Violectric V281 headphone amp - who is using it?

Though I haven’t compared, I understand from feedback here and on the WWW the Violectric is considered a good match for the Empyreans.

I give everything at least couple of weeks of running in before coming to any conclusions. So far so good and the run in seems to be more or less as expected - moments of thickness, brightness, wow moments etc. From what I have heard so far, I am very impressed and looking forward to what is to come. As an aside, the Empyreans have helped confirm my speaker set up is actually pretty good; I had never considered they might be a useful evaluation tool but I think they are exactly that.

I am using the Meze silver plated balanced leads. Nothing to compare to other than the standard unbalanced lead but its still in the box. Again, this was chosen based or research rather than experimentation. I will no doubt compare one day but I’m in no rush, I’m just looking forward to the set up coming fully on song and enjoying it.

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I listened to the same combination and would have described it exactly the same. Was my preferred combo at the price point. In the end I didn’t purchase it because it was still headphones and I fell for the 300 DR instead :joy:

@Dunc did you demo any other headphone amps with your HD800s? I currently am using an Auralic Taurus mk II balanced output and thinking about an end game pairing. Need to listen to the Trilogy 933 and EAR HP4 and looking for other contenders.

Might just keep the Auralic of course.

Yes loads
Headline 2 with supercap, not great.
Bryston bha 1, nice, but nothing special.
Trilogy 931, better, but again nothing special.
Sennheiser hdv820, best so far.
Trilogy 933, very nice and worked well with the hd800s.
Benchmark hpa4, once again very nice and worked well, and probably slightly better than them all.
Only problem is the last 2 are expensive and for my expected use, too much money.
I found the V281 to be in the same league as the last 2, not quite as good as the benchmark, but close enough to be a very strong second, add in the price difference and it was really a no brainer.

I feel the hd800s approach to how they make music is helped very nicely with the V281, as it adds a bit off warmth to the low end, and the pair work so well together, it is a pairing thats hard to beat.

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Hi Dunc
Thank you for the detailed feedback! As the originator of this thread I might as well chime in.

One thing I would like to preface with is that together with @magicbus the both of us have determined we are obtaining better performance by connecting our various headphone amplifiers directly to the sources rather than going via the tape out DIN on the 552. In my case I have experimented with my Stax Mjolnir amplifier, a HeadAmp GSX Mini, and finally the V281 - all connected DIRECTLY to my dCS Rossini and Linn KDS via their RCA outputs. @magicbus has connected his V281 directly to his ND555 and Linn KDSM, and to his DAVE via an Innous server. He has bypassed his 52 tape out - I am sure he will chime in.

I am pleased to read your impressions on the Benchmark HPA4 as I just ordered one this morning. Being in the States we are able to have a 30 day no questions asked trial period on any Benchmark products direct from the factory. I believe the price is also a bit more reasonable than what it goes for in the UK. Here it is $2999.

The V281 was here for two weeks and I had the chance to extensively compare it to my current HeadAmp GSX Mini. For those who are not familiar with HeadAmp they are the makers of the famous Blue Hawaii Tube amplifier for Stax headphones as well as the GSX MK2 headphone amp. The GSX Mini was released last year and, while it has the “mini” moniker, it may actually be a better performer than its older sibling.

After two weeks of demo with both amplifiers, utilizing Focal Utopia and Sony Signature Z1R closed back headphones, in the end I decided to return the V281 and remain with my HeadAmp GSX Mini. I simply felt that while the V281 was an excellent performer, with a nice warm tilt, I preferred my GSX Mini.

@magicbus is now playing with the Benchmark HPA4 and I have decided to order one to see how it performs in my system.

More to follow

Best
Gregg

PS. I am awaiting some Mogami 2549 XLR cables as per @magicbus’s recommendation. I will move to these interconnects and away from my Linn Silver RCA’s which I feel may be holding performance back.

As you know i also run direct from the rossini and certainly feel its better than going through the 552.
Also running like this gets you 100% balanced from source to headphones and i run my hd800s with a balanced cable.
Never tried your headphones and can only talk about hd800s and grado sr325e with the V281.
But as said the hd800s really like what the V281 bring and work together perfectly.
The benchmark is a very nice amp and hope it works well for you.

I have HD800’s and use a Heed Canalot with their top end seperate power supply - the Obselik and it’s an end game pairing for me.

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Thanks for the info Mike.

Reading on the web it sounds like the Canalot would be a sideways move. I suppose I should just be happy with what I have until I hear something better. Or maybe get a cool looking valve amp for a different flavour and keep the Taurus.

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