Merrill Audio ELEMENT 118 on Tour

Offering me 2 cents. I have not yet heard the 116 but I am quite familiar with the 118 both sonically and aesthetically. I am also a former Veritas owner. And as I keep it no hidden secret, it took upgrading to a pair of Burmester 911 mk3 monoblocks to make it worth upgrading.

The 118’s are in a different stratosphere then the older Veritas. What they are not, is like any amp you have ever heard. What they are, is astounding. Speed, delicacy, refinement, accuracy and just abjectly silent. The noise floor makes them freaky because with the crazy speed and bottomless noise floor, everything has a sense of harmonic layering and emotional involvement that has made me laugh out loud several times while listening. 

Might as well call them the Merrill Audio LOL, cuz that’s what they make you do. 

And they are crazy cool looking amps. Fit and finish. Just wow. 

Try to hear them. Try to see them. Try to resist them!   Lmao. That’s brilliant and cheesy all in one. But they seriously are that good!!!

Rsf507- nope. What I have is amongst the best there is already. For me to go from what I have to the 118 would be like changing from a Ferrari to a Lamborghini when the Ferrari is already paid off.

But if someone took what I had and left the 118 in its place, I’d be happy as a clam and want for nothing.

The big difference is, the 118’s retail
for pretty much half of what my 911mk3 monoblock retail for. Which makes the 118’s extraordinary. 

To be honest, I have not directly compared the 118’s to the Burmester 911mk3’s yet. I expect each to be world class but have different strengths. So I can’t say 100% that I’m not replacing my 911’s with 118’s, but with the level of performance I have and the synergy I have with the matching Burmester 077 preamp I don’t see me making a change. 

Hey George.

Don’t forget it runs cool, is essentially immune to power cords or conditioners (Merrill can clarify) and has a noise floor lower then the Marianas Trench. 😇

I just had someone message me through my Audiogon thread asking me to comment on the difference between a Rowland 625 S2 and the Merrill 116. Here is my response:

Wow. Totally different beasts. Opposite ends of the solid state world.

Roland is known for warm, rich, soulful sound. I think, and many agree, that the 625 S2 is one of Jeff’s greatest design. And they look gorgeous. But they lack in many areas compared to more expensive options. Speed, transparency, dynamic impact, low end extension and noice floor. Rowland is solid state that sounds like tubes. It’s great, and musical and engaging.

116’s are, in many ways opposite and in some ways half way to opposite. The 116 are neutral, in all capital letters. There is no voicing, tonal coloration, saturation, or emphasis on anything but purity and an absolute transparent window to the preamp and source. The amps are utterly clean; like looking through a window and your brain keeps saying that it knows there is a window there, but your eyes just can’t perceive any window because the glass is just so damn transparent. There is no warm and no rich. Just music. Accurate, clean, engaging music.

It also has fathomless low extension with a sense of slam and impact that makes you scratch your head. It’s not exaggerated. But that concept of clean keeps coming back. There is an impact and sense of pace and rhythm conveyed that resembles sitting close to the performers and having that visceral, palpable experience of being near the instruments. This conveys a sense of realism that needs to be experienced to appreciate. I believe all of this is subconsciously reinforced by the fact that the amps have the lowest perceived noise floor I have ever experienced. Again, it results in that word clean that I keep bringing up.

Along with that, the amps are lightning fast. This is a hard one to describe until you hear them. But the leading and trailing edges are perfectly defined both spatially and temporally. The pluck of an instrument string or snap of a snare has a sense of correct speed that only the most expensive gear seam to get right.

All of this is done without sounding overly accurate, sterile or lifeless. Your toes will tap, your fingers will snap, and you will sing out loud. They really need to be experienced. Of course, the Rowland does that as well. Forgive the anology, but having sex with a condom feels really great, but without one is SO much better! 😜

Sksos- I also owned the Veritas and they definitely were power cord sensitive.

My comment is based on Merrill’s statement that the power supply in the 116 and 118 is immune to power cords. I have personally not tested that statement. I’m a big fan of high end PC’s and believe they can make a HUGE difference. Just passing on what Merrill said. 

Hi Viber6. There is always a place for tube gear; a system is the sum of its parts. But there are no hifi’ish aberations with Merrill gear. 

Hey Merrill.... when is the 114 coming out? 🤔

I responded. 🤗

I’ve heard all of Merrill’s gear. It’s very very good. Worth the price. Clean. Lightning fast. Bottomless noise floor. No flavor at all. Truly transparent. I don’t doubt that it would beat or at least match a shootout with most gear out there. Try to hear them. They are something special.