[Astral Abyss]

  My equipment is a combo of silver and black and I'm quite content with what I have. Had the HDVA 600 (beautiful amp). Sold it.
 
I think a black plug will match the black knobs on my Violectric V281 HP amp quite nicely.  

 
But will it match the Lego castle?

 

[musicbuff]

   
But will it match the Lego castle?

Haven't you heard?  Black goes with everything!  

 

[wym2]

  Haven't you heard?  Black goes with everything!  

 
 
Duuuuuuuuuuuude!!

 

[fpsoft1]

  My equipment is a combo of silver and black and I'm quite content with what I have. Had the HDVA 600 (beautiful amp). Sold it.

 
Did you sold the hdva600 for the violectric v281? If yes, what are the reasons? I own hdva600 and hd800, i was thinking to change the hdva600 with v281 to have an amplifier who can drive most of the headphones.

 

[dharma]

Is there any evidence of this yet ? I'm interested to see how they have done this. It appears that the build is identical to the HD800 other than resonator . If the driver is repositioned it must be very slight as I cannot see a difference when comparing them both .

 
Carefully x-raying, or even better to use tomography ('3D-xray'), for comparison can reveal even more differences. Tomography could be used for more visually detailed analysis and measuring.
??!

 

[musicbuff]

   
Did you sold the hdva600 for the violectric v281? If yes, what are the reasons? I own hdva600 and hd800, i was thinking to change the hdva600 with v281 to have an amplifier who can drive most of the headphones.

I sold the HDVA after purchasing the Marantz PM11S3 stereo amp.  To my ears Marantz's headphone jack sounded as good as the HDVA balanced. Then I purchased the SPL Phonitor 2 HP amp which is very good.  But the Phonitor 2 needs special cabling (double female XLR plugs instead of the usual single 4 pin or double 3 male pin plugs). Allen @ WyWires did a wonderful job rewiring my X for the Phonitor 2 as you can see in my Avatar pic. But I wanted to use the Senn CH650S and CH800S XLR cables because I knew they sounded good from when I had the HDVA 600. So I bought the V281 after reading the Violectric thread here on Head-fi.  The pairing between the HD 800 and 650 and the V281 is my end game purchase for my Senns.  For my taste the V281 doesn't pair well with the LCD-X (too warm).  The Phonitor 2 works better with the X gives it a bit more treble (I'm trying to decide if it's enough treble, but love that bass).

 

[Nicklikesmusic]

I Think Sennheiser engineers made 2 things 2 Which affected sound. You cant increase sub bass by absorber! They TUNED a Driver for a touch more bass and Implement Absorber to reduce High frequencies peak. Those 2 fixes should also affect mids to become warmer? Can anyone tell me am i right?

I think that the small hole in the middle of the absorber is what is responsible for the low frequency boost. I did some experimenting on my HD800 and made my own centre hole absorber for 6Khz and centre resonator to boost the very low frequencies. To be honest the 6kHz reduction alone is easily performed and I managed to very very closely match my 6Khz and 6.5Khz loudness to the 5 and 5.5Khz which resulted in better high frequency perceived detail, better depth perception of the image and of course loss of treble spike (which never really bothered me until I realised the difference when removed!). IMHO matching the 5kHz range to the 6kHz is imperative to the best overall performance. You should not aim to reduce 6 kHz and 6.5Khz levels completely but to seamlessly match them to the 5 kHz range according to your personal ear and not a graph from a microphone as the frequency responses from microphones although extremely informative do not have the same response curve as your individual ear. 
 
I was not successful when experimenting with the absorber/ centre resonator for low freq combo. My bass was increased but muddy. But..the centre hole increases the bass and you can also show this mathematically using the helmholtz equation for an open cylinder connected to a volume of air. The modification is easy and can be undone with no damage to the HD800 and I would recommend just doing the 6 kHz band only if you already have an hd800 which has a 5dB bass response as on your certificate.
 
 Sennheiser cannot create one headphone that matches all people's hearing response. They have given you two options for how they handle the  6kHz peak and you will most likely fall somewhere between the two unless you custom match your headphones 5,5.5, 6 and 6Khz response to your ears natural rolloff.
Again this is all my own personal opinion and I am really interested in working with people also with a scientific knowledge of acoustics to further increase my knowledge of a hobby I value dearly.  If you are interested in the steps required to match your 5 and 6 Khz bands just ask

 

[dharma]

 
I think that the small hole in the middle of the absorber is what is responsible for the low frequency boost. I did some experimenting on my HD800 and made my own centre hole absorber for 6Khz and centre resonator to boost the very low frequencies. To be honest the 6kHz reduction alone is easily performed and I managed to very very closely match my 6Khz and 6.5Khz loudness to the 5 and 5.5Khz which resulted in better high frequency perceived detail, better depth perception of the image and of course loss of treble spike (which never really bothered me until I realised the difference when removed!). IMHO matching the 5kHz range to the 6kHz is imperative to the best overall performance. You should not aim to reduce 6 kHz and 6.5Khz levels completely but to seamlessly match them to the 5 kHz range according to your personal ear and not a graph from a microphone as the frequency responses from microphones although extremely informative do not have the same response curve as your individual ear. 
 
I was not successful when experimenting with the absorber/ centre resonator for low freq combo. My bass was increased but muddy. But..the centre hole increases the bass and you can also show this mathematically using the helmholtz equation for an open cylinder connected to a volume of air. The modification is easy and can be undone with no damage to the HD800 and I would recommend just doing the 6 kHz band only if you already have an hd800 which has a 5dB bass response as on your certificate.
 
 Sennheiser cannot create one headphone that matches all people's hearing response. They have given you two options for how they handle the  6kHz peak and you will most likely fall somewhere between the two unless you custom match your headphones 5,5.5, 6 and 6Khz response to your ears natural rolloff.
Again this is all my own personal opinion and I am really interested in working with people also with a scientific knowledge of acoustics to further increase my knowledge of a hobby I value dearly.  If you are interested in the steps required to match your 5 and 6 Khz bands just ask

 
I think You could give some 'practical' advice about 'dampening 6kHz' here too...
 
There was someone idea, that driver position, in HD800S, is changed too, is it correct? (driver position is connected to 'perceived sound-waves' too)...

 

[sysfail]

 
I think that the small hole in the middle of the absorber is what is responsible for the low frequency boost. I did some experimenting on my HD800 and made my own centre hole absorber for 6Khz and centre resonator to boost the very low frequencies. To be honest the 6kHz reduction alone is easily performed and I managed to very very closely match my 6Khz and 6.5Khz loudness to the 5 and 5.5Khz which resulted in better high frequency perceived detail, better depth perception of the image and of course loss of treble spike (which never really bothered me until I realised the difference when removed!). IMHO matching the 5kHz range to the 6kHz is imperative to the best overall performance. You should not aim to reduce 6 kHz and 6.5Khz levels completely but to seamlessly match them to the 5 kHz range according to your personal ear and not a graph from a microphone as the frequency responses from microphones although extremely informative do not have the same response curve as your individual ear. 
 
I was not successful when experimenting with the absorber/ centre resonator for low freq combo. My bass was increased but muddy. But..the centre hole increases the bass and you can also show this mathematically using the helmholtz equation for an open cylinder connected to a volume of air. The modification is easy and can be undone with no damage to the HD800 and I would recommend just doing the 6 kHz band only if you already have an hd800 which has a 5dB bass response as on your certificate.
 
 Sennheiser cannot create one headphone that matches all people's hearing response. They have given you two options for how they handle the  6kHz peak and you will most likely fall somewhere between the two unless you custom match your headphones 5,5.5, 6 and 6Khz response to your ears natural rolloff.
Again this is all my own personal opinion and I am really interested in working with people also with a scientific knowledge of acoustics to further increase my knowledge of a hobby I value dearly.  If you are interested in the steps required to match your 5 and 6 Khz bands just ask

 
Would love to read what kind of mods you did with your HD800. Perhaps pictures can give the best idea of what was done. Very interested to see it!

 

[ubs28]

Now I begin to wonder if I didn't make a mistake not going for the V281 if everybody is so positive about it.

It may sound silly, but I liked the design of the Taurus MK II so much more than the V281, that I didn't even bother listening to it.

 

[TonyNewman]

Now I begin to wonder if I didn't make a mistake not going for the V281 if everybody is so positive about it.

It may sound silly, but I liked the design of the Taurus MK II so much more than the V281, that I didn't even bother listening to it.

 
I think you might have missed out a little there. The V281 isn't pretty - kinda brutish shoebox design, but looks is about the only thing the Taurus does better IMHO. I own both and I doubt I will use the Taurus again (as good as it is - and the Taurus is a very good amp).
 
Perhaps if I was a fan of darker headphones with strangled treble (like the Audeze line) I would prefer to match those to the Taurus - but I am not. I like more neutral headphones - HD800/HD800S/HE6/Ether C. I much prefer the V281 with all of these cans.
 
Disclaimer - I have only had my V281 for 4 days and it is still burning in and improving. Still, happy to call it one of my better audio purchases - right up there with my HD800S, Auralic Vega and Accuphase P-4200.

 

[ubs28]

   
I think you might have missed out a little there. The V281 isn't pretty - kinda brutish shoebox design, but looks is about the only thing the Taurus does better IMHO. I own both and I doubt I will use the Taurus again (as good as it is - and the Taurus is a very good amp).
 
Perhaps if I was a fan of darker headphones with strangled treble (like the Audeze line) I would prefer to match those to the Taurus - but I am not. I like more neutral headphones - HD800/HD800S/HE6/Ether C. I much prefer the V281 with all of these cans.
 
Disclaimer - I have only had my V281 for 4 days and it is still burning in and improving. Still, happy to call it one of my better audio purchases - right up there with my HD800S, Auralic Vega and Accuphase P-4200.

Doesn't that make the V281 a warm sounding amplifier if it only works with neutral headphones? If so, then I made the right choice by luck.

 

[TonyNewman]

 
Doesn't that make the V281 a warm sounding amplifier if it only works with neutral headphones? If so, then I made the right choice by luck.

 
Slightly warm in the same way that the Taurus is slightly bright. It's all a matter of taste / perception.
 
The V281 brings better sound staging, better dynamics and better bass punch. Also adds a level of body and richness to the sound that is kind of tube-like. Hard to describe, but I like it.
 
Still a neutral device, I think, with a hint of darkness.

 

[plakat]

Couldn't care less about mods... Now even a bit less than before.

I'm looking forward to the next local meet here and plan on taking some time to compare old and new. But b fore that I'll dig out the balanced cable and try the combination with the V281.
So far I use the HD800S mostly with the DAC2, which is a bit leaner than with the HDVD800, but nicely detailed and spacious. The impressive power of the V281 might pair quite well, but so how I did not try that out so far.

 

[musicbuff]

   
I think you might have missed out a little there. The V281 isn't pretty - kinda brutish shoebox design, but looks is about the only thing the Taurus does better IMHO. I own both and I doubt I will use the Taurus again (as good as it is - and the Taurus is a very good amp).
 
Perhaps if I was a fan of darker headphones with strangled treble (like the Audeze line) I would prefer to match those to the Taurus - but I am not. I like more neutral headphones - HD800/HD800S/HE6/Ether C. I much prefer the V281 with all of these cans.
 
Disclaimer - I have only had my V281 for 4 days and it is still burning in and improving. Still, happy to call it one of my better audio purchases - right up there with my HD800S, Auralic Vega and Accuphase P-4200.

I've had my V281 a few months and love it.  I've seen some ugly products I wouldn't want sitting in my listening space (mostly expensive speakers) so I understand a little.  But the Violectric has such a small foot print and such great sound, it's worth every inch and more.  Everyone raves about the improvements of the Senn 800 S, but V281 has tamed the 6 and 10 kHz spike (yeah, saw both on the FR chart I sent for this week) on my Classic HD 800 and the bass is tight, right and present, so I think I'll just stick with it.  But I am interested in knowing how the V281 makes the HE-6 sound.  I'd like a complimentary HP for the HD 800. What would the HE 6 bring to the table that the HD 800 doesn't?