[leftside]

If you want more bass, just turn it up on your preamp
 

 

[ken6217]

If you want more bass, just turn it up on your preamp

If you want more bass, just turn it up on your preamp

Ain't the same thing. Plus why have a preamp with the headphone amp and 2 volume controls? Sell tube amp and preamp and put the money towards a better DAC or headphones.

 

[leftside]

Ain't the same thing. Plus why have a preamp with the headphone amp and 2 volume controls? Sell tube amp and preamp and put the money towards a better DAC or headphones.

My preamp drives three different amps (two being headphone amps - so that I can do easy comparisons, and another to my main amp driving speakers). I also have multiple sources. If you just have a DAC, then you indeed might not need a preamp.

 

[phase0]

I got a new V281 with the fancy motor volume knob to demo. I'm wondering if you guys have any thoughts or advice. This seems a little off/wrong too me.
 
1) With the V281 volume set to zero, I still hear sound. Shouldn’t zero be black/nothing/full attenuation? Is there something wrong here?
2) If I manually turn the knob to adjust sometimes I can hear a somewhat nasty pop (aside from some audible clickyness there too with manual adjustment) For such a premium volume knob is this considered normal? If I use the remote control I don’t hear the clicks in the adjustment nor the occasion pop as often but it still can occur. For something that costs an additional $580 this seems kind of janky. I'm not talking about the audio clicking when the motor moves the knob.
3) It also seemed to be pretty hot on the sound for me so I adjusted the dip switches on the back to -6. I found it funny since some of what I read said with the Audeze LCD-XC that some feel it can benefit from +6. I don’t think the Mytek Line out is unduly hot.
 
I'm using balanced XLR from DAC to Amp. I checked the Mytek docs on their outputs and this is what it says briefly:
 
XLR output DEFAULT :
Average level (0 VU) = +4dBu= 1.228 VRMS on XLR (between pin 2 and 3) Output trim (adjustable in menu) = -18dBFS
 
This is the typical professional recording setting well handled by professional and some hi-fi equipment typically powered by +/-15V power rails (or larger)
It's recommended for Hi-Fi systems with well designed high headroom preamps and amps.
 
Anyways, the V281 sounds pretty good to me, but but.... is this normal? I don't think the output from the DAC is abnormally hot. At least my other amp doesn't have this anomaly.

 

[Fegefeuer]

I'm wondering how you don't find the Mytek bright. It's the brightest DAC I ever heard. Interestingly many who have the Mytek pair it with warmer tubes. Not sure about yours though.

 

[Advent75]

Fegefeuer, pairing Mytek w/Lake People G109 Amp and loving the energy. Considering high grading to the Violectric HPA V281...how will my experience change?

 

[3083joe]

I got a new V281 with the fancy motor volume knob to demo. I'm wondering if you guys have any thoughts or advice. This seems a little off/wrong too me.

1) With the V281 volume set to zero, I still hear sound. Shouldn’t zero be black/nothing/full attenuation? Is there something wrong here?

2) If I manually turn the knob to adjust sometimes I can hear a somewhat nasty pop (aside from some audible clickyness there too with manual adjustment) For such a premium volume knob is this considered normal? If I use the remote control I don’t hear the clicks in the adjustment nor the occasion pop as often but it still can occur. For something that costs an additional $580 this seems kind of janky. I'm not talking about the audio clicking when the motor moves the knob.

3) It also seemed to be pretty hot on the sound for me so I adjusted the dip switches on the back to -6. I found it funny since some of what I read said with the Audeze LCD-XC that some feel it can benefit from +6. I don’t think the Mytek Line out is unduly hot.

I'm using balanced XLR from DAC to Amp. I checked the Mytek docs on their outputs and this is what it says briefly:

XLR output DEFAULT :
Average level (0 VU) = +4dBu= 1.228 VRMS on XLR (between pin 2 and 3) Output trim (adjustable in menu) = -18dBFS

This is the typical professional recording setting well handled by professional and some hi-fi equipment typically powered by +/-15V power rails (or larger)
It's recommended for Hi-Fi systems with well designed high headroom preamps and amps.

Anyways, the V281 sounds pretty good to me, but but.... is this normal? I don't think the output from the DAC is abnormally hot. At least my other amp doesn't have this anomaly.

This doesn't sound like mine.
I have the same one (no dac)
Clicks yes as its a 128 step relay nob
I did hear a little sound with volume on zero with my dads phono stage but the gain was set to high for it.
No sound at zero with my project phono stage and no pops at all!
Also had to go to +6 gain for my hd800 S to sound best.

 

[phase0]

I'm wondering how you don't find the Mytek bright. It's the brightest DAC I ever heard. Interestingly many who have the Mytek pair it with warmer tubes. Not sure about yours though.

 
Yea maybe it is a bit bright now that you mention it. It sounds pretty good with my WA5. I bought the Mytek DAC based on reading reviews on gearslutz. It seemed like a lot of people loved it and for pro/con it generally had some of the highest praise. Regardless it was a huge step up from the RME I had before. Now as far as synergy and what is best is all very subjective and debatable. I'm just not sure what's next or what's best.
 

This doesn't sound like mine.
I have the same one (no dac)
Clicks yes as its a 128 step relay nob
I did hear a little sound with volume on zero with my dads phono stage but the gain was set to high for it.
No sound at zero with my project phono stage and no pops at all!
Also had to go to +6 gain for my hd800 S to sound best.

 
Thanks for the feedback here. I didn't think my output would be considered too hot but I wonder if it is. There's the Auralic Vega (IIRC) was over 4 volts and abnormally hot. The Mytek is around 1.2v and I thought around or up to 2v is normal. I have a firmware attenuation of -4 Db I can do and there is a jumper I can set internally to drop the output by an additional -6 Db for the DAC while it is in bypass mode which gives the purest line out sound quality after the conversion so that is really what I want to stick with. Otherwise I can enable volume control in the DAC and set it to something quieter if need be. I'm kind of hesitant cause my WA5 had no issues with it. I'm hoping it turns out to be a bad volume knob. I've heard they can be problematic (in general not anything specific about the Violectric).
 
Anyways it feels like something may be wrong with the relay control so I'm going to return it and have them check it out. I'm going to downgrade to a normal volume control. I don't really have any issue with the weird physical clicking of the relays since I have headphones on but all the audible in the signal clicking/popping was making me mad. IMO the most high-end expensive volume knob upgrade should do what the cheap/default option does plus more. The regular knob won't have that issue. It's totally smooth I'm told. I'll get this out the door soon and wait to hear if they find any problems with the unit. If they don't find anything wrong then the only place I can think to point the finger is at Mytek and the output running too hot. If that's the case, then I also wonder is that potentially harmful? Cause I would not want to attenuate for the WA5, but I would for the V281. I can't have both ways when the control is an internal jumper. And even then is an additional -6 on the Mytek + the -12 on the Violectric jumpers enough?

 

[3083joe]

Well I hope you get it sorted. I have to say I also have been disappointed in the 500+ nob but what can I do now. Sold the wa22. But it's all good. Just use remote and don't notice it.
I believe the -12 will be enough tho.
Keep us posted.
Thanks.

 

[thomascrown]

Well I hope you get it sorted. I have to say I also have been disappointed in the 500+ nob but what can I do now. Sold the wa22. But it's all good. Just use remote and don't notice it.
I believe the -12 will be enough tho.
Keep us posted.
Thanks.

Same here, good for me I bought the v281 used, so overall I'm not too disappointed, still that volume pot it's a design mistery to me, but lowering the input gain helped a lot. 

 

[PleasantSounds]

With the base version pot down to zero there's nothing leaking to my headphones (using -6dB gain, haven't checked at other settings). My DAC is set to 2V.
1.2V VU would be roughly equivalent to 1.8V peak, so these two may be actually the same value.
I would rather set the gain on the amp to -12dB than lowering the DAC output, provided that the volume range is sufficient. 
No need to worry about overloading the V281 inputs - if memory serves they can take up to +21dBu, which is 24.6V peak to peak.

 

[archeryc]

Been a long time of V281 owner, recently finally decided to upgrade my amp from V281 to the Moon 430HA. It's a hard decision, but time to end my game...

 

[YugiRider2]

  Been a long time of V281 owner, recently finally decided to upgrade my amp from V281 to the Moon 430HA. It's a hard decision, but time to end my game...

Please do some comparisons when you have both - I also have the V281 and the 430HA is also my end-game.

 

[mulder01]

?
Have you both tried the 430HA and preferred it?
 
PS.  This game has no end

 

[archeryc]

  ?
Have you both tried the 430HA and preferred it?
 
PS.  This game has no end

Both V281 and 430HA are awesome head amp, the reason I chose 430HA is because I prefer its treble presentation than the V281. With my LCD4 the V281 sounds too dark to my taste. The 430HA sounds just right and nice synergy with My LCD4. 
 
With HD800, both V281 and 430HA able to do a great job on them. This is just personal opinion and I need more time of listening to justify of course.