[zek4u]

Read your article regarding the sMS-200 on DAR just after it was posted. Nice. Feel pretty confident in my up-stream path: dedicated Cutler-Hammer 15A circuit/Audience AR1P/Teddy Pardo PSU to a microRendu with a Chord Company Signature USB. I'll also be trying out an ultraRendu with some other power options as well. Maybe an ultraRendu will sound amazing with an UltraDAC. .

Cousin has two AudioQuest Niagara 1000s that was just reviewed on DAR. He loves them. I'll need to compare one to my Audience. It's endless but fun. I've been preaching to my friends how everything matters. How if you have just one bottle neck, it degrades your system. EMI/RFI issues over USB just to start. I think it is always better to start clean rather then trying to clean it up later. I'm even going to leave my 12V Teddy PSU on my CAPs server even though all it does now is send DLNA across my network. Another bottleneck that killed my 0s and 1s was when I temporarily used a Time Warner/Spectrum modem/router. Nasty! There is another article series right there but probably not much fun. I'm also convinced retailers don't want you to know how rooms are 50% of the problem. There is a reason small speakers end up sounding better at trade shows. I think many times those blogging preach about fixes that work on their colored systems where real reviewers with their reference systems already have the bottlenecks worked out in rooms that are tweaked. Okay, I'll stop rambling.

Very excited to try out the Ultradac but my v280/2Qute is still sounding so wonderful. Sounds so alive with perfect synergy but my guess is its a bit forgiving. Even redbook sounds terrific.

 

[zek4u]

Well I'm also getting a V281. Violectric is just so good with HD800S headphones. I can't stop listening to my v280/2Qute. Okay, maybe I should have waited until I sold my V280.

I just need a balanced dac now. Anyone have one I can borrow? )). Maybe I can borrow my cousin's Dave. Am sure using the 2qute's unbalanced output or the dac in the BMC Ultradac will be good enough to compare. I lean to a very organic weighty sound and I just love having a real knob when changing the volume. Call me crazy. Well that's obvious. Having a good balanced preamp output is important but secondary to powering those HD800S headphones. Plan for the moment is to use the balanced pre out to power some Magnepan .7s with an old Proceed AMP2.

 

[novicez1]

Well I'm also getting a V281. Violectric is just so good with HD800S headphones. I can't stop listening to my v280/2Qute. Okay, maybe I should have waited until I sold my V280.

I just need a balanced dac now. Anyone have one I can borrow? )). Maybe I can borrow my cousin's Dave. Am sure using the 2qute's unbalanced output or the dac in the BMC Ultradac will be good enough to compare. I lean to a very organic weighty sound and I just love having a real knob when changing the volume. Call me crazy. Well that's obvious. Having a good balanced preamp output is important but secondary to powering those HD800S headphones. Plan for the moment is to use the balanced pre out to power some Magnepan .7s with an old Proceed AMP2.

Well on the bright side, at least you would be able to properly A/B the V280 and the V281 if there are any perceivable sonic differences between the two.

 

[Svatopluk]

It looks like Violectric amps are addictive. I bought a used V181 off eBay and now I have it and the V280, the V181 has been relegated to the bedroom and the V280 is part of my main rig. IMO both pair very well with the HD800, T1 and Utopia.

 

[zek4u]

I'll soon be comparing a V280, V281 and a BMC Ultradac. Let the games begin. Might upgrade my microRendu to an ultraRendu before I start. Since the V280 and V281 will most likely be similar and I really want a balanced out, the V280 should be sold to raise money for good balanced DAC to be brought into the mix or I'll just use the Ultradac feeding into the V281 to do my balanced comparisons.

Sounds like other headphones would be a better match if I went straight out off an amp built into the various quality DACs out there but I'm really quite smitten with the HD800S headphones. They are end game for me. Seems like the consensus is that a separate headphone amplifier is better with the HD800S headphones but it isn't stopping me from trying out an Ultradac as all-in-one solution. Must be the harder to drive 300 ohm impedance.

 

[headwhacker]

Must be the harder to drive 300 ohm impedance.

I chuckle every time I hear this

 

[zek4u]

I chuckle every time I hear this

Guess everyone enjoys getting laughed at.

I think the consensus is that HD800 headphones are harder to drive than others and they are 300 ohm. You have HD800s.

I assumed higher impedance headphones were harder to drive. Maybe I'm wrong.

Anonanimal said "A high-impedance headphone, e.g. Beyerdynamic T1 @ 600 Ohms, will be considered by many to be "hard" to drive because it will require significantly more voltage swing for reference volumes than, say, a DenonAH-D1001 @ 32 Ohms. Conversely, the Denon(even though it is probably slightly more efficient) is going to require more peak-to-peak current than the T1 for the same volume levels"

 

[PacoBdn]

Guess everyone enjoys getting laughed at.

I think the consensus is that HD800 headphones are harder to drive than others and they are 300 ohm. You have HD800s.

I assumed higher impedance headphones were harder to drive. Maybe I'm wrong.

Anonanimal said "A high-impedance headphone, e.g. Beyerdynamic T1 @ 600 Ohms, will be considered by many to be "hard" to drive because it will require significantly more voltage swing for reference volumes than, say, a DenonAH-D1001 @ 32 Ohms. Conversely, the Denon(even though it is probably slightly more efficient) is going to require more peak-to-peak current than the T1 for the same volume levels"

Hello,
What you should look at is the sensitivity not the impedance.

For example, the Hifiman HE-500 only have 38 Ohms and are quite hard to move. Why? Because its sensitivity is only 89 dB.

 

[headwhacker]

Hello,
What you should look at is the sensitivity not the impedance.

For example, the Hifiman HE-500 only have 38 Ohms and are quite hard to move. Why? Because its sensitivity is only 89 dB.

Impedance is also important. Higher impedance load will surely needs more voltage if sensitivity is the same between 2 headphones. Having said that, HD800 is not hard to drive as many people think. Many portable amps/DAC or DAPs nowadays can easily drive the HD800.

 

[Wes Pruett]

That John guy really knows what he's talking about.... (that's me )

I will admit it's hard to listen to a single-box like the UltraDAC and be confident you have reference-class headphone amplification. Where's my other huge box full of tubes or transistors? Separate headphone amps give you a warm fuzzy feeling knowing your system is more complex and expensive and therefore must be better... and it usually makes sense as most integrated headphone amps aren't the greatest. But honestly, the UltraDAC is something special, assuming you can get over that need for validation-through-complexity-and-cost.

Your cousin is sort of correct though. Many of the reviews I read online don't really add much to the conversation. The internet is full of opinions, some better than others, and the trick is to find people who tend to hear things the same way as you, then follow their general advice - while always listening for yourself whenever possible,and realizing that you'll inevitably disagree once in a while.

Have you listened to Schiit Gungnir/Mjolnir2? If so how does this schiit stack up to the BMC UltraDAC?

 

[zek4u]

Hi Wes. Sorry but I decided not to get the BMC UltraDAC and just stick with my Chord 2Qute. I'm actually going to play around with a Sony NW-WM1A into my V281. Also have a Black Dragon TRRS 4.4MM balanced to XLR 4-Pin on the way to see how it does balanced to my HD800S. Guess I need a TRRS 4.4MM to 2 3-PIN XLR connections to run to the v281 but one thing at a time. I sold my V280 and moved to a V281.

 

[doraymon]

I'll soon be comparing a V280, V281 and a BMC Ultradac. Let the games begin. Might upgrade my microRendu to an ultraRendu before I start. Since the V280 and V281 will most likely be similar and I really want a balanced out, the V280 should be sold to raise money for good balanced DAC to be brought into the mix or I'll just use the Ultradac feeding into the V281 to do my balanced comparisons.

Sounds like other headphones would be a better match if I went straight out off an amp built into the various quality DACs out there but I'm really quite smitten with the HD800S headphones. They are end game for me. Seems like the consensus is that a separate headphone amplifier is better with the HD800S headphones but it isn't stopping me from trying out an Ultradac as all-in-one solution. Must be the harder to drive 300 ohm impedance.

Hi, can you post a comparison between V280 and V281? Any sonic differences?
I'm very, very interested in the V280 as I don't need the preamp function!

 

[Ultrainferno]

Our interview series continues. This week we chatted with Fried Reim. CEO of Violectric and LakePeople

https://www.headfonia.com/q-n-a-saturday-violectric/

 

[doraymon]

Our interview series continues. This week we chatted with Fried Reim. CEO of Violectric and LakePeople

https://www.headfonia.com/q-n-a-saturday-violectric/

Nice!

 

[doraymon]

On the sonic differences between V280 and V281, I dropped an email to Lake People and I got an answer from Fried Reim directly.

Q: I am writing to ask you if you can explain me the main differences between the two amps. I understand the V281 has a preamp output which the V280 doesn't have, but other than this is there any significant difference to be expected in the sound quality (...)?

A: The amp section from both amps V280 and V281 is identical. And so is the sound!

That's what I wanted to hear...