Burson and Violectric, why the hate?

I'm kinda new here and just genuinely curious. These two companies make some amps that many people seem to like. On the other hand, members here who seem to know their shit absolutely trash them. I'm just wondering what it is about the sound that is so bad.

 

I see. That's interesting, thanks for the input. I'll have to give the Vali 2 a look. Schiit gear in general looks very nice, and obviously it gets a lot of love here and elsewhere. It's a shame that these and other hifi items aren't sold in very many retail locations. I'd love to hear some of this stuff but here in Knoxville there are literally no hifi shops. I am thinking about trying some items from 'thecableco.com'. They have a limited selection but at least they have something.

 

Aww man......that's what i'm rocking. I love it but it's the only amp i've ever used and own. Could you explain why you think it's overpriced?

 

Oh shit, that was my fault for not clarifying, I was talking about the Chinese clone of the V200(Gustard H10).

 

Never heard Burson ... but in a playoff last week between the Violectric V100, SPL Phonitor, Schiit Lyr and Audeze Deckard I thought the V100 was the best of the bunch in a couple of areas. Well-designed and well-made amps at a reasonable price I think. Also heard the Lake People G100 ... made by the same folks that make Violectric ... very honest and revealing but not cold or sterile.

 

I recently did a bunch of research across various sites about upgrading from Asgard 2 and here mostly saw love for tube amps. Ultimately I decided to buy the Violectric V200 instead. To be honest, I don't want to have to bother with tubes, and a lot of folks whose ears I trust spoke highly of the Violectric.

I think there is a bias on all sites towards things that are new. Other than tubes, everything old is seen as showing its age. Partial exceptions are made for Sennheiser HD6x0, but even those people like to say is being surpassed by the latest X or Y. Eg, Tyll Hertsens saying HE400S finally replaces HD600 as the pinnacle of price/performance value after just a few months earlier saying almost the exact same thing about Fidelio X2 relative to HD600.

Looking forward to receiving my V200 and being able to decide whether it was a clear upgrade for my ears.

 

Don't forget anything from Benchmark, as long as it has that brand name it's dry, sterile garbage!

 

Well I didn't want to say anything in my original post because I didn't want this to have any affect on the replies, but actually I have the V200. I like it quite a bit, but I don't have a whole lot of experience with too many other amps. I am definitely curious to hear your impressions of it vs the Asgard 2. In my experience, the V200 is definitely a warmer amp. For me this is not a problem. I use it with the HD650, HE400i, and the ZMF Blackwoods and I enjoy it with all three headphones. I also have a Bottlehead Crack (no speedball) which I use with the HD650. In comparison, I would say the Cracks bass is a little looser than the V200, perhaps due to the high output impedance. The noise floor on the Crack is much higher which could be due to my shitty soldering. I don't seem to notice it too much with the music playing though. On the other hand, the treble seems to have a tiny bit more presence on the Crack. All in all, I'm happy with both amps, but I'd love to hear more.

 

well, one factor for the V281 prices are also the salaries you earn at Violectric as they pay noticably better than the competition - that's part of the company's ethos.

Of course we as customers don't profit from it. I still consider the V281 to be a pretty good amp. For 1k pretty darn good.

 

I will definitely share my impressions when I have the V200. If this thread at Changstar is any indication, the vocal majority of folks in this community have a completely different impression / opinion of the V200 and other Violectric amps than most of the others on the web I've come to trust over time.

 

Germany has health care, social support etc. Honestly I'd rather support some poor Chinese workers, instead of paying 500€ extra for a relay pot. You can pretty much get an Audio-GD relay pot for that, oh which happens to include a complete balanced amp as bonus. There's a thin line to be crossed claiming over-valued products "people support".

 

sure

and after year I have to pay all shipping cost back and forth and a few years down the line I'll probably get advised to get a new amp because there is no parts support anymore while people at Lake People customers have their 20 year old products repaired for quite a low fee.

both have their fair share of (dis)advantages but in the end German built > Chinese built by far.

 

From Leica and Zeiss cameras and lenses, to Sinn and Stowe watches, to Pelikan pens, to various automobile makes, I don't mind paying a premium for fine German craftsmanship and customer service.

Not to say that other countries including China don't offer examples of great craftsmanship and service. However, it seems likely to me that employees who take pride in their product and are well paid are more likely to do top quality work when compared to those who are churning out a knockoff for low pay.

Currently my favorite headphones, HiFiMan HE-560 are from China. I would gladly have paid a significant premium on them for better build quality. As an aside, I'm not convinced of the build quality of any of the companies making planar magnetic headphones these days. One can tell by handling any HiFiMan headphones that they are not built at Sennheiser level*. This thread doesn't speak well for Audeze, and most planar magnetic headphone makers are either too new or too small scale to have a real track record.


*I may be coming across very pro-Germany in this post. For the record, I am an Asian-American and enjoy many fine products from the US, Asia, EU, and elsewhere.

 

Do you have actual stats on Lake People vs Audio-GD repairs, or are you just shooting from thin air? Audio GD does have 10 year repair guarantee, much better than typical Chinese anyway.

That was just a single example. I can think of many EU/USA products that seem more attractive valuewise than the V281 etc. If one likes simple non-fancy utilitarian design (aesthetical and technical wise), that's fine, and apparently they sell plenty enough to keep the company running, but personally I find them overvalued. For all we know, all the talk about "good salaries" is pure marketing BS, perhaps they make 5% more than typical engineers or whatever. I didn't buy HD800's because Sennheiser employs handful of local housefraus building them, I bought them for all the technical merits and general price/performance ratio. I only care if some company is clearly unethical.

V281 with relay pot for 1500€, that would sound more interesting. Not 2400€. But I get where the company is coming (long time selling stuff to studios/tv etc). It's a bit similar to Genelec here locally.. great tools that you need to pay for. I bought Neumann KH120A's (and O300's) though..

 

None of us know exactly how much any of this stuff costs to make. I do know that getting 100 things made all the same way costs a lot more than getting 98 of them made the same way and a couple of them a little bit iffy. That's one of the reasons I'm willing to pay a huge premium for Leica M lenses. Have never gotten a "bad copy" from them.

 

With the v200 I am using a Bifrost Multibit with my macbook. That replaces a Peachtree iDac which has now moved to my nightstand in the Bottlehead Crack setup. And while we're at it, do you have any thoughts on the Peachtree iDac? It seems like the Bifrost Multibit is better but it's hard to place why. It seems more open and natural I guess. Could just be placebo. I didn't really compare them back and forth, I just hooked the Bifrost Multibit up when I got it.