[linknet]

I listened to the 226 and the 380 m2 last weekend .. no comparison the 380 is street’s ahead as an all in one

It's been some 6 months that i got a Violectric DHA V380 MK2 and i love it.
Before i had a Burson 3X GT. It's also a great dac/amp but 2 things did not go with me : the noise of the fan and in high gain volume was already loud enough at 1...
The Violectric is dead silent and with the multiple gain selector you can really find your sweet spot
I also had an Hifiman EF400. For the price it's a good dac/amp but when i got my Violectric the difference was big. I've never heard treble so crisp and clear but also so sweet at the same time. And everything is so musical and natural.
So the V380 MK2 is really worth a try

 

[jjazzy]

It's been some 6 months that i got a Violectric DHA V380 MK2 and i love it.
Before i had a Burson 3X GT. It's also a great dac/amp but 2 things did not go with me : the noise of the fan and in high gain volume was already loud enough at 1...
The Violectric is dead silent and with the multiple gain selector you can really find your sweet spot
I also had an Hifiman EF400. For the price it's a good dac/amp but when i got my Violectric the difference was big. I've never heard treble so crisp and clear but also so sweet at the same time. And everything is so musical and natural.
So the V380 MK2 is really worth a try

I audited quite some while in the shop, but everytime it annoyed me the bass was too much in my face of the 380 mk2 and v590 pro. Tried it with ifi-stream and later bypassing the internal dac qutest (made it a little less bass happy) Not saying it was bad, but I kept putting the volume down to get away from that deep bass (at the cost of missing al the details) the gain switches are way better than on the Burson yes

I don’t say the conductor 3xr gt was ideal, the fan is one (but I could live with it) and the highs could sometimes be to much, also the gain was annoying (the soloist gt has 1w,5w and 10w). I had some hardware issues with the conductor is returned to the shop) why would you use high gain and not mid on the conductor?

Which dac are you using with the violectric? The build in I did not like, not even from the v590 pro version. Are you using the internal dac or external?

Now I am thinking of soloist 3xrgt with a decent dac. Something like composer 3xp or qutest for example.

 

[linknet]

Not saying it was bad, but I kept putting the volume down to get away from that deep bass (at the cost of missing al the details)

I suppose i'm a low volume listener so i was and still i'm very happy with the bass as it is

why would you use high gain and not mid on the conductor?

It was with my HE6seV2. The sound was much better in high gain but as it was already loud enough at 1 i could not adjust the volume... And going back to low gain i was always thinking about the better sound in high gain...

Are you using the internal dac or external?

I'm using the internal dac. I've tried a 1900 USD nice Dac (Merason frérot plus it's POW1 power supply) but even if the difference was real, the price was too much for me to get it. So i'll say that at it's price the V380 Mk2 has a good dac (YMMV). What did you not like about it ?

Now I am thinking of soloist 3xrgt with a decent dac. Something like composer 3xp or qutest for example.

Wish you a good search

Edit : I got a very good deal for the Dac i've talked about (Merason frérot) so i've decided to go the separate Dac and Amp way. My DHA V380MK2 is on sale...

 

[jjazzy]

I suppose i'm a low volume listener so i was and still i'm very happy with the bass as it is

It was with my HE6seV2. The sound was much better in high gain but as it was already loud enough at 1 i could not adjust the volume... And going back to low gain i was always thinking about the sound in high gain...

I'm using the internat dac. I've tried a 1100 USD nice Dac (Merason frérot) but the difference was small and not enough for me to get it. So i'll say that at it's price the V380 Mk2 has a good dac (YMMV). What did you not like about it ?

Wish you a good search

Yes I agree the interval in gain of the conductor gt is wrong, only 5w and 10w?? And the soloist has 1, 5 and 10w, nothing between 1 and 5 watt)
So violectric does that certainly better.

What I did not like about the dac of the violectric, was mainly some kond of hase effect over it, a little tuby like sound, only for me that was too much. I like smooth but not so much. Could also had to do what music I listen to, mostly jazz. So I would never say bad, but propably would have like a little tamed bass with the internall dac.

 

[Stefano31]

I listened to the 226 and the 380 m2 last weekend .. no comparison the 380 is street’s ahead as an all in one

Great feedback. Would it be possible to go even into some more details regarding the difference in listening / sound? I am still undecided if the 380 is wort the around 800€ on top. I have AB1266 headphones.

 

[Patlezinc]

Yes I agree the interval in gain of the conductor gt is wrong, only 5w and 10w?? And the soloist has 1, 5 and 10w, nothing between 1 and 5 watt)
So violectric does that certainly better.

What I did not like about the dac of the violectric, was mainly some kond of hase effect over it, a little tuby like sound, only for me that was too much. I like smooth but not so much. Could also had to do what music I listen to, mostly jazz. So I would never say bad, but propably would have like a little tamed bass with the internall dac.

I guess I know what happened to you. Because it happened to me.
i just received my v380 today (ESS). After some issues I have to admit it is an impressive piece of kit.
i don’t know how it works exactly but it needs a clean transport when using USB-B (and maybe other inputs too, don’t know). I have tried 2 dap and I had a dark sound, as if some frequencies over 3000hz were cut. Volume was not very consistent too. This darkness emphasis the basses and they were not really clean. At a time I could fix the dark sound when I launched Qobuz app. Don’t ask me why. I suddenly got back all the high frequencies and the precision coming with them. But it did not last long. I finally gave up but would like to try something better to be sure of what was going on so I chose my MacBook with Amarra software. Files are perfectly read by the Vio. PCM signal caught easily. Musics are ultra clean and no more darkness. And then you get the impressive work done on this ESS chip. The He1000SE don’t like bright sources and here the Vio is a perfect companion. Tuning is just wonderful.
Hifiman owners should consider it.