Does anyone here have any experience using a Vioelectric V281 as a pre amp for a speaker setup? Once I (finally) upgrade my headphones, I am hoping to build a pretty killer desktop / home office stereo based around the dac and amp already on my desk.
I figured before I went nuts, I should check in with the community to see if anyone has any experience in this use case.
In case it matters, the current plan:
Dac 2541-> V281->separate active crossovers->pair of Schiit aegir amps for speakers->Elac UBR62
the low-pass side of the crossovers to feed a Presonus Temblor T-10 sub (has left and right XLR inputs, sums them internally)
If there is a severe mismatch or poor synergy, then anyone with the knowhow is welcomed to chime in! Mostly, however, I was just curious if I would be better served to get a dedicated pre-amp, or if the pre-amp outs from the 281 were as nice as the headphone amp sounds.
I have no experience to share on this setup, But I will say that I feel like it should sound pretty darned good. Funny, I never thought of the 281 as a preamp. I am eager to read about how it goes. I never thought of the SA-1 as a pre either, but that is what I have it doing as we speak. And it’s really good! So ya never know…
I am using it currently as a pre-amp for my existing desktop placeholder. I have a mid 1980’s era Yamaha stereo receiver, a pair of similar aged Boston Acoustics bookshelf speakers, and a surprisingly effective little Yamaha sub. The sound is as good as I can expect from the hardware, I wouldn’t even begin to tell you if there were any impact to the sound from the Vio pre-amp. At this level, I am nothing but thrilled with both how it sounds, as well as how convenient a solution it is - simple push button switching from headphone to speaker, convenient volume control, etc.
I just don’t understand the electronics well enough to know if I’m overlooking something. Like maybe long term use as a pre-amp might degrade its performance as a headphone amp, or maybe it imparts its own sound as a pre-amp more strongly than as a headphone amp, which could pair badly say, if either the power amp or speaker had a similarly warm signature, which could end up with a muddy, gooey, and thoroughly unappealing end result.
I know it’s probably a pretty niche use case, but hell, we’re already pretty darned niche around here anyway, might as well ask - maybe someone out there’s already done pretty much the same.
I use the SE preouts of my V281 into a Parasound Zampv3 for my desk speakers. It sounds really good. The issue I’ve found is some ground loop noise, very minor, and I haven’t figured out yet which piece is at fault. I suspect it’s the Zampv3 because I’ve heard it be part of some noise in other setups too. But, something to keep in mind. Does the sub you’re looking at not have a built in crossover? The more stuff you add just opens to the door to more noise.
Sure, the sub has a crossover, and I suppose I could trust it, to a certain extent. I am not sure how good it is, nor whether it may be noisy itself. The reviews I’ve read don’t really touch heavily on the quality of sound coming out of the crossover to the full range speakers any more than they need to when referencing sound mixing.
Part of the reason I wanted to go with the separate crossovers is that they just kind of fascinate me - there’s a lack of active analogue crossovers serving the market in general. The ones I’ve settled on ( Linkwitz-Riley 2-Way Active Crossover, Fully Balanced [XOVER-2B] – Xkitz Electronics ) don’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but they do measure fantastically, and have very solid reviews, with a special nod to vinyl lovers who wish to avoid ever digitizing their signal path. I was really looking forward to mounting them in boxes, setting them up, etc.
The other part of the reason is a suspicious nature. I don’t have a schematic for the crossover in the sub (not that I would understand it even if I did). I’m not sure if it’s handled with an active crossover like these, a proper, well built passive analogue crossover, or if it’s just a single in-line resistor used as a “crossover”, or even if it’s a DSP just in front of the amp. I spent quite more than I should have on a DAC that I think sounds wonderful - I sure as heck don’t want to flush that investment by re-digitizing the signal to strip out the sub-bass, then re-DAC through a notably inferior DAC as represented by the output of most DSP solutions.
It’s all kind of nebulous at the moment. I still need to gather the funds to upgrade the headphone, which is currently the priority, as my placeholder setup is working out just fine for the time being. I just want to lay all the groundwork ahead of time. When I started this journey, I was pointed directly at an entire chain that would run me less than a grand, thinking $300 was probably too much to spend on headphones, but that maybe I could splurge a little…