Burson and Violectric, why the hate?

You're being quite defensive and you love to insert strawmen. Looking at your sig I kinda understand where you're coming from but it's fanboyism at best. I don't even have Violectric gear. I had Audio-GD products btw and had to sent in 3 times in a year on a SIMPLE headphone amp. Now these are not numbers to extrapolate but they confirmed again to be cautious about that stuff. Imagine paying all the shipping after a few times. Naturally it would be different if I'd live there but I'd rather invest with lower risk.

Never said I'm happy to pay up for the higher salaries btw. Where do you get this from? Plus those salaries were never marketed at all, that's just you with your weird unnecessary bias. I pay for German craftsmanship and build quality. Most people actually do when they can (or want) afford it.

 

of course it is but the general standard is far above the average chinese

 

Defensive? Strawmen? Fanboyism? Pretty harsh lol. Sounds like many people here, so don't know why you are specifically mentioning these. Just being Finnish in nature and I have zero fanboyism to any company, I've selected my current stuff from few candidates with actual A/Bing. By no means I've heard everything or make assertions that what I have is best. I've never even heard V281, but I can make comments on how it looks as a potential consumer. I've rarely read of problems with AGD so ymmv, happy to bash them if my amp craps out, even though sending it back few times is still very cheap for what you get.

I did not intentionally claim you are happy about anything, you mentioned about the salaries and my comments are continuation of that. It's more about Fried himself occasionally defending that on Head-Fi. Every company can choose to do what they want and I don't need to agree with them. But better that way than crapping employees up.

 

I would agree that the standard of quality is dependent on the company rather than the country or region. I would not doubt the possibility of greater unit variation in beyerdynamic vs. HiFiMan for example. Certain companies like Sennheiser are simply exceptional when it comes to quality control.

Tangent aside I would agree that Burson in general is muddy garbage. I still have difficulty understanding those that love their LCD-whatever + Burson pairings as that level of mediocrity can be bested rather cheaply.

 

fwiw, I had the Violectric v100, Lake People g109p liked them both, moved to Asgard2, liked it a bit better, moved to the Gargage 1217 Polaris, like it a lot better.

See the trend here?

 

We're one of the few G1217 owners here!

 

Not to hijack the thread but I also love my project ember and am continually amazed at how well it stacks up to 'higher end" gear. The ember II seems to get some love around here. Still want to build and try a Polaris at some point.

 

As someone with a preference for solid state, an Asgard 2 on hand, and a V200 on the way, I'm very interested to hear specifics about what you like more about Garage 1217 Polaris than Asgard 2. I was thinking about maybe picking one of those up as well.

 

I can give you some brief impressions from my pov. The asgard 2 had a bit more top end extension in my setup than the G109p which it replaced. Bass also seem maybe a hair deeper and mids were slightly more forward, but the G109p had more depth and space.

however, the Asgard 2 seems soft on transients, not quite as dynamic or punchy in the bass and with less space than the Polaris. Also I feel the Polaris is a bit more open with cleaner view in the lower treble. All good amps for sure, but I like the overall openness of the polaris.

I know it does a much better job of revealing better sources. when I subbed in my speaker system dac and bridge (and everyone stop saying 2 channel, it is all effin 2 channel) , the Asgard 2 acted like nothing happened. With the Polaris, you heard the step up in dac performance.

Hope that helps and ymmv.

 

I just posted some very, very preliminary impressions of Asgard 2 compared with V200 but deleted them because I really spoke too soon. At first listen I thought they sounded the same, but 30 minutes later I'm starting to hear the differences. Will post some better impressions after I've given them some time.

 

Okay, I've had the Violectric V200 for one day now. Still didn't get my Bifrost Multibit yet, so these are impressions from the Modi -> V200 vs Modi -> Asgard 2. I wouldn't say that one is warmer than the other. Possibly the V200 mids are a bit fuller. Bass extension is similar. The most obvious difference is that the noise floor is significantly higher on the Asgard 2; the V200 background is pure black. Treble may be a bit more present on the Asgard, but all the extension and detail are still there with the V200. Overall I'd say that the V200 is a bit more musical and involving. Very happy with this purchase as it seems that this amp was made for my HE-560 and HD600.

 

Similar to what I heard on the LP G109P vs Asgard2. Space was better with the Lake People (noise floor, perhaps), never really felt the Asgard 2 was noisy though, mids a bit warmer on the Lake but not as forward for my setup, and yes highs a bit more extended on the Asgard.

You'll have to let us know how the Bifrost Multibit plays with each.

 

I swore you recommended the Asgard 2 many times over at changstar.com as a great SS amp until you reach well into the $1000 range. I know you hated the original one lol.

 

I only hear noise on the A2 when I make it very loud, louder than I ever listen for more than a few minutes. But at those same volumes, I hear no noise with the same setup and the V200. That may be a meaningless distinction since I don't listen that loud anyway, but it was the most obvious difference I found between the two.

The point about comparing across price ranges is well taken. These just happen to be the only two headphone amps I have on hand. From what I've heard so far, the V200 is a worthwhile upgrade option for A2 owners who want to stick with a slightly warm-sounding solid state amp. Some of us just don't want to bother with tubes at all.

 

This is true. Clear your mind, young jedi @Kon Peki. I remember feeling like tube amps were strange, and maybe like old technology, and wtf with tubes anyway. Then I bought the Valhalla 2, and now I love it and polish it with a diaper.

 

I do have kids (age 2, 11, and 12), and I was thinking they might break the tubes. I guess some of the tube amps have less of the tubes exposed to flying balls and such.