The Article

FELL AMP & FELL DISC: MADE IN THE UK

8th May 2025

Made in the UK and built to keep the price tag under £1k, Paul Rigby checks out this British HiFi combo from Fell

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer impudence of Fell. I powered up both the new amplifier and CD player, the lights came up and thought…80s-era Naim! In terms of design signature and the light show, there is a big nod here from Fell towards the classic, older olive green look from Naim. But more so, of course: Naim in extremis, the Naim in your dreams, Naim gone Hollywood.

It’s naughty. It’s cheeky but it’s also very clever because, for Fell, it plugs into one of the largest industries on the planet today. Nostalgia. In addition, it hints at the British construction of these boxes. Conceived, designed and built down to circuit board level in the UK.

Just looking at these boxes, finished in black, puts a smile on my face. So, a good start then.

UNDER THE LID

Exclusively supplied by long-standing British retailer, Peter Tyson, see links below, the Fell amplifier is a full-width yet slim device spanning 440 x 300 x 75mm yet weighing a robust 6kg. Inside are Class D electronics but powered by a hefty and relatively expensive for an amp in this price class, toroidal transformer which looks too improve on a basic switching model. Expect to find 49W into 8 Ohms – which also sounds eccentrically English, although I would have much preferred 47¾.

That sits next to an ESS ES9018K2M DAC alongside Bluetooth 5.0 which I found quick to pair with my various devices and easy to use. Other features include a built-in headphone amplifier and phono amplifier supporting moving magnet.

I liked the symmetrical rotary-style control layout, the right controlling power, the left controlling volume with a circular volume light ladder surrounding it. Inputs are accessible via labelled, terribly right-angled and rather retro, touch buttons on the chassis or via the small yet neat and responsive remote control.

I loved the interface which is clearly aimed at – get this – people looking to use an amplifier! Too many other HiFi interfaces out there are more interested in winning the Turner Prize. Not Fell, thank goodness.

The same can be said of the CD player which sports a power button, a slim window oozing a swamp-green light that connects, on some primeval level, to a Hammer House of Horror B-movie…in a good way, showing essential information and basic CD controls plus three buttons adding more to the basics. Frankly, that’s what I want from a CD player. So I’m happy. The slot-based transport will trigger complaints from some but I found no issues with it during my review.

Again, an ESS ES9018K2M DAC chip is contained within the same basic chassis as seen in the amplifier but this one weighs in at 4.6kg. You will find the usual outputs arounds the back including coax and optical connections and an IEC power socket.

SOUND QUALITY

To begin, I tackled the CD player.

Question. How does the Fell CD player compare to a popular and similarly-priced CD transport and DAC combo like the Audiolab 6000CDT hooked up to an original Topping E30?

I played I Can’t Read from the David Bowie 1999 album, Tin Machine. A useful test track mixing all-out rock with cymbal work, a nicely distributed sound stage, isolated bass guitar, crisp percussion, guitar distortion and Bowie doing Bowie vocal stretches.

FELL DISC

Typical of all transport/DAC versus integrated CD player tests I have done in the past, and I have done many, the Fell doesn’t push the basic noise floor down as far as the separate transport/DAC combo. No surprise, as I say and completely expected. The Audiolab/Topping pairing being physically separate is important on that respect. Allied to that, the Fell’s soundstage isn’t quite as broad.

Even so, the Fell CD player did surprise me. This album is compressed in true 90s style but the Fell softens the drum spikes enough to make percussion sound positively civilised and while reverb tails might not travel as far, the treble-infused cymbal taps were just as delicate and fragile from the Fell. The instrumental separation was also impressive. Each instrument had plenty of space to perform within, so that shy details were easily discernible.

VS LEEMA ELEMENTS

I then swopped my reference but this time for another integrated design. In this case, a relatively expensive Leema Elements integrated at around £1,500 to see if the Fell could even keep up.

As expected from a player at that price point, noise was lower from the Leema with the upper mids offering greater extension in terms of detail delivery but, in many ways, the sound from the Fell was similarly easy on the ear and just as fun to listen to. Yes, the Fell is around a third of the price of the Leema but I was hearing most of the treble and midrange detail while the bass just softened enough to tame this compressed CD.

The tonally balanced CD track from Thomas Dolby, Oceania, provided proof that the Fell is a CD player without any obvious vices. For the price, this is such an easy CD player to listen to offering detail, information, delicacy when required plus bass power when needed. I could easily live with this one. No problem.

FELL AMP

I reverted back to my Audiolab CD transport and retained Thomas Dolby for the first sound test with the Fell amplifier, bringing in my Audiolab 6000A and Advance Paris X-i75 amplifiers as a reference. If anything, I found the Fell amplifier offered slightly more defined upper mids than the 6000A although those mids are possibly a touch more balanced on the Audiolab. Even so, the upper midrange detail from the Fell was impressive, highlighting some of the low-key acoustic guitar picking on the Dolby track.

In addition, the Fell doesn’t have as much bass weight as the X-i75 but it’s possibly better integrated in the mix.

WITH CD TRANSPORT & EXTERNAL DAC

I then hooked up a £3k Benchmark DAC to my 6000CDT and played Tin Machine again and was pleased to hear the the Fell had the head room to cater for the enhanced sonics from the Benchmark, converting the smooth mids, the snappy yet firm bass and focused soundstage but without any compression issues heard earlier.

HEADPHONES TESTED

Playing my Sennhesier HD650 headphones within the built-in head amp, I did feel that the Fell sounded a little woolly around the bass, lacking clarity and transparency.

The sound wasn’t bad, by any means, but lacked the zip and spacious midrange of the amp in speaker mode.

BLUETOOTH?

Similarly, Bluetooth is ok on the Fell. It works, it sounds fine but never great and that’s down to the very basic and rather primitive SBC codec that I could only generate via my Astell&Kern Kann Alpha and Pink Moon via Nick Drake at 24bit/96kHz.

PHONO AMP NOW

On the other hand, spinning Level 42s The Early Tapes on vinyl via an Audio-Technica LP5x, I loved the Fell’s internal phono amplifier. Sure, the internal nature of the amplifier restricted the upper mids a tad and constricted the soundstage a little but, for an internal model, this phono amplifier performed very well. Bouncy, weighty bass combined well with the detailed mids and the creditable treble performance.

CONCLUSION

As you might expect, because neither box has any real vices and, in general terms, provides a detailed and informative presentation for the price, both the Amp amplifier and Disc CD player from Fell work together in the same HiFi system wonderfully and without any issues.

In fact both boxes would make an ideal core for a new HiFi or as the heart of an upgrade project. And if you are going down the upgrade route, I would upgrade to the Fell Disc first, with that being a source, then the Fell Amp afterwards, if cash is short.

Combine the excellent sound quality from these two boxes with those wonderful nostalgic British HiFi looks and I reckon other HiFi manufacturers will look upon Fell and be green with envy.

WEBSITE:

BUNDLE DEAL: https://petertyson.co.uk/fell-audio-fell-amp-integrated-amplifier-with-fell-disc-cd-player

PLUS SPEAKER BUNDLE DEALS: https://petertyson.co.uk/brands/e-f/fell-audio/bundles

AMPLIFIER: https://petertyson.co.uk/fell-audio-fell-amp-integrated-amplifier

CD PLAYER: https://petertyson.co.uk/fell-audio-fell-disc-cd-player

FELL DISC INTEGRATED CD PLAYER

PRICE: £499 (or £999 bundled with the Fell Amp)

GOOD: design, detailed mids, delicate treble, balanced presentation

BAD: nothing