[jkteddy77]

That doesn't line up with my initial impressions, or my friend who was with me for the first audition, could be the warmth giving it a more intimate feeling maybe? are you getting depth? that's the thing I'm noticing with this amp, it's not got large soundstage but a very good medium spherical soundstage, very good room presence and ambiance, like having your head in the centre of a bubble of sound, rather than just a big linear stage from left to right, personally I prefer that.

Late, but yes I would describe the medium spherical soundstage exactly the same way. It's more pronounced depending on amp. I felt the Ares 12th-1 synergizes this but the bifrost 2's force stuffys it up.

 

[jkteddy77]

agree. V222 is less airy, but it is so punchy.
Edm, Rock, metal sound powerful.

I think the air is what I'm missing actually. Hifiman1000V2 Stealth loses a lot of its Hifiman-air compared to powered by the Buson 3XP. It's been love-hate between these two for months for me.

 

[lowrider007]

I think the air is what I'm missing actually. Hifiman1000V2 Stealth loses a lot of its Hifiman-air compared to powered by the Buson 3XP. It's been love-hate between these two for months for me.

I could see that some people would miss the air with this amp, I love the amp but also miss a bit of the air myself tbh, have been toying with trying the V550 for a while now to see if that gives it back a little.

 

[Arniesb]

I think the air is what I'm missing actually. Hifiman1000V2 Stealth loses a lot of its Hifiman-air compared to powered by the Buson 3XP. It's been love-hate between these two for months for me.

I think good crosstalk gives better sense of air and separation.
V280 and my present Topping dx9 are noticably better in that department and both have lower measured crosstalk.
Even Topping dx7 that i had were better in that department.
Was not disappointed in any other aspect.

 

[oldson]

I was wondering exactly the same, so finally some comparisons were done in this thread (see a couple of previous posts). It seems like new Violectric line is more mid-forward with strong bass, so that laid-back sound of old Violectric line is somehow 'lost'. They also say new line is more 'technical' cleaner sounding. I am just repeating here what others said, I have no opportunity to compare myself. So, there are some differences.

There is another video review:

where the reviewer mentioned: forceful presentation, slightly harder edge on the upper midrange, slightly forced treble response and more impactful bass. That is on SE while with balanced it was kind of smoother. At least he compared V222 to Icon Audio HP8 MKII, so maybe that is the reason for such review...I do not know. Maybe the owners of V222 could say how much they agree with his statements...

have read more of the early posts in this thread now and from what i have the SE out of the V222 is actually inferior to the V202.

so for me its a tough call to get the V222 as any headphones i have that are single ended may sound worse than they did on my V200.
having said this, i am thinking of getting my dt1990 modded to balanced. this would only leave my hd650 and d2000 with SE.
decisions decisions

 

[jonathan c]

have read more of the early posts in this thread now and from what i have the SE out of the V222 is actually inferior to the V202.

so for me its a tough call to get the V222 as any headphones i have that are single ended may sound worse than they did on my V200.
having said this, i am thinking of getting my dt1990 modded to balanced. this would only leave my hd650 and d2000 with SE.
decisions decisions

If you still have V200, keep it !!

 

[Promee]

Alright Violectric V222 people, I’m a total op amp neophyte, and I am 100% out of my depth on this, so I’m hoping one of you can offer some guidance. I’m also going to post this in the Op Amp thread, so sorry for the duplication, but just trying to source ideas from people with expertise with the amp as well as the op amps.

The Problem:
I put the Sparkos SS3602 in each of the op amp slots in my Violectric V222. They made an immediately noticeable improvement in sound. Then I turned it off, and when I turned it back on, no sound. Turning it off and back on again, it works fine. This happens like clockwork. Every other time that I turn it on, the lights on the front come on, but no music.

What I have tried:
It doesn’t matter how long I wait between powering off and on, it is the same behavior. I also tried putting the original op amps back in, and the behavior returns to normal, works every time. With the stock op amp in the volume pot position and the Sparkos at the inputs, it still happens. Using the 3 SS3602s I have, I rotated each one out in the input positions, and same problem each time, so no faulty op amp. I also tried all permutations of the ground, lift, chassis jumpers (Keeping both L & R channel the same) with both the lift and ground setting for the main power jumper - no change. I have tried switching inputs and changing to a couple of different pre-gain settings with no change to behavior.

More investigation:
(Photos below) I opened the amp, and, not touching anything at all on the inside while it is plugged in, I turned the device on, and I see 11 total lights. 8 green on the main amplifiers, 2 green in the middle of the large electrolytic capacitors, and 1 red on a small vertical board in front of the other internal components. From what I have read in the manual, there is a DC protection circuit that disconnects power to the headphones if DC is detected. My theory is that a relay is activating to turn on the DC protection circuit when powering down the amp. There is a sound of a relay clicking very shortly after turning the power off, and the red light on the front board comes on for just a second. When turning the amp back on, that red light is illuminated and there is no sound. One of the green lights in the pair among the capacitors is off when this happens, but the other 9 are still on. When I turn it off again, then back on, all of the green lights are back on and the red light is gone and music plays.

Photos:

Amp is playing correctly - 8 green lights on the left, 2 on the right, no red light:



Amp is not working - no sound playing - 8 green lights on the left, 1 green light on the right, and red light on in the front:



Red light on front alternate view - amp not working - no sound:



My questions:
1. Is there a way to keep the Sparkos op amps in and fix the behavior?
2. I don’t mind turning on the amp twice each time as long as I am not harming it, and it sounds awesome with the Sparkos, so does anyone think this might be causing a problem for me down the line?
3. Can anyone explain why this might be happening?
4. Is it bad that warranty is misspelled in the manual? I just noticed that in the second photo, lol

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[Xruss]

Alright Violectric V222 people, I’m a total op amp neophyte, and I am 100% out of my depth on this, so I’m hoping one of you can offer some guidance. I’m also going to post this in the Op Amp thread, so sorry for the duplication, but just trying to source ideas from people with expertise with the amp as well as the op amps.

The Problem:
I put the Sparkos SS3602 in each of the op amp slots in my Violectric V222. They made an immediately noticeable improvement in sound. Then I turned it off, and when I turned it back on, no sound. Turning it off and back on again, it works fine. This happens like clockwork. Every other time that I turn it on, the lights on the front come on, but no music.

What I have tried:
It doesn’t matter how long I wait between powering off and on, it is the same behavior. I also tried putting the original op amps back in, and the behavior returns to normal, works every time. With the stock op amp in the volume pot position and the Sparkos at the inputs, it still happens. Using the 3 SS3602s I have, I rotated each one out in the input positions, and same problem each time, so no faulty op amp. I also tried all permutations of the ground, lift, chassis jumpers (Keeping both L & R channel the same) with both the lift and ground setting for the main power jumper - no change. I have tried switching inputs and changing to a couple of different pre-gain settings with no change to behavior.

More investigation:
(Photos below) I opened the amp, and, not touching anything at all on the inside while it is plugged in, I turned the device on, and I see 11 total lights. 8 green on the main amplifiers, 2 green in the middle of the large electrolytic capacitors, and 1 red on a small vertical board in front of the other internal components. From what I have read in the manual, there is a DC protection circuit that disconnects power to the headphones if DC is detected. My theory is that a relay is activating to turn on the DC protection circuit when powering down the amp. There is a sound of a relay clicking very shortly after turning the power off, and the red light on the front board comes on for just a second. When turning the amp back on, that red light is illuminated and there is no sound. One of the green lights in the pair among the capacitors is off when this happens, but the other 9 are still on. When I turn it off again, then back on, all of the green lights are back on and the red light is gone and music plays.

Photos:

Amp is playing correctly - 8 green lights on the left, 2 on the right, no red light:



Amp is not working - no sound playing - 8 green lights on the left, 1 green light on the right, and red light on in the front:



Red light on front alternate view - amp not working - no sound:



My questions:
1. Is there a way to keep the Sparkos op amps in and fix the behavior?
2. I don’t mind turning on the amp twice each time as long as I am not harming it, and it sounds awesome with the Sparkos, so does anyone think this might be causing a problem for me down the line?
3. Can anyone explain why this might be happening?
4. Is it bad that warranty is misspelled in the manual? I just noticed that in the second photo, lol

Thanks for your help everyone!

Good afternoon!
Suggestions for faults.
1. Check the functionality by connecting Sparkos (1 of 2) to channel 1, and the native microcircuit (operational amplifier) to the other channel 2. Check functionality.
2. Replace in 1 channel with another Sparkos. Check functionality.
(check for a possible defect in one of the Sparkos) on channel 1.
3. Check the functionality by connecting Sparkos (1 of 2) to channel 2, and the native microcircuit (operational amplifier) to the other 1 channel. Check functionality.
4. Replace in channel 2 with another Sparkos. Check functionality.
(check for a possible defect in one of the Sparkos) on channel 2.
Post the test results on the forum.

 

[Promee]

Good afternoon!
Suggestions for faults.
1. Check the functionality by connecting Sparkos (1 of 2) to channel 1, and the native microcircuit (operational amplifier) to the other channel 2. Check functionality.
2. Replace in 1 channel with another Sparkos. Check functionality.
(check for a possible defect in one of the Sparkos) on channel 1.
3. Check the functionality by connecting Sparkos (1 of 2) to channel 2, and the native microcircuit (operational amplifier) to the other 1 channel. Check functionality.
4. Replace in channel 2 with another Sparkos. Check functionality.
(check for a possible defect in one of the Sparkos) on channel 2.
Post the test results on the forum.

Thank you for the idea!

Interesting results... So, to be clear I actually have 3 of the Sparkos and there are 3 dip8 sockets on the amp. I have numbered the Sparkos based on small differences in the soldering. I’m not sure if this is exactly what each is connected to, but I have named the dip8 socket positions for what they are close to - RCA, XLR, and POT (by the volume pot). Please note that when I say they failed, I mean that they powered up normally once and triggered the red light and no sound on the subsequent power on, then went back to normal on the following power up - duplicating the alternating normal and failure behavior noted above.

1. I put back in the factory op amps and all behavior was normal.

2. I rotated all 3 of them one at a time through the POT position (with the stock op amps in the other 2 positions), and there were no failures on about 5 trials of powering on and off twice with each.

3. I rotated all 3 of them through the RCA position (with the stock op amps in the other 2 positions) and op amps 2 and 3 each had one failure out of about 5 cycles, and it seemed to be related to how fast I turned it back on after powering down. Op amp 1 had no failures On about 5 cycles.

4. I rotated all 3 of them through the XLR position (with the stock op amps in the other 2 positions). All 3 of them reliably failed if I very rapidly powered back on after a successful power on. All 3 of them could work normally if enough time was given between power cycles, though op amp 3 had a couple of sporadic failures on about 10 cycles, even when allowing longer intervals between powering off and on.

5. I then put 2 of the Sparkos in the RCA and POT positions (the positions that previously were more failure resistant) and rotated through all possible pairings and regardless of which pairing of the Sparkos I used, they all failed on almost all cycles, but worked sporadically for a few, though it did seem somewhat sensitive to the speed of powering off and on.

6. Putting all 3 of the Sparkos back in triggers the failure every time regardless of speed.

This all leads me to conclude that there is a cumulative effect of the number of Sparkos in the circuit. My current working theory has been refined, but I am no electrical engineer, far from it, so please correct me if this seems wrong. The manual for the V222 mentions that it has a protection circuit to cut power to the headphones in the event that DC is detected. I know that the Sparkos op amps have significant capacitors on them, in contrast to the regular IC op amps. I wonder if they are operating normally when powered on, but when discharging on power down, the capacitors may be acting as a battery, releasing some DC back into the circuit, triggering the protection. If this is the case, I wonder if it is dangerous to the amp in the long run, or if it would just be an annoyance.

Thanks for the suggestion, and any additional insight / advice would be appreciated!

 

[fdg]

Hi Jeffrey.

First of all, plugging in other than the original op-amps is NOT recommended at all !!
Also, when some damages will appear, these are not covered by the warranty !

You can see as an example what happens when plugging in such devices:
Sometimes it may work, sometimes not.
DC was detected (red light on) and the amp has cut the headphone outputs from the active circuitry to protect your headphones.
Other headphone amps might have smoked your cans …

I cannot tell what happens in detail with the V222 when plugging in other than the recommended opamps.
And, to be honest, I don´t want to give advices out of the blue without deeper evaluation and with appropriate measuring equipment.
Again, we did or very best to tune our amps for best results – in our eyes, our ears, our data.
All attempts of rolling opamps in the past turned out to have marginal or no effects on the sound - while “sound” is always up to personal preferences.

But from what I see on the pics, you corrupted one of the regulated voltages lines, shown by normally two green LEDs on the right.
Depending on the behavior of the rolled opamp(s) this may cause massive amounts of DC, in your case the protection circuits act to protect your headphones (red light on) but the DC voltage may still have negative effects in the circuitry.

Best regards, Fried Reim

 

[Jagamov]

Again, we did or very best to tune our amps for best results – in our eyes, our ears, our data.


Best regards, Fried Reim

Great reply. Thanks for being involved in the community.

I love it when people think they know more than the designers of the product...

 

[Promee]

Hi Jeffrey.

First of all, plugging in other than the original op-amps is NOT recommended at all !!
Also, when some damages will appear, these are not covered by the warranty !

You can see as an example what happens when plugging in such devices:
Sometimes it may work, sometimes not.
DC was detected (red light on) and the amp has cut the headphone outputs from the active circuitry to protect your headphones.
Other headphone amps might have smoked your cans …

I cannot tell what happens in detail with the V222 when plugging in other than the recommended opamps.
And, to be honest, I don´t want to give advices out of the blue without deeper evaluation and with appropriate measuring equipment.
Again, we did or very best to tune our amps for best results – in our eyes, our ears, our data.
All attempts of rolling opamps in the past turned out to have marginal or no effects on the sound - while “sound” is always up to personal preferences.

But from what I see on the pics, you corrupted one of the regulated voltages lines, shown by normally two green LEDs on the right.
Depending on the behavior of the rolled opamp(s) this may cause massive amounts of DC, in your case the protection circuits act to protect your headphones (red light on) but the DC voltage may still have negative effects in the circuitry.

Best regards, Fried Reim

Thank you for this information! I appreciate it, and I totally understand that Lake People can’t be held responsible for any negative effects of modifications to equipment or headphones that may result from these kinds of changes. I appreciate you providing the advice even though this modification is not what was intended with the device. It sounds like these op amps are definitely causing unintended behavior, and I am not sure it is ultimately worth risking the device for the subjective improvement that I think I’m noticing. In any case, I would certainly not attempt to return it after having modified. I know that once internal components are swapped out, all of the risk is mine. Thanks again for reaching out with this!

 

[jonathan c]

Great reply. Thanks for being involved in the community.

I love it when people think they know more than the designers of the product...

@Promee .... you might consider changing your avatar ....

 

[Fegefeuer]

Why? He seems to be a friendly Orschgsicht.

 

[jonathan c]

Why? He seems to be a friendly Orschgsicht.

... amicability is not the issue ...