[lowrider007]

Guess I'll email Violectric and see if they are willing to give up power rating specs on the single ended output, strange how popular these amps are and none really knows, most manufacturers give ratings for single and balanced.

 

[Jagamov]

After seeing the post for a $300 discount for the Violectric V222, I decided to reach out about a potential discount for the V202. Emailed Arthur from Power Holdings and managed to get another shareable discount for the V202. The coupon code is DropThePrice-V202 which gives you $250 off the V202. That's an amazing price for people who don't need balanced output from the V222 ($750 vs $1000 at sale prices)

Thanks to @Jagamov for sharing the 1st discount!

Great job! To save you a PM to me, remove the “-V202” and thats the code for the V222.

Can’t wait to here impressions from all us new owners.

 

[TooFrank]

It seems from what I've read that on the V222 the balanced out is 'marginally' better than the single-ended output, particularly with higher ohm rated headphones, but I've also read that the single-ended out on the V202 is better than the single ended out on the V222.

FWIW: I have the V222 because I have several balance cables for HPs. In addition you can connect the V222 via XLR, provided your DAC have this as an output option. Haven't made meticulos comparisons, just went for the theoretically most optimal.....

Edit: forgot to add that I really enjoy this amp

 

[lowrider007]

FWIW: I have the V222 because I have several balance cables for HPs. In addition you can connect the V222 via XLR, provided your DAC have this as an output option. Haven't made meticulos comparisons, just went for the theoretically most optimal.....

Edit: forgot to add that I really enjoy this amp

V202 has XLR input as well so even though it's a single ended amp you'll still be able to benefit from the superior output on your DAC as these days the topology on DACs favour the Balanced output.

I was gunning for the v222 originally but I came across an open box v202 for only £550 from a good hifi store so couldn't really say no at that price but there's always that 'what if' lingering in the mind.

 

[Strale]

Most of the topology is unbalanced, only the output stage is balanced and for the V222/V202 they receive a balanced signal that is quickly converted to single ended. The V222 and V226 are mostly current limited at lower Ohms.

Why would slew rate be inaudible? That is the speed of the amplifier. An amplifier with very slow slew rate would gave muddy sound as it can never keep up with the input signal. I get that very few want to test slew rate, but slew rate and square waves tell a lot more about about an amplifier than a frequency response graph. Same with square waves on a headphone. Music isn't a fixed level signal. In a headphone or stereo system it is electrical impulses that must be converted to air motion. The faster and more precise the amplifier and headphones are the better the reproduction of sound. E.g. overshoot and undershoot on a square wave is distortion of the signal and very few headphones had a good measurement on the square waves when Tyll measured them on Innerfidelity. When Stereophile does 10khz square waves on amps there are quite a few amps that do poor on it with either significant undershoot or overshoot.

I never wanted to say slew rate is inaudible. I wanted to say - I thought we would not be able to detect by our ears the change of the slew rate when going from SE to balanced. However, as I said, now I am getting more and more interested into this topic of balanced output. I am leaning more towards V222 because of it. Since most of my headphones are SE, if V222 SE is the same as V202 (if I will not ruin SE experience by going with V222) then I am considering spending more on V222 for some balanced options I will have.

 

[JerseyD]

@Ichos who started this thread explains it all. I strongly urge you to go back in this thread to page one and read the first 10 pages..... Just saying

Leo

Went back as you suggested, Leo. I was very close... "Violectric has an entry level model, the V202 which is essentially the single ended version of the V222 with the same base circuit design but two power amplifiers instead of four. Moreover its technical parameters and power delivery are better when compared to that of the V222 single ended output."

 

[Strale]

I have contacted Violectric (Lake People) support and Fried Reim responded to my email very quickly, literally in a couple of minutes. Really positive impression!
I asked about V222 SE Vs. V202 and also on unbalanced Vs. balanced on V222 (what would be the advantages of balanced), and he responded like this:

''From the technical point it is no problem to balance or unbalance a signal.
The V222 unbalanced output is just the same as the unbalanced output from V202.
So, also the sound signature is identical.
None of our amps is internally balanced. If we would do so, it would not be possible to interchange between balanced and unbalanced signals.
V202 offers an unbalanced and balanced input.
The balanced signal is treated by a differencial amp to make it unbalanced.
Balanced [on V222] gives wider soundstage, better dynamics, more channel separation [compared to V222 unbalanced].''

Then I asked him about output powers, so he shed some light on output powers for V222 balanced and for V202 (which is unbalanced by default) with the note that the unbalanced output power from V222 is the same as the one from V202, so here is the comparison:

Cheers!

 

[Ichos]

Yes but as Fried pointed in a similar conversation that I had with him, the V202 is the only Violectric amplifier with a feedback gain +8 dB compared to the single ended outputs of all the other amplifiers which is +2 dB.

 

[lowrider007]

I have contacted Violectric (Lake People) support and Fried Reim responded to my email very quickly, literally in a couple of minutes. Really positive impression!
I asked about V222 SE Vs. V202 and also on unbalanced Vs. balanced on V222 (what would be the advantages of balanced), and he responded like this:

''From the technical point it is no problem to balance or unbalance a signal.
The V222 unbalanced output is just the same as the unbalanced output from V202.
So, also the sound signature is identical.
None of our amps is internally balanced. If we would do so, it would not be possible to interchange between balanced and unbalanced signals.
V202 offers an unbalanced and balanced input.
The balanced signal is treated by a differencial amp to make it unbalanced.
Balanced [on V222] gives wider soundstage, better dynamics, more channel separation [compared to V222 unbalanced].''

Then I asked him about output powers, so he shed some light on output powers for V222 balanced and for V202 (which is unbalanced by default) with the note that the unbalanced output power from V222 is the same as the one from V202, so here is the comparison:



Cheers!

Interesting, so we finally have the single-ended output power of the V222! I guess it makes sense being the same as the V202, I do wonder what pre-gain settings people use with the V222 as I already have my V202 set at -12dB so I'm listening at around 12 o'clock on the volume dial, and that is with 300 ohm headphones, I guess with the v222 you'd have to use -18dB surely?

 

[Strale]

Yes but as Fried pointed in a similar conversation that I had with him, the V202 is the only Violectric amplifier with a feedback gain +8 dB compared to the single ended outputs of all the other amplifiers which is +2 dB.

I have to say it is completely out of my knowledge about amps, what such higher feedback gain means to the 'end user'?

 

[TooFrank]

Interesting, so we finally have the single-ended output power of the V222! I guess it makes sense being the same as the V202, I do wonder what pre-gain settings people use with the V222 as I already have my V202 set at -12dB so I'm listening at around 12 o'clock on the volume dial, and that is with 300 ohm headphones, I guess with the v222 you'd have to use -18dB surely?

FWIW: I use -18dB on my V222 for all HPs (from Grados to ZMF or HD650). And sometimes I even add less gain on top via Roon. Maybe I am just oversensitive?

 

[jonathan c]

FWIW: I use -18dB on my V222 for all HPs (from Grados to ZMF or HD650). And sometimes I even add less gain on top via Roon. Maybe I am just oversensitive?

... the 'flip side' to that is more clockwise rotation on the volume knob ==> less chance of lower level channel imbalance ...

 

[TooFrank]

... the 'flip side' to that is more clockwise rotation on the volume knob ==> less chance of lower level channel imbalance ...

Hmmm... maybe I misunderstand you or the concept. More clockwise rotation ==> less risk of lower level imbalance? Isn't that a good thing? (Once I owned the RA-1 amp from Grado, my problem was that when listening to low volumes, the was a distinct channel imbalance). But this shouldn't affect the SQ in general or what?

 

[ziggz]

Hmmm... maybe I misunderstand you or the concept. More clockwise rotation ==> less risk of lower level imbalance? Isn't that a good thing? (Once I owned the RA-1 amp from Grado, my problem was that when listening to low volumes, the was a distinct channel imbalance). But this shouldn't affect the SQ in general or what?

It shouldn't. Channel imbalance its self would lower "SQ", as you would here things quieter on one channel, and lower on the other. Sometimes our brains will perceive this as an issue with sound quality, when it's just the levels not being equal in each ear. Once properly matched there would be no "sound quality" issue.

 

[Ichos]

I have to say it is completely out of my knowledge about amps, what such higher feedback gain means to the 'end user'?

Not %100 sure but I think lower noise floor.