[Ultrainferno]

Audio-GD's big boys like Master 9 or Master 11 should be considered too, as Dan of Headfonia pointed out

There is no Dan in my staff

 

[zeissiez]

Audio-GD's big boys like Master 9 or Master 11 should be considered too, as Dan of Headfonia pointed out

There is no Dan in my staff

Oops, sorry, I mean Headmania, lol ....

 

[manpowre]

€'s sent to the lakish people, and in 3 days they will ship it once money arrived.. can't wait with Hegel HD25 Nordost cables, and LCD3.

 

[yc1204]

  €'s sent to the lakish people, and in 3 days they will ship it once money arrived.. can't wait with Hegel HD25 Nordost cables, and LCD3.

I believe you gonna love them. Recommend to drive your LCD3 with balance tho, balance out is the strong point of V281

 

[manpowre]

  I believe you gonna love them. Recommend to drive your LCD3 with balance tho, balance out is the strong point of V281

yep, already running balanced here.. just missing that last punch..

 

[TonyNewman]

I never run my V281 using anything other than the balanced output. That wonderful 'holographic" effect of the V281 doesn't seem to happen for me when using single ended output. I am guessing the dual amps is what is making that magic happen. I don't know of any other SS amp that does this (my previous SS amps - Taurus and 430HA - did not do it). Something that better tube amps seem to do.
 
I am enjoying the heck out of this amp. Current rig is Hegel HD30->V281->HD800S. Really nice setup. I can't get over the bass improvement in the HD800S over the modded HD800 - great headphone. Only my modded HE6 beats it, and not by much, and that after many hours spent modding and re-modding the HE6. The HD800S you can take out of the box, attached the balanced cable, plug it into the V281 and enjoy the music.
 
Here's a pic of my V281 setup.
 

 

[project86]

Agreed on balanced, though I do use SE with IEMs and it works well (obviously the extra power from balanced mode is not needed). 
 
I've been meaning try try some Hegel gear. I like their philosophy. 

 

[manpowre]

  I never run my V281 using anything other than the balanced output. That wonderful 'holographic" effect of the V281 doesn't seem to happen for me when using single ended output. I am guessing the dual amps is what is making that magic happen. I don't know of any other SS amp that does this (my previous SS amps - Taurus and 430HA - did not do it). Something that better tube amps seem to do.
 
I am enjoying the heck out of this amp. Current rig is Hegel HD30->V281->HD800S. Really nice setup. I can't get over the bass improvement in the HD800S over the modded HD800 - great headphone. Only my modded HE6 beats it, and not by much, and that after many hours spent modding and re-modding the HE6. The HD800S you can take out of the box, attached the balanced cable, plug it into the V281 and enjoy the music.
 
Here's a pic of my V281 setup.
 

 
 
Why not use the Hegel bypass and allow the Amp do the volume adjustment ?

 

[TonyNewman]

   
 
Why not use the Hegel bypass and allow the Amp do the volume adjustment ?

 
I am. The display on the HD30 is the source information (USB/44).
 
I don't use the digital volume control at all - it is set to bypass "101" - the volume control is via the V281.
 
I do the same thing with my 2 channel system - the volume control is via the preamp (Hegel P20).
 
If they offered a version of the DAC with no digital volume control at all I would have bought that. Not sure why manufacturers feel the need to offer the digital volume control.

 

[project86]

   
I am. The display on the HD30 is the source information (USB/44).
 
I don't use the digital volume control at all - it is set to bypass "101" - the volume control is via the V281.
 
I do the same thing with my 2 channel system - the volume control is via the preamp (Hegel P20).
 
If they offered a version of the DAC with no digital volume control at all I would have bought that. Not sure why manufacturers feel the need to offer the digital volume control.

 
 
Because it can be useful, and if you don't need it just set to max volume. That's the same as not having it in the first place (or at least it should be on a well designed component).

 

[TonyNewman]

   
 
Because it can be useful, and if you don't need it just set to max volume. That's the same as not having it in the first place (or at least it should be on a well designed component).

 
It was useful on the Vega with its off-the-wall 4.2V RMS output. The HD30 has a much more sane output of 2.6V RMS - not sure I can see a need to ever want to mess with that.
 
Does make it possible to run the HD30 direct to a power amp, but that isn't something I would ever want to do. I would be quite happy if the DAC didn't have it.

 

[Thenewguy007]

  I never run my V281 using anything other than the balanced output. That wonderful 'holographic" effect of the V281 doesn't seem to happen for me when using single ended output. I am guessing the dual amps is what is making that magic happen. I don't know of any other SS amp that does this (my previous SS amps - Taurus and 430HA - did not do it). Something that better tube amps seem to do.

 

So you are getting better imaging from the V281 in comparison to the others?

 

[TonyNewman]

   

So you are getting better imaging from the V281 in comparison to the others?

 
Yes. On par with better tube amps that I have heard.

 

[yc1204]

People who use V281 to power the LCD4, could you please let me know what is the gain setting and volume of your V281 at balanced out? Should I raise the gain to +6db or even +12db? 
 
Cheers

 

[mulder01]

Personally I think you don't need to increase pre-gain unless your are close to running out of gain on your volume knob... Otherwise you're just hitting your preferred listening volume earlier on the volume dial.