Усилители для наушников — Mytek Liberty THX AAA

The Liberty THX AAA combines headphone amplification and a line preamplifier. It comes from the New York company Mytek and belongs to the compact Liberty line, priced at USD 1,495. It is built under licence from THX around the THX AAA 888 circuit and is fully analogue. The Liberty line also includes the Liberty DAC II converter.

Key specs that matter

Maximum output power is 6 W. THD is at least 150 dB below the signal, and signal to noise ratio is 147 dB A-weighted. Inputs are three RCA pairs and one balanced combo socket accepting XLR or 6.35 mm balanced plugs. Headphone outputs are a four-pin XLR, a 4.4 mm balanced socket, a 6.35 mm jack and a 3.5 mm jack, and an RCA preamplifier output serves an external stereo amplifier or active speaker pair. Volume is set by a 27 mm ALPS analogue attenuator, and a crossfeed and mono function is included. The power supply is a built-in oversized 60 W linear toroidal transformer with automatic voltage switching and dual-mono regulators. The amplifier measures 140 x 44 x 225 mm, weighs 2 kg and carries a two-year warranty. It was designed in New York.

Engineering and use context

THX AAA, Achromatic Audio Amplifier, is a patented circuit that uses feed-forward error correction to cancel the distortion that conventional amplifiers produce, particularly crossover distortion at low levels, which explains the very low distortion and noise figures of this design. The fully analogue signal path contains no DAC, so the Liberty THX AAA receives line-level signals from an external converter or source. Four headphone outputs cover every common connector, and the two balanced sockets provide balanced drive for headphones wired with separate returns. An automatic gain drop is applied when in-ear monitors are used, lowering noise and making volume adjustment finer with sensitive earphones. The crossfeed function blends part of each channel into the other, reducing the extreme separation of headphone listening, and the mono switch combines both channels. The linear supply, larger than the amplifier needs, keeps the voltage stable during peaks, and dual-mono regulation separates the two channels.

Pairing

The Liberty DAC II from the same line is the natural source, connected by RCA, and any DAC with balanced or single-ended outputs also works. With its power reserve and a gain drop for earphones, it suits headphones from sensitive in-ear models to demanding planar designs.

Alternatives

Mytek currently offers no other dedicated headphone amplifier, so this model has no same-brand alternative in its category.