[ajreynol]

thanks for the suggestions. I'll try them out. Since it's so random, it'll probably be a month or more before I know if the suggestions worked. It's a really small issue, but annoying and potentially a sign of other issues, so hopefully these suggestions work.

 

[astrostar59]

TV remote?

 

[fonna]

just posting some impressions / thoughts of a pretty stressful week, I own a HD800S and have been using it for a while with just the RME ADI-2 DAC, which imo is a wonderful little combination on its own, however upgraditis struck me recently to go back to balanced.

I heard a lot of great things about the Cayin iHA-6, a very well priced amplifier at 699 euro, I decided to just take the plunge and buy it. few days later the amp arrived in my home, I connect the amp balanced to my RME ADI-2 DAC, plug my HD800S into the 4pin XLR, first impressions were not bad, but not great either, soundstage seemed a little less wide, kinda presented like a "ball of sound" rather than the usual very wide staging of the HD800S on my RME ADI-2, the Cayin generally sounded a little more closed in, surprisingly the vocals were a little warmer than my RME ADI-2 but the treble had a bit of an edge to it at the same time, I listened to the amp for a few hours, went to bed, woke up, started listening a little again, and suddenly the amp developed a horrible screechy high pitched noise, that would change its tone depending on if I touched the cable on my HD800S or not, and depending on volume. Immediately contacted Cayin about this, now I should mention that with the amp sitting on "high gain" my HD800S had a slight background noise aswell, kind of like a windy sound, not really noticeable when listening to music, but still kind of bothered me.

Cayin immediately replied to my e-mails and told me that I can send the amplifier back and get a replacement (amazing customer service), so I did that, and after a day orso I was thinking of how I used to have a Violectric V281 and I kind of missed the amp, I sold it at the time because of personal reasons, financial reasons and kind of being done with the hobby (always chasing the next upgrade), I remember the amp was always quiet no matter what I plugged into it, and the kinda neutral signature with the slight "touch of warmth" was always pleasing to my ears. So anyways I decided to ask Cayin for a refund instead of a replacement, and I had my mind set on getting a Violectric V280 this time, to pair with the RME and the HD800S in balanced.

I managed to get a great deal on a demo model that is pretty much in mint condition. Next day the V280 arrives, I plug everything in, obviously very excited to listen to it, after about a hour orso I was horribly fatigued, the HD800S sounded super bright, mids were shouty and just generally forward, everything sounded way too dynamic. Felt awful for another hour orso, not really understanding why everything sounded so bad, returned to my RME ADI-2 DAC and just using its amp, and everything sounded quite nice and pleasant again, super disappointed with the V280, not really knowing what was going on, so I contact the dealer saying I want to refund it, basically just had enough of constantly being disappointed, the iHA-6 pretty much came DOA and sounded good but wasn't particularly impressive, V280 sounded horribly sharp and mid-forward. Now my dealer just said I could return it, no problem, I already packed everything up again, now about an hour later I get an e-mail from him asking if I have my RME connected via balanced to the V280, which is exactly what I was doing, he told me to try an unbalanced connection.

at first I didn't really think it would make a difference, kinda hesitant to open the box again and go through the process of setting up it after all the disappointment, I eventually decided to try it, plugged in the RCA's, volume was immediately quite a bit less than through the balanced connections, but the brightness / shouty mids were completely gone. the same dynamics were present, the V280 hits pretty hard, bass is very tight, everything just sounded really good. Incredibly happy now, I however saw someone in this thread saying the RME ADI-2 DAC in combination with the V281 / HD800S sounded bright and unpleasant aswell, try switching to just regular RCA's and see what happens. anyways super long post, sorry guys, just happy everything is resolved now, and the V280 is an excellent amplifier, and a great pairing with the RME ADI-2 DAC and the HD800S.

 

[Ichos]

Hi , I think that the problem lies to the RME.
May be you need to adjust the gain at the XLR out it's too hot for the V280.
Then you should take care to set the pre gain at the V280 so as you do not have too much gain.
You have to get the pot around 2 o clock to listen loud.
As a v280 owner with HD800S I have to assure you that this is a hell of combo.
It's dead neutral with the slightest hint of warmth always using the XLR in XLR out.
There is no way that there are forward mids or annoying highs etc.
This is one of the best ss amps in existence.
So please check your RME.

 

[fonna]

I dont know if you read my post, but I already mentioned that everything sounds wonderful now.

 

[zhgutov]

@fonna
RME ADI-2 DAC has 19 dBu (max) at XLR outputs. V280 accepts up to 21 dBu (both, XLR and RCA).
Your description (horribly sharp and mid-forward) seems like the inputs of V280 was overloaded.
XLR should be working the same way. Something strange, anyway.

 

[Ichos]

I dont know if you read my post, but I already mentioned that everything sounds wonderful now.

Yes I have read it and you mentioned that this works good from the RCA input.
It should be working the same from the XLR input if you care for that.

 

[fonna]

What could the problem be? Something with the RME or maybe the cables?

 

[Ichos]

If you have lowered the output of RME and the problem persists then maybe you should try another set of cables.
Ideally you need to have 4volt output at the XLR but I don't know how this translates to dbu.

 

[zhgutov]

Try different XLR cable (or check existing). They should be made like this:

https://zhgutov.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/bal-xlr.png

Some XLR cables have pin 1 connected to shield (I had such cable!).
RME and Violectric use different grounding concept, I suppose.
This may be the case.

 

[zhgutov]

If you have lowered the output of RME and the problem persists then maybe you should try another set of cables.
Ideally you need to have 4volt output at the XLR but I don't know how this translates to dbu.

4V is ~14 dBu. Everything is fine up to 20 dBu, at least with the V281, which has the same input specs.
https://zhgutov.online/measurements/rmaa/reports/v281-line-pre-diff/

The only difference in V280 is the pre-gain stage placed before the volume control, according to the block circuit diagram.
So probably you need to check the pre-gain if XLR inputs (with 19 dBu!) are used (make it 0 or lower).

 

[Ichos]

When I was using it with the HD800 , with 4volt input the 0gain setting was just fine.

 

[RobertSM]

Try different XLR cable (or check existing). They should be made like this:

https://zhgutov.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/bal-xlr.png

Some XLR cables have pin 1 connected to shield (I had such cable!).
RME and Violectric use different grounding concept, I suppose.
This may be the case.

On the subject of XLR cables and Violectric V281/V280.

I think it's very much forgotten but Violectric does produce a fantastic line of German made XLR and RCA cables.

I've spent a fair amount of time over the last 8-9 months trying 4 and 5 different brands cables in my V850-->V281 system. I've tested and listened. My results and opinion is for my system and to my ears the Violectric brand cables offer the best audio performance regardless of price. I tested cables from some of the biggest names. Many claimed to twist the internal wires in many ways. For me this trend of twisting wires(many companies claim one form of another of this method) has proven to be a not allow the energy to flow freely. It seems to me that it's a bottleneck and congestion in this crazy matrix of twisted wires. Trust me, I tested wires that sold for $800.00 USD per .5m.

But after looking back into an old thread, either it was an old V281 or old DAC V850 post. I read that Violectric made a line of high quality cables.

So, I started with one...I ordered a 1.5m XLR cable. This first test was from my V281 to my powered Genelec speakers. Instant success! 10 times improvement in every notable category we desire and hold true as music lovers. So long story short, I have also been running a .5m Violectric XLR cable from V850 to V281. Also, I'm running a Violectric 1.5m RCA from my tube phono preamp to V281. My last cable replacement will be a Violectric RCA cable from V850 to my tube headphone amp.

If you dont know about the Violectric brand cables, I would strongly recommend seeking them out. I give them my highest endorsement.

One final note. Yesterday, I received back to me from Lake People aka Violectric my DAC V850 from Germany.

I had an issue arise that required my V850 to be sent into Lake People. All of the communications with Lake People was very efficient. They stand by their work and have earned my respect for this. I'm more so impressed with the customer service of Lake People. Top notch!

I digress.

 

[Fegefeuer]

I agree. Had tons of XLR cables myself. Audioquest, Summer Cable Epilogue, Wireworld. The Violectric cables are not only going all in on specs (gauge, wiring, shielding etc.) they are also very well built and pretty tough physically. Simply proper pro audio cables that also serve audiophile nervosa.

Did you ever see Fried's all silver Audeze cable? Afair he has to remake them for each audio show/fair because there's always someone buying it.

 

[Pharmaboy]

just posting some impressions / thoughts of a pretty stressful week, I own a HD800S and have been using it for a while with just the RME ADI-2 DAC, which imo is a wonderful little combination on its own, however upgraditis struck me recently to go back to balanced.

I heard a lot of great things about the Cayin iHA-6, a very well priced amplifier at 699 euro, I decided to just take the plunge and buy it. few days later the amp arrived in my home, I connect the amp balanced to my RME ADI-2 DAC, plug my HD800S into the 4pin XLR, first impressions were not bad, but not great either, soundstage seemed a little less wide, kinda presented like a "ball of sound" rather than the usual very wide staging of the HD800S on my RME ADI-2, the Cayin generally sounded a little more closed in, surprisingly the vocals were a little warmer than my RME ADI-2 but the treble had a bit of an edge to it at the same time, I listened to the amp for a few hours, went to bed, woke up, started listening a little again, and suddenly the amp developed a horrible screechy high pitched noise, that would change its tone depending on if I touched the cable on my HD800S or not, and depending on volume. Immediately contacted Cayin about this, now I should mention that with the amp sitting on "high gain" my HD800S had a slight background noise aswell, kind of like a windy sound, not really noticeable when listening to music, but still kind of bothered me.

Cayin immediately replied to my e-mails and told me that I can send the amplifier back and get a replacement (amazing customer service), so I did that, and after a day orso I was thinking of how I used to have a Violectric V281 and I kind of missed the amp, I sold it at the time because of personal reasons, financial reasons and kind of being done with the hobby (always chasing the next upgrade), I remember the amp was always quiet no matter what I plugged into it, and the kinda neutral signature with the slight "touch of warmth" was always pleasing to my ears. So anyways I decided to ask Cayin for a refund instead of a replacement, and I had my mind set on getting a Violectric V280 this time, to pair with the RME and the HD800S in balanced.

I managed to get a great deal on a demo model that is pretty much in mint condition. Next day the V280 arrives, I plug everything in, obviously very excited to listen to it, after about a hour orso I was horribly fatigued, the HD800S sounded super bright, mids were shouty and just generally forward, everything sounded way too dynamic. Felt awful for another hour orso, not really understanding why everything sounded so bad, returned to my RME ADI-2 DAC and just using its amp, and everything sounded quite nice and pleasant again, super disappointed with the V280, not really knowing what was going on, so I contact the dealer saying I want to refund it, basically just had enough of constantly being disappointed, the iHA-6 pretty much came DOA and sounded good but wasn't particularly impressive, V280 sounded horribly sharp and mid-forward. Now my dealer just said I could return it, no problem, I already packed everything up again, now about an hour later I get an e-mail from him asking if I have my RME connected via balanced to the V280, which is exactly what I was doing, he told me to try an unbalanced connection.

at first I didn't really think it would make a difference, kinda hesitant to open the box again and go through the process of setting up it after all the disappointment, I eventually decided to try it, plugged in the RCA's, volume was immediately quite a bit less than through the balanced connections, but the brightness / shouty mids were completely gone. the same dynamics were present, the V280 hits pretty hard, bass is very tight, everything just sounded really good. Incredibly happy now, I however saw someone in this thread saying the RME ADI-2 DAC in combination with the V281 / HD800S sounded bright and unpleasant aswell, try switching to just regular RCA's and see what happens. anyways super long post, sorry guys, just happy everything is resolved now, and the V280 is an excellent amplifier, and a great pairing with the RME ADI-2 DAC and the HD800S.

Amazing tale. Also scary. I've never managed to make my V281 sound anything less than amazing, but obviously some combinations are asking for trouble. Glad you found the path back to that satisfying Violectric sound!

PS: I also own & love the Lake People G109-A. It has the same "house sound," which = very satisfying, even, and predictably good on every headphone. It doesn't have quite the bass impact or overall dynamics of the V281...but then, few amps do.