microZOTL MZ2 Headphone Amp / Preamp / 1-watt Speaker Amp

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microZOTL MZ2 Headphone Amp / Preamp / 1-watt Speaker Amp

from $1,295.00

The second generation of the product that started LTA, the MZ2 remains the reference introduction to the unique ZOTL circuit.

Remote Volume Control:
Power Supply:
Faceplate Color:
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MZ2 Discontinued

The MZ2 is no longer in production. It is replaced by the Velo Hedphone Amp / Preamp.


The successor to David Berning's original micro-ZOTL, the MZ2 continues to offer what Berning intended it to: an introduction to ZOTL technology

Equally a headphone amplifier, integrated amplifier, and preamp, the MZ2 is considered reference-grade for powering almost any headphone, as a 1 wpc amp for extremely efficient speakers, and as a preamp performing well above its price. 

Hand-built by our small team just outside of Washington, DC, each MZ2 involves 12 hours of delicate work, including precise hand-winding of several proprietary components, and several days of burn-in and testing.


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Highly recommended times three!
— Herb Reichert, Stereophile

Tube tone + solid state detail

Traditional tube amps are known for their liquidity and linearity, but their “warmth” masks details and can sound thick. Solid state amplifiers give you that detail, but can be “clinical.” ZOTL amplifiers give you the best of both worlds: beautiful tube tone with the clarity of solid state (while being entirely tube-based.)

Patented perfection

The MZ2 is based on David Berning’s patented ZOTL technology, the only advance in tube technology since the 1950’s. For a technology to be patented, it must be deemed “new, useful, and non-obvious.” We think that sums up our approach quite nicely.


The MicroZOTL2.0 may be a very inexpensive, ordinary-looking, unpretentious headphone amplifier/preamplifier, but it’s one of the best-sounding preamplifiers on the market. This was an amazing discovery, particularly when you consider the product’s price.
— Home Theater Review

Made in the USA

Every LTA product is designed and built by hand in Takoma Park, Maryland, by a group of technicians who are also musicians, audiophiles, and music lovers. Some of whom have been with us since the company’s earliest days.

Quality assurance

The MZ2 is hand built by technicians with years of experience building the complex ZOTL circuits. All our products are backed by a 2-year warranty and a 14-day no-questions-asked return policy.


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What does it sound like? It sounds like a gift from God.
— The Master Switch

SELECTED REVIEWS

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Stereophile Recommended Component since its release in 2016

Herb Reichert delighted in the sound of the microZOTL driving DeVore O/93 and Zu Soul Supreme speakers—with the latter, he said, "musical flow seemed more slippery and alive, like a trout in a clear mountain stream"—and with JH Audio Roxanne headphones, he said, "the midrange was pure and right." And "because of its radical transparency," says HR, the microZOTL2.0 "would hold its own" as a line stage "in a cost-no-object system."


 
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Inner Fidelity

Linear Tube Audio has something quite special on their hands in my opinion. I tend to like tube amps that lean to the neutral and fast side of things, but I still appreciate the liveliness and richness they bring. There are only a few amps I’ve heard that pull this off, and the ZOTL is the newest member of that list.

Where the MicroZOTL excels is in its truthfulness and its value for the money. The MZ2 isn’t cheap, but I feel that it represents an excellent piece of gear for the asking price, and it’s’ something I would contemplate purchasing if I were in the market for a tube amp at the price.

Finds like this are rare in the tube world, where parts can be expensive and engineering tradeoffs abound – everyone is looking for that sweetspot of performance and price, and generally, only time, testing and listening will tell. In the case of Linear Tube Audio’s MZ2 I think we have a real sweetspot product. Get your ears on this one if you’re in the market for a really balanced tube amp.

The Audio Beatnik (Review #1 & Review #2)

Music just seemed to float effortlessly in space without ever seeming forced or strained. The bass is rhythmic so that my system sounded very lifelike, but it didn’t add any extra warmth to the bass. Maybe the biggest surprise was its ability to portray tonal accuracy and purity with instruments and voices, and at the same time, it had the most detail, speed, and micro-dynamics of any amp I have ever heard in my system. I had come to believe that in order to get certain of these qualities in an amp, I had to sacrifice the others. This is not true with this amazing little amp.

The Absolute Sound

In this context I could only marvel at its explosive dynamics. The range from soft to loud was negotiated with a world-class startle factor that exceeded the performance of the Audible Illusions L3A line preamp, and if memory serves me right, actually equaled the performance of the much-more-expensive Pass Labs XP-30 preamp in this regard. That made the microZOTL2.0’s presentation visceral and involving, impossible to ignore. And as it turned out, it was far from being a one-trick pony. Bass response was spectacularly solid, extended, and pitch-perfect. And there was no denying that soundstage transparency bettered that of any tube preamp I’ve auditioned under $5k.

The Master Switch

We listen to a lot of audio equipment here at TMS. There’s a constant train of gear trundling in and out of our offices. But this is one of the few pieces of gear which we were actually sneaking off to listen to on the weekends, or late at night.

The sheer joy of realising what it did to our music collection, having to wait for it to heat up, sliding on the headphones knowing - knowing - that we were going to hear something special, was just a revelation. What does it sound like? It sounds like a gift from God. That’s what it bloody well sounds like.

It’s not just that we could hear every single element in the mix of whatever we listened to. It’s that every single one of those elements had an indescribable richness to them. No matter what we threw at it, it continued to treat each instrument like a precious, fragile jewel, something to be wrapped up in layers of soft velvet. As tube amps go… it was glorious.

Stereophile

I rarely play my music loud—just 88dB on average—but it took only a few recordings before I forgot completely that the microZOTL2.0 was putting out less than 1W into the 10-ohm load of each DeVore O/93. If you have a small room and listen at modest levels, this is a truly magical combination.


Home Theater Review

When I put the MicroZOTL2.0 in my reference system, in place of a $24,000 preamplifier, I was patently shocked with what effect it had over the performance of my system. In listening to John Coltrane's album Ballads (Impulse), what was immediately striking to me was the beauty of the timbres and tonality of his tenor saxophone. The MicroZOTL2.0 produced the best colors and tones of any preamplifier that I have ever had in my system. The timbres of the other instruments (such as the piano, acoustic bass, and drums) were the most life-like that I had ever heard from this disc.

Cheap Tube Audio

My recent acquisition of the LTA MicroZOTL 2.0 is like a dream come true, in more ways than one… The LTA amp could do no wrong, with any material. Even if I have only tested it in one of its three roles, it is already the best thing I have bought in quite a long time…

If the OTL is supposedly more direct and gives you more of the music, the LTA most certainly is. It plays everything well, so much so that I have yet to find an album that I do not like… The LTA is that very rare thing, gear that gives great detail and yet is forgiving


OPTIONS

Tube Options - We supply NOS 12SN7 tubes by default. Jumpers on the circuit board allow you to easily switch between 12V and 6V, allowing you to use both 6SN7 and 12SN7 tubes and expanding your tube choices. The 12SN7 and 6SN7 are sonically identical and differ only in their heater voltage.

LPS+ Linear Power Supply - the original microZOTL has a switching power supply, which comes with a basic unit. The linear supply (LPS) is a much better supply utilizing super low ESR caps and a super low noise Belleson regulator. You get better sonics with more dynamics.

Remote Control - the MZ2 remote uses a motorized version of the Alps Blue Velvet pot, which is also used in the non-remote version. Same pot, same sound. No sonic signal degradation. It uses the Apple TV remote control. It is paired to the unit and controls volume only.

Dual Preamp Outputs - some users desire dual preamp outputs and no speaker binding post outputs. This option is no charge when ordering an amplifier. Please email us your desire for this option just after ordering your amplifier.

Tall Tube Cover - this is an optional clear cover for the MZ2 with two 1.5 inch holes above the power tubes to allow for alternative tube types that are either on adapters or are taller than standard 6SN7s and 12SN7s.


FEATURES

  • Designed by David Berning - one of the world’s premier amplifier designers

  • Hand-made just outside Washington, DC

  • External power supply - extremely low noise floor

  • Drive high efficiency speakers (95db efficiency or higher) to adequate volume.

  • Transparent cover

  • Universal voltage power supply or high quality linear power supply

  • 3 selectable inputs

  • Class A preamplifier output

  • Transformer-less design eliminates intermodulation distortion inherent in all transformer designs

  • Simulates the correct transformer turns ratio using impedance converter

  • Low impedance output easily matches wide range of headphones and speakers

  • No heavy power or audio transformers

  • Optimized tube life expectancy of 10 - 20 years based on use

  • Two-year year warranty (1 year on tubes) (international pays shipping)


SPECIFICATIONS

Amplifier class: Push-pull Class A, no feedback

Sensitivity: 0.6V RMS [full output]

Output impedance: (measured @ 0.5A, 60 Hz) 2 ohms

Input impedance: 50k

Power Supply Input: Auto-switching 100V / 120V / 220 / 240V operation or linear supply user-switchable between 110/120 and 220/240 (contact us if in need of a 100V linear supply)

Power Supply Output:  12VDC 2.5 amps

Hum and noise: minimum 60mV RMS or 90dB below full output (20Hz-20kHz)

Power consumption from ac power source: 33W

Power output: with 4-ohm load: 1W, 1% THD, with 14-ohm load: 0.5W, 1% THD

Channel separation: (4-ohm loads) 46dB, 100Hz-10kHz, (14-ohm loads): 54 dB, 100Hz-10kHz

Frequency response full power: (4-ohm load) +0, -1dB 10Hz-20kHz, (14-ohm load): +0, -1dB 5Hz-50kHz,

Voltage gain:  (4-ohm load): 10.3dB, (14-ohm load): 12.4dB

Size:

Amplifier: 9 1/2 inches (24.1 cm) wide, 4 3/4 inches (12.0 cm) tall, 7 7/8 inches (19.7 cm) deep (including connectors) 
Linear power supply: 12" (30.48 cm) x 3.25" (8.26 cm) x 4.25" (10.8 cm) 

Net weight:

With switching supply: 5.35 lbs (2.5 kg)  - amplifier and external power supply)
With linear supply: 8.94 lbs (4.1 kg)  - amplifier and external power supply)

Finish: Aluminum case w/ lexan top

Tube complement: 2 x 12AT7 input, 2 x 6SN7 or 12SN7 output. (We supply NOS 12SN7 tubes by default. Jumpers on the circuit board allow you to easily switch between 12V and 6V, allowing you to use both 6SN7 and 12SN7 tubes and expanding your tube choices. The 12SN7 and 6SN7 are sonically identical and differ only in their heater voltage.) 12AU7 tubes can replace the 12AT7 tubes to lower the gain.


Speaker Recommendations

LTA amplifier owners have found great enjoyment using their amps with a variety of speaker outside of the below ranges. The below are guidelines, not rules. If you have questions about your specific speakers, chances are someone we know has tried them. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions about your specific setup. Also, don’t forget we have a 14-day no-questions-asked return policy.

Critical listening environments: 105db sensitivity and above

Smaller rooms / lower volume levels / non-critical listening: 97db sensitivity and above


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