[chrisyak]

I haven't heard the V222, but I have heard the V281, used to own the BHA-1 (both high and low gain versions), and currently still have the SPL Phonitor 2. I also used to have the Phonitor X with built in dac which I thought was a tiny bit better than the 2 but not enough to justify keeping it at the time (and the 2 had the ability to output the headphone matrix through the preamp outputs which was the main keeping point for me).

Personally, I preferred both the Bryston and SPL over the Violectric.

If I were in your shoes, unless I really really loved the sound signature of the Vio and wanted to push it further, I would spend the funds on a different sounding amp for more variety.

Thank you for the feedback, have you heard the V590 V2? Where do you think it compares to the Bryston and SPL? What have you moved onto?

My bucket List is to try the Niimbus US Pro 5+(aka Lake People/ Violectric) , McIntosh MAH-150, Luxman P750-U, T&A HA 200, GD Audio Master 9, Oppo HA-1, cocktail Audio HA500H and a older model Teac can't remember the model numbers is like 501,504,503. I have a unquie old school look and taste in amps not many Chi-Fi in my todo lists.

P.S. Go Jets!

 

[Armaegis]

Unfortunately I haven't heard the V590 v2, so can't offer any thoughts there at all. In the past I've heard a couple of the older Violectrics (sorry I don't remember which ones) and from my fuzzy memory they all share a similar sound, so again my stance would be unless you really really love the Vio sound and want to "upgrade" within the family (and if so, then it would be to jump to the Niimbus anyways), my suggestion is to play with other gear. Then again, at this point in my audio journey I'm more about finding flavours rather than ultimate performance anyways.

As for your bucket list, skip the Oppo. Very rarely do I have negative things to say about gear, but that one is easily one of the worst that I have ever heard.

p.s. I kinda tuned out of the Jets after their first game. Yeah the scores were stupid high, but they nearly blew a 3 point lead and I felt like their momentum crashed midway through that game and they haven't recovered since. I wanna be hometown patriotic, but dude they are hard to watch right now...