Last, last observation. 
Put the pre-gain on -12 and you could take the Sundaraâs to full volume but it didnât sound great. I then grabbed my Gradoâs. At 9:30 on the dial they sound amazing! Just playing a new album I just bought, BBNG2 in ALAC. Pretty special.
Wife wants me to watch TV with her, soâŚ
Did some A-Bâing today, using my Fostex TH-610âs, which have a Lawton Driver update. Stock 1/4" cable was used.
I was rotating between the SMSL SP200 and the Violectric V220.
This was, to me, surprisingly close. The pre-gain was set to -6 on the V220. I compared dozens of songs that I know pretty well. In the majority of cases it was really hard to tell a difference. The TH-610âs are not what I would call precise, but do have good bass.
With some songs, the bass on the SP200 seemed to hit harder and sounded sharper. On the other hand, the V220 sounded clearer and the music had more detail. I could hear sounds/sound effects in the music I just didnât hear from the SP200.
I think that for bassy 'phones, the SP200 is a good amp. But not for bright/brighter headphones or very precise headphones.
If I only had these headphones, I would be disappointed in the quality upgrades from amp to amp. If I listened hard and critically, the V220 sounded better. But it was not the Huge difference that the Sundaraâs offered.
The SMSL SP200 will be seeking a new home in the near future.
Tomorrow and into the weekend I will be trying the Grado GH2âs and Meze 99 Classicâs on the two amps. First run will not include the Loki and I will be playing with the pre-gain, so it will take three or 4 days to complete.
I should note that both are SE amps.
PS: The balanced cable for the TH-610âs has entered Canada and will be here soon.
Well this was newâŚ
Sitting and listening to my music and it goes quiet. This has happened before and I have to push the XLR input button in as it has changed to RCA input.
This happened like 4 times today and the volume has been going up randomly.
Anybody have any ideas� (See answer below.)
I emailed the guy I bought it from and a guy named Arthur at Power Holdings Inc.
Arthur has no idea but says he will get back to me in a couple of days.
My seller gets back to me and says that yes that happened to him once.
( I should jump in here and mention that Violectric amps come with a remote).
The previous owner found that his Samsung remote was also talking to his amp! I thanked him and asked my wife, who was on the couch watching TV, to start flicking buttons.
In 60 to 90 seconds my input had changed and the volume had gone up. However, she had not touched the input or volume buttons on the remote (cable company remote). Just a weird sharing of frequencies.
I have Bell coming by Wednesday to install a new system and I canât wait to get back to Fibreop. However now I am wondering if their remote will do the same tricks.
Just my oddball tale for the day.
Another point of trivia for current and future Violectric amp owners. The warranty is 5 years and it is transferable, at least in North America. Not sure if that includes Drop purchases, but I would think so.
So, I have three and a half years of factory warranty remaining. 
I was given this info from Arthur at Violectric America, who are the North American distributors of Violectric.
Arthur actually owns Power Holdings inc. He is extremely kind and answers emails pretty quickly. Top notch customer service, imo.
I learn stuff every day here! 
Yup, Arthur is great.
I had a question with my amp, and he answered it fairly late in the evening. I was actually surprised to get a response and on the same day.
He is great to deal with. He promptly answered my questions even after I told him i was looking at buying used.
A couple of more updates.
First off, we got our new cable provider yesterday. Man, I Missed Fibreop! As soon as things were up and running, my wife starting flicking that remote and it had NO effect on the V220. Problem solved.
Today is my big test. It has only been about two hours in, but is very close. I have been using Elexâs with the LP (balanced) and the V220 (SE). I have volume matched to .3 Dbâs. I havenât tried a ton of music or different genres, but they both sound great. I will do this back and forth for a few days, but it looks like they will be a VERY complimentary duo.
Going by all known knowledge, the Bifrost 2 is a much better DAC than the SMSL S-8, but I donât know if I could live with no volume control on a DAC. The LP especially, has pretty high gain. Speaking of gain, I did some A-B testing on the V220 inputs. There is a very noticeable difference in volume SE vs Balanced, because of the input voltages. If you have something really sensitive and the pre-gain settings arenât doing it for you, you can change to SE input. I might try this with the LP, just for giggles.
One more round of thoughts on this amplifier. I recently received my balanced cable for my TH-610âs and so I plugged them into my Liquid Platinum. Sounded really clean and clear with nice strong bass. Not a basshead level of bass, but the drums and all things bassy sound very present AND clear. I thought âThis is as good as it gets in my system.â
Then I pulled out the SE cable and plugged it into the V220. And then I volume matched both amps exactly. My results were the same as they were with the Elexâs. When I am listening to one amp for a while, I start to think that the other amp will do better on this song/band/genre/etc. I then change over and the sound is slightly different, but not better. I have gone back and forth for days and canât pick a winner, based on sound. I do find the V220 a little more precise, with solid bass. I find the LP does sound a bit more âopenâ.
Technically, the V220 is the better amp, due to the pre-gain options, IMO. The LP has strong gain and can just barely be used with very efficient headphones. I would guess that IEMâs would be a no-go on the LP.
These two amps are a really strong 1-2 punch. So much so that I will have to question whether I need the Electrostats system or my very specialized tube amp.
I will be very curious to hear feedback from the new V280 owners. With balanced outputs, it might be the only amp you ever need. I have had similar thoughts about the V281. If they bring out a 3 series next year, depending on the sale/promotion, I might take the dive and become a one amp guy.
I love how this amp never gets past luke warm. At half price (used), it was Well worth it. Love the look, the heft (donât have to hold amp when you pull out a jack), love that it doesnât get LP hot, love pre-gain settings, and love the remote (although I barely use it). It sounds better every time I use It and I found out that the warranty is transferable. No reason not to pursue used models, because the MSRPâs are pretty stiff.
V280
âI would suggest waiting for a newer v38x instead lol, or perhaps go for like a niimbus or something lolâ
MON I SWEAR TO GOD
I take back that statement after hearing the new violectrics, they have a tuning thatâs pretty niimbus like and thatâs more bright analytical, somewhat opposite of the older vio. If that sounds appealing than itâs worth but the smoother warmer wider sound of the old vio was not really carried forward
hmmm. interesting, maybe a case of burn in⌠or not at all. anyhow thanks for writing in mon mon its always appreciated, really. fantastic insight as always
From what I know now it was a a planned change, their goal was to lean a bit more towards the niimbus or lake people tuning but ended going up closer to that than the classic vio sound. I am a bit disappointed the 281 was discontinued but at least they are still selling 280 for now. I honestly would have preferred they kept the old vio tuning or just put the new models under the niimbus name instead of replacing the older violectric
So just for posterityâs sake here are my thoughts on the amp after having it for a few days. Disclaimer, I havenât put a shitload of time on it yet (only like 16ish hours). Take my opinions with a hefty grain of salt.
Pairing with the Chord Hugo 2 is actually fantastic. Tried a few other DACs (see QP2R, QP1R, Lite DAC-AH) which are smoother and warmer. This amp doesnât take super well to them. Would highly recommend a clearer / brighter / more analytical DAC, as this amp seems to be on the more relaxed side.
Pairing with the Beyerdynamic T1.2 is also phenomenal. The amp seems to smooth over the top harsh edge of the treble and lend a much needed fullness and body to the music across the board compared to my Hugoâs amp stage. The staging, separation, and how holographic the images are have been drastically improved. Honestly the best separation Iâve yet heard from anything outside of high end speaker systems. Tasty.
In regards to size, this thing is chunky. But form factor is solid.
Build quality is second to none. Best built piece of kit I have ever had the privelege to get my hands on. I know people like nice volume knobs. This is the nicest <3.
Runs dumb cool. My room with my speaker amp (which runs cool for a speaker amp) is a sauna. All my previous headphone amps did something similar. This thing doesnât even really get warm 0_0.
Will be trying this out as a preamp for my speaker setup as well. Will hopefully update with more info as time goes on.
Would I recommend after a few days? If you have ~$1200 to spare and have a more analytical (or treble hot) dac / cans, then fuck yes itâs worth it. Otherwise I donât know enough yet.
Just came across this thread in âway backâ filing cabinet. Just wanted to comment that I still love this amp. I recently used it as a pre-amp which was awesome! I really should have used this with the my very high gain Liquid Platinum amp, before I sold it⌠It gave my XDuoo MT-602 a full range.
I find this amp sounds very warm and full. Almost tubey. I have been going through my headphones trying out a different set every day. Not working out great as I just canât take some off after only one day. 
This round was using my iFi Pro iCAN amp. When I got to the Cascades, it wasnât really winning me over. I then switched to the V220 and it was like âOh yeah!â The iCAN gets more attention due to all the bells and whistles, but the V220 is one awesome amp. Smooth as silk and warm with some added bass. They are a great pairing as they are very different amps.
