Violectric HPA V550 Pro Review (Pre-amp/Headphone Amp)

[amirm]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Violectric HPA V550 PRO headphone amplifier. It is was sent to me by their US distributor, Power Holdings. It costs 2,999.00EUR and US $3,399 as optioned in US.

This is one beefy, high quality execution making you feel like you are getting something for your money:

The large volume control feels nice and manages a stepped relay gain stage. Mechanically it is pretty silent. The unit comes with a remote control which adjusts the volume using its motorized mechanism. This is not needed for the headphone amp in desktop mode of course but there is an independent preamplifier with its gain control.

Speaking of gain, I am not a fan of dip switches in the back although they do provide a lot of flexibility:

There are a ton of configurations to play with here. I limited myself to XLR balanced input and XLR balanced outs.

There is a non-Pro version that doesn't have the stepped relay volume control.

Violectric HPA V550 Pro Measurements
I set the switches to all off which is 0 dB gain and adjusted the same using the volume control. Here is our dashboard of XLR input and XLR headphone out:

For some reason I expected worse performance so was pleasantly surprised with this. One channel is lagging due to elevated noise. I later traced this to the volume control. As is, performance is certainly excellent as far as distortion with a second harmonic well below audibility at -122 dB. SINAD though includes noise and there, we are left behind top of the class:

Here is our SNR:

I was surprised that even after setting the gain to -18 dB, at 50 mv, noise is fairly high:

So not a good fit for very sensitive IEMs.

Frequency response is wide and dead flat:

Most impressive aspect of this amplifier is the amount of power it can produce with high impedance headphones:

Power is super healthy for 32 ohm load as well:

Again, noise is a bit high but distortion is quite competitive.

Here is the performance across a range of loads:

Channel matching is excellent:

Violectric HPA 550V Pro Pre-amplifier Measurements
Here is a quick measurement with and without volume control active:

Notice how the elevated noise in the red channel went away with volume control bypassed.

Also, you have superb performance of 118 dB SINAD while producing 8 volts output. This will be a great match for a high-performance power amplifier with low gain. With modification of gain switches, you can get even higher voltages.

Violectric HPA 550V Pro Listening Tests
Let's not play around here. The HP 550V had no trouble driving both my Sennheiser HD650 and Drop Ether CX to maddening levels with superb fidelity and no hint of distortion. The only thing I did not like was that at the lowest volume settings, the were discontinuities in the signal as you changed the volume. Fortunately with these two headphones, I did not need to go down that low. And if I did, I could use negative gain to push the usable level higher.

Conclusions
From mechanical design, the 550V Pro stands alone. It comes in a wonderful enclosure that is solid, and controls that are a delight to use. Performance as far as noise is not quite competitive but distortion is vanishingly low. Most importantly, there is tons of power to drive any headphone you throw at this unit. So not quite perfect electrically but perfect when you combine it with the mechanical aspects and features such as pre-amplifier.

I am happy to recommend the Violectric HPA 550 Pro.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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[faheem]

Thanks for the review Amir, Good to see more Violectrics tested.

 

[GWolfman]

Thanks!

Looks like a beast! How much does it weigh?

 

[amirm]

Thanks!

Looks like a beast! How much does it weigh?

It is not too bad actually. It is heavy enough to be substantial but still "desktop class." You can easily pick it up and move it around.

 

[GWolfman]

It is not too bad actually. It is heavy enough to be substantial but still "desktop class." You can easily pick it up and move it around.

Oh good. And I meant heavy for a headphone amp, not as the likes of the EquiTech paperweight.

 

[vkvedam]

I always admired Violectric's offerings. A bit surprised though it getting the footie panther (Soccer) with those numbers, in particular performance per £ or $

 

[Jimbob54]

Good to see their reputation isnt betrayed by poor performance but its easy to see how other brands are able to provide better performance several order of magnitudes cheaper. Lets hope that extra $2000 or more buys a hell of a lot of reliability.

 

[Koeitje]

The panther is a bit weird for something that doesn't offer state of the art noise levels, but its still a good product.

 

[YSC]

great headphone amp with damned high cost to begin yet greatfully it delivered this time. but kind of wondering, so it's the volume control causing the trouble so it is the relay ladder(?) with one channel having a lot more power leakage???? that sounds bad to me though even with that noise leakage I bet it will not be ever noticeable by ears even if we looked at it. If so I feel that maybe the choice of relay based is not as good as getting a quality stepped attenuator?

 

[fredoamigo]

It could be an alternative to the HPA4 Benchmark ..

 

[Limopard]

What about the output impedance?

 

[filo97s]

I think this is state of the art engineering, because such an high performance, albeit just shy of being top of the class, is achieved with discrete components and not with IC chips.
I mean, there must be serious engineering to perform like this. Designing a circuit like this one requires much more effort rather than a circuit IC-based.
Great job Violectric!

 

[Grotti]

I own a Violectric Pre V630, which was replaced by a RME ADI-2 pro fs. I was always satisfied with the sound but the versatility of the RME made it obsolete.

Nice to see, that Violectric still produces good gear. But sadly they seem to go the high-end-way regarding the prices.

Since Lake People became a part of CMA in January 2020, they discontinued older and more affordable devices in favor of a new lineup of much pricier gear.

That's OK for me, they are free to build and charge what they like to. But I suppose that it's the way it goes when a distributor becomes a manufacturer...

 

[Vini darko]

Bit of a beast for high impedance where the noise floor wont really matter much. Nearly 10x the price of a Topping a30pro is difficult to justify but not impossible. Thanks for the review Amir.
This will another amp to point too when the inevitable question "wHaT aMP fOr dT800-600Ω dO I nEeD?"

 

[LearningToSmile]

I really like the industrial design of the Violectric gear. Was curious about the performance. Not in my price range new but I could see picking up one of their cheaper models second hand few years down the line - maybe it's not top of the line but definitely more than enough for me.

On a side note, I just visited their website and apparently they've just a released a portable DAC/amp, the Violectric Chronos - doesn't really match the rest of their lineup, and doesn't seem to deliver much power, but still would be interesting to see measurements. It's not that expensive either at 199 euro.

 

[anphex]

Checks the review
Checks the Topping A30 Pro review
Compares prices



So what am I paying here? The designer salary? The new car of the CEO?

 

[fordiebianco]

I think I'll stick with my JDS Labs Atom for now.

 

[Jimbob54]

On a side note, I just visited their website and apparently they've just a released a portable DAC/amp, the Violectric Chronos - doesn't really match the rest of their lineup, and doesn't seem to deliver much power, but still would be interesting to see measurements. It's not that expensive either at 199 euro.

I would hazard a guess a look in the case might indicate a re-skin of an existing product made somewhere further east than Germany. But I may be wrong

 

[Helicopter]

Sweet! Thanks Amir.

It could be an alternative to the HPA4 Benchmark ..

I was thinking the same. This would paid nicely aesthetically with a pair of AHB2s as well. I see some gripes about the specs, but power is there, a lot of power into 300 ohm load, and that is often what matters the most for headphones... add some HD800s, maybe Focal Utopia and some Dan Clarks, and a pair of 328Bes and you'd have an outstanding system.

If I were in the market for a luxury HPA, I would seriously consider this.

 

[Helicopter]

Checks the review
Checks the Topping A30 Pro review
Compares prices



So what am I paying here? The designer salary? The new car of the CEO?

Those things, 1.3W into 300 ohm load vs 730mW, brand heritiage, industrial design. This is a luxury good. I would say if you just want performance, get Topping. I would trade my Schiit for this in a hearbeat because it is well engineered, super powerful, and looks awesome.