[audiowhatfi]

Lol yeah I find there has been a few gear that I tried that has the capabilities but it's always hard to also find something that also fits the tonal preference. And I realize I tend to pick tonal balance preference over technicalities which explains why I stuck around with Dragonfly Red for so long.

Sorry our of curiosity which opamp did you end up going with?

I just realized I missed this question. I have dual and single Burson classic op amps in the playmate 2. I have only heard the vivids in the soloist 3x. Only from memory I feel the playmate to has a very similar sound signature and tone as the soloist 3x. The soloist has been gone for about 6 months so memory is very hazy so direct comparisons I can’t do, but I will say the sound signature is very much what I remember loving about the Burson. Great micro and macro detail, excellent dynamics, well controlled and textured bass.

 

[Hyde00]

Well I maybe doing something silly but I just pulled the trigger on a Burson conductor 3 reference . Just letting anyone in the thread know my playmate 2 will be going up for sale here next week to help offset the costs incase anyone is interested send me a PM.

Let me send you a pm.

 

[H20Fidelity]

Does anyone who owns the Playmate 2 ever heard or used the older Burson Conductor V2+?

Wondering how they compare performance wise.

 

[revolutionz]

Well I maybe doing something silly but I just pulled the trigger on a Burson conductor 3 reference . Just letting anyone in the thread know my playmate 2 will be going up for sale here next week to help offset the costs incase anyone is interested send me a PM.

I have the 3R and absolutely love it. Have the v6 vivid opamps in currently. Haven't looked at any other source components since I bought it.

 

[Hyde00]

Hey guys! Here an update!

Long story short, was suppose to get a C3R but UPS screw up so it never made it to me and there was some minor damage so seller decide not to sell it anymore.

So I end up getting a playmate 2 with V6 Classic.

I'm starting with the stock opamp first because I want to know what the actual difference are later when I switch to V6 Classic. But even stock I thought was not bad!

Ok first problem, it's damn loud even at low gain and 1 volume on my D9200.

How do you guys handle volume issue? I remember someone previously mentioned iemmatch from iFi audio, anyone can comment on that or if there's alternatives?

 

[Postmodum]

I have the same issue with playmate 1.
And increasing volume is not linear. Meh.

 

[holden4th]

To make sure that I get bit perfect reproduction I use an app which bypases all the internals of my iMac. Now there are goodly number of these. If you are operating from a Windows system then there are two drivers you can use to achieve which are ASIO and WASAPI but you can't control the volume with these.

The app I use is called SoundSource and in it's controls you can easily lower the master volume with a couple of clicks of your mouse. Of course the PM2 has both high and low gain available through the front menu screen. However, I've found that low gain does not attenuate it enough, especially on YT tracks so I use the sound source controls.

 

[Hyde00]

I have the same issue with playmate 1.
And increasing volume is not linear. Meh.

Yeah my iFi iEMatch arrived, which has -12db or -24db functions.

But unfortunately it does make everything sound a bit dull. Also as you said the increase in volume is weird, it's like at 1 it start pretty loud, but between 1 to say like 20 it gets louder very slowly, it's a very gradual slope.

Out of curiosity I tried high gain, high gain do sound better than low gain on the Playmate 2.

And I might be crazy but........ I kind of like the stock opamp LOL.

I bought the V6 Classic and everything sounds smooth and creamy and organic but the vocal got pushed back. Everything is front and centre with stock opamp. Does V6 Vivid push the vocal back even more?

 

[dosley01]

Yeah my iFi iEMatch arrived, which has -12db or -24db functions.

But unfortunately it does make everything sound a bit dull. Also as you said the increase in volume is weird, it's like at 1 it start pretty loud, but between 1 to say like 20 it gets louder very slowly, it's a very gradual slope.

Out of curiosity I tried high gain, high gain do sound better than low gain on the Playmate 2.

And I might be crazy but........ I kind of like the stock opamp LOL.

I bought the V6 Classic and everything sounds smooth and creamy and organic but the vocal got pushed back. Everything is front and centre with stock opamp. Does V6 Vivid push the vocal back even more?

I normally prefer the Classics but in the PM2 Vivid was my preference. IMHO a bit more punchier and extended than the stocks or Classics in this scenario.

 

[Hyde00]

I normally prefer the Classics but in the PM2 Vivid was my preference. IMHO a bit more punchier and extended than the stocks or Classics in this scenario.

Crap now I have to order Vivid..... why you do this to me????! LOLLLL

Though how would you say is the vocal on Vivid? I think to me the other instruments overpowers the vocal a bit on the Classic, I prefer forward vocal.

Otherwise thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Hyde00]

Okay so I've since bought V6 Vivid so I get to compare all of them and also had some time to experiment with it a little.

For the longest time I thought the timbre sounded off / wrong to me. But otherwise everything else seems pretty nice. Then I remember in the past almost all the amplifier I tried sounded better on high gain. So just out of curiosity I switched to high gain and voila! That fixed the timbre lol.

But now I have this issue of it already was too loud at low gain volume 1, now it's even louder LOL. Had to lower volume from software side unfortunately.

And is it me or........... am I crazy......? I think I might like the stock opamp (NE5532/NE5534) the best LOL. Both V6 Vivid and V6 Classic feels too soft, like they smooth the sound for easier listen but now it doesn't sound aggressive enough for rock. Vocal also seem slightly recessed in the V6 opamp vs the stock opamp.

V6 Classic is actually my 2nd choice and V6 Vivid just sounds boring to me. Am I doing anything wrong or should I keep burn in the opamps?

Or it's just....... preference???

I find this is the most confusing dac/amp that I've owned in a long time LOL. I keep bouncing back and forth on my choices.

Otherwise currently I find I enjoy stock opamp (NE5532/NE5534) + high gain the best.

Also is there any other opamps that people tried that sounded nice that has forward vocals? Oh god........ I feel like I'm gonna get into opamp rolling....... I still have nightmares about tube rolling..... LOL.

 

[Hyde00]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried V5 or V5i or Sparkos?

 

[revolutionz]

Just received my Playmate 2 today. Looking forward to trying some different opamps, but it's not too far off from my Conductor 3R at a much better price. Going to try some classics and maybe order some vivids to try (currently have a full set of vivids in my 3R)

 

[Hyde00]

Just received my Playmate 2 today. Looking forward to trying some different opamps, but it's not too far off from my Conductor 3R at a much better price. Going to try some classics and maybe order some vivids to try (currently have a full set of vivids in my 3R)

Damn that's really reassuring to hear.

I kind of regret not going for Conductor instead due to overspending on audio stuff at the time LOL. So I cheap out and went for Playmate 2 instead.

But that's very good to know that it's not too far off.

I might be selling off my V6 op amps if you're interested. I'll send you a PM, thanks!

 

[revolutionz]

I mean the power difference is quite apparent as one would think, but as far as sound, it sounded good with my Elegias just not quite as full I guess I would describe it. Maybe the soundstage seemed a bit more congested, but that could have been in my head. Imaging was spot on.