[stuckonsound]

I know there are not a lot of owner's on here, but does anyone have a Violectric with a built in 24/96 DAC? I'm contemplating getting a V181 with DAC as a balanced one box solution for my HE-5LE. I'm pretty convinced the amp is up to par, but I wonder how good the optional integrated DAC is given it's around a $200 option. They have a standalone DAC for a little over $1k. Have to wonder about the differences between the two.

 

[fdg]

The standard USB option for V100 / V181 / V200 uses PCM2702.
PCM2702 is part of a larger USB transceiver family and offers the best DA quality in this range.
Unfortunately it is discontinued.
PCM2702 is capable of max 16 bit and max 48 kHz.
It incorporates a USB receiver and a built in DAC with middle-on-the-road quality.
But good enough to listen to 320 kb/s MP3 music.

The enhanced USB option for V100 / V181 and V200 works with Tenor TL7022 as USB receiver and PCB1793 as DA converter.
TL7022 offers up to 24 bit resolution with up to 96 kHz sample rate and has got a pretty good PLL.
PCM 1793 DA converter is qualified for high resolution PCM or FLAC data
although it won´t reach the overall performance of the headphone amplifiers.
 
The USB input of  DAC V800 also works with TL7022 as the input receiver.
But here the USB data is converted into a PCM data stream and transformer-coupled to the "normal" input ircuitry for the other PCM signals.
As the complete USB input is powered from the connected computer, with these measures a total electrical isolation is achieved.
There won´t be any hum or noise issues which a common with many other solutions.

As all digital inputs from V800 may be routed through a sample-rate converter also any jitter problems are eliminated.

Some words about the so called asynchron mode.

Generally people fear that there are sound issues when the digital data from the computer is forced to the USB receiver by the (weak) clock from the computer.
This is true in many cases and sound issues may occure.
A common answer is called "asynchron mode" as now the digital data from the computer is forced into the USB receiver by a clock generated by the receiver itself.
This is better in many cases but it is not asychron at all as there is still a clock depending data transmission.

A true asynchron mode is only acheived when both clocks (from the computer and the USB receiver) must not work together at all.
The only way to enable this is the use of an additional sample-rate converter (with its own clock) between the USB receiver and the DA converter because now the input clock has nothing
to do with the clock which  is needed to convert the digital data into analog.
 
Hope I could give an answer.

 

[stuckonsound]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[MHinGA]

To revive this query, I am leaning hard towards an all-in-one (Amp with DAC) solution as a way to spread out my upgrade costs; my thinking is that the Violectric V200 is a good amp upgrade for me and choosing the internal DAC option at ~$200.00 would suit me until I can buy a better stand-alone DAC. 
 
My questions in this regard:
 
1. Does anybody out there have experience at this point with either the V181 or V200 with the internal DAC, and if so what are your impressions?
 
2. I was also considering the Burson HA-160D because it is directly competitive with the V200, and because others have noted good synergy using the Burson with LCD-2; does anybody have any comments regarding the relative merits of these two amps and their DACs?
 
Many thanks for anybody who can lend assistance, MH
 
Edit: I'm aware of the V200 review thread which mentions the Burson and I'm monitoring that thread re comparisons between the two; still interested in whether anybody has the V200 with the internal DAC... Burson experienced some initial glitches in their manufacturing process with their internal DACs from what I understand.

 

[Loevhagen]

The Burson glitch was resolved some time ago.
 
I have the V200 and the 160D, but the V200 is without the inboard DAC, so I can´t comment on your targeted question regarding that DAC.

 

[MHinGA]

Thanks, L. I'm following with interest your comments in the V200 review thread. My impression from various sources is that while they are both highly regarded the Violectric could be said to be marginally better as a pure amp, and this is probably the direction that I will go. The internal DAC feature is simply a bridge between now and a future DAC purchase.