Усилители для наушников — Saros Audio Systems Europa

The Europa is a fully differential valve headphone amplifier and preamplifier from Saros Audio Systems, the brand founded by Drew Baird, the engineer who founded Moon Audio. It is the company's first product, shown at CanJam and debuted at AXPONA 2026, and it is hand-built in Cary, North Carolina. It was priced at USD 8,495.

Key specs that matter

The Europa uses five valves, two 6H30P drivers, two 6922 preamplifier valves, which can be replaced with 6DJ8, ECC88 or 6N23P, and one 6BW4 rectifier. Five Lundahl transformers are used. Volume is set by a Swiss Elma stepped attenuator with 24 positions, or 48 as an option. The signal path uses VPG Z-Foil resistors, Mundorf capacitors and Moon Audio Bronze Dragon wire. It drives headphones from 16 to 600 ohms with sensitivity between 74 and 120 dB. The Europa accepts a balanced XLR source plus two RCA sources and feeds power amplifiers from a pair of preamplifier outputs, XLR and RCA. Headphone outputs are 4-pin XLR and 4.4 mm balanced plus a 6.3 mm jack. Output impedance is 16 ohms, output noise is -75 dB A-weighted, frequency response is 10 Hz to 20 kHz and power draw is 30 W from 115 V mains. The chassis measures 362 x 343 x 152 mm, and the warranty is three years. Each unit receives a 40-hour burn-in before shipping.

Engineering and use context

The Europa is a two-stage valve design kept fully differential from input to headphone output in balanced configurations with the ground lifted, and standard differential in single-ended or grounded modes. Many amplifiers sold as balanced convert internally to single-ended, losing part of the benefit. Maintaining the balanced path throughout rejects common-mode noise picked up along the way and doubles the voltage swing available to the headphones. The 6H30P is a sturdy, low-impedance double triode that suits driving headphone loads, while the 6922 forms the input stage. Valve rectification with the 6BW4 gives a gradual rise of the supply voltage at switch-on. The Lundahl transformers handle impedance matching and balanced conversion. A stepped attenuator uses fixed resistor pairs at each position, so the channels stay matched at every volume setting. The valves are user-replaceable for tuning and service. Acoustic damping material is fitted in critical locations to reduce microphony, to which valves are sensitive. As a preamplifier, the Europa feeds a power amplifier or active speakers. Baird has more than 20 years of experience in audio engineering.

Pairing

The Europa suits planar and dynamic headphones across that impedance range, ideally with balanced cables. As a preamplifier, it pairs with a DAC and power amplifier.

Alternatives

Saros Audio Systems has no other model yet, since the Europa is the brand's first product.