[Drewligarchy]

I just received my silver Violectric V281 on Wednesday from Violectric USA.
 
First, I just gotta say that Arthur provided some of the best customer service I've received in regards to audio electronics or otherwise. Also, As he is in NJ, and I was in NY - I was fortunate enough to get the amp 1 day after I ordered it! He responded to all of my questions incredibly quickly, and is clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about audio. I can't recommend him enough.
 
Now onto the amp. The reason I purchased it was to primarily drive my LCD XCs, and any other high-end headphones I buy moving forward. I had been running the XCs from a Woo WA7 with the upgraded electro harmonix tubes - and while this pairing was incredibly detailed, I felt it was recessed in mid-bass and bass extension (though certainly not poor by any means). Anyhow, I just couldn't help feeling like I was missing something when listening to certain music.
 
While the XCs are very sensitive, and don't necessarily require a very powerful amp, the v281 did exactly what I wanted - bottomless bass extension, more mid-bass heft, more weight overall, without sacrificing detail. What's more is I have never heard bass so hefty yet well controlled - it's fast, it's prominent, it's extremely textured but never boomy and doesn't bleed into the mids. It does miss a tiny bit of air that the WA7 had, but I would gladly make the trade off for the added low end depth.
 
I absolutely love this pairing, and I feel like it provides the bass that you get from the LCD 2s and 3s with the treble extension you get with the Xs. I am feeding a Chord Hugo into both this amp and my Stax SRM 717 (which drives my 007 mk2), and running the XCs balanced into the v281.
 
If you have X(Cs) and want an end game set up - plus the ability to drive any new phones you might buy in the future - I can't recommend this setup more highly. And, despite the sensitivity of the XCs the background is completely and utterly black.
 
Arthur also indicated that I got the absolute last unit before more shipments come in in the next few weeks - so I guess I got very lucky and ordered at the exact right time.
 
I'm going to the beach for Labor Day weekend, and part of me is upset I can't bring this with me!
 
My set up is pictured below. My Chord Hugo is behind the surface pro 2 running J River (I'm also runnin XBMCs Qboz plugin for streaming which is great). And, yes, I am very careful not to spill the nice whiskey I have on top onto these expensive electronics. This used to be a bourbon/scotch bar that I converted into a headphone rack.
 
Congrats to Vioelectric for creating a phenomenal amp and thanks to Arthur for his awesome customer service!
 

 

[hennessys]

Nice surrundings for the amp, but a bit close call with the drinks to my taste. Does all five botles come with the US Violectric shipments?
 
Maybe i should get mine from overseas?
 
Hmmm, fine music with fine wishkey...

 

[roskodan]

@Drewligarchy @hennessys
 
One just needs to make sure that the liquor is over proofed to navy strength level, or higher

, so that the gear can still fire in case some of the liquor gets accidentally sloshed onto it during choppy sessions
 

 

[project86]

Spent the evening alternating between my electrostatic rig (KGSShv driving Stax SR-4070) and the V281 driving Noble K10 (single ended mode, so kind of like a V220 I guess), all driven from a Resonessence Labs Invicta Mirus. Holy cow, not sure which one I actually liked more. Let's just say V281 is.... special.... with CIEMs. I also got in some JH13 and Lear BD 4.2, and even my UM Merlins just for fun. No hiss at all on -6dB pregain setting, and a good amount of usable volume range. Love that big knob they used. 
 
I need to break out the balanced cable, but for SE use the V220/V281 is already killer.

 

[saxelrod92]

  I just received my silver Violectric V281 on Wednesday from Violectric USA.
 
First, I just gotta say that Arthur provided some of the best customer service I've received in regards to audio electronics or otherwise. Also, As he is in NJ, and I was in NY - I was fortunate enough to get the amp 1 day after I ordered it! He responded to all of my questions incredibly quickly, and is clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about audio. I can't recommend him enough.
 
Now onto the amp. The reason I purchased it was to primarily drive my LCD XCs, and any other high-end headphones I buy moving forward. I had been running the XCs from a Woo WA7 with the upgraded electro harmonix tubes - and while this pairing was incredibly detailed, I felt it was recessed in mid-bass and bass extension (though certainly not poor by any means). Anyhow, I just couldn't help feeling like I was missing something when listening to certain music.
 
While the XCs are very sensitive, and don't necessarily require a very powerful amp, the v281 did exactly what I wanted - bottomless bass extension, more mid-bass heft, more weight overall, without sacrificing detail. What's more is I have never heard bass so hefty yet well controlled - it's fast, it's prominent, it's extremely textured but never boomy and doesn't bleed into the mids. It does miss a tiny bit of air that the WA7 had, but I would gladly make the trade off for the added low end depth.
 
I absolutely love this pairing, and I feel like it provides the bass that you get from the LCD 2s and 3s with the treble extension you get with the Xs. I am feeding a Chord Hugo into both this amp and my Stax SRM 717 (which drives my 007 mk2), and running the XCs balanced into the v281.
 
If you have X(Cs) and want an end game set up - plus the ability to drive any new phones you might buy in the future - I can't recommend this setup more highly. And, despite the sensitivity of the XCs the background is completely and utterly black.
 
Arthur also indicated that I got the absolute last unit before more shipments come in in the next few weeks - so I guess I got very lucky and ordered at the exact right time.
 
I'm going to the beach for Labor Day weekend, and part of me is upset I can't bring this with me!
 
My set up is pictured below. My Chord Hugo is behind the surface pro 2 running J River (I'm also runnin XBMCs Qboz plugin for streaming which is great). And, yes, I am very careful not to spill the nice whiskey I have on top onto these expensive electronics. This used to be a bourbon/scotch bar that I converted into a headphone rack.
 
Congrats to Vioelectric for creating a phenomenal amp and thanks to Arthur for his awesome customer service!
 

You are now the second person in all of North America to own a V281 (I'm the first, theres no way to say that and be humble at the same time lol).
 
I was dealing with Arthur for the last couple weeks actually because of some minor problems that occurred with my V281 (some missing screws for the top amp, and a loose ribbon cable for that amp, probably due to lack of screws). I sent the amp back to Arthur, who then personally spent hours checking to make sure everything was in perfect order, put in the screws, and even hot glued the ribbon cable connector for extra certainty. then he of course listened to it for a bit. Put it in a new box and shipped it back to me within a couple days of him receiving it. He always answered any email I had within a matter of hours, no matter what time of day or night, and made sure to only send back the amp once to him it was considered perfect. He seriously does his job way above and beyond than anyone else I've ever dealt with. Really nice guy.
 
I got the amp back today and everything is all in check, and I've been using it for the last couple hours again. It makes me feel like everything just works with it, like any headphone, any source material, it just go through the amp and comes perfectly out the other side in just the right way you would expect it to. Right now I tried with LCD 2s and Denon d5000s, with the LCD 2s I have it set to +6dB when on SE 1/4in jacks. I'm still figuring out if its better that way or not for me, until I can get a cable to use it in balanced, which should be pretty soon.

 

[saxelrod92]

Still catching back with my V281 after getting it back, and I was just curious for you guys using the LCD 2/equivalently hard to drive headphones, what pre-gain settings are you using? I wanna see if I'm seemingly blasting my music or roughly the same as most of you guys lol.
 
Currently I'm using +6dB when on the 1/4in jacks. (no balanced cable just yet to try that connection out, which I figure might negate needing the +6dB when I get there).

 

[project86]

Yep, that sounds about right. Depending on the output voltage of the DAC I'm using at the time, I figure anywhere from -6dB, 0dB, or +6dB could work with Audeze and others like that. It also depends on how comfortable you are with cranking the knob way up close to the max. Some people just feel weird doing that for whatever reason, while others fancy that as ideal (essentially taking the potentiometer out if the equation, not that Violectric uses a bad pot or anything). I would probably not use the minimums or max pregain settings very often. I guess if it was my dedicated iem only amp then I'd go -12dB, or HE-6 only then I'd go with the max setting.

 

[saxelrod92]

Yep, that sounds about right. Depending on the output voltage of the DAC I'm using at the time, I figure anywhere from -6dB, 0dB, or +6dB could work with Audeze and others like that. It also depends on how comfortable you are with cranking the knob way up close to the max. Some people just feel weird doing that for whatever reason, while others fancy that as ideal (essentially taking the potentiometer out if the equation, not that Violectric uses a bad pot or anything). I would probably not use the minimums or max pregain settings very often. I guess if it was my dedicated iem only amp then I'd go -12dB, or HE-6 only then I'd go with the max setting.

I think that sounds pretty logical to me. I'm the schiit bifrost uber, so thats a solid 2v output. I didn't think about the fact that some people prefer the volume knob turned up higher. Even though these amps are dead quiet all the way up, I always figured the less you had to turn up the knob, the better (past the initial first quarter of course). I just figured keeping good volume between 11-1 o'clock was best, and that gain should be set accordingly to achieve that with whatever headphone is being used. Like before I had the V281 I had a Burson soloist SL and it got too noisey past 2-3 o'clock, so keeping it at good volume without turning it up that far was essential.

 

[Megalomaniak]

  Still catching back with my V281 after getting it back, and I was just curious for you guys using the LCD 2/equivalently hard to drive headphones, what pre-gain settings are you using? I wanna see if I'm seemingly blasting my music or roughly the same as most of you guys lol.
 
Currently I'm using +6dB when on the 1/4in jacks. (no balanced cable just yet to try that connection out, which I figure might negate needing the +6dB when I get there).

 
Since my DAC is RCA and does output 2Vrms, and my LCD-2 run balanced, I use pre-gain at 0dbs. And never go past 13 o'clock for insanely low recorded or high DR recordings.

 

[saxelrod92]

   
Since my DAC is RCA and does output 2Vrms, and my LCD-2 run balanced, I use pre-gain at 0dbs. And never go past 13 o'clock for insanely low recorded or high DR recordings.

Yea my dac also does 2v, so I tried going back to 0dB and see how that feels for a bit. So far once you get used to it, I also don't need to go past 1 o'clock or so, even on SE.

 

[Megalomaniak]

 
Yea my dac also does 2v, so I tried going back to 0dB and see how that feels for a bit. So far once you get used to it, I also don't need to go past 1 o'clock or so, even on SE.

 
Yep, not even in SE.

 

[Frank I]

Just  put the V281 i my system. The sound is good right out of the box. Very nice and similar house sound for Violectric that I  amused to.

 

[project86]

 
Yea my dac also does 2v, so I tried going back to 0dB and see how that feels for a bit. So far once you get used to it, I also don't need to go past 1 o'clock or so, even on SE.

 
 
It's funny how initially your brain doesn't like having to crank the knob higher than 12 o'clock. Like you somehow think there's a shortage of power involved (which in this case is most certainly NOT the case). Once you get over that hurdle, it's actually kinda nice to have a really broad range to adjust volume. 
 
 

  Just  put the V281 i my system. The sound is good right out of the box. Very nice and similar house sound for Violectric that I  amused to.

 
 
Nice! Yeah, the single ended outputs are a clear evolution from the V200 sound, with subtle but noticeable improvements. The balanced mode takes it that much farther. Have fun!

 

[Frank I]

I have been listening to the V281 balanced today with the Hd800 and did some single ended listening with the  HE560. The amp has that familiar Violectric house sound. Warmer without any solid state glare. It is well built which is what I come to expect from Freid amplifiers.

 

[Frank I]

I am finding that Freid addressed the soundstage with this new V281. Much wider than the V200 that I had.