[Pharmaboy]

Hi there my name is alex and i am absolute newbie in using headphones and amps ,
and please forgive my bad english , i am from austria .
Over the years i have used loudspeakers and amp and cd player and so but i am falling in love with headphones by now and have selled all my other stuff loudpeakers and so .

I have a question about the v281

i own it for 2 weeks now and i enjoy it with every minute i can listen to them the build quality and the sound are awsome

my chain is pc-t+a dac 8-violectric v 281 - sennheiser hd 800 (balanced)

i have got as a present a akg k 812 which i also like very much in sound


the question is how should i set the pregain settings for optimal performance

with the sennheiser hd 800 i think 0 db is ok ?

with the akg k812 i am not shure 0 db or -6 db or + 6 ??


or is the pregain settings only how loud the headphone will go with volumeknob ??

i think i read somewhere the pregain should be set so that the volume is good at 12 o clock high or something near .


and maybe i sell my t+a dac 8 and buy another one if is a better out there foir my violectric 281 any tips someone can give me ?? Price shoulkd be arroound max 2000.- euro better less


thank you for your time and tips

Greats

Alex/Gozi

Different people have different ideas of the ideal gain settings for the V281. For me, it was -14 dB on the external jumpers and -12 on the internal jumpers. I use the V281 as a line stage (controlling speakers + sub), in addition to headphone listening.

The objective of raising or lowering gain is to get the effective range of the volume control closer to the center of the volume dial. For example, compared to a clockface, my volume setting were all between 7:30 (low volume listening) and ~9:00 (high volume listening) before lowering gain. That meant I had relatively few volme "steps" to control soft- to loud-volume; plus all my volume was in the bottom 25% of the dial.

I found it better to lower overall gain. After that, my listening is all ~9:00 to 12:00. My planar headphones are higher up in that range (because they take a lot of power to get the same volume as dynamic designs); and my low-impedance dynamic headphones are lower in that range. This is a good thing, since volume pots generally sound better with less resistance in line (ie, higher up the dial), Plus in my case, I got more volume steps to work with once gain was lower.

 

[fixated]

@zhgutov AND IONERBOY13

Thanks a lot for you reply very helpful , i set the pregain now to -6db and i think it fits perfekt

Any recomentions for a new dac maybe the violectric 850 ? i want very good details and bass and great soundstage with a big room and depth so like 3d if this is possibly with changing the dac ? or is there no change how different dacs sounds?

Greetings to all
Alex/Gozi

Different DACs definitely have different sounds. Haven't had the chance to hearing the v850 as there are no demo units in my local audio shop but I did have the RS-06 before which from what I've read was close to the v850 sound with less frills. I always found the violectric house sound to be somewhat close to neutral but leaning a little to the darker side with good soundstage, but I wouldn't say it has incredible detail retrieval, it sounds more natural than hyper realistic in terms of detail retrieval if I had to describe it.

I would let others suggest DACs that they've tried with the V281 but if you have a local audio shop that allows you to demo different DACs you should definitely demo them first, that will give you the feel for which DAC would be suited to your liking.

 

[Slow_aetk]

and maybe i sell my t+a dac 8 and buy another one if is a better out there foir my violectric 281 any tips someone can give me ?? Price shoulkd be arroound max 2000.- euro better less



Alex/Gozi

The Denafrips Ares R2R DAC is very good for the price (around $650).

 

[zek4u]

Hi there my name is alex and i am absolute newbie in using headphones and amps ,
and please forgive my bad english , i am from austria .
Over the years i have used loudspeakers and amp and cd player and so but i am falling in love with headphones by now and have selled all my other stuff loudpeakers and so .

I have a question about the v281

i own it for 2 weeks now and i enjoy it with every minute i can listen to them the build quality and the sound are awsome

my chain is pc-t+a dac 8-violectric v 281 - sennheiser hd 800 (balanced)

i have got as a present a akg k 812 which i also like very much in sound


the question is how should i set the pregain settings for optimal performance

with the sennheiser hd 800 i think 0 db is ok ?

with the akg k812 i am not shure 0 db or -6 db or + 6 ??


or is the pregain settings only how loud the headphone will go with volumeknob ??

i think i read somewhere the pregain should be set so that the volume is good at 12 o clock high or something near .


and maybe i sell my t+a dac 8 and buy another one if is a better out there foir my violectric 281 any tips someone can give me ?? Price shoulkd be arroound max 2000.- euro better less


thank you for your time and tips

Greats

Alex/Gozi

Have my V281 set to -6. Seems about the perfect gain for my Chord 2Qute playing on HD800S headphones.

 

[zek4u]

Sold the V280 and have had my V281 since Friday. Wow! Maybe it lost the tiniest amount of warmth but it seems a bit more cohesive in the bass and maybe I'm hearing a little more resolution, more texture. Just more solid. Bigger transformer? It also really shines running balanced to an amplifier for my Magnepans. I'm done. I'm not even going to upgrade my Chord 2Qute/MCRU.

Think I'm going to upgrade my MMGs to some .7s. Steve Guttenberg really liked the .7s with the PS Audio Stellar S300. V281 balanced to the S300. Hummmm. Wish I could afford some active ATCs. Am sure that would be a winning combo with the V281. Guess it never really stops.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Sold the V280 and have had my V281 since Friday. Wow! Maybe it lost the tiniest amount of warmth but it seems a bit more cohesive in the bass and maybe I'm hearing a little more resolution, more texture. Just more solid. Bigger transformer? It also really shines running balanced to an amplifier for my Magnepans. I'm done. I'm not even going to upgrade my Chord 2Qute/MCRU.

Think I'm going to upgrade my MMGs to some .7s. Steve Guttenberg really liked the .7s with the Stellar S300. V281 balanced to the S300. Hummmm. Wish I could afford some active ATCs. Am sure that would be a winning combo with the V281. Guess it never really stops.

Interesting post. IMO the V281 is the most dynamic, bass-competent preamp I've ever used in the desktop system. I no longer have a big living room system, but it would be quite interested to try the V281 as a preamp in such a system.

Using it as a preamp, I hear so much resolution, soundstaging, and bass--yet it's not accompanied by exaggerated transients or big frequency dips/spikes. It's the best bass I ever heard from my speakers. And yes, the balanced output is really fine-sounding. To use it, I temporarily abandoned use of my subwoofer (SVS SB-1000), and ran the Zenpro modded Yamaha HS7s directly from the balanced outputs of the V281. The result was the best sound I've heard from these monitors--good resolution, frequency balance, plenty of subtle ambient cues. Excellent bass, too.

 

[zek4u]

Have had many pairs of Harbeth P3ESRs in the past....too many and crazy me, I'm going to get one more set just to see how good they sound using the V281 running balanced to an old Proceed AMP2 amplifier. Maybe I should have just gotten a pair of active monitors but don't have a lot of desk space and want to avoid stands behind the desk. In the past, thought a Benchmark DAC2 HGC lost a bit of character/soul when hooked straight to a Croft 7 RS amplifier. Based on what I hear out of my Magnepan MMGs and what others have said, this is not the case when using a V281 as a pre-amplifier for a 2 channel system. It sounds like a true high performance active preamp.

Anyone pair Harbeth with Violectric? Amp suggestions? I really liked the Belles Aria integrated I had last. Maybe Bellles makes a straight Aria amplifier now. Don't think Harbeth plays nice with class D amplifiers. Think I want to stay away from tubes.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Have had many pairs of Harbeth P3ESRs in the past....too many and crazy me, I'm going to get one more set just to see how good they sound using the V281 running balanced to an old Proceed AMP2 amplifier. Maybe I should have just gotten a pair of active monitors but don't have a lot of desk space and want to avoid stands behind the desk. In the past, thought a Benchmark DAC2 HGC lost a bit of character/soul when hooked straight to a Croft 7 RS amplifier. Based on what I hear out of my Magnepan MMGs and what others have said, this is not the case when using a V281 as a pre-amplifier for a 2 channel system. It sounds like a true high performance active preamp.

Anyone pair Harbeth with Violectric? Amp suggestions? I really liked the Belles Aria integrated I had last. Maybe Bellles makes a straight Aria amplifier now. Don't think Harbeth plays nice with class D amplifiers. Think I want to stay away from tubes.

Very interesting. I'm so interested in Harbeths. Can't fit an amp anywhere in my desktop environment, so only seriously considered powered desktop/speaker monitors (have had 3 such systems in past 20 yrs or so). But there are certainly issues w/powered monitors used for audio enjoyment. It's safe to say none of them, except possibly the ATCs (too large & too expensive for my application--but fascinating) are actually voiced for music listening/appreciation. Power monitors tend to have a forensic listening objective, leading to elevated midrange and/or treble.

Every review I've ever read about any Harbeth model comments quite specifically on their "natural" sound. That is very interesting to me. Wish I could use them in my system...

 

[zek4u]

Very interesting. I'm so interested in Harbeths. Can't fit an amp anywhere in my desktop environment, so only seriously considered powered desktop/speaker monitors (have had 3 such systems in past 20 yrs or so). But there are certainly issues w/powered monitors used for audio enjoyment. It's safe to say none of them, except possibly the ATCs (too large & too expensive for my application--but fascinating) are actually voiced for music listening/appreciation. Power monitors tend to have a forensic listening objective, leading to elevated midrange and/or treble.

Every review I've ever read about any Harbeth model comments quite specifically on their "natural" sound. That is very interesting to me. Wish I could use them in my system...

I'm completely obsessing right now about desktop real estate. Router that look like something out of Aliens. Spectrum modem, 13" printer, CAPs server, my cool Nakamichi I just found for $25, turntable. All the power supplies. Just ordered another walnut cutting board to protect my fabricated wood desk from any kind of heat coming off the V281. Already have some IsoAcoustics stands I'll use for now until I find something better. I'm probably going to need another audio rack since I sold the last Quadraspire. I'll keep you posted on how well the P3s pair with V281. Nothing analytical for me. I had 30.1s at one point on stands behind the desk. Now that looked crazy and I'm not a recording engineer.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I'm completely obsessing right now about desktop real estate. Router that look like something out of Aliens. Spectrum modem, 13" printer, CAPs server, my cool Nakamichi I just found for $25, turntable. All the power supplies. Just ordered another walnut cutting board to protect my fabricated wood desk from any kind of heat coming off the V281. Already have some IsoAcoustics stands I'll use for now until I find something better. I'm probably going to need another audio rack since I sold the last Quadraspire. I'll keep you posted on how well the P3s pair with V281. Nothing analytical for me. I had 30.1s at one point on stands behind the desk. Now that looked crazy and I'm not a recording engineer.

Our respective details differ quite a lot--but the common thread is "desktop real estate." I had so many devices crowded onto a small side table that it became impossible to add another amp (I have 5 headphone amps/preamps, and 3 are wired in on that side-table to the desktop at any time).

I ended up building 2 small tables that allowed me to "go vertical" by adding devices on top of, or below, others. For example, the V281 now stands above the Audio GD SA-31SE.

Love that V281, but sooner or later I'll have to have the big motorized pot replaced. It tends to jump between steps, with big/uneven volume increases or drops. I doubt it's the remote; think it's the pot. I could rotate the pot by hand just to test whether the cause is the pot vs the remote (tho it's really not convenient to do that in my case)...but I'm reluctant to hand-operate the pot. It strikes me as not a good idea, somehow.

 

[zhgutov]

Just ordered another walnut cutting board to protect my fabricated wood desk from any kind of heat coming off the V281.

Heat from V281? O_o

 

[zek4u]

Heat from V281? O_o

The V281 doesn't get too hot but it's definitely warmer then the V280. It's nothing like the Ayre Codex. I have this beautiful wood desk that isn't stained. All it's treated with is a coating of linseed oil and another of beeswax. I just don't want anything making it fade.

 

[zek4u]

Our respective details differ quite a lot--but the common thread is "desktop real estate." I had so many devices crowded onto a small side table that it became impossible to add another amp (I have 5 headphone amps/preamps, and 3 are wired in on that side-table to the desktop at any time).

I ended up building 2 small tables that allowed me to "go vertical" by adding devices on top of, or below, others. For example, the V281 now stands above the Audio GD SA-31SE.

Love that V281, but sooner or later I'll have to have the big motorized pot replaced. It tends to jump between steps, with big/uneven volume increases or drops. I doubt it's the remote; think it's the pot. I could rotate the pot by hand just to test whether the cause is the pot vs the remote (tho it's really not convenient to do that in my case)...but I'm reluctant to hand-operate the pot. It strikes me as not a good idea, somehow.

I've also got my grandparents old book case that I also have a reel to reel sitting on and a record cleaner. Would love to go digital only minimalist to save real estate but I've been having fun digitizing records to DSD files. Amazing stuff on the V281. I'll probably just have to pick up another audio stand to tidy things up. I'm sticking with just the one desktop headphone rig and and one portable.

My V281 just has the standard pot. Love the feel of turning that big sexy big pot with its graceful curves, I mean indents. It's like a V280 but mature. Know it's crazy but it's also one of the main reasons I skipped getting the BMC Ultradac to compare to the V281. I just don't like push button volume controls.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I've also got my grandparents old book case that I also have a reel to reel sitting on and a record cleaner. Would love to go digital only minimalist to save real estate but I've been having fun digitizing records to DSD files. Amazing stuff on the V281. I'll probably just have to pick up another audio stand to tidy things up. I'm sticking with just the one desktop headphone rig and and one portable.

My V281 just has the standard pot. Love the feel of turning that big sexy big pot with its graceful curves, I mean indents. It's like a V280 but mature. Know it's crazy but it's also one of the main reasons I skipped getting the BMC Ultradac to compare to the V281. I just don't like push button volume controls.

Funny you'd mention push button volume controls. My V281 sits on top of a mini-table I built to place it above the Audio GD SA-31SE amp, which is wider/deeper, but not as tall. Anyway, the SA-31SE uses up/down buttons (same on remote), and when I first got it (used), thought I'd hate it. But I've grown to love that feature. It is far more useful when the SA-31SE is used in preamp mode than just amplifier mode: those push buttons allow me to ultra-precisely dial in the volume of speakers + sub.

This up/down button thing is quite a contrast to the V281 w/motorized 128 stepped pot. I find the remote control actuation of the V281 to be far less precise. In fact, even discrete up/down pushes of the remote's rocker switches cause the V281's pot to "jump steps" (bigger volume decreases or increase than I expect). Even going up or down a single step sometimes causes volume jumps. My V281's pot may be defective.

Anyway, big thumbs up to UP/DOWN buttons for volume.

PS: I have 1 other amp w/a stepped pot, the Lake People G109-A. The pots is very smooth & positive-feeling in use. However, I find that 43 total steps just isn't quite enough, particulalry when driving efficient/low impedance headphones. Great amp--don't mean to single it out for this criticism. Any stepped pot tends to have too few steps, in my experience.

 

[zhgutov]

PS: I have 1 other amp w/a stepped pot, the Lake People G109-A. The pots is very smooth & positive-feeling in use.

This pot is not truly stepped like your relay-based pot on V281.
It is like the pot of standard version of the V281 (ALPS RK27 with detents).
You can set intermediate state if you want.