[Pharmaboy]

Previous V281 owners, what was the next Step or what did you switch to and why?
Trying to get some other options to v281 or v280, which is a strong candidate to be my next amp

To get the equivalent of the V281 (balanced amp/preamp), you'll have to migrate to Violectric's next-to-highest new model, the V550 (which can be had w/a built-in DAC as the V590). These are not cheap; they're wider than the V281; and are described as sounding somewhat "more neutral" than the V281 (everyone interprets that differently...I don't welcome it).

But if you could settle for the preamp-less V280 before, Violectric is now selling a new amp that's very similar (in design and allegedly, also in sound), the V222. See Head-Fi thread on the V222 and single-ended variant, V202, below. These are priced very aggressively:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/violectric-v222-and-v202.963504/

 

[tezla7]

Hi all,

V281 came up for sale here in England. Now mine. I've only got about 3 hours on it so far but loving it. I'm running it with a balanced headphone cable obviously. This amp is fantastic. Moderat track just came on and I had to stop typing. Bass is huge when it should be, but somehow never over done, everything effortless, lovely frequency presentation, excellent staging, great resolution. Feels right in all the good ways and none of the bad.

Four things:

Currently I'm running a Mojo 2. I'm waiting on Bifrost 2/64 coming back in stock as there hasn't been any in the country for, err, maybe a year. Question- am I best to run out of BF2 balanced into HPA V281 or single ended? Might seem like a daft question, but, if the signal flips inside the V281 unit and prioritises SE, and BF2 outputs are not gimped either way then...dunno. My instinct is of course to run out balanced but, thought I'd ask as internally- V281 seems to do things a bit different.

Second is, I'm not actually sure if I've got the stepped attenuator or not as there are notches, or bumps. Doesn't make a loud noise or loud clicks as it moves, but definitely not a completely fluid alp pot.

Third is- power cables. Believe I read in the 100s of pages someone say this amp is pretty susceptible to different power cords. Anyone got any feedback on that? Good results? Ideas? What I'm wondering is- types of cable, conductor, connectors etc. I've got tinnitus so I don't want anything brighter.

Fourth- power consumption. Only figure I could get was I think 40VA or something like that. I don't know what that means. I'm wondering how many watts it uses. Just because if I can I prefer not to leave things on all day and energy bills aren't exactly getting any cheaper. If it's not too high then, I'll feel better leaving it on longer.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

V281 came up for sale here in England. Now mine. I've only got about 3 hours on it so far but loving it. I'm running it with a balanced headphone cable obviously. This amp is fantastic. Moderat track just came on and I had to stop typing. Bass is huge when it should be, but somehow never over done, everything effortless, lovely frequency presentation, excellent staging, great resolution. Feels right in all the good ways and none of the bad.

Never saw any unfavorable comments about these.

Currently I'm running a Mojo 2. I'm waiting on Bifrost 2/64 coming back in stock as there hasn't been any in the country for, err, maybe a year. Question- am I best to run out of BF2 balanced into HPA V281 or single ended? Might seem like a daft question, but, if the signal flips inside the V281 unit and prioritises SE, and BF2 outputs are not gimped either way then...dunno. My instinct is of course to run out balanced but, thought I'd ask as internally- V281 seems to do things a bit different.

My preference is to use balanced whenever possible.

Second is, I'm not actually sure if I've got the stepped attenuator or not as there are notches, or bumps. Doesn't make a loud noise or loud clicks as it moves, but definitely not a completely fluid alp pot.

The standard version has detents.

Third is- power cables. Believe I read in the 100s of pages someone say this amp is pretty susceptible to different power cords. Anyone got any feedback on that? Good results? Ideas? What I'm wondering is- types of cable, conductor, connectors etc. I've got tinnitus so I don't want anything brighter.

I have never read that about these amps at all.

Fourth- power consumption. Only figure I could get was I think 40VA or something like that. I don't know what that means. I'm wondering how many watts it uses. Just because if I can I prefer not to leave things on all day and energy bills aren't exactly getting any cheaper. If it's not too high then, I'll feel better leaving it on longer.

VA means volts times amps (amperes). But that value of 40 seems kinda low. Anyway, it's a solid state amp, there is no need for a long warmup. When you're done using it, turn it off.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Hi all,

V281 came up for sale here in England. Now mine. I've only got about 3 hours on it so far but loving it. I'm running it with a balanced headphone cable obviously. This amp is fantastic. Moderat track just came on and I had to stop typing. Bass is huge when it should be, but somehow never over done, everything effortless, lovely frequency presentation, excellent staging, great resolution. Feels right in all the good ways and none of the bad.

Four things:

Currently I'm running a Mojo 2. I'm waiting on Bifrost 2/64 coming back in stock as there hasn't been any in the country for, err, maybe a year. Question- am I best to run out of BF2 balanced into HPA V281 or single ended? Might seem like a daft question, but, if the signal flips inside the V281 unit and prioritises SE, and BF2 outputs are not gimped either way then...dunno. My instinct is of course to run out balanced but, thought I'd ask as internally- V281 seems to do things a bit different.

Second is, I'm not actually sure if I've got the stepped attenuator or not as there are notches, or bumps. Doesn't make a loud noise or loud clicks as it moves, but definitely not a completely fluid alp pot.

Third is- power cables. Believe I read in the 100s of pages someone say this amp is pretty susceptible to different power cords. Anyone got any feedback on that? Good results? Ideas? What I'm wondering is- types of cable, conductor, connectors etc. I've got tinnitus so I don't want anything brighter.

Fourth- power consumption. Only figure I could get was I think 40VA or something like that. I don't know what that means. I'm wondering how many watts it uses. Just because if I can I prefer not to leave things on all day and energy bills aren't exactly getting any cheaper. If it's not too high then, I'll feel better leaving it on longer.

Glad you got a V281 and like it. It's by far my favorite amp/preamp of all.

I'm no electrical engineer, but I've read that the SE input signal is turned into a balanced signal in the V281, such that there is no real advantage to using a balanced input from the DAC. In fact, there is a real drawback to using a balanced input: you have typically double the voltage coming in vs what you would w/a SE input (example: 2 volts/SE vs 4.2 volts balanced). That excess gain is definitely felt on the volume pot. It can be adjusted away using the gain dipswitches (the headphone output dipswitches are on the back panel; the preamp output's dipswitches are inside the case)....but why add gain when it doesn't help you.

Re power cables, I never experimented--but I really should. Note-to-self: score a good/robust power cable for this amp.

Re power use, it's not a hog, but it warms up relatively quickly, so there's no need to leave it on 24/7 IMO.

PS: I'm in midst of buying a used Audio Art Classic I power cable (1.5M). I already have 2; they're my "upgrade" cable I use for amps/DACs. It's high time the V281 has one of these.

 

[PrTv]

Anybody compare V281 with Soloist 3X GT with Super Charger 5A PSU?

Now with black Friday sale, this combo is at 2,240$ on Burson's website. Wondering if there will be major improvement if I replace the V281 with the Soloist 3X.

In particular, is the Burson has warmer tone than the V281? Which one fares better in terms of Pre-Amp functionality (XLR in / XLR Out)?

 

[milkdudd]

Glad you got a V281 and like it. It's by far my favorite amp/preamp of all.

It's taken me 16 months to realize it but now I completely agree with that statement. I was impressed with my V281 as a headphone amp and preamp but never thrilled with it. About 2 weeks ago I bought some pre-owned DH labs Revelation solid silver conductor XLR interconnects. I have them between my Gustard A22 dac and the V281. It has completely transformed both my stereo room and headphone listening. Those interconnects are so good I'm going to buy a second set to go from the V281 to my power amp, even if I have to pay full price. It's such a win-win-win for me. Now I can plug my phono preamp into the V281. And now I can use that awesome Violectric aluminum remote instead of the Roku-like piece of junk that came with the dac. And now I no longer have to squint to read the microscopic volume level on the dac. A few weeks ago I emailed the top guy at Lake People/Violectric (I think his name is Freid) and told him I love the unit but was not entirely pleased as a preamp. Even offered to send it to him if there was some kind of an upgrade available. Imagine how surprised he was to hear complaints about the preamp function. I was probably the first one that ever did. I'm going to email him back and tell him how thrilled I am now with his product. When I think now how much better listening I could have had for the last 16 months, all because of a substandard and possibly damaged set of interconnects! In my mid-60s now, I could have even gone the rest of my life not knowing what I was missing

 

[Pharmaboy]

It's taken me 16 months to realize it but now I completely agree with that statement. I was impressed with my V281 as a headphone amp and preamp but never thrilled with it. About 2 weeks ago I bought some pre-owned DH labs Revelation solid silver conductor XLR interconnects. I have them between my Gustard A22 dac and the V281. It has completely transformed both my stereo room and headphone listening. Those interconnects are so good I'm going to buy a second set to go from the V281 to my power amp, even if I have to pay full price. It's such a win-win-win for me. Now I can plug my phono preamp into the V281. And now I can use that awesome Violectric aluminum remote instead of the Roku-like piece of junk that came with the dac. And now I no longer have to squint to read the microscopic volume level on the dac. A few weeks ago I emailed the top guy at Lake People/Violectric (I think his name is Freid) and told him I love the unit but was not entirely pleased as a preamp. Even offered to send it to him if there was some kind of an upgrade available. Imagine how surprised he was to hear complaints about the preamp function. I was probably the first one that ever did. I'm going to email him back and tell him how thrilled I am now with his product. When I think now how much better listening I could have had for the last 16 months, all because of a substandard and possibly damaged set of interconnects! In my mid-60s now, I could have even gone the rest of my life not knowing what I was missing

I have to chuckle at the idea of you complaining about the V281 to Fried. Turns out he's a patient, composed type person who doesn't over-react to things.

I put him over a few hurdles several years ago when I was on an opamp-rolling mission w/my V281. Some of what I did (or wanted to do) was misguided. But he stayed polite and patiently answered question/comment in this thread about it. I was impressed: the last thing a designer wants to hear is that someone's going to "improve" his design using aftermarket opamps. That must be a total PITA...but he took it well & didn't blow me up.

I think highly of Fried, Violectric/Lake People, and their U.S. distributor, Arthur Power. Collectively a class act IMO. It certainly doesn't hurt that their products are like money in the bank, operationally & sonically.

 

[tezla7]

It's taken me 16 months to realize it but now I completely agree with that statement. I was impressed with my V281 as a headphone amp and preamp but never thrilled with it. About 2 weeks ago I bought some pre-owned DH labs Revelation solid silver conductor XLR interconnects. I have them between my Gustard A22 dac and the V281. It has completely transformed both my stereo room and headphone listening. Those interconnects are so good I'm going to buy a second set to go from the V281 to my power amp, even if I have to pay full price. It's such a win-win-win for me. Now I can plug my phono preamp into the V281. And now I can use that awesome Violectric aluminum remote instead of the Roku-like piece of junk that came with the dac. And now I no longer have to squint to read the microscopic volume level on the dac. A few weeks ago I emailed the top guy at Lake People/Violectric (I think his name is Freid) and told him I love the unit but was not entirely pleased as a preamp. Even offered to send it to him if there was some kind of an upgrade available. Imagine how surprised he was to hear complaints about the preamp function. I was probably the first one that ever did. I'm going to email him back and tell him how thrilled I am now with his product. When I think now how much better listening I could have had for the last 16 months, all because of a substandard and possibly damaged set of interconnects! In my mid-60s now, I could have even gone the rest of my life not knowing what I was missing

Cool. Great to hear. I love hearing stories like this. That is a lot of money for interconnects but, hey, if it does the trick then it does the trick. I hear lots of stories about silver and, beyond the cost, I am a bit wary of it because I do have tinnitus and some say it can make things brighter. Others argue it does not, etc etc. I expect a lot is in the brand, implementation, dialectic and system. We do have someone in Manchester, England who makes these at a relatively reasonable cost and only in silver so, I might have a look.

You've made me super more curious about the whole balanced vs single ended interconnect question now in terms of if there is a signal/quality difference. Although Pharmaboy made excellent points about extra gain and not wanting it for the sake of it, if you have the choice. I have always only had single ended gear. I buy my first amp with balanced inputs and the idea of not using them because the SE is "better" is a bit awkward but c'est la vie. And thank you all for your comments. Maybe I should send Freid an email asking about SE vs Balanced. Or maybe I should read the instructions! But they do seem very technical and beyond me.

I've had maybe, 15 hours+ on the amp now and I like it even more, it's a real- leave the music on amp. In fact I do find it hard to turn the music off when I've got it on. And that's absolutely what I'm looking for. I listen to a massive range of music and it seems to nail it all- the hectic and the slow and sonorous. I went down the rabbit hole on DACs and found lots of debate about the new Bifrost 2/64 vs old. I missed a good deal on a Gungnir over here. Now I'm thinking a Gungnir might be the way to go for smoother treble. Sorry it's not a DAC thread, but at the moment with the Mojo 2, it does have a built in EQ which helps. I got told to use EQ by someone else with tinnitus in the UK, I think I'd always been stubborn about not using it and just trying to get the gear to sound right without it. So I setup parametric EQ in Roon and it sounded fantastic. Then I started to notice digital noise in the music, and bad noise, digititus. And it's not CPU load as my laptop is running it fine, I checked that. And I'm running a Zen Stream, so that should be sorting hardware noise issues for the most part. Switched the Roon EQ off and it was gone so... it would be costly to buy a good DAC and then have to buy a preamp to attenuate any issues or buy another DAC. Maybe I should try and figure out what's causing the Roon EQ issue.

 

[borkenarrou]

Anyone have any experience ordering from Thomann, is import taxes charged for tax free state like Oregon, I know power-holding will be better for warranty and post warranty service, but I'll ultimately take it out of the US so its not too benefical for me and I can take advantage of slightly lower price at Thomann.

 

[milkdudd]

I haven't had a chance to read all the posts yet, I'll do that later. But for now I can tell you I keep my V281 powered on all the time. To me it seems to take two days or more to sound it's best. For that matter I think it keeps sounding better even after that, even as much as a week or two. I admit that part could be my imagination. But as they say, perception is reality!

 

[jonathan c]

I haven't had a chance to read all the posts yet, I'll do that later. But for now I can tell you I keep my V281 powered on all the time. To me it seems to take two days or more to sound it's best. For that matter I think it keeps sounding better even after that, even as much as a week or two. I admit that part could be my imagination. But as they say, perception is reality!***

*** Take note, Amir !

 

[gshyoung]

I’m planning to connect my Hugo2 to the V281 when it arrives.

In terms of volume control, which device should I be using to set the volume? I plan to use the V281 to drive headphones exclusively.

Should I set line out 3V on the H2 into the V281 and use the latter’s volume control exclusively?

 

[milkdudd]

I’m planning to connect my Hugo2 to the V281 when it arrives.

In terms of volume control, which device should I be using to set the volume? I plan to use the V281 to drive headphones exclusively.

Should I set line out 3V on the H2 into the V281 and use the latter’s volume control exclusively?

The following is taken from an email that Fried (the top guy at Lake People/Violectric as I understand it) sent me a couple of months ago on this subject

"The overall quality of the V281 used as a preamp is praised by may users.
However, care should be taken concerning the input/output level of the different devices in the chain.
You should adjust the output level from the DAC in a way that is matches the capabilities of V281 and the power amp.
I would suggest to try differing output levels of the DAC so that the volume control of V281 is positioned around 12 o´clock for “normal” listening.
You can also vary the line output level from V281 by internal dip-switches.
Please see the manual to learn more"

 

[gshyoung]

The following is taken from an email that Fried (the top guy at Lake People/Violectric as I understand it) sent me a couple of months ago on this subject

"The overall quality of the V281 used as a preamp is praised by may users.
However, care should be taken concerning the input/output level of the different devices in the chain.
You should adjust the output level from the DAC in a way that is matches the capabilities of V281 and the power amp.
I would suggest to try differing output levels of the DAC so that the volume control of V281 is positioned around 12 o´clock for “normal” listening.
You can also vary the line output level from V281 by internal dip-switches.
Please see the manual to learn more"

Thanks so much, this is very helpful

 

[milkdudd]

Thanks so much, this is very helpful

With the above from my previous post said, in my case I have a Gustard A22 dac and I leave it at the full volume it can produce. By pure luck that has my volume control on the V281 at 12 o'clock as he suggested when producing optimum volume for my stereo room. I use my V281 mostly as a preamp in my stereo system. However I do some headphone listening and soon will adjust the dip switches so the volume knob is also at 12 o'clock for headphone listening