Now, THAT is an enigma to me as I'm positive that my HE-6 sound seriously better from my F5 and it's very much a power issue.  And the k1K are even less sensitive.  But if you're happy that's all that counts.  How do you like the cans?

Many thanks for your extensive reply, much appreciated.  I've more or less come to the same conclusion, took a break from head-fi the past months, had a cool beer instead of the marketing kool-aid served liberally.  Still have the V800/V200 stack which is good but as you say, a tiny bit...

I was going to recommend Madooma who are in Germany (Dortmund) until I saw your price restrictions.  I don't think you'll be able to do better, it's a new product, HifiMan probably set the minimum price and you have to figure in about 20% VAT (not sure if the US price includes sales tax...

Funny how opinions can differ   I switched from Spotify to Qobuz a month ago and I really tried to like 'em.  But no luck, I cancelled and am back to Spotify; still find they have a better selection, also with the labels that are not as easy to find (BIS, Harmonia Mundi....).  Spotify's also a...

I guess you have the right connection gizmo 'cause AKG K1K terminates in 4-pin XLR if memory serves.   Also, I'm afraid you won't get enough juice.  They're 74 dB/mW or thereabouts.  I never heard them (unfortunately) but I know that my HE-6 doesn't really shine from the V200, and a HE-6 is...

Svetlana:  do you mean a 6H13C ('winged C') tube?  Take a look at the specs, notably the gain, and compare with the GE.  Volume match by measuring, not by the dial.  Then see if you hear a difference.  This is one of the prime reasons why people like the 5998/2399 tubes so much.

Don't own a V281 but I'm not so sure that the part highlighted above is actually a good thing.  Not a cable believer.  The one thing I can tell you, owning a V200 and having tried the Taurus Mk2 (apples and oranges, I agree) is that the Taurus strikes me as more neutral, 'airy' and fast.  All a...

You're overrating what can be achieved by rolling tubes imo.  Sound signature is determined for 40% by your cans, 50% by tube amp topology, the remaining 10% or so by tube rolling.  Assuming the same track, good recording and mastering.  With those 10% you can play.  339 is on the warm side but...

There obviously is justification bias.  But your reasoning appears fallacious to me to the extent that it seems to imply that the existence of one deficiency could be justification for the another one (bias towards manufacturer).   I'm not attacking you in any way, and have no reason to doubt...

  If anything online is available for free, then you're the product.   But don't fret, there's no law obliging you to purchase, just don't get carried away by the hype-wave.  And to the credit of this site and the mods:  you don't get banned that quickly.

Tickling British pickle or whatever but you're stating the obvious:  precious few reviews can be trusted.    First of all, because you're navigating a huge marketing platform whose core objective it is to whip up mass hysteria about a product and create a need that you weren't even aware of...

Very nice job on the comparisons and fwiw, it agrees completely with my own opinion, owning the V200/V800 combo and having compared them with the Conductor on my HD-800, HE-500 and HE-6.  For the 6 neither combo brings out the best but otherwise, yeah, the Vio's are more laid-back, darker...

Too bad you can't cart the amp to the gym to work all that tasty goodness off  Sorry, couldn't resist.   Personally I've never, ever used both outputs on my V200 simultaneously, always gives problems with the volume if you use different cans.

Don't own the 560 but I do own the 500 and the ODAC/O2 drives those beautifully so I wouldn't worry.  I listen to classical (hifi dynamic range, medium average volume).  Not the HE-6 though, regardless of what the spreadsheets say.