Your headphones need a language

Giella ∏ is an all analogue headphone amplifier with a single purpose:

To give you a thrill when listening to music.

Therefore its design is simple, yet extremely refined. Like with all my products, the electronic components are measured and selected into tolerances that are impossible to buy. And the specific combinations used in Giella are chosen with hundreds of comparative listening tests. It’s all about listening and deciding what’s better and what’s worse. What makes the music more gripping and what makes it less.

Project Giella started with a circuit idea in 2014. The original design was simpler and about 2/3 as expensive as the final version. In the summer of 2020, I had tuned every part of the original circuit and couldn’t improve it any further. I enjoyed listening to music with it, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled. It just wasn’t good enough. So I redesigned it with a different set of components and the power supply used in my Moving Coil phono stage Entity. This new version of Giella was a completely different beast. After having spent a few months tuning it, I found myself using it every day.

When Giella was introduced in December 2020, I sent one of the first units to Pierre at Headonist, my dealer and headphone specialist in Paris. He absolutely loved how it sounded, but said that unfortunately it wasn’t quite able to drive his most current hungry headphones to sufficient volumes. Surprised I repeated his exact test – headphones, music and volume setting – and found that his criticism was correct. Giella struggled with low bass notes at high volumes into the most demanding headphones. So I resumed my work on the circuit and didn’t finish until I had created a new version, one that was both more powerful and more musical.

Giella ∏ was introduced in March 2021. Owners of the original version were offered an upgrade to the cost of the price difference between the two models. Almost everyone upgraded their Giella to version ∏. Two years later, the original model was discontinued, but the few units that exist can still be upgraded.

There’s no DAC or remote control feature in Giella ∏, because the absence of anything digital inside Giella helps it reach a new level of performance, without adding massive cost.

Giella ∏ can drive any pair of dynamic headphones, with outstanding musical quality. The better your headphones are, the bigger the difference will be when comparing Giella ∏ to other headphone amplifiers.

The only extra feature on Giella ∏, apart from controlling the volume and driving your headphones, is a left and right analogue output. These can be connected to a power amplifier and speakers. Giella will then function as a very high quality pre amplifier. A compact and very engaging system, perhaps for the office or the cottage, can be built around Giella.

Giella is Sami for ‘language’.

Giella is a headphone amplifier built in dual mono. That
means each side handles one channel only; left and right.
Start by connecting your line level source, using a good pair
of unbalanced interconnects.

If you want your Giella to work as a preamplifier in your HiFi
system (Giella a remarkably musical volume control), connect
a pair of interconnects from the RCA sockets to your
power Amp or Active Speakers.

When you insert a pair of headphones into the centrally
positioned 1/4" jack, the signal to the power amplifier or active Speakers will be
muted. In other words, you can't listen to headphones at the
same time as your loudspeakers are playing.

And if you ask - why is the socket in the back of Giella - because

this is the best place for it, with the shortest internal - connection.

And one more 

Never ever shorten or modify the power cord of your Giella!
Its parts and length is vital to optimal performance.

Technical specifications for Giella ∏ 1.2

• Dimensions (WxHxD) 103x58x220 mm
• Weight 930 g
• Mains input voltage (two versions) 230 or 120 VAC
• Fuse (inside the case) T1A
• Input impedance 50 kΩ
• Max output level 6.5 Vrms (peak ±9 V)
• Gain at full volume 9.9 dB (3.13 times)
• Recommended headphone impedance 32 to 600 Ω
• Output: 850mW/32 ohm, 420mW/100 ohm, 140mW/300 ohm, 70mW/600 ohms
• Headphone : Jack 6.35 mm
• Volume knob in solid silver with a cubic zirconia as indicator
• Output impedance line outputs 300 Ω
• Recommended impedance power amp >3 kΩ
• Power consumption Less than 5 W