[brat]

I have V200 and LCD-2 and no matter what source I use I miss the bass impact. It certainly goes deep but is unbodied and anemic. I begin to suspect that I have some newer bassless revision ot LCD-2 OR the V200 is a bass shy amp...... I post this here because the V800 will be my last attemt to adjust the sound of this combo before it goes to the trade forums

 

[silwen]

What cables do you use? I am on the HD800-V200 or GS1000i and I find that the amount of bass is fairly dependent on the cables too. I found the Verastarr Nemesis to give excellent bass reproduction. It was personally too much for classical music but for pop/rock, it worked out quite well. 

 

[brat]

I have 45cm single core silver cables (RCA), some japan OFC ICs (RCA) that came with my stax amp and Van den Hul The Second  carbon ICs (XLR and RCA variants). It's not a cable issue.

 

[JLBA]

V200 + V800 + HD800 here and the bass is well defined (I mainly listen to jazz and classical music so not a lot of slamming but all seems to be well in place and when listening to Marcus Miller the bass is very authoritative)

 

[project86]

Quote:

Great review, and after seeing the price here in Europe I got one
Thanks!
 
Love the sound as well. Finally after all these years neutral detailed precise sound with no nasties.
Best mids I've ever heard by FAR. (ohno just remembered the UDC1 had great mids too, but wasn't otherwise on this level)
 
Just 2 things that one must look out for:
I've found that on (very) rare occasion the volume knob seems to be rapidly switching between 2 volume settings, which is audible as a sort of "zipper" noise.
I do work in music theory, something with tuning and I work with sine waves a lot. This made it clearly noticeable to me twice. Small turn of the knob and it was gone.
 
The other thing I just found is to not hook up XLR and RCA at the same time. I got a mild distortion from this with certain sounds.
May have been something else, but can't think what it could have been. Disconnected the RCA and it was gone..
 
Btw, I do hear a slight loss of (otherwise extremely high) quality when going below 20-30 dB of digital volume reduction.
So in normal hifi use probably best to set it to +6dBu output with the jumpers (we don't need more gain than that) and be light on the volume knob (I leave it wide open and do small gain reduction with the foobar volume slider)

Cool! I'm glad your quest finally ended, though I did enjoy reading through your practically real-time updates. 
 
The V200 sure is an excellent DAC. Easily overlooked due to lack of "sensational" specs. Plus the diminutive size makes it seem somewhat like a toy. It was funny when I had the V200 and the Audio GD Reference 7 and did some comparisons with friends. The massive Ref7 seemed like the obvious choice to everyone there based on the usual "audiophile" standards like big power supply and overall weight.... I enjoyed seeing their faces when the little V800 sounded clearly more refined, more distinct, more resolving, yet retained musicality to the point where there really wasn't much the Ref7 did better. I say that as a big fan of the Ref7 too - it's an amazing unit, just that we all felt the V800 to be even more special. 
 
It's funny that you ended up with a DAC from a "real" designer of studio equipment (versus only audiophile equipment), since you do use it in that capacity. 

 

[walkman666]

Slackman.  I have the v800 and v200 combo, and have both XLR and RCA cables in use as outputs from my v800 (XLR to v200 and RCA to powered speakers). I have not noticed any distortion with certain sounds.  Otherwise, I keep the v800 volume at maximum, and adjust loudness through the v200 and my powered speakers volume controls.

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

I have V200 and LCD-2 and no matter what source I use I miss the bass impact. It certainly goes deep but is unbodied and anemic. I begin to suspect that I have some newer bassless revision ot LCD-2 OR the V200 is a bass shy amp...... I post this here because the V800 will be my last attemt to adjust the sound of this combo before it goes to the trade forums

I never felt my V200 to be bass shy when using the LCD-2 r.1, LCD-2 r.2 or LCD-3.  From reading the various  posts you have made about your LCD's I'd seriously consider sending them back to be checked out.   Many people have found the V200/LCD combination to be excellent.  Something seems dreadfully wrong somewhere in your rig.  I've read zillions of posts and impressions about the V200 and the LCD and in my experience the V200 seems to perform consistently without variance but the LCD's cannot make that same claim.  They vary in sound and qualtiy. I myself have had two pairs of LCD-2 r.1's that have sounded completely different.  I know a few people who have found this to be true also of the LCD-2 r.2.   I have read many of your posts concerning your LCD's and They simply do not seem to be performing like any LCD I have experienced or even read about.  

 

[brat]

Quote:

I never felt my V200 to be bass shy when using the LCD-2 r.1, LCD-2 r.2 or LCD-3.  From reading the various  posts you have made about your LCD's I'd seriously consider sending them back to be checked out.   Many people have found the V200/LCD combination to be excellent.  Something seems dreadfully wrong somewhere in your rig.  I've read zillions of posts and impressions about the V200 and the LCD and in my experience the V200 seems to perform consistently without variance but the LCD's cannot make that same claim.  They vary in sound and qualtiy. I myself have had two pairs of LCD-2 r.1's that have sounded completely different.  I know a few people who have found this to be true also of the LCD-2 r.2.   I have read many of your posts concerning your LCD's and They simply do not seem to be performing like any LCD I have experienced or even read about.  

Yes, I see the discrepancy between my experience and all others. But I don't think it's a defective unit. It's just the specific sound signature of my LCD-2s. I don't think they'll replace them for this
But maybe there's also a problem with my expectations and tastes. I expected from LCD-2 darker and more intimate sound but what I have is rather neutral, transparent sound and a HUGE soundstage
 
On the main thread:
Has anyone compared V800 to Audiolab M-DAC?
I have the M-DAC for a while and it fits great in my system (PC-->M-DAC-->V200-->LCD-2 r2): well defined and punchy bass (better than my CDPs in that area), good 3D, good instrument separation, exceptional vocals...

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Yes, I see the discrepancy between my experience and all others. But I don't think it's a defective unit. It's just the specific sound signature of my LCD-2s. I don't think they'll replace them for this
But maybe there's also a problem with my expectations and tastes. I expected from LCD-2 darker and more intimate sound but what I have is rather neutral, transparent sound and a HUGE soundstage
 
On the main thread:
Has anyone compared V800 to Audiolab M-DAC?
I have the M-DAC for a while and it fits great in my system (PC-->M-DAC-->V200-->LCD-2 r2): well defined and punchy bass (better than my CDPs in that area), good 3D, good instrument separation, exceptional vocals...

One thing I've never experienced with any LCD model is a huge soundstage.    What is the M-DAC?
 

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

One thing I've never experienced with any LCD model is a huge soundstage.    What is the M-DAC?
 

I never experienced a huge soundstage with the LCD-2 and W4S DAC. With the D7000, yes, but LCD-2, no. I find his experience interesting...

 

[Mauricio]

Quote:

 
Has anyone compared V800 to Audiolab M-DAC?
 

...or to the Musical Fidelity M1 DAC-A.

 

[brat]

Quote:

One thing I've never experienced with any LCD model is a huge soundstage.
 

 
I have K701 and the LCD-2's soundstage is much bigger. I'm serious. One of my friends once said it's the biggest soundstage he had ever heard from a headphone.
OK, I stop comparing my LCD-2s to the others. Maybe there's something different in the batch from this february
 
This is the Audiolab M-DAC: http://www.audiolab.co.uk/M-DAC%20Series.aspx?lang=En

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

 
I have K701 and the LCD-2's soundstage is much bigger. I'm serious. One of my friends once said it's the biggest soundstage he had ever heard from a headphone.
OK, I stop comparing my LCD-2s to the others. Maybe there's something different in the batch from this february
 
This is the Audiolab M-DAC: http://www.audiolab.co.uk/M-DAC%20Series.aspx?lang=En

Wow, even the LCD-3 has a more extended soundstage than the LCD-2 but I wouldn't call that big either but then again I think the entire concept of soundstage with a headphone is a perversion.  That aside you should bite the bullet and send your LCD-2 back to be checked.
 

 

[Somnambulist]

Thinking about this, in the UK it's a bit more than the M-DAC and I'm wondering if £800 for an utterly pure DAC is going to give me greater performance with my active speakers than £600 for DAC + headphone amp, fancy OLED screen and various filter gubbins.

 

[slackman]

Quote:

Thinking about this, in the UK it's a bit more than the M-DAC and I'm wondering if £800 for an utterly pure DAC is going to give me greater performance with my active speakers than £600 for DAC + headphone amp, fancy OLED screen and various filter gubbins.

 
Your reasoning seems sound to me.
Haven't heard the M-DAC myself, but I doubt it is any better than for instance the Yulong D18.
And the V800 sure is better than the D18.
 
Btw, if you're listening to speakers. Acoustical treatment is far more important than your DAC.
If one would have to choose between an untreated room and a $1000 DAC, or $900 on DIY rockwool absorption panels and a $100 DAC, the latter option will sound much much better.