Let me quote Heed Audio from a thread I started on another forum...
"As for the Elixir’s positioning, the project began two years ago with the profound wish of a number of French dealers to have a Brio-R alternative. However, we have realised soon that we cannot make an integrated amp as cheap as the Brio-R. So it has become clear that we have to change the original concept somewhat and, in order to justify the higher price, we better take the bull by the horns and create a completely new integrated amp which offers more than the Brio-R both sonically and feature-wise, yet ranging below the Obelisk Si3 in the Heed amplifier hierarchy.
The Elixir sports an MM phono stage roughly comparable to our Questar MM (£300) and an exceptionally good headphone preamp which is almost as good as our Canalot costing £550, so if you add these two figures together, you have the pure integrated amp actually for free. Joke aside, Neville Roberts discovered it quickly and compared the Elixir very favourably to the more expensive Elex-R in his Hi-Fi Choice review („As well as the similarity in the name, the Elixir compares well with Rega’s full-width Elex-R integrated amplifier with its similar range of features – the latter costing around Ł150 more …. the Heed is a formidable contender for audio fans looking for a multitalented amplifier at a real-world price.”)"