expected delivery date?

By next week!

For any Violectric fans that happen to either live or have an opportunity to be in the Bay Area, we will be showing the V281 and V220 at the upcoming SF Meet on July 19. Link to the meet is in my sig.
 

I'm thinking of getting either the V220 or V200 for my LCD 2. The only thing I can't seem to find is when is the V220 supposed to actually ship?

I saw earlier in threads it was going to be around the end of june, but obviously it's running just a little past that. Still the US store has both models listed as pre-orders. There also aren't many if at all any impressions of the sound of the V220, so I really have nothing to go on, whether I should wait patiently and get the V220, or just go for the V200 right now. I just want to know what sonic differences the tweaks made to the V220 resulted in, compared to the V200. I saw the specs and numbers, but that doesn't tell me how it sounds in comparison lol.

So in summary: how does it sound? when does it come out?

Thank you

saxelrod92 said:

  I'm thinking of getting either the V220 or V200 for my LCD 2. The only thing I can't seem to find is when is the V220 supposed to actually ship?

I saw earlier in threads it was going to be around the end of june, but obviously it's running just a little past that. Still the US store has both models listed as pre-orders. There also aren't many if at all any impressions of the sound of the V220, so I really have nothing to go on, whether I should wait patiently and get the V220, or just go for the V200 right now. I just want to know what sonic differences the tweaks made to the V220 resulted in, compared to the V200. I saw the specs and numbers, but that doesn't tell me how it sounds in comparison lol.

So in summary: how does it sound? when does it come out?

Thank you

Click to expand...

Wait a little bit longer.  Even if you decide not to get the V220, there will be many cheap V200's on the market from the people that did upgrade.. so you'll win both ways  
And by the way, the V200 sounds amazing with the LCD-2!

^^ +1
 
I'm just taking a wild & crazy guess but I don't think the sound signature will be different, except perhaps in the extremes of bass and with headphones that can make use of the extra power the new model delivers.  There won't be too many of those, maybe the LCD 2/3, certainly the HifiMan HE-6 / maybe the 500.  For all other cans I seriously doubt if there will be any significant/audible difference over the V200 which as was said, you'll be able to purchase on the cheap from people making the upgrade.
 
As a point of reference, with my HE-6 the V200 gets me to (I'd say) 90% of its potential as compared to when I power it either via the headphone out of my vintage SX-1980 (20 Watt) or via the speaker taps of my F5 amp.  Most notable differences are in the bass reproduction, it;s very audible with test tracks such as those on the Chesky binaural album where a tone of progressively lower frequency is generated.  Underpowered amps crap out well before you hit the headphones' limitations, if you supply enough power they really go DEEP and accurate.  I know many other factors come into play but as a rough comparison this makes the point.

From the power specs at the start of this thread, the difference will be minor for my LCD 2's, or in general for any headphone between 50-100 ohm. The V200 maxes out at about 2.6 watts in 50 ohms (according to the specs in this thread), and the V220 maxes at about 2.7ish in 50 ohms. the only real difference is the V220 has an increase in power as you go up to 100 ohms, and the V200 has a decrease in power as you go up to 100 ohms. I doubt the difference would be audible. My main question of changes in the sound would be those unrelated to power, since in the marketing descriptions they claim they made some "minor tweaks" to the V220 amp over the V200, but is still essentially the same amp. Besides power, I'd be curious to know what exactly those "minor tweaks" actually do to the sound/what they are specifically. For example the one slight negative I've seen mentioned about the V200 is that it's soundstage isnt the best. thats not to much of an issue for me, and I would be totally fine  and happy with it, but if somehow those "minor tweaks" improved in that area slightly, then you basically have a V200 without it's most talked about negative trait. which is better lol. But if those tweaks are purely power related, and in general they end up sounding the same for the most part, then I'd rather go with he V200 for the cheaper price, as you all say.

Apparently there were some delays caused by various issues outside Violectric's control. But I guess things are on track now, and amps should be shipping in the next few weeks. I know they intend to send a unit or two out to some upcoming meets, and preorders should start shipping as well. I look forward to hearing the V281 myself soon enough.
 
As for differences between V220 and V200 - We'll have to wait and see. The obvious thing is the new chassis has more room to fit stuff in. In base form it already seems to offer full preamp functionality with XLR and RCA outputs. So that could come in handy. Adding the remote control option makes it even more useful in that regard. 

We had some problems to face during the last weeks and so the delivery of V220 and V281 was a bit later than June (originally sceduled).
But now we are busy to ship the preorders to registered customers.
There is also a V281 (silver face / remote / 192k USB) on its way to John, (project86) for a review.
I dont know if he makes a quick and short one for those who are so curious and a detailed one some time later )
... or only a detailed one and everbody has to wait a bit longer )
It´s up to him as we never try to influence the reviewers !
 
I can say from my experience with V220 that it has a bit more beef compared to V200.
The sometimes mentioned issues with the sound stage I have never realized myself.
Generally spoken V220 is very close to V200. Its the same amp by design with a more powerful supply and lots of comfortable features.
If these are rated to be a "must have" or "negligible", everbody has to assess on his own.
I myself enjoy it very much sitting in my cosy chair and ruling with the remote over my cans and my speakers.
 
V281 is a class of its own as it combines the sound stage of V200 and the power of a balanced amp !
All those who are scared of the power hungry HE 6 will have an answer.
 
The 192k DAC´s (coax or opto or USB inputs) with their new designed D/A converter and analog output circuitry are a step in the right direction.
They are far better than the 96k solutions - but unfortunately still dont reach the DAC V800 performance.
 
Greetz
 
Fried

fdg said:

  We had some problems to face during the last weeks and so the delivery of V220 and V281 was a bit later than June (originally sceduled).
But now we are busy to ship the preorders to registered customers.
There is also a V281 (silver face / remote / 192k USB) on its way to John, (project86) for a review.
I dont know if he makes a quick and short one for those who are so curious and a detailed one some time later )
... or only a detailed one and everbody has to wait a bit longer )
It´s up to him as we never try to influence the reviewers !
 
I can say from my experience with V220 that it has a bit more beef compared to V200.
The sometimes mentioned issues with the sound stage I have never realized myself.
Generally spoken V220 is very close to V200. Its the same amp by design with a more powerful supply and lots of comfortable features.
If these are rated to be a "must have" or "negligible", everbody has to assess on his own.
I myself enjoy it very much sitting in my cosy chair and ruling with the remote over my cans and my speakers.
 
V281 is a class of its own as it combines the sound stage of V200 and the power of a balanced amp !
All those who are scared of the power hungry HE 6 will have an answer.
 
The 192k DAC´s (coax or opto or USB inputs) with their new designed D/A converter and analog output circuitry are a step in the right direction.
They are far better than the 96k solutions - but unfortunately still dont reach the DAC V800 performance.
 
Greetz
 
Fried

Click to expand...

Firstly, thank you for the reply! greatly appreciated

Secondly I guess I'll have to wait for John's detailed review to get the full impressions lol. I don't really require any preamp functionality, so that will mainly be just extra, but not mean anything to me. For me it will come right down to the differences in the core amp set ups. Basic V220 vs V200, powering LCD 2. I am drawn to the V220's extra power and added "beef" that it supplies, as I love that sound in music. Hopefully a review/impressions of kind will come out soon to flush out some of the details.

All good problems to be having haha

New beast around here!



You got to hear this... Soon I'll have the balanced cable tho.

Congrats, looking forward to impressions!  Very curious.  Going by Fried's description of a 'beefier' sound -and provided my idea of what 'beefier' translates to corresponds with his- that's not what I'm really looking for vs what my V200 offers.  If anything, I'd have liked to see a presentation that's a little more lithe, detailed and delicate.  A ballerina rather than a marine.  But that has everything to do with personal taste and music choice rather than quality.  Another highly personal thing is the remote.  I'll never understand why people feel this is useful let alone necessary.  But OK, I don't even own a TV set.
 
As I said, looking forward to impressions!

xenophon said:

Congrats, looking forward to impressions!  Very curious.  Going by Fried's description of a 'beefier' sound -and provided my idea of what 'beefier' translates to corresponds with his- that's not what I'm really looking for vs what my V200 offers.  If anything, I'd have liked to see a presentation that's a little more lithe, detailed and delicate.  A ballerina rather than a marine.  But that has everything to do with personal taste and music choice rather than quality.  Another highly personal thing is the remote.  I'll never understand why people feel this is useful let alone necessary.  But OK, I don't even own a TV set.


 


As I said, looking forward to impressions!

Click to expand...

 


Im not sure if we understand the "beefier" word in the same way, but for me "beefier" means lively, heavier or with more "muscle".

I have a ton of work right now, but tonight I'll have a listen to some Blues SACDs I have here, I cant compare it with the V200 because I dont have it, but Project86 will do a fine review, read it as soon as he writes it!

But, I can asure you, this thing is as quiet as you can imagine, the sound is full, smooth and very detailed. As soon as I get my Custom made balanced cable with silver like the SE I have, I'll post impressions of the balanced part.

UPDATE --

Well, I''ve been listening to the machine for a few hours and normally, it takes me longer to see the full potential of something, but by now, what I hear is awesome.

The bass part is very controlled, detailed and super deep, Ive been hearing low-frequency resonances Ive never heard from either the LCD-2s or the D7000s, this thing goes deep and deep with no issue. This is the speaker-like punch the LCDs can give you!

Also, I noticed an improvement in the mids section of all my headphones, giving it more presence and realism yet, smoothness/transparency and body, as I say, the amp is warm, and I like that.

The treble section is like the V200 has always been, detailed, airy but smooth, no harsh at all, it doesnt hide any detail, all the information is there, but in a smooth way!

The soundstage may not be as big as in other amps, but the imaging, depth and width is the most precise Ive ever heard. This is not easy to notice with the music I listen (mostly, rock, metal, jazz and blues), but I can asure I noticed it very fast. Also, while gaming to the "Amnesia - Machine For Pigs" which has a very good ambient sounds, I noticed the big improvement as all the sounds came from the exact distance the game wanted them, very precise. I will try some classical music recordings I have with the K701 soon.

This is just in a couple hours of listening, for sure, I will post bigger impressions later but... I had an issue with the amplifier, and I noticed Lake People via e-mail, I hope I get this solved A.S.A.P.! (and Im pretty sure I will )

Nice! Mine should arrive tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have a bit of time to mess with it. Can't wait. 

So I just managed to sell some old gear on ebay, which now opens up my options to go for the V281. Very excited haha! But just got a couple sorta noobie questions regarding it:

1. I will be feeding it RCA single ended input from my dac (it is not balanced) and at least for a good bit of the concievable future that's how it will be. So will the balanced headphone output still work, and give me full use of all that glorious power? even though it's being fed a SE input.
 
2. Do the single ended outputs on the V281 output that full power spec, or is it just with the balanced output jack? meaning the SE outputs are the same specs of a normal V220. I'm assuming the answer is yes, balanced output only for full power, but just making sure. I plan to get a balanced cable for my LCD 2's so it's not a problem, just curious

More important is the answer to question one, because that will determine my choice a lot, as I simply can't afford an amp AND a new dac, just an amp, and my dac is pretty solid as is, just not balanced. I just want to take full advantage of the amp and its full power output into that balanced jack, with my current source set up.

Thank you greatly in advanced!