I received my V3 yesterday. I had been concerned with its ability to handle my 4 ohm, 88dB sensitivity Polk LsI9 “book shelf” speakers which I have resurrected to serve in a “near field” setup and so I ordered it with both the 32 volt and 48 volt power supply based on what I had been reading here. My idea is to have the Polks serve both as computer monitors and as speakers for another “listening position” centered approximately 8 feet away.
The source is a Cambridge Dacmagic 200m which has a 2.1 mv output. I listen to Internet radio (WQXR in NYC) and Qobuz exclusively (and, I believe, faultlessly) streamed through a USB-connected 2015 vintage 27” iMac which sits on the same desk along with speakers and other components.
Starting with the 32 v power supply I selected Lana Del Ray’s “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” track. I was disappointed to hear moderate static in the vocals at even the low volume I had started with so I switched to the 48v which had little effect—but I soon realized that the audible distortion was due to the “SoundSource” eq “pop” setting. Once I removed that, it disappeared. (I subsequently confirmed that SoundSource was the problem by duplicating the issue with my other amp/speaker combination and headphones plugged into the Dacmagic which is also a headphone amp).
The V3 is silent, has audibly perfect separation and a good “center image”, made evident by the vocals seeming to come from the centered computer.
Now I’m happily running the V3 on the 48V power supply. I barely have the extremely sensitive (perhaps to a fault) Volume knob past 9 0’clock before it starts getting too loud for my neighbors—(i live in a small apartment in Brooklyn.) So far, so good. Here is a picture of the unit with the James Industries form-fitting heatsink which I have installed even though the unit gets just a bit warm.
I selected the V3 due to its small size, it’s power, its austere feature set and its good reviews on this forum—aside from its price, of course. The alternative for me would be to run the speakers with my Rotel RB-1582 but it’s already driving a pair of 4ohm Martin Logan floor standers. I could theoretically use one of those Neohipo switchers with the VU meters, but Amir’s ominous warning about amp/speaker switchers in general dissuaded me of that notion.
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