudio Bliss Manual
WARRANTY – 3 years warranty, both parts and labor, cover one way shipping (return shipping once product is confirmed a warranty claim). Be sure to buy directly from HoloAudio or authorized reseller and we recommend to buy from HoloAudioUSA<– this is KitsuneHiFi 😉 – Support is given from the source you choose to purchase from.
This is special order item (will show “in stock” if able to order, this means we have the parts available for this Amp and the order can be placed), with a typical 5.5+ weeks (estimated) delivery time to USA customers. However orders placed after Jan 1st (every year) may be delayed due to Chinese new year and add an additional 2weeks. This is out of our control.
Other voltage options than 110V (ie: 220/230/240V) may delay order an additional week. We will give you current estimate upon receipt of payment if it is different than the quoted 5.5+week estimate, and can be cancelled if you choose not to accept the terms to wait for the production/shipping times. After you accept the terms, I will place the order with HoloAudio directly, as the order is considered a special order item there will be no cancellations or refunds if 48hours past date order was placed. The product is guaranteed not to be DOA and has multiple levels of quality control testing before it’s shipped out to you. We are confident you’ll be happy with your purchase.
NON USA/CAN customers please contact us for quote on shipping costs. Please include your full shipping address and phone number along with voltage requirements when requesting to order this AMP. The same terms apply and estimated production times quoted above. HoloAudio products are assembled in China and shipped out from HK.
Shipping estimate varies, it’s best to email us for a current quote. (items in stock are NOT ready to ship, this means we have enough components on hand to build them. We are working our best to keep up with demands. You will get estimated time for production and shipping with your order. (Average is 5.5-6+weeks production and 4-6days shipping)
We sell HoloAudio Products and offer support to North America and Japan, Other areas you must contact you local dealer. More information can be found below:
To place an international order with us (other than HoloAudio products, please ask if we are able), USE our contact form… and then please provide the following information: Full Name, Phone Number, Shipping Address, Email Address to send Paypal Invoice to, and detailed list of products you would like to order and voltage requirement if applicable. But if you are in North America, just use our website and add item to your cart and checkout as normal. Other Areas must contact your local dealer.
For HOLOAUDIO sales, please contact a dealer near you.
If you are in Europe or other areas nearby, please contact our European Authorized HoloAudio Dealer for the best service and support in your area, Magnahifi.com
If you are located in the UK, please contact EliseAudio
If you are in South Korea, please contact our dealer in South Korea – SonorisAudio
If you are in HongKong, please contact our dealer WildismAudio – WildismAudioHK
If you are in Australia, please contact IndiHifi.com.au, your source for HoloAudio in Australia
“NOTE: Be sure to say in notes what volt ac model you need, USA/CAN is 110 volt ac standard etc. – Also note if you ask for special voltage transformer that it can delay your order up to a week longer.”
1. 100VA DUAL O-type(not Toroid) FLATWIRE (NOT roundwire) 6N Copper custom hand made audio transformers. Only KTE Model
2. All copper wire is replaced with 1.5mm pure occ silver wire. Only KTE model
3. Replaced IEC inlet connectors with pure silver/rhodium plated faston connectors at the IEC inlet. Only KTE model.
4. Fuse is upgraded with world class Red Nano fuse with gold/silver and graphene and quartz filtering materials. Only KTE Model
5. Standard caps are upgraded with Audio Note Kasei capacitors. Only KTE Model
6. Custom made HoloAudio 1000V 1uF caps / Mundorf evo silver/gold caps (both are standard in all models of bliss)
7. Special Kitsune Tuned Edition branding inside and out (pure copper Kitsune fox emblem on top panel) + remote control / KitsuneHiFi VIP service, english support and manuals/software
Info on Red Nano Fuse type used:
Fuse Type for Standard Bliss :
Shurter Gold fuse type
2A SB 5x20mm (220v) and 4A SB 5x20mm (110V)
does not include remote control by (can be special ordered, email us for info)
Tim & Dawn Connor – HoloAudioUSA and KitsuneHiFi
We operate under strict business ethics and principle values. Our company motto we are always proud to mention to our customers, “Time will tell…” and this means that our products will earn the respect in a matter of time once people get their chance to test it themselves. Many companies need fancy buzz words and marketing to sell their products, we truly only need our customers to try our products and share their experience with others. Word of mouth is how our business thrives and we have many happy customers! We encourage others to try all the competition in the market and directly compare and see what type of value you are receiving. We are confident in our products and know that in time, our products will sell themselves once people get a chance to try them. We offer tremendous value and quality without sacrificing on performance.
Jeff Zhu – HoloAudio – founder/engineer
Jeff Zhu is the man behind this engineering achievement. Below are some comments that have been shared by Jeff to better explain this DAC in his own words. HoloAudio is founded by Jeff Zhu and the USA division was a partnership formed with Tim Connor and his wife, Dawn Connor.
Comments coming soon from Jeff about the Bliss headphone Amp.
Our products are CE Certified for the European Market
Daniel Sapen (verified owner) –
Also posted on head-fi:
I have the Bliss for three days now. I had a Burson GT Soloist for a while recently, and while it was strong and clear, it felt aggressive, brash, with a bit of assertive sameness among several distinct recordings. I make no claim that you will hear it the same way. It must be popular for good reasons. I don’t have a history of turning up my nose at hi-fi gear – That amp was one of the few obviously high-quality pieces of gear I’ve ever just given back, ultimately, saying, no thanks. And then the long-rumored, possibly-an-urban-messianic-legend Bliss arrived.
I’m using Roon on an M1 iMac, with Qobuz streaming and hard-drive-sourced files, cd through highest res DXD and DSD, Holo May KTE connected to the Bliss KTE by Audioquest Fire ICs, AQ Niagara power conditioners, AQ NRG and Cullen power cables. The Susvara, 3.5mm connector, is being fed by a beautiful new Double Helix Chimera cable. Although the Bliss, I’m told, is electrically optimized and musically voiced for the Susvara, I’m comparing its performance through the latter with its handling of Dan Clark Expanse with their own Vivo cable and a Prion4 borrowed gratefully from Peter B. at Double Helix Cables; The Utopia 2022 with stock and Arctic Ingens cables,; Grado GS3000x with Grado cable; and Abyss 1266TC with the upgraded and dedicated JPS cables. I’m only using balanced 4-pin XLR connections.
The Susvara is clearly in its natural habitat here, optimized and idyllic. The Abyss responds to Bliss-juice as though it has found fulfillment. Something not quite frequency-range dependent is happening here, in that, on recording after recording, the characteristic deep bass control, holy mother of slam factor, and electron microscope level of clarity is evident…. but now the midrange and the whole harmonic envelope of acoustic instruments and voices is more fleshed out, almost devoid of the hardness these industrial-cyberpunk Uber-cans can bring. Whereas the Woo WA5-LE, a refined and powerful 300B SET tube amp well matched to the Abyss and good for the Susvara, can bring its 2nd-harmonic rich but still transparent virtues to the Big Abyss, it can still feel a little brash in the upper-mids/lower treble. The Bliss produced nothing but nourishment through the 1266TC. preternaturally detailed, yet with just enough subcutaneous fat to be healthy. There is no sense at all of euphony or tube bloat; to the contrary, the music is highly objective in the information it consists of, and yet the amp seems to offer ideal support for the unique needs of each headphone, across their dynamic and frequency ranges. It is providing the diet each headphone thrives on. Two hours of jazz, hard and progressive rock, and chamber music, and I have no listening fatigue through the Abyss.
The Expanse retains its deeply detailed, spatially expansive and harmonically refined qualities. The Utopia ’22 is the least minutely revealing headphone in my current roster, though this is not a deficit; it is relative to three other cans known for end-game resolution and one, the Grado, which at 28 – 50% the cost of the others, may lack the surreal spatial verisimilitudes and end-game timbal and dynamic refinement of the others, but is both stunningly good in absolute terms, and actually conveys small details at near-Susvara levels. The Utopia has a fully-fleshed, communicative and impactful qualitymmediately impressive as being intricately transparent, offering a fleshed-out sense of space way beyond my head and the limits of the Susvara. I’ve never heard that so consistently or clearly. Lyrics are more intelligible, complex arrangements have a great sense of wholeness with all the clarity to allow the attention to drift along with and away from individual voices. It’s beautifully voiced, if it’s OK to say that, in that along with the Susvara-ready power, the amp has remarkable timbral clarity and glow, depth and dimension, with textured and fast transients. And I’m just getting the feel for it. It is a special amp, just warming up.
Jeff Zhu at Holo not only has a clear sense of what reproduced music should sound like, but his innovative designs manage to channel that aesthetic sense into extremely authentic/organic-sounding, impactful and nuanced, user-friendly electronic devices which somehow look cool (2001-monolith-black with copper sides and accents and a Kitsune fox emblem) and also measure extraordinarily well… and I am firmly in the my-multi-million-year-ear/brain/gut knows far more than your puny 21-st century measurements will ever measure. But this stuff is accurate as can be, and tastes great. And Bliss is clearly a consistent, masterful engineering expression of the same musical vision as is the May DAC. If it serves a wide range of headphones this well, with such ergonomic ease, while bringing out the very best in the Susvara (folks like to assign percentage-of-potential an amp achieves with the Susvara – I’ll call this 98.6%, to indicate a sign of optimal health, with room for diminishing returns from some gizmo advances by future humans.
I know there’s more expensive and possibly “better” gear out there for a system like this. But while I know what the far end of hi-fi consists of, what it can cost, and the refinement and caché which contribute to the listening experience. But, beyond some optimizing of the source setup – using, say, a Roon Nucleus for SS-data control, some improvements in streaming – I’ll say that there’s not much further to meaningfully go in the headphone-audio quest. “Better” than this? A dedicated digital data and control source and electrical system… that’d be nice. There’s always new flavors and hues to be found in high-end gear, and there’s stuff I still like to stare at. Bacon. Mola Mola. These would be fun to have around. They’re fun to say. Beyond that, spend all the plutocratic audio bucks you wish. Your diminishing returns are yours to enjoy as you wish. I just don’t think “better” means anything at this point. The Bliss has been worth the wait. It is phenomenally good (this after a few days), it is at home, in ideal company with its sister DAC. And while it ain’t cheap, the Holo gear are “are you sh-tt-n’me?” reasonable for endgame gear which seems to inspire data streams and head-speakers to be be their best selves.
Daniel Sapen (verified owner) –
Also posted on head-fi:
The Susvara is clearly in its natural habitat here, optimized and idyllic. The Abyss responds to Bliss-juice as though it has found fulfillment. Something not quite frequency-range dependent is happening here, in that, on recording after recording, the characteristic deep bass control, holy mother of slam factor, and electron microscope level of clarity is evident…. but now the midrange and the whole harmonic envelope of acoustic instruments and voices is more fleshed out, almost devoid of the hardness these industrial-cyberpunk Uber-cans can bring. Whereas the Woo WA5-LE, a refined and powerful 300B SET tube amp well matched to the Abyss and good for the Susvara, can bring its 2nd-harmonic rich but still transparent virtues to the Big Abyss, it can still feel a little brash in the upper-mids/lower treble. The Bliss produced nothing but nourishment through the 1266TC. preternaturally detailed, yet with just enough subcutaneous fat to be healthy. There is no sense at all of euphony or tube bloat; to the contrary, the music is highly objective in the information it consists of, and yet the amp seems to offer ideal support for the unique needs of each headphone, across their dynamic and frequency ranges. Zhu states, in the manual, that the way he uses multiple paired transistors brings all the advantages of both solid state and tubes. Without any so-called tubey characteristics, there is also nothing characteristic of solid-state, except with respect to sheer clarity. Such simplistic binaries are far transcended at this level, with this design. It is providing the diet each headphone thrives on. Two hours of jazz, hard and progressive rock, and chamber music, and I have no listening fatigue through the Abyss.
The Expanse retains its deeply detailed, spatially expansive and harmonically refined qualities. The Utopia ’22 is the least minutely revealing headphone in my current roster, though this is not a deficit; it is relative to three other cans known for end-game resolution and one, the Grado, which at 28 – 50% the cost of the others, may lack the surreal spatial verisimilitudes and end-game timbal and dynamic refinement of the others, but is both stunningly good in absolute terms, and actually conveys small details at near-Susvara levels. The Utopia has a fully-fleshed, communicative and impactful qualitymmediately impressive as being intricately transparent, offering a fleshed-out sense of space way beyond my head and the limits of the Susvara. I’ve never heard that so consistently or clearly. Lyrics are more intelligible, complex arrangements have a great sense of wholeness with all the clarity to allow the attention to drift along with and away from individual voices. It’s beautifully voiced, if it’s OK to say that, in that along with the Susvara-ready power, the amp has remarkable timbral clarity and glow, depth and dimension, with textured and fast transients. And I’m just getting the feel for it. It is a special amp, just warming up.
Jeff Zhu at Holo not only has a clear sense of what reproduced music should sound like, but his innovative designs manage to channel that aesthetic sense into extremely authentic/organic-sounding, impactful and nuanced, user-friendly electronic devices which somehow look cool (2001-monolith-black with copper sides and accents and a Kitsune fox emblem) and also measure extraordinarily well… and I am firmly in the my-multi-million-year-ear/brain/gut knows far more than your puny 21-st century measurements will ever measure. But this stuff is accurate as can be, and tastes great. And Bliss is clearly a consistent, masterful engineering expression of the same musical vision as is the May DAC. If it serves a wide range of headphones this well, with such ergonomic ease, while bringing out the very best in the Susvara (folks like to assign percentage-of-potential an amp achieves with the Susvara – I’ll call this 98.6%, to indicate a sign of optimal health, with room for diminishing returns from some gizmo advances by future humans.
I know there’s more expensive and possibly “better” gear out there for a system like this. But while I know what the far end of hi-fi consists of, what it can cost, and the refinement and caché which contribute to the listening experience. But, beyond some optimizing of the source setup – using, say, a Roon Nucleus for SS-data control, some improvements in streaming – I’ll say that there’s not much further to meaningfully go in the headphone-audio quest. “Better” than this? A dedicated digital data and control source and electrical system… that’d be nice. There’s always new flavors and hues to be found in high-end gear, and there’s stuff I still like to stare at. Bacon. Mola Mola. These would be fun to have around. They’re fun to say. Beyond that, spend all the plutocratic audio bucks you wish. Your diminishing returns are yours to enjoy as you wish. I just don’t think “better” means anything at this point. The Bliss has been worth the wait. It is phenomenally good (this after a few days), it is at home, in ideal company with its sister DAC. And while it ain’t cheap, the Holo gear are “are you sh-tt-n’me?” reasonable for endgame gear which seems to inspire data streams and head-speakers to be be their best selves.
No name provided –
I purchased the Bliss as I was in search of the right amp to use to power my Susvaras. After watching the many glowing reviews of this remarkable amp, it seemed to be something truly special and I’m very happy to report it is exactly that.
The Susvara is such a demanding headphone. I really wanted to love a less source dependent headphone, but I am addicted to the beautiful timbre that I can’t seem to find in anything less demanding. Unfortunately, with lesser amps, the bottom end is gone and the macro dynamics are weak. It’s still a beautiful sound, but very much incomplete with any other amp that I’ve tried.
The Bliss is such an astonishing match for it. Big, full dynamics, deep and low extension and tear-inducing reproductions of human voice. I can only echo what other reviews have said: This is THE amp for the Susvara, which makes sense given that it was designed that way. I could go on and on about the gorgeous sound, but take it from a lifelong musician/producer and music lover with access to the best, this is it.
Some notes for your consideration:
1) If you plan to use this to drive a Susvara, you are going to need a great DAC with a great output stage that has the ability to deliver big macro dynamics. The amp will not magically create big dynamics out of an inferior DAC. I paired this with the Spring 3 and LOVE it. Prior to the Spring, I was using two different mid-level DACs and noticed a major improvement going to the Spring.
2) Let this warm up. It makes a huge difference. Seriously. Also consider that the amp will sound even better after burning in for the recommended 250-500 hours.
3) As mentioned in the manual, it really does get quite warm and you are going to want to allow for sufficient airflow.
4) This is a really beautiful, classy piece of gear. The pictures don’t quite do it justice. It fits right in in my studio with my other high end gear.
Thank you Tim and Jeff for this amazing amplifier! It’s everything a Susvara owner could dream of!
spection –
I’m pretty new to the hobby so I apologize if my descriptions aren’t that clear. Before I had this and the May with a pair of Empyrean IIs, I used the OG Empys and a Dacmagic 200m. All of the songs I listen to give me wave after wave of chills, and it’s like I’m listening to all my favorite music for the first time, and that feeling remains after listening to the same song again and again. I’ve never felt any closer to the music.
Adam (verified owner) –
Excellent amp. The reviewers, especially GoldenSound, are correct about how good this amp is, and why. I use mostly ZMF headphones on this, and have a Holo Spring 3 DAC and Holo Red streamer. In the ZMF room at Canjam last year, I went back and forth between a Bliss, and other amps of similar price (and in one case, an amp that was far more expensive). I was blown away by how much better the Bliss is than all those other amps. GoldenSound said what stands out the most about this is realism and how holographic it is, as well as how well it slams, and I agree. It does everything right, and doesn’t color the sound at all. This is absolutely the ultimate endgame amp, even for people with extremely difficult to drive headphones, like a Susvara. Highly recommended.