[Kozwoz]

As far as I know it's a buffered passthrough. It does not go through the amplification circuit, it should not sound any different than what came in on the XLR inputs.

That’s a bit confusing. @matts19 seemed to suggest a few posts ago his speakers were hitting a lot harder with the v200 and there is some colouring of the sound. How is that possible if it’s just a pass through?

Also if if you’re DAC isn’t putting in 2V into the v200 but it is outputting that then it’s clearly doing something to the sound apart from just pass through. Therefore some additional gain?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

That’s a bit confusing. @matts19 seemed to suggest a few posts ago his speakers ‘thumped’ a lot harder and hitting a lot harder with the v200 and there is some colouring of the sound. How is that possible if it’s just a pass through?

I don't feel compelled to explain justify random statements on the net. I'm just telling you what I gathered from writing with Fried about this and using it on my V280 as he suggested, for my specific use case.

Also if if you’re DAC isn’t putting in 2V into the v200 but it is outputting that then it’s clearly doing something to the sound apart from just pass through. Therefore some additional gain?

I don't have a V200, I have a V280. And my DAC puts 4+ volts into the V280 using balanced XLR.

 

[Kozwoz]

I don't feel compelled to explain random statements on the net. I'm just telling you what I gathered from writing with Fried about this and using it on my V280 as he suggested, for my specific use case.



I don't have a V200, I have a V280. And my DAC puts 4+ volts into the V280 using balanced XLR.

I was really asking if you had anecdotal experience and whether it does colour the sound in any way.

I’ve looked at the manual and the outs use buffer amplifiers in order to decouple the output signal. Therefore you can view it as a pass through - sure but it’s still changing the sound and imparting some change which was not inherent at the DAC stage. The manual says it ‘reconditions’ the signal and so it’s doing something to the sound.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I was really asking if you had anecdotal experience and whether it does colour the sound in any way.

I did not expect any coloring, Fried suggests there is not, and I didn't hear any.

I’ve looked at the manual and the outs use buffer amplifiers in order to decouple the output signal. Therefore it’s you can view it as a pass through - sure.

Ok, ...

But it’s still changing the sound and imparting some change which was not inherent at the DAC stage.

I don't see any basis for that claim. Are you repeating what somebody else said which you have not verified or are you speaking from anecdotal experience?

The manual says it’s ‘reconditions’ the signal and so it’s doing something to the sound.

So write to Fried and get a decisive answer.

 

[Kozwoz]

I did not expect any coloring, Fried suggests there is not, and I didn't hear any.



Ok, ...



I don't see any basis for that claim. Are you repeating what somebody else said which you have not verified or are you speaking from anecdotal experience?



So write to Fried and get a decisive answer.

I’m not repeating what someone has told me. I’m literally reading the manual and it says it goes through an output buffer stage and reconditions the sound. Therefore the sound won’t be 100% identical to your DAC. Whether you can hear a change is another matter.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/905914/Violectric-Hpa-V200.html?page=21#manual

I will write to Fried as you suggested.

 

[Kozwoz]

Deleted

 

[Kimmeri]

I now have Ifi Zen Can and Project Polaris. My HPs are HD800, Elear and dt1990 pro.

Im seeing a very good deal on V200. My question is would V200 be a considerable improvement compared to my current amps used with those headphones?
I dont really *need* v200 but if it would make a huge difference I want to buy it.
Thank you!

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I now have Ifi Zen Can and Project Polaris. My HPs are HD800, Elear and dt1990 pro.

Im seeing a very good deal on V200. My question is would V200 be a considerable improvement compared to my current amps used with those headphones?
I dont really *need* v200 but if it would make a huge difference I want to buy it.
Thank you!

The Vios are too much amp for normal IEMs. The V280/281 is killer for HD 800s and DT 1990s. I'm not sure the V200 would be that much better than the zen can though.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I now have Ifi Zen Can and Project Polaris. My HPs are HD800, Elear and dt1990 pro.

Im seeing a very good deal on V200. My question is would V200 be a considerable improvement compared to my current amps used with those headphones?
I dont really *need* v200 but if it would make a huge difference I want to buy it.
Thank you!

Since you're in Finland it might be worth looking for the ATROX V2 which is a custom amp made in Norway. A bit hard to find info but the designer/maker is an engineer who loves audio and built this amp as a hobby project. I run my DT 1770s off one, on gain position 2 it's amazing.

 

[roskodan]

I now have Ifi Zen Can and Project Polaris. My HPs are HD800, Elear and dt1990 pro.

Im seeing a very good deal on V200. My question is would V200 be a considerable improvement compared to my current amps used with those headphones?
I dont really *need* v200 but if it would make a huge difference I want to buy it.
Thank you!

For ~400EUR it's a no brainer imo. A classic amplifier everyone should have in their collection. Pure magic. Keep it, never sell it, it's gonna grow on ya for evermore. Make sure to try it both DC and AC coupled (2 jumpers on the pot pcb inside).

It will let upstream gear carry their character downstream, so you can play with different dacs to taste.

It sells like hotcakes, so if push comes to shove, one can resell it painlessly.

Since you're in Finland it might be worth looking for the ATROX V2 which is a custom amp made in Norway. A bit hard to find info but the designer/maker is an engineer who loves audio and built this amp as a hobby project. I run my DT 1770s off one, on gain position 2 it's amazing.

Never heard about that one before. Interesting amp, especially for the original asking price. Found a review thread here. As well as a facebook page with various links and e-mail contact, quite outdated tho. The innards look juicy, photo.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I got one several years ago, but I heard he stopped making them. Then another guy on here contacted him and bought one. Hopefully he is still making them.

It's built like a tank and has plenty of horsepower, fully recommended.

 

[jonathan c]

I now have Ifi Zen Can and Project Polaris. My HPs are HD800, Elear and dt1990 pro.

Im seeing a very good deal on V200. My question is would V200 be a considerable improvement compared to my current amps used with those headphones?
I dont really *need* v200 but if it would make a huge difference I want to buy it.
Thank you!

Get the V200! It is a wonderful h/p/a. I own a V200 and a V281 - different setups. For your Senn and Beyer, there will be a difference with V200 - to the better!

 

[Hyde00]

I now have Ifi Zen Can and Project Polaris. My HPs are HD800, Elear and dt1990 pro.

Im seeing a very good deal on V200. My question is would V200 be a considerable improvement compared to my current amps used with those headphones?
I dont really *need* v200 but if it would make a huge difference I want to buy it.
Thank you!

I had a Project Polaris but sold it a while back and now I have V200, Lyr 3, and Project Solstice. I need to try V200 again but last time I tried I prefer Lyr 3 and Project Solstice. I think tube just open things up and in comparison V200 sound closed in.

BUT between Project Polaris and Asgard 3 that I sold, I kept the Project Polaris. And I THINK V200 is better than both Asgard 3 and Project Polaris. Again off memory.

Though as I said I need to try V200 again but otherwise these days I prefer tube amp. Though tube amp can sound from "meh" to "amazing" depending on tube so there's more variable. Solid state is more consistent in the sense that you plug it in and turn it on and it sounds good.

EXCEPT, have you tried turn the attenuation module to "off" on your Project Polaris, I find it open up the sound a lot. Also on Project Solstice I like the impedance setting set to medium (31 Ohm) as oppose to low (0.1 Ohm), even though it's "wrong" but sounds better to me. You can try play around with your impedance setting on the Project Polaris. Try low, medium, and high and see which you like. But definitely attenuation module "off" make things comes alive. I find Garage 1217 amps is very adjustable so you can usually find a setting you like. I would try this first before buying anything.

Will try V200 again and get back to you later.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Get the V200! It is a wonderful h/p/a. I own a V200 and a V281 - different setups. For your Senn and Beyer, there will be a difference with V200 - to the better!

Fully agree. I got a V200 especially because it's just single ended. That way (my thinking goes), you know nothing is lost on balanced circuitry and that the amp is optimized for SE.

Fully enjoying it with the Sennheisers and ZMFs.

 

[Hyde00]

I now have Ifi Zen Can and Project Polaris. My HPs are HD800, Elear and dt1990 pro.

Im seeing a very good deal on V200. My question is would V200 be a considerable improvement compared to my current amps used with those headphones?
I dont really *need* v200 but if it would make a huge difference I want to buy it.
Thank you!

Okay I just did a test I think I still like tube sound better. Again as I said try attenuation off on Project Polaris first. Otherwise V200 is good.

But if you have HD800 my friend highly recommend an OTL amp such as Dark Voice or something.

Although if you don't want to deal with the inconvenience of OTL amp then Lyr 3 or Lyr+ (hybrid tube) is a good option. It drive the tube conservatively so it last a long time and also doesn't have background noise on low gain, high gain you might get noise depending on tube.