As I hinted in an earlier post, I rolled opamps in my V222. I understand that Violectric does not recommend this, but here are my findings.
Burson was kind enough to send me a free pair of their Vivid V6 opamps in exchange for an unbiased review. Now that I’ve put maybe 500 hundred hours on the V6s, I feel I can provide a full review.
The stock opamps were super simple to replace. You just remove the top 4 screws from the front and back of the V222. There’s a lot of real estate around the sockets, so it was easy to pull out the stock opamps and replace them with the V6s. Note that you need to use a chip puller to do this though (~$2).
However, there is one more socketed opamp, which looks like some sort of buffer after the volume pot. I intend to replace that with another V6, and will report back on what I hear. In the meantime though, I replaced it with a highly-regarded Muses 1, but it immediately sounded too thick and warm. The stock opamp had much greater transparency, so it went back in. I didn’t have any other issues with the combination of stock buffer opamp plus the two Vivid V6s.
First, some background on the V222; contrary to some folks here, I don’t find my V222 to be especially warm. I hear a neutral overall sound, driving bass, mellow treble, and just a touch of warmth. But I also hear a lot of midrange resolution – which I think is what folks are hearing as warmth.
I was initially concerned about changing the tonal balance of the V222; I liked it just the way it was. But it was apparent within a few minutes of listening that this worry was…nothing to worry about. Ie, I didn’t hear a change in tonality. But what I did hear was a dramatic increase in resolution across the entire frequency spectrum. Bass didn’t increase, but was more textured. Treble lost some grain that I didn’t realize was there with the stock opamps – making it simultaneously smoother, yet more detailed. But it is the midrange that really stood out; greater resolution meant greater musical detail. The midrange detail plus the grain-free treble allowed me to listen louder and peer more deeply into the music.
In terms of technicalities, the sense of stereo imaging was enhanced – I think due to a blacker background. This made individual instruments and sounds much easier to track. Soundstaging was dramatically improved as well. I don’t think the soundstage became larger, but it became more three dimensional, with greater depth and gobs of layering.
For example, Madonna’s recordings are always first rate. On Vogue, the V6s brought out even more atmosphere than I have ever heard in the song – projecting a grand, deep, holographic soundstage. On Crazy for You, Madonna’s voice is presented within a huge soundstage – starkly silky and resonant, yet surrounded by the decay of subtle echos. On The Verve’s History, the violins at the beginning of the track show off the midrange resolution and grain-free treble, before Richard Ashcroft’s voice starts in as clearly as I have ever heard.
All of this resolution meant that I could hear musical details more clearly than ever before. I could hear the presumably mistaken lone doubled-up beat at :20 into Bruce Springsteen’s I’m on Fire, and the pair of taps at the beginning of Bob Seger’s Turn the Page. It was truly mesmerizing to hear that deeply into songs I have heard throughout my life.
So is it worth it to add the V6s to the V222? Absolutely. The V222 is already a fantastic amp, but the V6s took this already fantastic amp and brought up its performance to a level I simply did not expect. Now I am looking forward to hearing what substituting one more V6 for that last stock opamp will do…
