Not here. I already have 2 DACs. Inside my ND5XS2 and a chord qutest. Both I’d expect better by far than violectrics offerings. I was already well over what I wanted to pay with just the basic v281!
Thanks…I guess most owners are using it just as a headphone amp, very impressed with the reviews I’ve read. I need the DAC function also and I suspect it’s a distant second to their headphone amp capability.
Haha. I’d have bought that for sure!
Dunno? They claim they’ve been making DACs since 1990 something if I remember the blurb on their website correctly. Think they can be retrofitted. I just did not have a need. Didn’t think the extra£ was too much though.
Yeah…I had a dig around on their website and they have a number of additional boards that can be added to V281 including SPDIF, USB and some other options, all around $250
I recently was looking for a headphone amp and looked at the headline. Nice little unit. However when adding the PS to bring it up to its potential, it became non competetive. I went with the Meridian 251 Powered Zone Controller–ie an amp that integrates with the Roon and Meridian system I already have and love. Its driving an old pair of Stax SRS/SRD-7’s for the late seventies. Headphone Bug has not bitten me. I still enjoy improving the main system. For me, its just a way to listen to music when others are in the house, and I cannot listen at lifelike levels. YMMV.
I don’t know about non-competitive because I’ve not heard other h/phone amps (apart from the portable cuties like Ray Samuels’ etc) but yes, had I not already had my SC2 to hand (which I was about to try on the Supernait 3), the cost of adding a SC to the Headline would cause me some thought.
Still thinking of the V281/280, partly in terms of cost (which would be partially recouped) but also in terms of racking…I’m not sure it would be a good idea next to the Superline (where the HL is, with a good distance between due to its compactness).
You make a good point. The HL2 is extremely good value compared to other amps if you already have a spare power supply. I had a spare HCdr and got a HL2 as a duty free purchase for little more than GBP300. That changes everything.
Hmmm…reading about the Violectric V200.
Nice and compact. No balance control, but don’t need that as SN3 has its own. Would seem to match with my Audezes…
Wondering aloud here…may be an interesting amp to compare with HL2/SC2.
Anyone have any experience with the V200?
Seen a V200 at a good price and in good condition.
I’m buying…after all, “it’s the only way to be sure”
(Thanks Aliens - always quotable!)
My thinking (if I can so dignify what my scatterbrain does) is that if the Violectric beats the HL/SC, then I can use the SC on the SN3 (and hoard the HL for a rainy day) and if HL wins, the Violectric can be sold for not much loss… and in the meantime, I get a whole lotta listening fun!
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I’m looking at this thread because 3 days ago an Olive Headline and Napsc that was stolen during my house move in has showed up in the local classifieds. Yep you read that right. How can I tell? The serial numbers have been scratched off and the umbilical looks like it’s been used to tether an angry dog.
The guy selling it doesn’t know the history (supposedly) and it’s been 8 years so all I can ask for is a Naim-voiced Headline 3. Or is that too much to ask?
Wow, what a crap thing to happen…no recourse I guess?
How did the seller account for having it I wonder…ah, I understand… it was stolen 8 yrs ago?
Thanks.
Like a friend of mine asked: ‘how far do you want to go with this?’
Good point, and I dropped it.
At the time (2012) I didn’t notice the missing box and the mover was unusually nonchalant about it a week later. And then super effusive when I bumped into him some months later. #guilty
Yeah me too!
Now what did we get?
Naim totally abandoned the market. 
I used my UQ2 headphone socket whilst working from home and was so dissapointed. So much so, I sold it and got a DAP.
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Taken to new thread so I don’t derail this one!
As a former Headline user for many years i’d really appreciate a POV from Naim as to whether they’re ever going to re-enter this market with a serious 2020 offering. I know it’s not their way but i think there’s such a huge user base of potential purchasers that a modest bit of clarity would be welcome - come on Charlie just drop a hint one way or the other so we can move on (or wait)
Agree - it would be helpful to have a forward view from Naim, but as you say, we are unlikely to get one. In my particular case I “moved on” yesterday. A lost sale for Naim (assuming a HL3 comes along) and a gain for The Lake People (Violectric). So sad.
I think it was the V100 — the V281 didn‘t exist when the HD800 were developed.
I knew that. I should have worded it differently.