I haven’t been able to listen to a liquid platinum, but the balanced out of a V281 is what sold me with Vio gear and so I committed to another Violectric. I think someday I might go back to a V280/281 just because I miss what it does to the low end and its superb control in the bass and the mids.
I miss that Soekris+V28X sound. For pure music listening enjoyment, I think I would prefer that combo over the newer Vio stuff. I wasn’t a fan of Soekris 1xxx series with the new Vio V590. Though with sound signature being more neutral (from how I perceive it) and having less treble roll-off, the BF2 has been a better match for me and brings some preferred warmth compared to both the Soekris and the internal DAC.
@donjklassen looking forward to more of your impressions.
Definitely. So far only listened at length with the lcd-2’s but I have a few bass light cans that will get their turn. What’s really impressive to me was the amount of control and detail I’m getting from the low end. Not just boosted for boosted sake.
Sometimes miss my x00 purplehearts lol so much fun so much strong quality bass
Yes, it’s going to be replaced by the v381 or whatnot but that’s not out yet. From what I hear the newer violectrics might actually be loosing their trademark signatures as they are more leaning towards niimbus tuning, which is kinda a shame imo, but still good amps. Still have hope for a good separate new amp from them lol
They are very similar though I feel the V200 has better space and scaling of sounds within that space. The bass can get pretty intense on the V200, so pairing it woth an analytical DAC like the Soekris is definitely ideal.
Yes, @fbizzle notes this as well above, I haven’t heard a v590 yet, but from everyone I hear from and trust, it’s way closer leaning to a niimbus signature wise than the older violectric, which is both a good and bad thing, but personally I would hope they give us both options for those that still really like the classic vio sound lol. The v590 also apparently reacts similar to the niimbus when it comes to dac pairing, so that would further suggest that its very niimbus leaning (and the soekris don’t play as well with the niimbus imo)
Pretty brutally neutral, unforgiving, extremely refined though, pretty much deadpan neutral no nonsense sound, if you give it garbage there’s no saving it lol (where at least with stuff like the v281 or whatnot you would get a bit of smoothness in the treble and some extra warmth). So it’s very picky about everything
Yeah if you enjoy what the v200 can offer, the most direct upgrade is the v280 or v281 (I would go for 281 if you can), the niimbus is a step up from that technicality wise (from the v281) but might be a signature change that some may not be ready for or would want. The new vio tries to meet in the middle somewhere, but still ends up more niimbus or lake people signature leaning
I’m sure someone will try them but it won’t be me lol the v200 signified the end of gear purchases on my desk for the foreseeable future. Headphones is another story though
So can we mitigate this with warmer dacs like ares and cyan etc to atleast bring it back to the old violectric stuff? Good to know if someday their 200 series stuff disappears from the market. On their euro website it says no longer available so I assume now its all what’s in stock previously from different shops?
Not really imo, you can tone down the niimbus with warmer more colored dacs yes, but it’s not going to replicate what the v28x does imo
I think they are only still making the v280 because of popular demand tbh, but everything else is getting cut (although I don’t know if the v200a is actually) in favor of the new 3 series coming up
