[Sound Eq]

I'm listening this combo from November.
My concern was about the Violectric attitude to drive the HEK but, just turned on, the result was gorgeous.
I have also an OTL amp (very well built with excellent tubes - 5998 and ECC88) with an HD800.

The Violectric DAC/Amp, IMHO, is really an improvement respect V281. It sounds natural, without coloring. The combo with the Hifiman can be listened for many hours without listening fatigue.
The internal DAC performs adequately without emphasis. Bass and midbass are fast and clean. Voices are natural, never compressed. Hi frequencies are natural, vivid without any roll off.

I think that this combo is an excellent system at an acceptable price. Of course you can find better things but i don't think at this price.
Carlo

wonder what in your gears is better than the dha 380 with hifiman regardless of price

 

[carloc]

For my taste, my preferred genres are Classical and Jazz, I like very much the Stax sound.
I've listened Stax 009, 007 mkII, L700, L500 and L300 together with Stax Amplifier (006tS, 700T and 700S) and custom amplifiers.
IMHO a Stax combo with an external DAC (I used with STAX the Metrum Onyx DAC and the Lector Digicode S192 DAC) can be even better of the Violectric/Hifiman combo.
Of course we are talking about personal taste and also differences between these systems are noticeable. Perhaps, if you like listen rock music the Violectric/Hifiman combo could be more suitable of the Stax one.

 

[Sound Eq]

For my taste, my preferred genres are Classical and Jazz, I like very much the Stax sound.
I've listened Stax 009, 007 mkII, L700, L500 and L300 together with Stax Amplifier (006tS, 700T and 700S) and custom amplifiers.
IMHO a Stax combo with an external DAC (I used with STAX the Metrum Onyx DAC and the Lector Digicode S192 DAC) can be even better of the Violectric/Hifiman combo.
Of course we are talking about personal taste and also differences between these systems are noticeable. Perhaps, if you like listen rock music the Violectric/Hifiman combo could be more suitable of the Stax one.

well i had stax 007 mk2 and stax 007tii, with chord tt2 as dac, and i was not that impressed. I do not listen to jazz or classical music, more I listen to other genres. I do not how to take ur impression and suit it to my preference, as I like for engaging sound, with lots of dynamics

But I feel no excitement from your side owning the 380, well again maybe its cause we have different preferences.

Right now I think I am just regretting selling my chord tt2 and wish I could have it back, than to go through a hell of buying blindly in hopes to top what i had

 

[carloc]

But I feel no excitement from your side owning the 380, well again maybe its cause we have different preferences.

Right now I think I am just regretting selling my chord tt2 and wish I could have it back, than to go through a hell of buying blindly in hopes to top what i had

I'm not so easy to be enthusiastic for these items. I know a lot of people describing wonders for the latest purchase...after some months they will sell the items.
I'm very impressed from Violectric/Hifiman combo and I could live for a long time with it. It perform in a excellent way also for Classical and Jazz music
I've only said that my wish is to come back to electrostatic headphone in the future. Believe me.....the Violectric/Hifiman combo really produce a great sound.

About the DAC, Chord is a very good DAC and considering the the great introspection that headphones allow, the DAC quality is essential for an headphone system.
So, first, we must have a great (DAC) source and after we can build our headphone system. (IMHO).

 

[Sound Eq]

I'm not so easy to be enthusiastic for these items. I know a lot of people describing wonders for the latest purchase...after some months they will sell the items.
I'm very impressed from Violectric/Hifiman combo and I could live for a long time with it. It perform in a excellent way also for Classical and Jazz music
I've only said that my wish is to come back to electrostatic headphone in the future. Believe me.....the Violectric/Hifiman combo really produce a great sound.

About the DAC, Chord is a very good DAC and considering the the great introspection that headphones allow, the DAC quality is essential for an headphone system.
So, first, we must have a great (DAC) source and after we can build our headphone system. (IMHO).

so u think that if u add a better dac to 380 things would change significantly

 

[carloc]

so u think that if u add a better dac to 380 things would change significantly

The DAC embedded in the 380 is very good. Obviously there are better DACs but they they will cost you how much or more of the 380.
Mine was a general speech that I believe is valid for any headphone system.
Regards,
Carlo

 

[xcentric]

So as a newbie to headphone listening I thought I’d share my early impressions of this new headphone amp from Violectric, they of the revered V281. I seriously considered the V281 but as it was being phased out in favour of this, I decided to jump into the new version, especially as the DAC in this is slightly more in line with the quality of the amplification.


I have a decent system to drive my speakers, so wanted this for headphone duties by itself - it doesn’t have to act as a pre-amp to any speakers. However, I did want an amp hat could be fed from my dCS Rossini DAC, as well as being able to run stand-alone by using the built-in DAC.

Headphones are nothing exceptional - Meze 99 Classic, Sennheiser 650’s, Grado SR325e’s. The Meze’s are my favourite, with the Sennheiser next (though they are reasonably new and much less comfortable) and the Grado’s may be being returned as they just don’t add anything to the party. But this is not a headphone review.

For comparison, I’ve used a Topping DX3 Pro, and an RME ADI-2 DAC headphone amp (about £250 and £900 respectively), and for all have run them from a Raspberry Pi 4 via optical connector or USB, with Roon. Note too that the RME has also been returned as it was better, but not much better, than the DX3 Pro which is a great small box for the money. The Violectric is closer to £2k so should be better.

First impressions: it’s a solidly built bit of tech, slightly more modern in looks than the V281 and with more discrete white leds. It still has an old-school vibe with three way silver toggle switches oil the front panel, and is not full width - it’s about ¾.

I’ve been playing music from Katie Melua, Fleetwood Mac, Faithless, Pink Floyd, Dido, Snow Patrol, Neil Young and others for the past few hours - tellingly, I’ve been mostly listening to the music, not analysing the hi-fi experience, which for me is a good sign. Decent systems offer a clarity and transparency and immediacy that is more relaxing to listen to, I find, and whilst it’s hard to put a finger on why it is, it is usually apparent pretty quickly. It was with this.

Characterwise, it’s like being in a warm down jacket in a snowy landscape: there is crispness and clarity across the music horizon, but doesn’t leave you feeling cold and sterile - there is enough warmth in the sound that enfolds you as you listen to details. There is no harshness in the upper ranges, and bass is tight and controlled and rhythmic - there is a strong Naim character to the sound, I think. In fact, the more I listen, the sibilance control without loss of detail is great. And there’s no lack of bass.

I’ll add to this as I explore it more and let it settle in. Put it like this - I’ve had it in its box, unopened, for a while as I’d been disappointed with the RME despite its good reviews, and wasn’t expecting miracles with this, and it’s a lot to spend on a listening mode I am not an aficionado of. After a few hours I know it’s going to stay and I am already working out how easy it will be to move between the hifi room and the office as I’ll want to use it in there when working.

 

[carloc]

Thanks for sharing your impressions.
In the future, consider to use also better headphones in order to be able to make the most of your Violectric.
Happy New Year.
Carlo

 

[Wyville]

Just got the demo of the V380 in:

I thought I would share some very brief initial impressions. Build quality is excellent and everything feels very nice to use. I tried to capture the finish on the front plate, which looks great, but I think it looks better in real life.

So far I have done only a few short listening sessions with IEMs and the HD650 (which I bought as soon as I got the demo in, so those are new for me too). The sound is very good in my opinion. When I described it to a friend of mine, @EagleWings, he used the term 'Nice Neutral' and I think that is a very appropriate term. The V380 is neutral with great clarity, but not in a way I have come across before. In fact, it is so smooth that I would expect it to be warmer than it is. To top it off the V380 has very good dynamics that make the music come alive. I feel that the V380 has for me been a very good introduction into what higher-end desktop gear can offer beyond the portable gear I am used to and I absolutely love it!

Just very brief impressions and some pictures I wanted to share, as there is not that much information on the V380 floating around. I might get the opportunity to try out the Final D8000 as well before the V380 needs to go back to Dune Blue (distributor).

 

[Wyville]

Just trying things out and was wondering if the noise floor was indeed "inaudible" as claimed. So plugged in the Campfire Audio Ara and even without any pre-gain reduction it was perfectly clean. The -18dB pre-gain is essentially only required to get some decent room to work with on the volume dial. Very impressed by that for such a powerful amp.

 

[JCANs]

Just trying things out and was wondering if the noise floor was indeed "inaudible" as claimed. So plugged in the Campfire Audio Ara and even without any pre-gain reduction it was perfectly clean. The -18dB pre-gain is essentially only required to get some decent room to work with on the volume dial. Very impressed by that for such a powerful amp.

I cannot really see it properly, but did the volume knob indicator light up? Afaik the 590 does have a white LED in/behind the knob.

Additionally, any chance you can still think of differences from the build-in DAC and RME? The tweakability of the RME seems quite cool, but if the DAC would underperform compared to the 380's DAC then I might be more tempted to just go with the 380 (RME with 550 would otherwise be interesting).
Thanks (en bedankt alvast!)

 

[Wyville]

I cannot really see it properly, but did the volume knob indicator light up? Afaik the 590 does have a white LED in/behind the knob.

Additionally, any chance you can still think of differences from the build-in DAC and RME? The tweakability of the RME seems quite cool, but if the DAC would underperform compared to the 380's DAC then I might be more tempted to just go with the 380 (RME with 550 would otherwise be interesting).
Thanks (en bedankt alvast!)

I haven't noticed the volume indicator lighting up.

I can't say anything about the RME because I don't have access to that. Perhaps someone else can chime in on that?

 

[JCANs]

Thanks I might actually be wrong about the LED-dial idea completely... scrolling through the pics in the 590 thread it could very well be just some glare from the camera flash.
I also notice that there seem to be a volume dial with and one without the white indicator (I think the one without will be hard to read at night).
Was the one without the white indicator an older version? The demo from Wyville shows the indicator but the official pics on the Violectric site show the all black dial.

 

[fdg]

There is no LED indicator in the volume knobs from any Violectric model.
This (unfortunately very expensive) feature is reserved for our Niimbus line.
Concerning the volume knob from V340/V380 it was initially intended to use the volume knob from V281 (without white mark).
So are the official fotos from our web site.
But later we decided to update the V3xx line to the volume knob with the white indicator known from the V550 / V590 items.

 

[Wyville]

Just posted my full review of the V380: here

I did my best to include a detailed overview of the differences between the V380 and V590, which I think a lot of people will be interested in, but unfortunately did not have the opportunity to compare side-by-side.