[Ruprit]

I thought I would share a notice/warning about capacitor leakage for anyone who owns or still uses a V800.

I recently acquired a V800 direct from Germany. This unit was sold to me by the original owner and I believe it was made in 2011. While I was going about converting the mains voltage to USA, I noticed one bulging electrolytic capacitor. I replaced it and happily used the unit for a few weeks.

However, curiosity got the better of me and I took the time to find suitable replacement capacitors and went about recapping the entire unit, about 20 capacitors in total. In my unit, I found that all the capacitors around the power section were leaking, or showing early signs of leakage.

With the unit buttoned back up, I did notice that the case no longer gets warm to the touch, which I found strange for a DAC to get so hot.

This is one of the those situations that is probably unique to my unit. But, given the age of these DACs, I thought it might be important to let you all know that the pcb might need a visual inspection as a preventative.

Thanks.

 

[zhgutov]

I thought I would share a notice/warning about capacitor leakage for anyone who owns or still uses a V800.

I recently acquired a V800 direct from Germany. This unit was sold to me by the original owner and I believe it was made in 2011. While I was going about converting the mains voltage to USA, I noticed one bulging electrolytic capacitor. I replaced it and happily used the unit for a few weeks.

However, curiosity got the better of me and I took the time to find suitable replacement capacitors and went about recapping the entire unit, about 20 capacitors in total. In my unit, I found that all the capacitors around the power section were leaking, or showing early signs of leakage.

With the unit buttoned back up, I did notice that the case no longer gets warm to the touch, which I found strange for a DAC to get so hot.

This is one of the those situations that is probably unique to my unit. But, given the age of these DACs, I thought it might be important to let you all know that the pcb might need a visual inspection as a preventative.

Thanks.

My V800 is fine, it was made in 2014.

 

[Ruprit]

My V800 is fine, it was made in 2014.

Nice! Thanks for looking and sorry if I scared you.

 

[roskodan]

Could have been a result of mishandling, so many caps going bad...

 

[Ruprit]

Could have been a result of mishandling, so many caps going bad...

That's entirely possible. For all I know the previous owner could have had it running 24/7 for a decade. At some point I should take it apart again and give it a full inspection for any cold solder joints and see if there are any obvious signs of components failing, particularly the voltage regulators.

What I did find interesting was the obvious signs of my unit being entirely hand soldered. Even the surface mount components looked to be hand soldered, which was surprising to see. I'm wondering if my unit was from a very early production.

 

[roskodan]

Did you get it fixed? Or not worth it?

 

[Ruprit]

Did you get it fixed? Or not worth it?

Yep, I fixed it. I went with higher temp Panasonic caps (85° to 105°) and replaced all of them for posterity. It was about $20 total and I've been using the DAC without issue daily.

 

[roskodan]

...sold the combo... years went by... back to the future... past... had my fair share of head-fi gear over the years... and still have a sizable collection, but wowie zowie, these two are a must have in any serious collection... V800, V200... legends!

 

[Fegefeuer]

How do you rank them now compared to what you owned past selling them?

 

[roskodan]

How do you rank them now compared to what you owned past selling them?

Check my current gear. I'm a hoarder. LOL. They are unique. The DAC V800 it's as good as the best of them, to my ears and taste. The HPA V200 struggles with loads under 50 Ohm that are current hungry, sound is too damped, but give it a planar at or above 50 Ohm load or some classic high Z phone, think classic Sennheiser, Beyedynamic... and it's stellar.

I don't like to rank, unless it's a detailed comparison. Overall both are very soulful, full sounding (HPA V200 set to DC coupled output is a must to my ears and taste, I've two HPA V200), very '70s / '80s hi-fi sound. Deep layering on both. Dark by today's standards perhaps, but that's compared to the Topping and ESS "mania". To me these are just the right balance between hi-fi and reproduction.

I'm all for Hi-Fi, but if the reproduction does not move me, what's the point? Right?

The art of reproduction goes beyond Hi-Fi, imo.

 

[Fegefeuer]

No, that's a fine impression. With rank I never mean spots or a numbered ranking per se. Just curious how they measure up in the context of the experiences over the last years.

I agree on the V200. Quite a unique experience. Don't have much that much experience with their DACs.

 

[roskodan]

Definitely one of the least forward DACs. I went to quite a few meets with my DAC V800, cca. 2013-2015 period, on speakers setups, it was always the least forward and the least screaming. Same for headphone setups, but on speaker setups the effect was shocking, to many folks so much that it was quickly, also imo wrongly, discarded, disregarded.

Was it less treble forward or not as hot output, maybe both? Didn't really care then nor now, to me it's just one of those DACs that one can crank up the amp and play loud without losing dynamism nor deep full spectrum layering.

 

[walkman666]

I’ve also been using the Violectric v200 and v800 combo for almost ten years now. It’s my desktop rig. Smooth and powerful.

 

[zhgutov]

Since I now have E1DA Cosmos ADC, I can measure RS06, V800, and RS05 paired with V800.
So, here we are. V800 is 10 y.o. BTW.

 

[AudioPowerHead]

Since I now have E1DA Cosmos ADC, I can measure RS06, V800, and RS05 paired with V800.
So, here we are. V800 is 10 y.o. BTW.

Thanks for sharing @zhgutov. Am not so technically inclined. Is the RS05/V800 combo more superior in dynamic range and noise level ? I currently have the RS05 / V850 (resampling off) combo feeding into the V280. Thanks.