Friends & Competition
Going back to the Violectric V281 is always a pleasure, and after all this time this amp still impresses me with its fun and musical tuning. Compared to the V590 it doesn’t sound as clean and precise and the sound stage width as well are the spaciousness and airiness are less present here. Vocals are more to the front and it’s just a more messy delivery with less preciseness. The separation isn’t as clear and the fine detail is not as present. You get a more intimate presentation compared to the V590, but it’s energetic and fun. It’s not that the V281 suddenly is a bad amp, I still like it, it’s just hat the V590 is better.
The Flux Lab Acoustics Atlas ($6K)has that typical high end tuning, with a more neutral approach and a lighter, more energetic delivery. Music here sounds sharper (in a good way) as the smooth delivery just isn’t present here. If you’re a fan of a musical sound with a neutral and transparant tuning, fast delivery and super tight bass, you’ll love the Atlas. These units are just tuned in a different way.
The Niimbus US4+ (€5K)is more like the Atlas with a more neutral kind presentation. It is faster, cleaner and livelier. The smoothness here is less present than in the V590 but it’s still noticeable. The US4+ is wider, more spacious sounding and has better depth and layering. The US4+ is also a step up when it comes to transparency, fine detail and decay. Just looking at the Violectric and Niimbus units, it’s an easy overview US4+>V590>V281. I can’t wait to give the Niimbus DAC and US4+ combo a listen, that most be close to perfection.
Conclusion
The Violectric DHA V590 is a strong all-round performer. In the beginning I wasn’t too impressed with the internal DAC, but the more I used the unit, the more I used it as a DAC/AMP combo. They’re just made and tuned for each other.
Headphone wise the HDA V590 is a great all-round performer as well. No matter the driver technology used in the headphone, the V590 will sound really good to great with at least 90% of the headphones you hook up to it. My absolute favorite being the Audeze LCD-XC.
The DHA V590 also is a great pre-amp and it at the moment is the only pre-amp I am using in my office system. I tried not using it, but I keep getting drawn back to it, as it makes my favorite tunes sound more complete. As is the case very often, you only know what you’re missing when you don’t have it anymore and this perfectly describes how I feel about its preamp function.
The Violectric DHA V590 doesn’t come cheap, especially with the upgraded volume control, but it’s an excellent higher-end all-in-one unit and a – dare I say it? Yes, I do – End Game device for many.
At the same time, looking at the performance of the US4+ and the upcoming (US8+) Niimbus DAC, there still is room to build an ever better, more refined sounding, higher end dac/amp combo. Though that will no doubt be quite a bit more expensive and with separate components. So not really comparable, but surely something to look forward to.
Anyway, a great DAC/AMP combo, worthy of a place on our Recommended buy list!
MhtLion
Great review! Surely the best review on Violectric, any Violectrics. I purchased v281 after reading your review. Does your unit has the upgraded volume pot? I wonder if it is worth extra $600.
Lieven
Thanks. Yes it does, as said in the article. IS it worth it, well it’s an improvement but doesn’t have an impact on the SQ
James Marino
Excellent article!
Glad to see some new reviews on Violectric gear. For awhile the company seemed to be
languishing, however, they have come back strong with their new line of amp\dac\preamp
components; which look to be very competitive within their market segment.
Recently purchased a V100 based on an older article Lieven wrote, and looking forward to
using it in my Head-Fi system.
Cheers! Jim
Lieven
Glad you like it, James 🙂
John Herzig
Hi Lieven, I bought your V200 from you when you sold it and you kindly shipped it all the way to Canada for me. I paired it with a V800 after I received it and have been happily using it on a daily basis. Cheers, John
Lieven
Hi John, good to hear from you. Thank you for the message, I’m really glad to see you’re still loving your Violectric setup. If you want to upgrade to the V281, let me know 😉
Renaud
Hello folks! I enjoy reading this review. I don’t own any Lake People equipment but clearly they seem to know their way around designing a proper amp. 🙂
Probably because of the shortage on AKM chips, Violectric already replaced these 2 units with V380² and V590². It’s the same amp stage inside but the DAC part is now ESS-based with two ES9026Pro per channel. So it’s a quad-DAC design. The resampling control on the facade is gone too.
Here is the new units on CMA Audio website :
https://www.cma.audio/en/categories/headphones/headphone-preamps/violectric-dha-v3802
https://www.cma.audio/en/categories/headphones/headphone-preamps/violectric-dha-v5902
It does not make these units less interesting but potential buyers reading this review should be aware of the change.
I wonder if Headfonia will get a chance at reviewing the new units and comparing it with those short-lived AKM-based combos.
JMP
Hi,
Great review!
You mention the Kennerton Thror in the list of headphones tested but nothing later.
Can you sum up this pairing in a few words please?
PS: Btw, do you plan to review mk2 EES-based versions ?
Thanks
Will
I’m absolutely in love with my hd800s, and I am looking for an amp to drive them. Would you recommend this, or something like the Feliks Euforia or the Auris hs2sf? I have never owned a tube amp before and so I’m a bit skeptical. Thanks.
Lieven
All good Choices for the HD800. You can’t go wrong with any of the Violectric amps (or Niimbus). The Euforia AE is the best of the Euforia series, but the regular one is also really good.
I still am a big fan of the LAfigaro 339 and HD800 combo as well. In the AUris range I would recommend the Nirvana and up.