Quad Vena amp. Any reviews out there?

chrisrock

New member
Jul 12, 2009
17
0
0
Visit site
Hi folks

I am looking purchase the Quad Vena amp. Its features such as built in dac and bluetooth suit my needs greatly as I listen to most of my music via streaming and cd's ripped in FLAC. So I have little need for a cd player. My speakers are Zensor 3's

It still seems a bit new for many reviews, so I was wondering if anyone had heard it and what you think of it. I will certainly get out there and audition if I can find a local dealer. Maybe What Hi Fi? will be ablr to review it in the near future.

I had considered the Rotel RA-11 also but am I correct in thinking that a computer can not be connected to this directly via usb to the dac? So in other words I would have to purchase an external dac for this function?
 

florencenightingale

New member
Dec 18, 2013
0
0
0
Visit site
Hi Chrisrock,

I had a comparative demo of four amps this weekend played through the same speakers I have at home, KEF R100's. My music source was flac files played on PC via Foobar, connected via usb to the Arcam AirDac. The amps on demo were Arcam A19, MF M3i, Roksan Kandy K2 and Quad Vena integrated. I was greatly impressed by the almost 'vinyl' sound quality of the Vena, it captured the music in a very realistic way. However I went for the Kandy K2 in the end as it sounds very 3 dimensional and has more power. The bluetooth connection of the Vena sounded really good via my smartphone, so I think it is a good product. Hope this helps.
 

DIB

Well-known member
May 21, 2009
166
36
18,620
Visit site
florencenightingale said:
Hi Chrisrock,

I had a comparative demo of four amps this weekend played through the same speakers I have at home, KEF R100's. My music source was flac files played on PC via Foobar, connected via usb to the Arcam AirDac. The amps on demo were Arcam A19, MF M3i, Roksan Kandy K2 and Quad Vena integrated. I was greatly impressed by the almost 'vinyl' sound quality of the Vena, it captured the music in a very realistic way. However I went for the Kandy K2 in the end as it sounds very 3 dimensional and has more power. The bluetooth connection of the Vena sounded really good via my smartphone, so I think it is a good product. Hope this helps.

Was that the older K2 version or the latest K2 BT model?

Both the Quad Vena and the K2 BT got exceptional reviews in HiFi Choice. In fact the only negative, if you could call it a negative, with regards the Quad Vena was the apparent "plasticky" volume knob. Apart from that it gets high praise.

.
 

chrisrock

New member
Jul 12, 2009
17
0
0
Visit site
Thank you both for your replies. I am quite excited about listening to the Quad. I will certainly give the k2 some consideration also.

Florence, when you tested the quad, did you plug your pc straight to the quad via usb, or did you use the airdac?
 

florencenightingale

New member
Dec 18, 2013
0
0
0
Visit site
I bought a mint, ex-demo K2 in black for £615 (not the blu-tooth version). Yeah the fascia of the K2 is pretty plasticky design, I think the new K3 looks much better, albiet at a much higher price than K2.
 

florencenightingale

New member
Dec 18, 2013
0
0
0
Visit site
Hi Chrisrock, we used the airdac for all USB to amp connections, so that we knew we were listening to sound quality differences of the amplifiers, rather than the internal DAC of the Vena.
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts