Review: Violectric HPA V200 amp

[brunk]

Quote:

I think V200 deserves the best dac you can afford. It shines with high-end sources! Big compromises with the source will result in inadequate performance of this wonderful amp.
 

+1 I can attest to that with experience. I visited my local HiFi audio store and listened to some Totem Rainmakers, with no subwoofer, and they beat out the newly released flagship Paradigm towers! Why? The totems were fed with $30k upstream gear, while the Paradigms were fed with $10k upstream gear. The biggest improvements are made when you upgrade far up the chain as possible, not the other way around. Crap in, crap out. I'm not implying $10k is crap either, just compared to $30k lol.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

+1 I can attest to that with experience. I visited my local HiFi audio store and listened to some Totem Rainmakers, with no subwoofer, and they beat out the newly released flagship Paradigm towers! Why? The totems were fed with $30k upstream gear, while the Paradigms were fed with $10k upstream gear. The biggest improvements are made when you upgrade far up the chain as possible, not the other way around. Crap in, crap out. I'm not implying $10k is crap either, just compared to $30k lol.

 
10K vs. 30K  When does the laws of diminishing returns come into play?  At what point does cost has no impact?

 

[esn89]

I see, thank you for all the insightful replies.
 
So, the way I see it now is that double amping isn't advised, so I may be selling my pico usb dac/amp sometime soon.
 
This leaves me with a few more questions (as I am hellbent on getting the v200):
 
1)  Would it be feasible to just sell the pico usb dac/amp and just buy the Pico Dac without the amp option, (this lil guy over here: http://www.headamp.com/pico/pico_usb_dac/index.htm).   Although I haven't heard any 1000 dollar DACs, I think the Pico DACs do their job really well.  Or are portables really not cool?
 
2)  Because most of my sources are of high quality (I am talking about FLACs, ALACs, and WAVs, with their respective .cue and .log files), will it be advised that I should just buy a high end SACD/CD player, burn the CD, feed it into, let's say, the Marantz, and input it into my v200?
 
Bear in my mind this is going to be a desktop/at home set up.  It will never ever be taken on the road.

 

[project86]

Quote:

I think V200 deserves the best dac you can afford. It shines with high-end sources! Big compromises with the source will result in inadequate performance of this wonderful amp.
 

 
Agreed!
 
Or to put it another way: It is certainly usable being fed by an entry level DAC or player. But you won't be hearing what it is really capable of until you step up to something higher end. 
 
Your Pico has an output impedance of less than 1 ohm. The V200 has an input impedance of 10k ohms. That means the Pico should function well enough to drive the V200 by using a 1/8" to RCA adapter, with no distortion or impedance based interactions. Think of it like a pre-amp. It isn't ideal because that isn't the main focus of the Pico, but there's no reason why it won't work well enough. That is, until you get something better. 

 

[brunk]

Quote:

 
10K vs. 30K  When does the laws of diminishing returns come into play?  At what point does cost has no impact?

Diminishing returns is subjective to the buyer's value of audio performance in correlation with his wallet. The point when cost has no impact is when we finally design "perfect" audio. That may never happen. I'm not being sarcastic or anything, just brutally, objectively, honest Cost does not necessarily correlate with "better" either. Gotta love it!

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brunk /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I'm not implying $10k is crap either, just compared to $30k lol.

Cost does not necessarily correlate with "better" either. Gotta love it!

 
This is my point right here.  30k stuff does not mean it's better than 10K stuff.  At some point that extra 20k is a wast.  
 
I guess subjectively speaking.

 

[rawrster]

My V200 has had 3 different dac's in 3 different price ranges connected to it since I have owned it however I am now down to 1 dac but that's another story. I've had a Keces DA151 which is an entry level dac, a Yulong D100 which is better than entry level and then the Anedio D1 dac which is even better than the D100 and of course the DA151. All 3 dacs are good in their own right but I heard a big improvement going from the DA151 to the D100 and a smaller improvement (but still a good jump imo) going to the D1 dac. 
 
Of course if someone is happy with a $200 dac connecting to the V200 then by all means enjoy it but that may not be using the V200 to it's fullest potential.

 

[brunk]

Quote:

 
This is my point right here.  30k stuff does not mean it's better than 10K stuff.  At some point that extra 20k is a wast.  
 
I guess subjectively speaking.

Yeah, I just didn't feel like elaborating. The $30k was McIntosh, and the $10k was various quality gear. I didn't know what gear was what before listening either. I'll let you be the judge

The guys at the store were actually astonished at my objective listening impressions/talent during the blind test. We did this when the shop closed, was a special treat for sure!

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Yeah, I just didn't feel like elaborating. The $30k was McIntosh, and the $10k was various quality gear. I didn't know what gear was what before listening either. I'll let you be the judge

The guys at the store were actually astonished at my objective listening impressions/talent during the blind test. We did this when the shop closed, was a special treat for sure!

 
 
Man - wish I was there.  I like blind listening test.  It really shows how small of a difference stuff really is.
 
I know you had a good time.

 

[Zombie_X]

Yo,
 
With my V200 I lower the gain to -12dB so I can use my low Ohm headphones with having a greater range of volume control. It works really well I have to say. So now my Auditor is for high impedance headphones while the V200 is for low impedance headphones. 
 
Gotta love the V200 with SR-80i's and the T5p's!!

 

[brunk]

Quote:

 
 
Man - wish I was there.  I like blind listening test.  It really shows how small of a difference stuff really is.
 
I know you had a good time.

Oh yeah, it was a great time! I feel more confident in trusting my ears, but never my eyes. It just goes to show the influence a shiny audio bauble (beautiful towers) is implied to be equal in sound quality, and just how important gear is upstream. Our eyes truly deceive our ears. We are a funny species no doubt.
 
True story - I bought the Polk LSI 25's and a few sets of LSi9's for a 9.2 system. This was before the several other more and less expensive speakers I went through before settling mind you. Anyways, the LSi9's sound a cut above the 25's. It took me 3 months to bring myself to conduct this test, go figure. I bring the LSi9's to the audio store, the guys laughed at me! I said "You know better" and they shut their mouth lol. We did some blind testing, guess what? They were better than those very same Paradigms I blind tested! However, they were only better down to 60hz. Now I have significantly upgraded the crossovers and they barely need a subwoofer. They have a linear response down to 40hz, defeating the Paradigms. The only reason I still have the subwoofer is to augment impact of kick drums, chellos, organs etc. Now I am also down to 5.1. The whole "Ooh! 9.2!" caught my eye, but ears said otherwise. I would do 7.1, but I sold the 25's (not very good anyway) and am left with the LSi9's and a center channel. The upgraded pair of LSi9's are in my music room. There's so little movies in 7.1 that it doesn't bother me.
 
Very few people are honest as I am when it comes to their purchases. People like to be grandiose about their purchases so they can justify it. The people with 300 pound speakers in a normal living room crack me up the most!

 

[Ultrainferno]

I wonder how the new 4W Burson will compare to our beloved V200
 

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

I wonder how the new 4W Burson will compare to our beloved V200
 

 
 Saw it today briefly - very handsome looking amp with the new machined front plate - lesser featured though, no XLR or real gain control.
 
 The signal path from what I can tell has been stripped back to the bare minimum so it should be fairly clean sounding.

 

[Rico613]

Quote:

Yo,
 
With my V200 I lower the gain to -12dB so I can use my low Ohm headphones with having a greater range of volume control. It works really well I have to say. So now my Auditor is for high impedance headphones while the V200 is for low impedance headphones. 
 
Gotta love the V200 with SR-80i's and the T5p's!!

 
So it turns out that the change in pre-gain makes the most difference on the bass side.  I was using my new HD800s with the gain setting at -12 and thought they sounded good, but the bass was lacking compared to the K702s.  Once I set the gain to 0, the 800s now sound very sweet indeed !!! 

EDIT:  Upon further listening on the HD800s, I'm wishing there was a -3 db gain setting.  The bass sounds louder but a little (and I mean LITTLE) less clear at 0 db.  At -6 db the bass sounds less loud, but more distinct.  I'll try these settings on other recordings . . . probably getting into the minutia here . . .

 

[Zombie_X]

Hi,
 
For me changing the gain settings doesn't alter the sound at all and neither should it. I find the sound is the same no matter what setting is used.
 
Now on my V800 that seems to be a different matter.
 
 
Quote:

 
So it turns out that the change in pre-gain makes the most difference on the bass side.  I was using my new HD800s with the gain setting at -12 and thought they sounded good, but the bass was lacking compared to the K702s.  Once I set the gain to 0, the 800s now sound very sweet indeed !!! 

EDIT:  Upon further listening on the HD800s, I'm wishing there was a -3 db gain setting.  The bass sounds louder but a little (and I mean LITTLE) less clear at 0 db.  At -6 db the bass sounds less loud, but more distinct.  I'll try these settings on other recordings . . . probably getting into the minutia here . . .