I received my V281 and V800 last week from Arthur at violectric-usa.com. After listening long into the night for several nights now, I feel ready to share some impressions.
Here is the upshot: the balanced output of the V281 is utterly tremendous.
Some background - Last month I bought a pair of LCD-3F’s. At home, I didn’t quite hear the magic I had heard at the store. Was it psychological? At the store I had been auditioning them with an Audeze Deckard amp. At home, I was using my Schiit stack - Bifrost and Lyr 1. Was that the difference? I decided it was time to try an amp upgrade. I decided to go several rungs up the ladder. That’s right when John Grandberg’s review came out on Innerfidelity. I found this thread, I found the review on headphone.guru, and I found the trash talk. All of it led me to decide the V281 was the way I wanted to go. Yggy/Ragna, Simaudio Moon, GSX, having read about all those, the Violectric just seemed like the right amp for me.
I placed the order, held my breath for two long days, worked from home the morning it was scheduled to arrive so I could sign for the delivery, plugged everything in, hit “play”, and said, “yup, that’s my music.” I was impressed with the sound of the V281, but it seemed to me like a nice step up from my Lyr. As I listened, I could hear a forward emphasis in the midrange - hi-hat brushwork and strings seemed to emerge from a darker background on the Vio than on the Lyr. Things sounded more dimensional than with the Lyr. I didn’t really know what a high-end amp should sound like, so I figured I was just facing the law of diminishing returns.
After an hour or so, I switched the cables on my LCD-3s to balanced, and gave that a go. My experience was dramatically different. The sound was rich, full, and deep. Details popped out. There was dimensionality to the music. In a song I know well, I could hear differences in fingering on a guitar that I hadn’t heard before. In a live recording I’ve been listening to for twenty years I heard reverbs I had never heard before. The positions of the musicians was more tangible. Now, this was a completely different experience. Airy and dense at the same time, and quite wonderful. I was completely smitten with this amp.
The next night, I plugged in my HD800s (single-ended), and I went back to feeling a tad underwhelmed. I have yet to be fully impressed with the HD800, on any amp. I mean, I see what they can do, and sometimes it’s fun to hear all the high-frequency information they present so well, but they are not visceral and engrossing the way the LCD-3’s are, and that open-ness they have makes the music feel like it is just out of my reach. Last night I ordered a balanced cable for the 800’s - I’m excited to see if that will make the difference.
I didn’t really believe in balancing till this experience. One way to do a “balanced” amp is to simply separate the grounds for both drivers. I don’t see this making much difference. I put it up there with bi-amping speakers: it seems like it might make a difference, till you think about what’s happening. The proper way to make a balanced amp is to have separate amps for each driver, and that’s the way the V281 works. The effect of balancing - done properly, at least - is really remarkable.
For me, the clearest indication of quality audio gear is when listening is effortless. Once you know a particular detail is there, you can usually go back and hear it on slightly inferior gear. The point is, you didn’t notice it till the better equipment served it up on a platter. That keeps happening with the V281 - listening is an immersive, engrossing experience. It’s hard to multitask - the music draws me back in. The Lyr is a good amp, especially for its price, but music was never as involving with it as the V281 is. A second great test of audio gear for me is how much enjoyment I can get from music I’ve never heard before. Often, it takes me many listens to really fall in love with something, and then you wonder how you could have missed all that your first time through. When I play songs I’m not familiar with on the V281, I find them interesting and compelling right away. For sure, plenty of times I don’t like them, but they always hold my attention. The third thing I notice on good gear is that I can make out the words more clearly. I love it when I realize, "oh is that what's he's singing!" On the Vio, vocals sound closer and more nuanced. I can make out words more distinctly than with other amps.
I purchased mine with the level 2 upgraded volume knob. I did this because I wanted to be able to keep it at a low power for my JH-13fp’s. I can’t tell how much of my enjoyment of the V281 is due to the volume knob, or to the V800 for that matter, but the whole package is simply fantastic.
I find the JH-13’s to be a bit boomy on the V281 (single-ended), so if I have a positive experience with balancing the HD800s next I’ll balance the JH-13’s. In contrast, the HE-500 single-ended is lovely on the Vio. I’ve never really warmed to the HE-500: I appreciate how linear they sound, but it seemed less dynamic and engrossing to me than my LFF Paradox or my HD650’s. On the V281, though, they sound much better. I think there’s a nice pairing between the slightly-warm single-ended output of the V281 and the HE-500. I bought the LCD-3's to replace the HE-500s, but I may keep them after all.
Till now, I’ve usually been able to picture some way in which my audio experience could be improved. That’s been the biggest source of my upgrade-itis. In this case, though, there’s nothing I feel is lacking, nothing that I’ve heard in other headphone setups that I think I should be hearing here. For me, the V281 is a completely satisfying experience.
Sometimes I give the V281 a volume workout. As I raise the volume, the sound scales uniformly. It is a pleasure to listen at a loud volume briefly - kind of like taking up your car’s speed for a few minutes on an open road. I can’t really do this with my Lyr - the sound gets wincy when things get loud - a harshness (maybe tube distortion) sets in, and I want to back the volume down pretty soon. The Vio hangs together, allowing me to bring up the volume to quite a loud level and still be comfortable - things stay even and under control. It is loud, but it does not develop any harshness anywhere. And yet at normal listening volumes, resolution and detail are there in full force.
I want to end by reiterating: the balanced output is a very different beast from the single-ended output. The single-ended output is a solid improvement over the Lyr. I find it a tad warm, but still with a lot of detail and resolution. The V281’s balanced output is an utterly phenomenal amp. It sounds powerful, neutral, and resolving. The sound it delivers through my LCD-3F’s is everything I want.