I’ve recently acquired a pre-loved V281 from a fellow Naim owner. It took a few days to warm-up but I am enjoying the sound. It has very good detail in the higher frequencies but is not strident or cold in any way. Theres lots of texture and a good sense of PRaT. It has excellent synergy with my Grado RS1e headphones, which I’m preferring over the Focal Utopia’s. Trying to decide if its worth having my cables terminated with balanced XLR (4pin) or stick with single ended?
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Add me to the list - V281 will be here tomorrow. Kudos to the US distributor for his fine service.
No more are left in the States and there are 3 Final Edition ones in Germany available for any distributor to access. Then that is it. It’s 6 year run will be over.
Best
Gregg
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I recently got a Final Edition from Germany. It included a free USB DAC card.
Bud
I’m using single ended out of my ND555 through Cardas RCA to XLR converters into the V281. I need a Male 5-pin DIN to Dual Male 3-pin XLRs to connect to my NAC 252.
I’d prefer getting Chord to build one for me.
Bud
As is common there is sometimes a bit of confusion about the concepts of balanced vs. unbalanced in the headphone world. I know when I reentered after a 15 year absence it took a while to properly understand it.
Some DAC’s are able to output balanced signals via XLR outputs. Others are single ended and cannot output a true balanced signal. Their signal is strictly single ended and outputted via RCA’s. Our Naim components (sources) and preamps are only capable of outputting single ended. It will not matter if one sources a DIN>XLR out cable from Chord - the signal from the tape out of our Naim preamps will still not be balanced - it will always be single ended.
As for headphone amplifiers there are many which will accept only balanced signal input via xlr’s. Others, such as my incoming V281 and my current GSX Mini and Moon 430HA, have the ability to accept both single ended AND balanced signals on their input. They have the ability to internally convert a single ended signal feed to balanced. This will allow them to run a balanced headphone from the XLR outputs on the front panel.
Headphones - if a headphone comes with a single ended cable terminated with a 1/4" plug it will not become a balanced headphone by simply cutting off the 1/4" and reterminating with a XLR. A new cable is needed which is wired for balanced operation on both ends. Google the technical explanation however it has something to do with all 4 wires being used +,-, and return out of phase signals. It is above my pay grade 
Our V281 amplifier contains 4 internal amplifier boards. If a single ended wired 1/4" headphone cable is used the outputted signal to the headphone will be single ended - and it will only use 2 of the Violectric’s 4 internal boards. Effectively one is only using 1/2 of the V281’s capabilities. I liked the analogy the Violectric USA importer used - running the V281 with a single ended headphone is like buying an 8 cylinder muscle car and ripping out 4 of the cylinders.
So in summary as it relates to our V281 - it can be fed with any signal - balanced from certain DAC’s or single ended from our Naim preamp. The signal can be fed to the RCA or XLR inputs on the back of the V281 - it does not matter. If one has a proper balanced headphone cable terminated in 4 pin XLR the V281 will make sure that whatever signal it is fed on the back, single ended or balanced, it will be internally converted to balanced and the output to the headphone will be balanced and will utilize all 4 internal amplifier cards. The V281 will then be used to its full capability.
One can google for further information or visit headfi for the technical explanation on how balanced operation works.
I hope this information is helpful.
Best
Gregg
PS Leatherneck - several years ago I had Chord make a DIN > RCA L+R cable for me to hang off of the tape output on my 552 and connect to any headphone amplifier of my choosing. For my headphone amplifier which only accepts XLR connectors (my 3rd party Stax HA) I have a set of Cardas RCA/XLR adapters. Keep in mind these Cardas adapters DO NOT convert the signal from single ended to balanced. They simply convert RCA plugs to XLR plugs. The third party Stax amplifier has the capability, like our V281, to internally convert the single ended feed to balanced (as mentioned above)
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I’ve got Chord Epic RCA-RCA for My Planar 8/Trichord Dino and cheapy e-bay RCA-XLR for the UnitiQute2. Chord Epic RCA-XLR is on order for the NDS once the PSU for that arrives.
Yes, very. Thanks Gregg.
Its a great headphone amp, but said this before. It has so much power and grip on any cans you can throw on it.
Since having it, i have used my headphones more than i have ever done before, something i cant say about my last headphone amp, which looking back on it, was simply quite poor by comparison
Y
Good info. Looks like I’m OK so long as I’m using balanced HP cables. Buying a new cable won’t buy me anything if the source is Naim. In fact I my be better off coming from the ND555 rather than the NAC 252.
Does the ND555 have multiple outputs?
If it does - since the ND555 is always connected to your Naim preamp does it allow for multiple outputs to be connected at the same time? My new dCS will allow two outputs to be connected at the same time - my Linn KDS will not. On the Linn, which has both a set of RCA’s and XLRs outputs, only one set of cables can be plugged in at a time. The Linn app then allows you to switch between the two sets of outputs.
I believe Dunc runs his dCS Rossini directly into his V281 and bypasses his 552.
Best
Gregg
I have always read the balanced outputs on the v281 to read as bridged. As in it bridges the power amps, i.e. effectively doubling the power output.
Yes i do run direct from the balanced xlr’s on the rossini, i found it sounded fabulous like this into my sennheiser hd800s, better than going through the 552.
Maybe because its running balanced throughout, but whatever it is, its splendid
Yes, it has DIN plus RCA and you can choose either or both. There are folks who say that running both degrades the sound. I’ve tried both individual and both and I sometimes think it sounds better one at a time.
I have two headphone amps, the V281 and a Headline with a captive RCA. If I want to switch between headphone amps, I have to swap the cables to the amps.
One of the reasons I was looking into getting a DIN to dual XLR was so I could use both amps w/o swapping RCA cables. I also thought that a DIN source would be better than an RCA source even if both were going to the XLR input of the V281.
I’ll probably sell the Headline/HiCap so that point is mute. Then there is the question of whether or not DIN from the preamp is better than RCA from the DAC. Of course there is also the cost of the cable and finding one that is adequate. There would be no sense using a ChordMagic in that application.
Both the cable from the 555 to the V281 and the Headphone cables are Nordost Heimdall 2’s.
Bottom line is that the current setup sounds great so why do I keep stirring the water?
Same as me, but Empyreans not Focals
Can the LEDs be dimmed or turned off ?
No.
Ta.
I haven’t received mine yet but the leds do appear a bit Christmas Tree! I read somewhere they took on board customer feedback and went with just white and red dimmable leds on the Nimbus.