Violectric HPA V200 Why not sufficiently appreciated?? - Page 5

I actually recived a V100 last week and it is in the burn-in process. Based on the limited listeing I have done I can say it is very promising. I am specially liking what I am hearing out of my T1.
My T1 are out for recbaling job so as soon As I get themback I will do more listening and start a thread on the V100.

A new headamp from Violectrict, take a look!

Violectric HPA V181

ps. also new dac

Very interesting BUT: Why the 5 pin xlr??????????
I sent them an e-mail about that to ask what the use of the fifth pin could be and why they stray from the usual 2x3pin-xlr or 4pin-xlr.

Maybe the 5-pin comes from the professional sector ... don't know but only my guess; or the 5th pin is the shielding connection for some headphone cables ?

From what I understand there is only one XLR5 plug for both left & right, so I guess they use two pins for Left Signal + / Left Signal -, two for Right Signal + / Right Signal -, and one pin for Ground.

I mailed them about it and got an answer already.
I published in a new thread because I don't want to derail this thread about the V200 too much.

I really cant believe my eyes.... or your ears?

Oh my god. I remember Leeperry from trolling the computer audio forums and here he goes again. A real shame. NE5532 can sound very very good, in fact I'm listening to one right now and this circuit sounds better than the Lehman Black cube which is discrete.

 

Never even heard of them until ten minutes ago when reading a thread about HD800. I might buy V100 but the price makes me hesitant. I just llooked up the price and see the DAC is an option and it isn't a cheap option either. Especially considering that I know that the DAC chips  are dirt cheap when bought in bulk, something like five bucks a pop.

 

Here is what the V100 would cost me before shipping and insurance and whatever else customs decides to ding me with. 

 

550.00 EUR    =    687.371 CAD

 

DAC 24/96

 

126.00 EUR    =    157.429 CAD

 

Total =  $845.14 CAD

 

Nah, way too pricey for an amp that can't even drive a pair of speakers and may not even sound better than my LunchboxPro with cost me only $200.00 USD.

noob here....but I am in no way connected to Violectric or Sennheiser...

 

Got my HPA 200 today - burned in for 14 hours only

 

AND THE BEAUTY OF THE SOUND WITH THE VIOLECTRIC HPA & SENNHEISER HD800 BRINGS ME TO TEARS ALREADY.

 

I work as a post production mixer / engineer and have had the pleasure of working on some really high value audio gear, so I can appreciate good sound, I also know how much bullshit there is in the audio esoteric market. A huge lot of the upper end ultra fi systems are actually specced silly (way over what any studio in the world is specced to - so why?) I do not know of any studio that used oxide free bla bla bla cable for the kilometres of microphone & line level cabling in the studio. So I think twice before spending money on Hi Fi gear.

 

 I listened to the HD800 on a friends system and really liked the sound - I bought a set and kept it in its box - I needed a headphone amp that could drive it that did not cost 5000$ and could be used in the studio with balanced inputs when needed. Somehow I got onto this thread and knowing Lake Peoples reputation for high quality and well priced studio gear, ordered a HPA 200. It is very well priced and beautifully made and certainly looked the part coming out of the box!

 

The combo is the best Hi Fi I ever owned, and more than that I cannot say! The combination works beautifully and I can really recommend it to any one in doubt or searching for an amp. I have nothing to compare the combination with, so a review from me will be useless, but I found the sound, punchy, detailed, with enough bass for my taste, and a velvet smoothness with no harshness at all (and I am sure that will even improve as everything gets run in) I listen to classical, opera, jazz and rock music. I have tested it on everything and the only bad thing i realised is that I will have to re-import the rest of those 320kbs files as lossless very quickly. Tomorrow I will connect it to my Linn LP12 /Naim setup and I cannot wait!

 

Cheers

Stef Albertyn

Cape Town

 

Thanks for your review.  Very informative. 

 

It is unfortunate that Head-fi now requires one to wade through a 5 page thread about an amp to extract just a smidgen of information.  The signal to noise ratio has really plunged in the last few years.  Instead of impressions, you get 70-odd posts, mostly BS by one member demonstrating his superior ability to recall how opamp 1234 sounds worse than opamp 2345, 3456,   4567 etc, etc, etc.  I guess he is intent on proving he has a better memory than Rain Man.

 

But he did succeed in convincing me not to buy this amp.  It is not because I believe his dismissal of the opamp is accurate.  It is because I know the demand for this amp should I ever decide to sell it will suck...the reason being that potential buyers will search the keyword "Violetric" and read 5 pages of diarrhea about how the amp absolutely has to suck, written by someone who has never heard it.  Go figure.I haven't waded through any tube amp threads lately.  Are people now dismissing amps that use, say 6H30s instead of 6SN7s, because the former absolutely must sound worse than the latter?  I shudder to think.

 

In general, I stick to reviews that Skylab has written.  It would be nice if he was able to review this amp, as the signal to noise ratio of his typical review is very high. 

 

I wish Head-Fi would just get rid of the "Headphoneus Supremus" title and not show post counts.  Audiocircle and Audiogon forums are much more civil and informative, probably because nobody is ever designated as an expert based on how many times he has hit the "reply" button.  Does any company reward employees for how many e-mail messages he composed or replied to, regardless of information content?

 

I have been a member of Head-Fi since 2006, but because I work full-time in a high pressure job, I don't have the time or the desire to post ad infinitum.  I come here for information.  It is unfortunate that the quality of discourse is not what it used to be.

Well said Minimus. I really value the information I have gleaned from Head-Fi, and in particular Skylab. He writes extremely articulate and balanced reviews. My only issue with Head-Fi is having to wade through pages and pages to get the good info, but having said that, the nature of these forums is that everyone is entitled to an opinion.

 

I try to make sensible contributions when I can, offer thanks for useful information, ask reasonable questions and keep useless replies to a minimum - apologies if anyone considers this to be one of those

 

Cheers

 

P.S. My HPA V200 arrived last week - still need a chance to set it up, but the functionality it offered to me, and the reviews were enough to get me over the line.

Edited by markm1111 - 6/21/10 at 6:49am

Had my first listen to the V200 tonight. First time it has been turned on, no break in at all. I am very, very happy with the sound even straight out of the box, drove my AKG K702's effortlessly and gave them plenty of bass oomph, where other amps have struggled. Haven't played with gain switches but at about 11 o'clock was plenty loud enough. The detail was superb - I could here fingers moving across piano keys in Megan Washington's version of No Surprises.

 

A happy buyer here!

Hi,

 

Look here

 

http://www.open-end-music.de/vb3/showthread.php?t=2523

 

Looks like a lot of detail and a thorough review - if only it was in English!