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Violectric HPA V281 - Vorsprung durch Balanced (September 2023 Update: Limited Reissue Edition up for preorder!)
Apr 11, 2017 at 4:56 PM Post #2,806 of 5,910
fegefeuer said:
  oh, you'll be in for a shock once your headphones run balanced from this amp and activates all engines.  
I love the bass part and how tight, tactile (though this is much more the trait of the headphone) and hardhitting it gets, together with the grand stage and "insight" into the music.
It made me appreciate the Denon's much more. Despite losing out in a few technicalities compared to the HD800 they're fire and forget headphones, offering better compat. with music, especially all kinds of electronic. EDM is pure joy with them now that they are beastly amped and don't have the peaks of the TH-900 I used to own. 
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Yesterday a nice piece of luck happened: a very helpful local Head-Fi'er loaned me his balanced cable purchased from ZMF for his Eikon. So all of a sudden, I can listen to my ZMF Ori (wonderful headphone!) in balanced mode on the V281, also on a new Liquid Carbon I just started burning it. I've been on a crazy deadline for days, so just managed 5" ear-time on each amp via balanced out.
 
DAMN!! The Ori sounded really good via SE, but it's quite different (better in just about every way) via balanced. The V281 is a pure monster amp--endless power & finesse at the same time. It's going to take me quite awhile to figure all the good things it does for my Ori balanced (more listening tomorrow night, hopefully).
 
The biggest surprise came from the LC. It sounded terrible via balanced cable when I first turned it on yesterday (cold & not burned in at all). But just 20 hours later it sounds totally different. This hot little box (it does run hot) controls the power-hog Ori like it was nothing, and the bass is shockingly good--right up there w/the V281 (the bass champ in my experience). If the LC sounds this good at 20 hrs burn-in (Cavalli recommends 150 hrs), I'm in for quite a thrill-ride...
 
(balanced is really amazing)
 
Apr 12, 2017 at 10:31 PM Post #2,809 of 5,910
A used v281 is not that expensive when you consider that many prefer it to amps with double or more the retail price. In Australia they were being sold for $1999 AUD (on sale) so would sell second hand for around the $1k - $1.5k AUD mark I would imagine. Which is around the $1k USD mark depending on condition. If you could ship a second hand one over from down under and get a sound that rivals amps with a $4k USD price tag, it's really quite good for the money.
 
Apr 12, 2017 at 10:43 PM Post #2,810 of 5,910
mulder01 said:
A used v281 is not that expensive when you consider that many prefer it to amps with double or more the retail price. In Australia they were being sold for $1999 AUD (on sale) so would sell second hand for around the $1k - $1.5k AUD mark I would imagine. Which is around the $1k USD mark depending on condition. If you could ship a second hand one over from down under and get a sound that rivals amps with a $4k USD price tag, it's really quite good for the money.
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Watch out for the different power requirements.
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Apr 13, 2017 at 2:26 AM Post #2,813 of 5,910
novicez1 said:
I think you can change the voltage by accessing the voltage switch inside the case.
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Yes you can. I've seen the switch before. However I thought it was important to note that you can't import straight from Aussie and plug it in the US or any other 110V country without changing it first.
 
Apr 15, 2017 at 6:47 AM Post #2,815 of 5,910
I'm using the Z1R with Cavalli Liquid Carbon now and it is possibly slightly too dark for some occasion, I want to increase the mids a bit in volume and forwardness.
This is also due to the Z1R being super accurate with room acoustics(some vocal seems a bit far at times, and sometimes it is alright, I like intimate vocals)
 
I heard that the V280 is neutral but has a little bit of warm in it, can anybody who has both the LC and V280/V281 make a comparison especially in tonality department?
 
The DAC will be chord Mojo, but I'll definitely upgrade in the future, I just decided that I want to upgrade my amp first.
 
I also need to buy balanced cable if I go this way I guess (Norne Draug 2C comes to mind, silver cable is just too expensive for me).
 
Thanks a lot.
 
Apr 15, 2017 at 6:56 AM Post #2,816 of 5,910
@emptymt
 
The Z1R are very dark headphones, if you check the FR graph you can see a 7.5db bump on bass frequencies (20~100hz range) tapers down to 0 db when it reaches 500 hz, then dips 7.5db as it approaches 5k.
 
I seriously doubt there would be a headphone amp that will "fix" its characteristics other than heavily EQing it.
 
Apr 15, 2017 at 8:33 AM Post #2,817 of 5,910
novicez1 said:
  @emptymt
 
The Z1R are very dark headphones, if you check the FR graph you can see a 7.5db bump on bass frequencies (20~100hz range) tapers down to 0 db when it reaches 500 hz, then dips 7.5db as it approaches 5k.
 
I seriously doubt there would be a headphone amp that will "fix" its characteristics other than heavily EQing it.
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I know that.
I'm not looking for neutrality or anything like that, in fact, I actually like the coloration (used to like neutral headphone, however my preference has changed), I just want to change it a bit to better suit my taste, had the mid has more quantity and a little bit more forward, it would be perfect for me.
 
I think the combo of Mojo, LC, Z1R (all has warm) is the cause here, if the V280/1 is a lot more neutral than the LC, my problem should be fixed by changing the amp from LC to either of them.
 
Auditioning is preferable however the Z1R has no balance cable so I can't try it balance mode.
 
Apr 15, 2017 at 8:59 AM Post #2,818 of 5,910
Crazy question, but if you live in Melbourne, why not just pop down to a2a and there are dozens of amps there you can try, and then make a purchase you're sure you'll be happy with.

In regard to the 281, some call it neutral, some call it warm. I would call it warm. If you need a brighter amp I don't know that the 281 is the best way to go.
 
Apr 15, 2017 at 9:51 AM Post #2,819 of 5,910
mulder01 said:
Crazy question, but if you live in Melbourne, why not just pop down to a2a and there are dozens of amps there you can try, and then make a purchase you're sure you'll be happy with.

In regard to the 281, some call it neutral, some call it warm. I would call it warm. If you need a brighter amp I don't know that the 281 is the best way to go.
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alright, thx man.
I may need to call them first to see if they have an xlr terminated Z1R cable so that I can try it on in balanced mode.
 
Apr 15, 2017 at 10:18 AM Post #2,820 of 5,910
I've been producing and mixing late at night recently using the Abyss and V281. Stellar combo. 
 
I'll be getting that Phi upgrade for sure.
 
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