New Violectric Dac/amps V380/V590

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories DACs
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Deleeh,

RE: the questyle - Great Dac Amp but it has no analog inputs, When I said 10-11 on the dial - that is loudest for unbalanced. Forget balanced - that is 9-10
The dip switches are set at low gain. I can listen louder, of course, but not for long periods of time.
I have a Cambridge CD transport that puts out 2v to the dac. Way too loud on the CMA400i analog / headphone outputs.

And yes. - I can lower the digital volume on the Ipad too. Reducing digital volume reduces information. Not my first choice.

I would sell the questyle to offset costs - as well as some other equipment I have.

Yes, the CMA400i is great so it’s ok if I keep it too. If I can upgrade with improved convenience , it would be a good thing.

FBizzle,

What were your settings on the pre-gain for the LCDs and Clears.

I was told by Arthur - USA importer for Lake People that Lake people amps are more neutral and Violectric warmer. New amps should be like G111. Your description of soundstage is also what I hear in the G111.

I have another setup where I am using a Denafrips Ares 2 - Schiit Freya S - Gishelli labs Erish / Audeze Deckard. (This is where the G111 will go). I would love to compare the Bifröst 2 to the Ares some day.

You have both been helpful - THANK YOU

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In case I was not clear - the head designer for Violectric , and for Goldpoint said your normal comfortable listening range should be between 11-1. This gives you an excellent range of volume adjustment.

Sorry for the long prior post.

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8

Hello,

Yes, that’s right, I have to agree with you, this changes the matter of course.
I didn’t want to step on your feet, I am really wondering why you come to such statements.

Have you ever tried to use the Cd Player as input to try something else, for example optical to see if something changes?
Or maybe even try another cd player that is less alarming or where the alarm would be less strong.
As you already mentioned the Questyle has only digital inputs.

Maybe that’s the problem, you have to say that CD players are designed for analog things where amplifiers can handle such power.
And headphone amplifiers are more sensitive and tend to be sensitive and react accordingly.

I know that the Lake People is a different circuitry and is probably better able to handle such voltages.
That would of course explain the whole thing.

How about using the Questyle purely digital with a pc that serves as the source? as loud or better?
If that would be better I would really try another cd player.

9

I do not have a CD player, but rather a CD Transport. It only reads the CD and sends digital out to the Questyle Dac.
RE: pre Gain:
Questyle’ s dip switches are Unity gain - o, and + 8db compared
to the new Violectrics which offer -18, -12, -6, Unity, +6, +12, +18

Remember too - if you lower the volume digitally you loose BIT information for the dac which will affect Some quality. …an option, but not the first option.

I want to reduce the number of separate components I have. Unfortunately to maintain the quality of sound components afford, you need to go to higher quality All-in-ones.

CMA400i’s only weakness , really, is it’s limited Pre-Gain adjustment. My stable of headphones are fairly sensitive and easy to drive - Focal Clears: 56ohms, 104db - LCD2: 70ohms, 101db and
660s: 150ohms, 98 dB.

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10

Hello,

What exactly is this Cd Transport you have here?
Is this a good thing and can it do justice to a cd player?

I just have a little bit of a suspicion from the source that there is something wrong.
This might be the cause of your problem.
Even if it is only optical, the data processing may not be optimal.
The technical production of your medium may cause something that is not right.
In the past, there were also a lot of bad CD players and so CD readers that appeared on the market at low prices, which fulfilled their purpose but were not the real thing for audiophile music or were not suitable at all.
There is no need for a top modern Cd player, there are enough of them on the after market and in good condition. Partly also reference players which were the measure of things at that time.
From Technics or Pioneer there were quite good ones with optical output and also Sdac.

Well I think you can work better with the Lake people and they also have some advantages with the gain control.

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Hi,

CD players have their own DACs. They may also play other formats —CDR, CDRW, SACD, etc

These formats spin at Different speeds. Therefore a CD player has to retrieve information off various formats making the mechanics and electronics more complicated.

A CD TRANSPORT decodes 44.1 digital audio CDs - nothing else. It won’t work with a CDR, CDRW, SACD, or DVD-Audio.
There is no dac. You connect SPDIF cables to your Dac of choice.
A Transport is more efficient at pulling information off a CD. Remember you are also using a separate dac to convert to analog - and that’s almost always better than what is in the player

My $400 Cambridge CXC transport sounds as good as my OPPO costing 2.5x as much - maybe better. With the Violectric I will be able to upsample CD’s to 96 KHz.

I know the Violectrics will be a good fit because they use AKM 4490 DACs - same as the questyle. The sound signature will be similar.

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12

Hello,
Hmmm yes difficult.
If one of the converters would have an overlap maybe, but that would not be the case.
Otherwise try to go into the Questyle and see if it has brought an improvement.
Possibly also exchange the coax cable against another one.
Maybe a high quality one if a less good one was plugged in.

13

Has anyone heard the 590/550 yet? Wondering how the performance of the amp stage racks and stacks against other amps in similar price range (Moon 430, GSX mk2/mini, etc…). Is it a baby Nimbus or closer to the v281 performance?

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Fbizzle has a 590, his posts are above

I’ve only had a demo of the 590, it is more niimbus/lake people leaning than it is traditional violectric, it’s focus on neutrality and clarity and more forwardness is pretty different from the warmer more smooth in the treble spacious sound of the older vios. The niimbus is still more capable than the 590 but not by a super large margin, and the niimbus is more analytical leaning as well

Compared to the 430 ha, that’s going to be closer to the v281 type of sound rather than the new violectric. It is a warmer smoother leaning amp that is very spacious, controlled, and refined, although at times might be slightly blunted and could get too smooth. The 590 is not as spatially impressive, doesn’t have as organic timbre, is more forward, is more resolving, and is a fair bit more neutral imo, but also not as good dynamics. It would definitely come down to preference and synergy for what one to go for

The gsx mk2 vs 590 is an interesting one, I would call the 590 more neutral dry, where the gsx mk2 is more analytical bright but it’s also more tonally rich than the 590, spatially they both aren’t very wide, perhaps the gsx has a slight bit more depth, gsx has better timbre, they are probably on an equal playing field for resolution, and for dynamics it might go to the 590. Again dependant on preference and synergy

But overall I think the 590 delivers for the price amp wise as long as you don’t mind the signature change and also spatial recreation isn’t your first priority, I will say though that the integrated dac is mediocre in there so I would buy the one without the built in dac.

For my personal preferences I really wish these new amps went into the niimbus or lake people lineup instead of replacing the 281/280 as I do kinda prefer what those amps have to offer, mainly their spatial recreation and signature

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Also note that the V590/380 are unavailable atm (new at least) because of the AKM shortage. So the V550 is the only available option for the next gen Vio for a few months.

Yeah I’d agree. I was expecting it to be a little closer to the V281 signature when I jumped on the V590 and was a little surprised how much of a change it was. I don’t regret it as I find it to be compatible with more DACs, than the 281, despite it having a built in DAC.

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That is true, the niimbus, new vio, and lake people are more forgiving of dac pairings than the older vio, but I also would say the newer vio and to some extent the niimbus don’t necessarily convey as much of what the dac can offer compared to the old vio

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fyi… in case somebody has been looking for one of these used… this is the first one I’ve seen come up for some time. There was a US4 Niimbus but it isn’t priced well… This V550 pro seems to be priced somewhat more reasonably. It has the better volume pot than the non pro v550 sold through drop @ $2500 it seems to be viable.

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Has anyone paired a Chord Qutest with a new line Vio?

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Looking at getting the new V550 or possibly V340. Does anyone have any suggestions for good DAC pairings?

Something like the Yggdrasil or similar (budget-wise).

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Soekris dacs are an excellent choice. Many others like the Denafrips amps as well. Without knowing your budget though, I don’t want to recommend something that isn’t an option for you.

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I’m looking into another amp too and the V550 is on my short list. While lurking through other forums and threads I’ve been keying in on signatures that show off the users chain, or I flat out ask them - What DAC they are using and what they like about that setup. From what I’ve gathered is it is Hugo 2, Bifrost 2, Yggy, Holo Spring, Ares II, Pontus II & Venus II, and as @Hazi59 stated, the Soekris DAC’s, that all retail in the the same MSRP (including tax shipping) of the Yggy AKA $3K or less, that get a nod.

I think though more importantly your choice should come down to what signature you are after/prefer and the headphones you will be using and then choosing a DAC that has qualities to compliment the amp and the rest of your setup.

I currently run a V281 with a Soekris dac1541 and I personally like that combo. The V550 is not quite as warm leaning as the V281 (disclaimer I have not yet heard a V550) so that synergy could change a bit when paired with a V550. Though I’ve heard the 2541 works OK, but again its what qualities you are looking for that matter.

What DAC are you working now? Perhaps if you have settled on the amplifier - pick it up, run it with your current setup for a while and then decide which way you want to go, based on what you are hearing.

I’m doing it all backwards - I’ve placed an order for a new DAC and will be attempting to match an amp… I think that is much harder to do considering limited options for amps within my budget. But that’s another story for another time.

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If I understand correctly Vio changed the sound sig somewhat with their newer models. The older 200 series was warmer, wider, and smoother leaning. I think the 300 and 500 series are meant to be a more studio-neutral presentation. So as @Delta9K says, what are your sonic preferences? If you want the warmer, smoother, sound, probably go Yggy. If you want a more neutral but smooth, probably a Spring 3, if you want neutral and incisive, a Hugo 2 or a Soekris is a good pick. The Vios are quite high end and have a reputation for scaling up too, so you could also look at what ~$5K DACs you could get used. I run a Berkeley Alpha Series 2 (neutral and incisive) with a Vio V281 (warm, wide, smooth) and it’s wonderful. That’s a DAC you can find closer to $2.5K if you look on the used market.

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23

Hey, thanks for your reply.

I currently have an RME ADI-2 DAC fs and a Bryston BHA-1. Overall it seems to be a fairly neutral/analytical type of signature, which is what I thought is what I was looking for… at the time

My current headphones are: Final Audio D8000, Fostex TH-900 Mk2, Focal Clear and a Hifiman HE-6SE on the way. So I need something powerful, but I really REALLY don’t want a speaker amp just for that headphone…

I guess I have come to realise better what I am looking for signature-wise.

The things I care most about would be: bass quality/quantity and impact/slam (macrodynamics), dynamics and transient response, attack and decay, musicality and full-bodied sound, more forgiving to poor recordings

The things I care less about would be: neutrality, a lean and cold or bright analytical sound, a boring sound that lacks bass/impact/dynamics/ a strong attack and decay, having ultimate detail retreival and resolution

I mostly listen to rock and metal, so 99% of my music is male vocals, distorted or overdriven electric guitars, bass and acoustic drums.

My shortlist for DACS right now is:

Schiit Yggdrasil
Matrix X-Sabre Pro
Cranesong Solaris
Denafrips Venus
Holo Audio Spring 3
Soekris dac2541

Yeah the plan is definitely to get the amp first and then save-up and decide on the DAC after . The RME will definitely be good enough in the interim.

Good luck in your search as well.

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Thanks for your reply.

As far as signature is concerned, I think I prefer a warmer (full-bodied) sound as far as having north of neutral bass quantity and impact/slam. But I definitely don’t want a too smooth or laid-back sound at the same time… I value strong dynamics, transients, attack/decay and decent clarity and resolution as well.

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just saying … generally you should focus mostly on the amp but especially, if you plan to use a highly resolving DAC and still want a forgiving sound! I have used a THX-amp with a Chord Mojo for a while and this pairing was fine. But then i switched to the Yggdrasil A1 (!) and the experience became the exact opposite of “forgiving sound”. Actually, hearing nearly pure Yggi was also very interesting, but the non-smooting harshness of the THX and the Yggdrasils dryness was a combo that forced every flaw possible into your ear. Since then, i’ve swapped my amp to a Vio V280 Final Edition. And this made every diference in the world. No longer do i puke when listening to bad recordings. Highly recommended. Since you already have a highly resolving dac with the RME, i’d go with a more smoothing amp like the V280 and test that, i should already be are great combo.

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