[raindownthunda]

I’d prioritize both! Maybe a different DAC and cables would help tame the treble? FWIW, I don’t find the VC anywhere close to bright in my system with the V280. I’m using the Bifrost 2/64 DAC and a FAW Noir HPC (copper) cable - both of which seem to be on the warmer side.

 

[tezla7]

I’d prioritize both! Maybe a different DAC and cables would help tame the treble? FWIW, I don’t find the VC anywhere close to bright in my system with the V280. I’m using the Bifrost 2/64 DAC and a FAW Noir HPC (copper) cable - both of which seem to be on the warmer side.

Good choice. I'm only running the bare stock headphone cable, looking for a good quality copper cable. Might get one of my others reterminated but the cable company wants £85.... which is a bit steep. I'm actually using a Chord Mojo 2 which has a great EQ- so I've been able to use that which works well.

 

[Shane D]

Dilemma. A dilemma so frequent I don't know why I don't see this coming each time. Verite Closed is amazing, but a tiny bit bright. Tubes seems to be the consensus for ZMF but, every time I buy something I need to change something else. And I swore off tubes last time because of all the hassle. Heard lots of things about the Cayin HA-3A, but I was perfectly happy with my V281 until I changed the headphones... Do you prioritise the amp or the headphones?...
Going to take a few measures first to try and smooth things a bit- trying a different power cable for the V281 and upgrade the PSU on the streamer and modem.

To start off, any advice from me is biased as I am a bit of a Head-Fi hoarder.

That being said I would go for at least one SS and one tube/hybrid amp. That way you can accomodate almost any headphone.
A sensible person would stick with two amps and a few headphones (2/3) with pretty different sound signatures.

Just a thought.

 

[tezla7]

To start off any advice from me is biased as I am a bit of a Head-Fi hoarder.
That being said I would go for at least one SS and one tube/hybrid amp. That way you can accomodate almost any headphone.
A sensible person would stick with two amps and a few headphones (2/3) with pretty different sound signatures.

Just a thought.

Great advice thank you. And I can't think of any SS amp I want to stick with more than the V281. I'm not really into keeping lots of things (mainly just because of not having the money) but, I do think that having both a SS amp and tube amp is a legit compromise.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Tubes work very well with the ZMFs, but the difference is not enormous versus a good amp like the v281. If you are someone who likes to tinker with this and that, my own humble advice is to try your best to stay away from tubes. It's too darn expensive in the long run. You'll always want to hear another tube, and another, and another. And the prices are ridiculous and the misfire rate with noisy tube is also there as a frequent annoyer. And of course you'll always want to hear a "better" tube.

If you do find the VC too bright, sure, you can find some "dark" tubes. But something else might be lacking for you with those. Maybe EQ like Mojo2 or RME ADI-2 are better options. Or a different closed back like the new Atrium Closed.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Shane D]

I

Great advice thank you. And I can't think of any SS amp I want to stick with more than the V281. I'm not really into keeping lots of things (mainly just because of not having the money) but, I do think that having both a SS amp and tube amp is a legit compromise.

I LOVE my V220 (stripped down V281) and don't plan to ever sell it. My other favourite is an iFi Pro iCAN. Those two can run everything I have, have had or will have.

Although I have also been dabbling in some affordable tube amps just for fun (Valhalla 2 and Little Dot MK9).

 

[tezla7]

Tubes work very well with the ZMFs, but the difference is not enormous versus a good amp like the v281. If you are someone who likes to tinker with this and that, my own humble advice is to try your best to stay away from tubes. It's too darn expensive in the long run. You'll always want to hear another tube, and another, and another. And the prices are ridiculous and the misfire rate with noisy tube is also there as a frequent annoyer. And of course you'll always want to hear a "better" tube.

If you do find the VC too bright, sure, you can find some "dark" tubes. But something else might be lacking for you with those. Maybe EQ like Mojo2 or RME ADI-2 are better options. Or a different closed back like the new Atrium Closed.

Just my 2 cents.

Great comment thanks. I had a Feliks Elise headphone amp and it was fantastic, magic, all those good things, but I also had loads and loads of messing about and swore not to do it again. Would love to avoid all that. I've got my ac power all sorted out now, so, probably wouldn't have the same problems but, there are always new problems- like you say and, quietness really does have it's own quality- in terms of background noise and lack of it. Plus just the basics of not having to wait for warm up, warm down, the higher power consumption, replacing tubes etc. And we're also heading into summer and my lounge is south facing, it can easily be +30˚C.

On that- someone mentioned earlier about their V281 getting hot. After all my messing about with ac power in the past, sometimes the extra heat on transformers can be because of DC offset on your mains. Fix that and you could have cooler running components, especially with linear power supplies like there are in the V281. My V281 doesn't get hot, only gets mildly warm.

 

[tezla7]

I

I LOVE my V220 (stripped down V281) and don't plan to ever sell it. My other favourite is an iFi Pro iCAN. Those two can run everything I have, have had or will have.

Although I have also been dabbling in some low to mid-fi tube amps just for fun (Valhalla 2 and Little Dot MK9).

There does seem to be a lot of love for the iFi Pro iCAN. And iFi really do cater for a range of sound signatures with the tube and SS signal paths. I'll get that on a saved search to see if any turn up for a bargain thanks for that. Prices on iFi stuff have gone through the roof in the UK. As they have for most hifi equipment.

 

[Shane D]

There does seem to be a lot of love for the iFi Pro iCAN. And iFi really do cater for a range of sound signatures with the tube and SS signal paths. I'll get that on a saved search to see if any turn up for a bargain thanks for that. Prices on iFi stuff have gone through the roof in the UK. As they have for most hifi equipment.

It was crazy expensive when I got it. It is the OG version, not the Signature. In Canada it was almost $3,000.00 at list, with sales tax (15%).
I bought it, used, for $1,500.00.

My V220 cost the original buyer almost $2,200.00, landed in Canada. We get hit hard with conversion from US$'s and then the sales tax. I got my V220 for $1,000.00 in Canuck bucks.

I guess the same as the UK, except that your "VAT" is even higher. And of course, the cost of shipping.

 

[tezla7]

It was crazy expensive when I got it. It is the OG version, not the Signature. In Canada it was almost $3,000.00 at list, with sales tax (15%).
I bought it, used, for $1,500.00.

My V220 cost the original buyer almost $2,200.00, landed in Canada. We get hit hard with conversion from US$'s and then the sales tax. I got my V220 for $1,000.00 in Canuck bucks.

I guess the same as the UK, except that your "VAT" is even higher.

Sorry about the tax, well done on your bargains. In 2023 I would expect it's hard to find as big a bargain as a used V281 considering how much they used to cost when new, tank like build quality, and considering how much you have to spend on the new Violectric equivalents. I think someone said it's in the £2000 range for balanced V281 equivalent, not sure.

Yeah it's a bit more irritating on the iFi stuff here in the UK because it's designed in the UK and the head office is only 30 miles away from where I live, but they're made in China plus the high tax so it's even more expensive to buy iFi stuff in the UK than it is in other countries. Same with stuff like Focal. Not that anyone would, but it can be cheaper to import them from the US than it is to buy them in the UK, even though they're made in France. It's nuts.

My V281 cost the original buyer a lot more than I paid even in 2016 money or whenever it was. He or she was very nice to not even use it! I think we can all mostly relate to wanting something exotic as well- in terms of having to pay more for something that comes from far away. Lots of great great products from North America, but, got to pay a premium to get them in Europe. Import charges were about 23% recently when I imported a DAC from the US.

 

[Shane D]

Sorry about the tax, well done on your bargains. In 2023 I would expect it's hard to find as big a bargain as a used V281 considering how much they used to cost when new, tank like build quality, and considering how much you have to spend on the new Violectric equivalents. I think someone said it's in the £2000 range for balanced V281 equivalent, not sure.

Yeah it's a bit more irritating on the iFi stuff here in the UK because it's designed in the UK and the head office is only 30 miles away from where I live, but they're made in China plus the high tax so it's even more expensive to buy iFi stuff in the UK than it is in other countries. Same with stuff like Focal. Not that anyone would, but it can be cheaper to import them from the US than it is to buy them in the UK, even though they're made in France. It's nuts.

My V281 cost the original buyer a lot more than I paid even in 2016 money or whenever it was. He or she was very nice to not even use it! I think we can all mostly relate to wanting something exotic as well- in terms of having to pay more for something that comes from far away. Lots of great great products from North America, but, got to pay a premium to get them in Europe. Import charges were about 23% recently when I imported a DAC from the US.

I think the V281 was $3,500.00 new. I can't remember if that was US or Canadian.
WAY too expensive for me. I have the V220 for the sound and the iFi for raw power and gadgets.

 

[111MilesToGo]

Sure enough- an eBay scam. Phoned up eBay to double check it because it seemed a tiny tiny bit scammy. They said it looked fine. Bought it. No response. No response 2 days later after sending 4 messages. I phone up eBay another 2 times to say I think I'm being scammed, they just said- wait and see if it gets delivered. This morning at 3am a fake spoofed delivery code showing item delivered 2 days previous. Phone up eBay- ok we'll put it through as not received, tell me to wait another 3 days...
I'm supposedly triple protected- eBay protection, paypal and credit card protection, nevertheless- you don't need me to tell you folks but, just be extra careful. Thought they'd just give me the money back straight away but no, I think it's going to be some messing about.

This was an eBay account with over 5000 feedback rating. I think it was a hacked/spoofed account. The tiny tell tale signs were copied photos from another auction (some, not all) and copied text from another auction. Despite me phoning up and telling eBay all this- they still said it all looked fine and said don't worry you're protected.

Scams always sound obvious when you explain them to people, but they don't work if there is no skill to it. I studied the photos before buying, they were varied and must have been taken from more than one auction, they've been running this scam a while because the serial number and matching box code went back further than 6 months- so there was no other images to find in completed listings archive- ie they looked real and unique and all the lighting looked the same across all photos. I also think they spoofed/racked up a high level of followers on the auction because it went up to something like 18 watchers, in only maybe 6 hours. And now reflecting- yes the price was good but, Chord increased their retail on the TT2 by £1000 recently. The used prices have also jumped in proportion. But..... I've been watching this DAC for over a year so, were those TT2 sold back then 6 months ago- also part of the same scam? Very hard to say. Like I said, these things don't work if there isn't some skill to it.

Keen audio market in the UK- none of this is particularly unusual by itself, sometimes lazy people copy photos and text when making genuine sales. But all together- hopefully this can build up your defences against a future scam.

I was on eBay looking at cameras and there's loads of scams on the cameras but these are much more obvious ones. In the UK on eBay they also removed the seller ability to block low feedback buyers so sellers are also now more vulnerable too.

If you've never been scammed then good for you but, having travelled a lot when I was younger I learnt (or rationalised) that everyone will get got at some point. The important thing is not to repeat the same mistake, to take it as a valuable lesson, learn and/or share that lesson. A friend and I got took by a masterful elaborate scam in Morocco when I was about 20 years old. We were destroyed after 5 days of constant travel from Barcelona with virtually no sleep. This guy took us to their home during Ramadan, had a huge meal all cooked and prepared, we ate like kings right when it got dark, then took us to a store, we bought stuff at highly inflated prices, then he got us in a taxi and paid to send us back to the station. Probably did us both for about £100/200 each, maybe less. I kept the crap purchases as reminders of the lesson. There were details. One priceless one- the guy said, Marrakech is closed ie you have to buy at the store now, because everything will be closed for Ramadan in Marrakech. Anytime anyone says a very large area is closed, regardless of the occasion- be suspicious.

Sure enough in Beijing many years later some folks tried the same scam that got pulled on us in Morocco- a guy said the whole Great Wall of China was closed so we had to take their bus to get to it. I called bull, walked up above the overpass and we got on the real bus to Badaling- our whole group avoided the scam and our Chinese tour guide realised afterwards on the bus that otherwise we would have fallen for it, paid double and spent an extra 4 hours on the fake bus.
10 years later a guy tried a similar scam in Istanbul- which I also avoided.

So trust your instincts and if it seems too good to be true, it's probably a scam. If you still think you might go for it- make sure you're protected as much as possible and still think twice. I wanted a TT2 to feed a V281 and I've been looking for at least a year. I wanted it a bit too much and I've never got quite enough money for these things so I'm always looking hard for a bargain. Lessons learnt.

Sorry for the essay and epic digression but, you can always skip it and if it helps anyone then it was worth writing. People don't like to admit they were scammed but as I've said, better to be humble and accept/share the lesson, because thinking you're invulnerable and too clever for it to ever happen to you- good luck with that.

Although it‘s off-topic: It’s not hard to predict what torrents will sweep us away when AI (Artificial Intelligence) receives far-reaching usage by criminals - DeepFakes …

 

[tezla7]

Although it‘s off-topic: It’s not hard to predict what torrents will sweep us away when AI (Artificial Intelligence) receives far-reaching usage by criminals - DeepFakes …

I apologise to all those in the thread as I've been terrible at taking things off topic. I'm rubbish at staying on topic. The whole AI thing is interesting although I'm trying to keep the doomsday predictions in check by listening to cognitive scientists' analysis- which seems to be that evangelical silicon valley types tell us everything is going to change, run for the hills, but, they periodically do that and it periodically doesn't happen. It's potentially big but, many unknowns as you say.

A more positive side I think is when they use it to engineer things like rocket engines, so, could they do the same with.....amps? Headphones?

 

[Pharmaboy]

Dilemma. A dilemma so frequent I don't know why I don't see this coming each time. Verite Closed is amazing, but a tiny bit bright. Tubes seems to be the consensus for ZMF but, every time I buy something I need to change something else. And I swore off tubes last time because of all the hassle. Heard lots of things about the Cayin HA-3A, but I was perfectly happy with my V281 until I changed the headphones... Do you prioritise the amp or the headphones?...
Going to take a few measures first to try and smooth things a bit- trying a different power cable for the V281 and upgrade the PSU on the streamer and modem.

You absolutely have the right amp. I've heard a VC with my V281 (2-3 yrs ago, so grain of salt, etc), and it is a bit bright. Or maybe just so dynamic that the upper mids hit harder...? Never too sure about the tone vs dynamics seesaw.

You don't have a comprehensive profile, so I can't be sure of certain things, especially cables. But I would use the best copper-only headphone cable with the VC.

And at the risk of suggesting more "change something else" steps, you might want to investigate a multibit or (better yet) NOS DAC. I suggest that not because it's some kind of tone control for the VC (not that at all), but because DACs of that type often sound more natural, flowing, and musically realistic, with no frequencies spotlighted, as can happen w/delta-sigma designs.

No absolutes here, of course; implementation is all. Still, my experience was that I started getting somewhere overall in both my desktop systems once I bagged d-s DACs.

 

[Empyah]

Although it‘s off-topic: It’s not hard to predict what torrents will sweep us away when AI (Artificial Intelligence) receives far-reaching usage by criminals - DeepFakes …

You think being used by criminals is worse than being used by "governments"?