Violectric DHA V226

General Information

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FEATURES
analogue stereo inputs, unbalanced via RCA
1 digital input, USB-C with up to 32 bit and up to 384 kHz for PCM signals, DSD 64 256
32 bit DAC with typical 130 dB dynamic range and -115 dB THD+N
+/- 18 dB Pre-Gain for a perfect match of the DHA V226 between source and headphones
Volume control with Alps RK 27 attenuator, big 38 mm massive aluminum knob
4 powerful amps offering 3500 mW Pmax into 100 Ohm and 23 V RMS into 600 Ohm
Delayed coupling of the headphones to the amp after power-on
Headphone path and line-out path individually switchable
Headphone outputs: 1 x 4-pin XLR, bal. / 1 x Pentaconn, bal. / 1 x ¼” jack, unbal.
Line stereo outputs: unbalanced via RCA
1 toroidal transformer, > 22.000 uF filter capacity

Latest reviews

Wyville

Headphoneus Supremus
Violectric DHA V226 DAC, Headphone Amp and Pre-Amp
Pros: Versatile DAC, amp and pre-amp with a natural, smooth and very enjoyable sound, high power and very low noise, useable with extremely sensitive IEMs, excellent build quality, good value
Cons: None
Violectric V226

Disclaimer
The Violectric V226 was very kindly made available to me on a long-term loan by Dune Blue and Violectric. No incentive was given for a favourable review.

V226 features
  • Analogue stereo inputs, unbalanced via RCA
  • 1 digital input, USB-C with up to 32 bit and up to 384 kHz for PCM signals, DSD 64 256
  • 32-bit DAC with typical 130 dB dynamic range and -115 dB THD+N
  • +/- 18 dB Pre-Gain for a perfect match of the DHA V226 between source and headphones
  • Volume control with Alps RK 27 attenuator, big 38 mm massive aluminium knob
  • 4 powerful amps offering 3500 mW Pmax into 100 Ohm and 23 V RMS into 600 Ohm
  • Delayed coupling of the headphones to the amp after power-on
  • Headphone path and line-out path individually switchable
  • Headphone outputs: 1 x 4-pin XLR, bal. / 1 x Pentaconn, bal. / 1 x ¼” jack, unbal.
  • Line stereo outputs: unbalanced via RCA
  • 1 toroidal transformer, > 22.000 uF filter capacity
  • Price: €1,399

Links:
https://www.violectric.de
https://www.facebook.com/Violectric-1888795031341510/
https://duneblue.com
https://www.facebook.com/Dune-Blue-411457505632614/

Preamble
A couple of years ago my friends at Dune Blue, the specialist head-fi distributor for The Benelux and Scandinavia, introduced me to Violectric by lending me their V380 DAC/amp. At the time (and to my eternal shame) I did not know much about this highly regarded German brand. Dune Blue's kind introduction quickly rectified this gross negligence. The V380 became a wonderful introduction into the world high-quality desktop amps and DACs, as well as into the delights of a neutral desktop source done right.

The performance of the V380 was impressive and it proved to be an extremely capable and versatile tool. Like a Swiss army knife, the V380 effortlessly adapted to anything I wanted to use. From planar headphones such as the Final D8000, to high-impedance legends such as the Sennheiser HD650, to extremely sensitive IEMs such as the Empire Ears Wraith, the V380 did it all. No hiss with the IEMs, not breaking a sweat driving the headphones to their full potential, and all sounding great. So, when I once again found myself in need of such a versatile source, I knocked on the door of Dune Blue to see if they still had the V380 around. Instead, they suggested I could also take its newly released little brother, the V226, for a spin. Well now, there is a coincidence! I had previously asked Fried Reim (the man behind Violectric) for a unit of the V226 to review, which unfortunately did not happen. Not being the type to pester people for review units, I kindly left it at that, but I remained very curious about the V226 nonetheless. In the spirit of 'all good things come to those who wait', I now got the opportunity and of course I agreed. Moreover, Dune Blue and Violectric worked together in order to allocate a unit for a long-term loan. Thanks guys!

This time there was a specific tool I needed and it posed a particularly paradoxical challenge. My plan was to revive my 'Masters of Classical Music' series (a series about finding the very best gear for listening to classical music) and I really wanted the aforementioned Wraith to be the next instalment. The challenge here was that the Wraith need both a lot of power to fully engage the older generation estat drivers, as well as an extremely clean source due to their impedance of only 4 Ohms and a sensitivity of 117 dB/mW (141 dB/V). Normally it is not the end of the world if the Wraith are not driven by a source with sufficient power, you just lose a little treble extension, but they remain very enjoyable. With the Masters of Classical Music series, however, this treble extension is essential to push the Wraith from 'good' to 'amazing'. Within this context the Wraith actually work as a type of stress test for any source. I tried quite a few, even those with special 'noise reduction' features, and none have really been able to make the Wraith shine like I know they can. Closest was the Shanling M8 DAP, which still amazes me at how clean it is while using its "turbo gain" feature. The V380 of course did better, but I didn't have that around anymore. What about its little brother then? How well does the V226 perform? Let's have a look and find out...

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Unboxing
At times like this I often wonder why I even bother writing an unboxing section, but let's try and stick to the format for a comprehensive review.

As I mentioned in my review of the V380, the people at Violectric are sensible people. Under the motto “tools, not toys”, they packed the V226 in a box with a lot of Styrofoam to ensure safe transport and didn't bother with a lot of fancy details to create an 'unboxing experience'. (If the experience of unboxing an item you bought has to come from the box rather than the item itself, you probably wasted your money.) Other than that, the box simply contained the V226, the power cord and a manual. Simple and to the point, just how I like it.

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Design
The V226 is a beautiful piece of equipment with an understated elegance to it. Where brands such as VivA Audio produce amps that can be painted in any colour to match your interior, or indeed your Lamborghini Huracan, Violectric's designs are more purposeful. At a distance it looks like a fairly unassuming black box with dials and switches, but when you get closer you start to see the attention to detail. Every aspect of the V226 looks and feels like it has been designed not to impress the observer, but the user. Close up you see the lovely brush work on the 5mm thick aluminium front plate. Every dial and every switch feels solid, and the V226 soon entices you to turn it on and plug your headphones in.

The layout is logical on both the front and the back. At the front (from left to right), there is the buttery smooth volume dial that feels solid and is easy to use. This is followed at the top row with the input (RCA 1, RCA 2, USB) and output (Headphone, Off, Line Out) switches, below which sit the 6.3mm single ended, 4-pin XLR and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs. On the far right it ends with the On/Off button. On that subject, the headphone outputs are temporarily cut when turning the V226 on (i.e., delayed coupling) in order to protect any connected headphones from interferences. This takes about five seconds and I can say from experience that I greatly appreciate this sort of extra safety feature and it is a testament to Violectric's attention to detail for the actual day-to-day use of the amp.

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At the back we find the power socket on the far left with indicated what voltage the unit is set to, either 230V or 115V. This can however be manually switched inside of the V226 (see the manual for instructions). The power socket is followed by the RCA out and Pre/Post button. On the right side are the inputs that can be selected at the front, so again, RCA 1, RCA 2 and a USB-C socket for the digital USB input. Below the USB socket sit the Pre-Gain switches and I love these. These DIP switches allow the user to set the headphone amp pre-gain for each channel and offer seven settings; Off/0dB (all switches down), -18dB, -12dB, -6dB, +6dB, +12dB and +18dB. Note: To achieve -12dB, both -18dB and +6dB switches need to be switched on (up), while for +12dB the +18dB and -6dB switches need to be switched on (up). You can put the switches in other settings, it won't harm the V226, but it won't do anything either.

Especially with highly sensitive IEMs, I find that I can combine the -18dB setting with the volume of my transport (usually Tidal playing on my MacBook Pro) to allow me to set the volume dial to its 'normal' listening position of 12 o'clock. This provides plenty of room to play with the volume and should reduce the self-generated noise from the amp to an absolute minimum (more on that later).

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The V226 itself is a really nice size and I actually prefer it over the size of the V380. I have plenty of desk space to place even a much larger amp, but I like the small compact size of the V226. Perhaps it is an indication of how chaotic my desk looks when I work, compared to the neat minimalistic images I create for my reviews. The manual states that the V226's overall size is 170 x 49 x 306 mm. I think a typo slipped in there because the height is actually 69 mm instead of 49 mm. It is a very nice size and should be easy to fit on any desk, except for perhaps the smallest of student desks.

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Under the Hood
The V226 is a pre-amplifier, balanced headphone amplifier and DAC in one and within Violectric's line-up represents the entry-level 'DHA' option. The ones above it are the V3802 (an updated version of the V380 I previously reviewed), the V5902 and the top-of-the-line V5902 Pro, before moving onto Violectric's high-end sister brand Niimbus. -Pardon me, I appear to have started drooling.- Each DHA offers more features such as 32-bit resampling, Balanced and XLR inputs, and a 256-step relay, as well as power and performance upgrades. The V226 might thus on paper feel fairly basic compared to the more feature rich higher-end models, but thanks to its outstanding performance achieves the same 'Swiss Army knife'-type of versatility as the others.

The heart of the V226 is the amp, which is the successor to the V200, V280 and V281 amps that Violectric previously offered. It is a powerful amp that consists of:
"4 powerful amps offering 3500 mW Pmax into 100 Ohm and 23 V RMS into 600 Ohm".
Here we again see how sensible Violectric is, as even their marketing is transparent. Max power is delivered at 100 Ohm and max voltage at 600 Ohm. Indeed, the manual has a neat table that shows exactly what amount of power and voltage corresponds to what resistance. Here you go:

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Because of the Wraith, I actually started to become interested in these power curves and found that information about this is almost never given with DAPs. DAP manufacturers like giving the highest possible figure and leave it at that. Knowing exactly what you are buying is important and so I greatly appreciate the information that Violectric includes. That might well be more common for desktop gear than portable, but then it would underline that the portable industry still has some growing up to do.

The DAC is based on Cirrus CS 43131 with a typical 130 dB dynamic range and a THD as low as -115 dB. Here you do miss out on the 32-bit resampling offered on the higher-end models, which is able to achieve 180 dB dynamic range. I used this feature on the V380 and felt the difference was noticeable enough to simply leave it on all the time. The V226's DAC comes with a USB-C terminal and supports PCM signals up to 32 bits and 384 kHz sample rate as well as DSD up to 256.

The lovely big volume dial is connected to an ALPS RK27 potentiometer. Quite honestly, I am not enough into these technical details that I can say anything sensible about it. However, the manual provides some background on the choice. (I could paraphrase it here and pretend to be a very technical reviewer, but that would be disingenuous and people who know me a little, know I am a 'music lover' audiophile rather than one who is more into the technical aspects.) Indeed, for a lot of the technical aspects I can highly recommend reading the manual. Rarely have I found a manual as useful as this. I am a man after all, and male stereotyping demands I ignore manuals and instead bash the IKEA cupboard with a hammer because the pieces won't fit how I think they should fit.

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The amp's self-generated noise is claimed to be inaudible and I of course put this to the ultimate stress test by using the Wraith. When I did, I was very surprised that indeed the noise level is exceptionally low. There is some hiss noticeable in the background, but it remains at a level so low that it is barely noticeable once the music starts playing. Only with classical music is it noticeable during very quiet sections or chamber music such as Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. I didn't find it to be very distracting even though I am extremely sensitive to hiss. All-in-all I found the performance here very impressive when you consider that at 16 Ohms the V226 is already putting out 1,500 mW. So already I can say that the V226 passed my rather paradoxical test. That said, it does make me very curious whether or not top-end models such as the V5902 Pro or Niimbus US 5 Pro could get the Wraith dead silent.

As indicated, I am a music lover-type of audiophile and all these things are relevant to me only in relation to the quality of the sound.

Sound
For the sound impressions I worked similar to a few of my recent reviews. I have taken my time and simply used the V226 instead of going through my standard review routine of focusing on an extended critical analysis. I find that when I listen casually, I often more readily notice those aspects that most clearly characterise what I am reviewing. These are more important than tiny nuances that might or might not be relevant to anyone else listening to the same setup. My descriptions therefore end up being uncharacteristically (for me) generalised. That is not because I have not done a proper job of reviewing, it's just that I did the review slightly differently and did not always make notes while listening. This is in every way a down-to-Earth, real-world review that I hope gives a good idea of what you get with the V226.

For listening I used a wide variety of different gear. IEMs include the Final A8000, DITA Audio Dream XLS, Empire Ears Wraith and 64 Audio U18s. Earbuds were the Astrotec Lyra Collection, FiiO FF3 and the high-impedance (300 Ohm) TGX Ear Serratus. For headphones I was unfortunately limited to only the HD650. The transport was generally my MacBook Pro (2020), although I did use the V226 briefly for gaming with my PS4.

To quote Violectric:
"The roots of the headphone amplifier circuitry can be found in its praised and award-winning predecessors: the V200, V280 and V281. At its core, the DHA V226 features a similar natural but smooth and pleasing sound."
The terms "natural", "smooth" and "pleasing" capture the sound of the V226 very well, although I would add one extra term: "musical". This is where I think Violectric have done an exceptional job. The V226 is a joy to listen to and worked with every headphone, IEM and earbud I tried. The result was always music as it in my opinion should be, thoroughly enjoyable.

There is a particular balance here that I think Violectric aimed for, and succeeded in achieving. The technical performance of the V226 is very good with a natural transparency that does not overdo things and push into a more analytical or clinical sound. The foundation seems to be 'nice neutral' (i.e., a high-quality neutral) with an added bit of warmth for smoothness and musicality. Although it never feels like distinct colour is added. It is subtle and means the V226 pairs well with everything. It allows you to drift away comfortably with the sound of your favourite headphones and I think the V226 will be very popular because of it. It's easy to love and has the technical performance to impress.

The HD650, in this case paired with 4.4mm balanced Eletech Inferno aftermarket cable, is a great illustration of this. I found its pairing with the V226 to result in a warm and enveloping sound that was utterly gorgeous. Especially the warm and organic bass, and luscious mids felt like a comfort blanket. Every time I listened, I would get lost in the soundscape. Not that it extended very far, it is the HD650 we are talking about after all, but it was incredibly 'smooth' and 'pleasing'. There was also a great sense of realism to the vocals, which further increased the intimacy of the experience. As a music lover audiophile, this type of presentation is exactly what I am after.

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This sense of realism was also very noticeable with the Serratus. These high-impedance earbuds already have great timbre and a naturalness that makes the music more tangible, and the pairing with the V226 once again worked like a charm. The V226 tames the lower treble lift a little to where it becomes less noticeable and helps the Serratus balance a bit better in my opinion. The overall result is tremendously musical and again I found myself instantly lost in the music.

The Wraith in turn are IEMs much closer to neutral, but with an incredibly well-done timbre and imaging. They present a grand soundstage and the result is once again absolutely gorgeous. There is such a wonderful naturalness and smoothness to the V226 that allows classical music to flow like velvet and helps to convey the emotions of the music in the most delicate and tangible manner. It reminds me of why I previously used the V380 as the source for my Masters of Classical Music with the Vision Ears VE5.

Every other pairing I tried resulted in much the same impressions. The V226 is genuinely natural, smooth, pleasing and musical, without forgoing any technical performance. Again, you could push for a more revealing and detailed sound with higher clarity, but it would come at a cost of what I think makes the V226 so special...

...sorry, I had to pause writing there for a second. I was listing to Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and L'Estate, Presto started. This is exactly why these days I prefer "casual" listening for my reviews. All of a sudden I got goose bumps and every thought stopped while I was swept away in the music. I don't think a more analytical amp could be present L'Estate with this much emotion and such velvety smoothness, sweeping me away in the music. Utterly gorgeous!

I wish I had the opportunity to try it with a dedicated DAC to see how much that would affect the performance of the amp. Unfortunately, I don't and so I will leave the discussion about the DAC to others who are better equipped for doing so.

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Conclusions
The Violectric DHA V226 is a wonderful amp, DAC and pre-amp. It offers excellent technical performance combined with a natural, smooth and thoroughly enjoyable sound. It is easy to love and highly versatile thanks to a combination of high power, extremely low noise and a number of different headphone out options. This means the V226 will drive virtually anything from the most sensitive IEMs to high-impedance headphones. Build quality is excellent and the size is small enough to make it very practical for those who are short on desk space. At its price of €1,399, I feel the V226 offers excellent value and I am actually hoping to save up for one.
tamleo
tamleo
It would be much more meaningful if the review got a comparison to other amps.
Wyville
Wyville
@tamleo I agree and would have done that if I could, unfortunately I simply don't have access to comparable amps. The V226 and previously the V380 were kindly sent to me on loan by Dune Blue and Violectric, but did need to be returned. So take it for what it is, simply a head-fi'er sharing impressions.
Jimmyblues1959
Jimmyblues1959
Nice review! Still using my Violectric HPA V100 which works well with many different headphones.

WaveTheory

100+ Head-Fier
Violectric DHA V226 Review by WaveTheory
Pros: Reference caliber headphone amp for price category; sonic upgrade to old HPA V200; maintains the warm, smooth, big, punchy, but subtly detailed sound of Vio's V2xx series; effective preamp output; well built; 5 gain stages
Cons: Internal DAC lowers performance ceiling of amp considerably, raising viability questions as a true all-in-one unit; only SE analog line-level ins & outs; only USB-C digital input
In talking with the designer of the V226, it's clear Lake People (parent company of Violectric) intends the V226 to be used as an all-in-one unit. Unfortunately, it falls down in that regard due to lackluster DAC performance, IMO. However, the amplifier section continues Vio's tradition of making absolutely stellar headphone amps that handle a wide variety of headphones and headphone types very well. If you have a DAC with excellent single-ended output (I think Chords are great matches signature-wise), have limited space, and need a preamp out, this piece may still very well be worth the 1600USD asking price. More details in the video:

Empyah
Empyah
Really nice review!
Yes the DAC is not as good as the AMP but you can up it's performance significantly with a dedicated USB PCIE card and a high performance USB-C cable like the Wireworld Chroma USB 3.1.
The cable is made out of high purity OFC copper and has separated data and power wires which bring it to the next level, and if you got a good PSU you might want to power the USB card directly out of it.
Helped the clarity and detail a lot.

Ichos

Reviewer at hxosplus
Entry level all-in-one from Violectric
Pros: + Utterly musical
+ Natural timbre
+ Top tier technical performance
+ Super powerful and very dynamic
+ Full bodied
+ Dead silent
+ Expanded and holographic
+ Embedded USB DAC
+ DAC line out
+ Analogue preamplifier
+ Pre-gain settings
+ Massive aluminium volume knob
+ Three headphone sockets
+ Excellent build quality
+ Made in Germany
Cons: - DAC section is not on par with the amplifier
- No XLR inputs
- DSD limited to 256
- No MQA (if you care)
- Side panels and lid could be more thick
The V226 was kindly provided as a loaner in exchange for my subjective and unbiased review.
The selling price is €1399 and you can order it directly from the Violectric website.

Introduction

Coming from Germany, the Violectric brand, founded by the legendary Fried Riem, is a milestone in producing some of the best high end headphone amplifiers and DACs in the market, that are highly favored amongst the community for their top sound performance and the excellent craftsmanship albeit the high selling prices.
In the past few years their portfolio of products has been radically revamped to include a lot of new models while some of the legendary ones like the V280 and the V281 have been discontinued.

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Violectric DHA V226

The DHA V226 is the newest and most affordable Violectric amplifier.
It is a balanced headphone amplifier with a competitive DAC and a preamp function.

The DAC section is based on the Cirrus CS43131 with typical 130 dB dynamic range and THD as low as -115 dB.
It comes with a USB type C input and supports PCM signals up to 32 bits and 384 kHz sample rate as well as DSD up to 256.

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The V226 seems to be the long awaited successor to the legendary V280/V281 since the roots of the headphone amplifier circuitry can be found in them.

Technical parameters

According to Violectric the V226 offers the lowest possible noise through a very small amount of internal gain.
This makes the amplifier's self-generated noise inaudible.
The high output voltage through 50V internal operating voltage is ideally suited for high-impedance headphones deserving high output voltage swing.
At the same time the high output power, thanks to powerful amplifiers, offer far more power even the most demanding headphones would ever need.
So it is equally best suited for headphones with low
impedances as well as difficult to drive magnetostatic headphones.
It has a high damping factor due to lowest output impedance, therefore is the ideal match for difficult to drive headphones without negative side effects and with the guarantee for an uncompromising frequency response.

The amplifier is differentially balanced with four output power transistors per phase, a total of 16, mounted in aluminium heat sinks.
A Talema toroidal transformer is the heart of the linear power supply which features separate, low noise, local regulated supplies for all critical digital and analog stages with more than 22.000 uF of filter capacity.
The four powerful amps offer 3500 mW Pmax into 100 Ohm and 23 V RMS into 600 Ohm.
The volume is adjusted through a high quality Alps RK 27 attenuator with a big 38 mm massive aluminum knob.
The volume is adjusted through discrete steps, rather than a freely rotating potentiometer.
Channel balance is excellent, even at the lowest possible setting.
There is also a delayed coupling of the headphones to the amp after power-on to protect the headphones.

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Inputs / Outputs / Operation

The V226 is really versatile when it comes to inputs and outputs.
At the back of the unit there are 2 analogue stereo inputs, unbalanced, via RCA and an analogue RCA line output that can be operated with or without the volume control by the simple press of a switch.

The following options are available:

If RCA 1&2 inputs are selected as the source, then the RCA line output can be used either as a pre-amp or as a simple passthrough.
If the DAC is selected as the source, then the RCA line output can be used either as a fixed or variable level output.

At the back there are also located the micro - switches that are used for the famous Violectric pre - gain adjustment system.
+/- 18 dB pre - gain for a perfect match of the DHA V226 between source and headphones with separate adjustment for each channel at 4 steps each (-18,-6,+6,+18 dB).
The front panel is dominated by the massive aluminium volume knob which is located at the left.
At the middle there are the three headphone sockets (4.4mm, 4-pin XLR, 6.35mm) and at the right, the ON/OFF push button.
At the top center there are two switches that are used to select the desired inputs and outputs plus eight LEDs that indicate the various operations.

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Build quality and design

The V226 case is entirely made from aluminium with a thick, brushed, front face and thinner side walls/lid, unlike the V550 where these parts are made from thicker aluminium.
It seems that some cuts were necessary in order to keep the cost down.
Build quality is just excellent, a fine example of the famous Teutonic engineering.
The design is industrial minimalistic with a luxurious feeling.
I love it and I wish that all my gear was designed the same way.

Power output

The V226 is very powerful and from the balanced output can drive with ease all the headphones on the market, including the Susvara and the rest of the capriciously inefficient planars.
With my regular sensitivity headphones I used the -6dB setting to allow better adjustment of the volume range.
The single ended output is less powerful but still can drive most of the headphones.
The V226 is a power house but at the same time is dead silent and perfectly suitable for sensitive earphones as long as you set the pre-gain switches to the -18dB position.
Be careful not to fry them.

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Associated gear

During the listening sessions I used various headphones from the Sennheiser HD660S/650 and HiFiMan Sundara to the Focal Clear Mg and Meze Elite.
The sources included the Lab12 dac1 reference, SMSL DO200 and Mhdt Audio Toucan.
Two iFi power stations are used for the analogue and digital components.

Listening impressions

As per usual practice I left the amplifier playing music for more than 200 hours before commencing into critical listening sessions.
I didn't monitor the burning process and I don't know if it was beneficial to the sound or not.

As a long time owner of the V280 I can vouch that the V226 is the real successor to it and not the previously reviewed V550.
The sound is big, bold and lush with the famous "tubey" warmth of the V280 but this time with much more improved technicalities.
The V226 is slightly less warm and it takes from where its predecessor has left to offer improved transparency, greater control, better clarity and more air between the lines.
Frequency response is reference linear with deep bass, open sounding mids and well extended treble.
The warmth and the tubey character are related to the colorful harmonics and the sophisticated overtones, that add greatly to the naturalness of the timbre and the lifelike characteristics of the sound, and not to frequency response deviations.
The V226 is like a musical instrument, it plays music rather than merely amplifying sounds.
It is not that it is lacking in transparency, on the contrary it is precise and accurate like a scientific instrument but then it possesses this rare ability to reconstruct the music and add the missing life, reinstall the timbre and rebuild the texture that were lost during the engineering process.
The usual frequency analysis is rather vague in the case of the V226 because all the usual qualities apply at the greater extent.
Yes, the bass is full and visceral while maintaining excellent control and great layering, it is tight and clear, fast and pacey with some of the best dynamics in the industry.
Muscular and hard hitting it will ransack all your headphones to offer the most realistic impressions during large scale symphonic works.
And yes again, the mids sound open and spacious, with the most natural timbre and the finest articulation, they flow like spring water filling your ears with playful notes.
As for the treble, yes it is smooth and perfectly controlled yet fully extended, fast, agile and speedy.
No listener fatigue here, no treble harshness, no brightness but still luminous, detailed, finely nuanced but never analytical.
If you are interested in ultimate analysis, tons of detail and ear bleeding sharpness, then you better stop reading, you are wasting your time.
The case with the V226 is radically different, it feels like sitting in front of a live concert, listening to the music rather than using it as a microscope to analyze the recording.
Don't be mistaken though to think that the V226 is lacking in detail, you will be proven wrong.
The black background helps a lot in letting all the details emerge from the depths of the recording but then they remain an integrated part of the musical event rather than being forcefully projected to the forefront.
It is a matter of different gusto.
The amplifier is fast and well defined with excellent staging abilities.
From the balanced output, the head stage experience is amazing with a grand and holographic presentation, squeezing out every last drop of the headphone staging abilities.
With a top tier headphone the listener is rewarded with an out of the head experience with great communication of the ambience especially when listening to recordings made outside the studios.
One of my favorites is the following recording made in the Abbey Church of SS Mary, Romsey UK where you can hear the galleries echoing the music.

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One thing of criticism in the V280/V281 had to do with the single ended output which was of lesser quality than the balanced one.
Somewhat slower, thicker, less defined, more congested and with a shrunken soundstage.
Not this time though because the V226 single ended output is equally on par with the balanced one, retaining all the sound quality characteristics, minus the slightly less expanded sound stage.
The V226 is very versatile when it comes to pairings and you are going to enjoy all the headphones of your collection, no matter if they have balanced or single ended cables.

The internal DAC

Well, I am not going to lie nor abuse your time with a lengthy analysis.
The internal DAC is sufficient enough and up to the modern standards, with good transparency and satisfying sound quality to be enjoyable when there is not something else better available.
Thus said the V226 is a TOTL headphone amplifier and as such it certainly needs a top tier partnering DAC in order to unfold its virtues.
The embedded DAC is a great option for the budget conscious audiophile who can't afford a separate one.
But in order to truly enjoy the remarkable performance of the V226 then you should start saving to invest in an equally good source.

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In the end

The V226 might be the first step into experiencing the famous Violectric sound but it is not an entry level amplifier under any circumstances.
It is one small step into the Violectric catalogue but one giant leap into the high end amplifier market at a sane price.
It is not cheap but then you are buying one of the best made and most musical headphone amplifiers with top tier technical performance, tons of power, an internal DAC and multiple I/O options.
A stairway into musical heaven, the Violectric V226 might be your end game headphone amplifier.

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Copyright - Laskis Petros 2022.
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Ichos
Ichos
Thank you very much for liking the review. Unfortunately I believe that every DAC on the planet has its own sound signature despite the same measurements. If you test this amplifier with the embedded DAC and a decent external one, nothing fancy, like the SMSL DO100 you will see how well it scales.
But anyway this isn't the place to discuss it!!
Sonic Defender
Sonic Defender
Absolutely, the focus should be and is on your excellent review. Stay well and keep up the great work.
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Ichos
Ichos
Thank you!

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