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

[PacketofCrisps]

I feel that I could tone down my rhetoric a little as I can honestly say I agree with you in that what we want versus what we need is often very different. If in the end you, or anyone else has the disposable income and wants to experience what this device has to offer, more power to them I say.

I suspect where my reactivity comes from is years reading posts where people who can afford these clearly over specified devices implying, or openly arguing that the device yields audible benefits when the evidence clearly suggests otherwise.

I can't tell you how many times I've read posters telling people that their gear is not good enough and that there is this extra special, rarified level of sonic purity that only extreme investment in gear can achieve.

I appreciate your reply, sadly there some people out there that need to justify their purchase by trying to prove to others that their component is better purely because it's more expensive, I personally don't believe that.

It's amazing what you can get today for the price in terms of performance, I have a Fiio KA11 dongle, 245mW, it's surprises me every time I use it, to think that this tiny little thing could be enough for most headphones, never been a better time to get into audio, really anyone can afford it today.

 

[A Surfer]

I appreciate your reply, sadly there some people out there that need to justify their purchase by trying to prove to others that their component is better purely because it's more expensive, I personally don't believe that.

It's amazing what what can get today for the price in terms of performance, I have a Fiio KA11 dongle, 245mW, it's surprises me every time I use it, to think that this tiny little thing could be enough for most headphones, never been a better time to get into audio, really anyone can afford it today.

Absolutely, and thanks for being reasonable and approachable in this conversation. Not enough of that in the world right now. Appreciated.

And absolutely, the cost of audible transparent wattage and audio conversion capability has come down significantly in the last 5 years it feels like. The trend had been going that way probably for more than a decade, but finally there seems to be the critical mass of quality producers in the consumer audio such that market factors shifted.

I'm not complaining.

 

[arkady]

Привет. Подскажите пожалуйста, при включении громкости вы слышите щелчки реле в наушниках или за пределами усилителя?

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

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

What do you mean volume bypassed? Gain set to default and volume to max? @amirm

 

[Jimbob54]

What do you mean volume bypassed? Gain set to default and volume to max? @amirm

There is a button on the line outs at the back- you can bypass the volume pot so it just outputs the signal input with no gain/ attenuation.

Which is entirely not what this device will be used for.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

There is a button on the line outs at the back- you can bypass the volume pot so it just outputs the signal input with no gain/ attenuation.

Which is entirely not what this device will be used for.

Oh okay. I thought I can use it as a "power amp" for headphones doing volume on the dac like rme2.
Thanks.

 

[Jimbob54]

Oh okay. I thought I can use it as a "power amp" for headphones doing volume on the dac like rme2.
Thanks.

I assume the noise amir found is a result of having the pot in the loop so i doubt maxing the knob will work to bypass it.

 

[Oldson]

just thought i would tag a Violectric related question on here rather than starting a new thread.

the V222 was mentioned a few posts back and i have often considered buying one as i greatly regret selling my old V200.

i have learnt , only since being on this forum, that all "good measuring amps sound the same" and i am not debating that.

but, having read reviews of the V222, it supposedly has a "warmer" signature than the models above it, ie V340 V550!
if this is the case, can i assume that the V222 is not likely to measure well?

 

[Jimbob54]

just thought i would tag a Violectric related question on here rather than starting a new thread.

the V222 was mentioned a few posts back and i have often considered buying one as i greatly regret selling my old V200.

i have learnt , only since being on this forum, that all "good measuring amps sound the same" and i am not debating that.

but, having read reviews of the V222, it supposedly has a "warmer" signature than the models above it, ie V340 V550!
if this is the case, can i assume that the V222 is not likely to measure well?

If in fact it has an audibly "warmer" sound that can really only mean a measurably non flat FR , so yes , won't measure well.

Far more likely that a reviewer /subjective myth arose and perpetuated .

 

[PacketofCrisps]

just thought i would tag a Violectric related question on here rather than starting a new thread.

the V222 was mentioned a few posts back and i have often considered buying one as i greatly regret selling my old V200.

i have learnt , only since being on this forum, that all "good measuring amps sound the same" and i am not debating that.

but, having read reviews of the V222, it supposedly has a "warmer" signature than the models above it, ie V340 V550!
if this is the case, can i assume that the V222 is not likely to measure well?

I've had the V202 (same as V222 only single ended) and it is does come off as being slightly warmer sounding than my V550 or my JDS Labs Element 3 (used as a reference), regarding measurements I think you would find it hard to hear hiss or distortion on almost any amplifier as they fall well below what you could audibly hear using using full size headphones, you would need you use very sensitive IEMs.

I have an Audeze Deckard headphone amp that measured very poorly on here but even worked well with sensitive IEMs on low gain, I would not here any audible hiss or distortion, it was clean to my ears but a measuring rig would say otherwise.

I personally think something like a JDS Atom 2 stack could easily be endgame for 99% of headphones out there, but, there is still something nice about the engineering and build quality of the Violectrics that I find very appealing, that being said if I was American I would probably put my money into Schiit, JDS Labs, or Geshelli Labs gear as it's all locally supported.

 

[Mr Swing King]

just thought i would tag a Violectric related question on here rather than starting a new thread.

the V222 was mentioned a few posts back and i have often considered buying one as i greatly regret selling my old V200.

i have learnt , only since being on this forum, that all "good measuring amps sound the same" and i am not debating that.

but, having read reviews of the V222, it supposedly has a "warmer" signature than the models above it, ie V340 V550!
if this is the case, can i assume that the V222 is not likely to measure well?

Ever since I bought my first Violectric, I’ve learned that many folks seem to hear them as being ‘warm’.
The funny thing is that when said folks actually listen to one blind, the magical warmth simply disappears.
I think it is because Violectric/Lake People use those matte black boxes with little to no bling. It looks like something that would be ‘warm’ vs most of those pesky shiny silvery Schiit amps that sound ‘bright’.
Amps that implement warmer colours, wood or tubes into their designs = warm/analogue/natural sound.
Amps that utilise metal, futuristic design or light shiny colours = bright/neutral/detailed sound.

The above is of course complete nonsense and underlines how people more often than not simply hear what they see.
I highly doubt that a company like Violectric would start making poor measuring amps just to mirror part of their mistaken fanbase though. They seem way too professional for that imho.

 

[PacketofCrisps]

Ever since I bought my first Violectric, I’ve learned that many folks seem to hear them as being ‘warm’.
The funny thing is that when said folks actually listen to one blind, the magical warmth simply disappears.
I think it is because Violectric/Lake People use those matte black boxes with little to no bling. It looks like something that would be ‘warm’ vs most of those pesky shiny silvery Schiit amps that sound ‘bright’.
Amps that implement warmer colours, wood or tubes into their designs = warm/analogue/natural sound.
Amps that utilise metal, futuristic design or light shiny colours = bright/neutral/detailed sound.

The above is of course complete nonsense and underlines how people more often than not simply hear what they see.
I highly doubt that a company like Violectric would start making poor measuring amps just to mirror part of their mistaken fanbase though. They seem way too professional for that imho.

Obviously environmental factors, athiestics, and even mood can affect how we perceive sound, but I personally have heard differences between 'some' amps, for example the Lake People G111 MKII vs the V222 sound very different volume matched, I think a lot of people would hear the difference, the G111 is a much more neutral slightly analytical sounding.

 

[A Surfer]

Obviously environmental factors, athiestics, and even mood can affect how we perceive sound, but I personally have heard differences between 'some' amps, for example the Lake People G111 MKII vs the V222 sound very different volume matched, I think a lot of people would hear the difference, the G111 is a much more neutral slightly analytical sounding.

I'm sure that you know even if the volume was actually level matched, without blind listening and multiple trials, you should have absolutely zero confidence in what you think you have heard. Zero confidence.

 

[A Surfer]

Level match properly, blind test for 10 trials where you correctly identify the difference 9 out of 10 times. That is evidence. Even if you do 100 000 trials sighted and hear the difference each time, that is useless. Completely.

 

[Mr Swing King]

Obviously environmental factors, athiestics, and even mood can affect how we perceive sound, but I personally have heard differences between 'some' amps, for example the Lake People G111 MKII vs the V222 sound very different volume matched, I think a lot of people would hear the difference, the G111 is a much more neutral slightly analytical sounding.

Two things instantly spring to mind; first is of course volume matching. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people proudly announce that X gear now is volume matched…only for said gear to vary with up to 5dB.
People really can’t volume match by ear, so unless you bring that difference way down to something like 0.1dB, all you’re really doing is comparing different volume levels.
Secondly, when humans use their peepers in experiments like this..all bets are off.
We are highly imaginative creatures - some times too much for our own good.
It’s not that I doubt folks hearing differences between various amps (or dacs for that matter!), I am just confident in the fact that it is sound quality that only exists in their heads…outside of a rare few instances like fx impedance mismatching.

 

[PacketofCrisps]

I'm sure that you know even if the volume was actually level matched, without blind listening and multiple trials, you should have absolutely zero confidence in what you think you have heard. Zero confidence.

I am confident in only but a few select cases I could tell the difference, these are in amps that are tuned at opposite ends of the spectrum of each other, for the most part it is quite difficult.

Please understand I am fully aware of the biases involved and the power of psychoacoustics, I am not denying that has a massive impact.

I understand you may feel differently on this matter and that is ok, I'm not here to try disprove your opinion, and I'm only conveying mine.

 

[A Surfer]

I am confident in only but a few select cases I could tell the difference, these are in amps that are tuned at opposite ends of the spectrum of each other, for the most part it is quite difficult.

Please understand I am fully aware of the biases involved and the power of psychoacoustics, I am not denying that has a massive impact.

I understand you may feel differently on this matter and that is ok, I'm not here to try disprove your opinion, and I'm only conveying mine.

Well if you acknowledge the massive impact of psychoacoustics, in order to feel the way you are stating that you do, transitively there would have to be a significant difference in the amps to account for the massive psychoacoustic confounds.

Are you that certain of this difference? I'll bet in properly conducted blinded listening tests you would struggle greatly to discriminate between the amps. I'm not saying that it is impossible one of them is so poorly designed that it has a sonic signature, but we can't assume that.

 

[rocksteady]

I've had the V202 (same as V222 only single ended) and it is does come off as being slightly warmer sounding than my V550 or my JDS Labs Element 3 (used as a reference), regarding measurements I think you would find it hard to hear hiss or distortion on almost any amplifier as they fall well below what you could audibly hear using using full size headphones, you would need you use very sensitive IEMs.

I have an Audeze Deckard headphone amp that measured very poorly on here but even worked well with sensitive IEMs on low gain, I would not here any audible hiss or distortion, it was clean to my ears but a measuring rig would say otherwise.

I personally think something like a JDS Atom 2 stack could easily be endgame for 99% of headphones out there, but, there is still something nice about the engineering and build quality of the Violectrics that I find very appealing, that being said if I was American I would probably put my money into Schiit, JDS Labs, or Geshelli Labs gear as it's all locally supported.

If I WERE American...

 

[PacketofCrisps]

If I WERE American...

Strangely the present subjunctive is commoner in American English than in British, it's really falling out of use here in the UK.

 

[rocksteady]

Strangely the present subjunctive is commoner in American English than in British, it's really falling out of use here in the UK.

So, it would seem that British English literacy standards are falling even more abruptly than its American counterpart? It's hard to imagine that. If anything, bad American English habits and practices are having a contagious effect in British English. The confusion between I and Me is an obvious example. A couple of decades ago or so, most British English speakers would say "You and I" instead of "You and Me", or "who did that?", to which one would respond "I did", instead of "Me", just as two obvious examples. Not to mention of course the classic "I would Of"...
Just to put the above in perspective, no other major European language mistakes or uses Me for I. French: je (originally pronounced as ie), Moi; German: Ich, Mich; Spanish: Io, Mi; Portuguese: Eu, Mim. Another problem is the ridiculous level of grammatical simplification, such "I'd" instead of "I would" or "I had" or "He's" instead of "He has", and so forth.
Most, if not all, stem from common American English usage and are having a gradual detrimental effect in British English. Many of the bad habits described are being adopted even by many among the current crop of English internet "Journalists"...