A Few Thoughts on The Wonderful Quad VA-One

Over the past few years I have been on a quest to build the finest system I could afford in the smallest form factor I could find..When listening to music I value an organic sound,I want to feel the woody resonance of a closely miked cello,to hear not only the initial strike of a drum head but the actual resonance of the skin..In other words a natural tone...It is my firm belief that we live in a truly golden age of hi fi.Never before has equipment with world class resolution and tonal saturation been available for so little money...
Which brings me to the VA-One,a $1600.00(good deals are available if you ask) all in 1 solution that makes sweet beautifiul music from todays digital sources.Included is Optical,Coaxial & USB along with 1 unbalanced input..There are several reviews that do a better job than I can at a full review so I’m just going to make a few points based on being an end user...
SILENCE!!!I am continually amazed at the deep black background music comes from with this amp.ABSOLUTELY dead quiet.Low level details are then rendered superbly...
Build quality and pride of ownership..Again superb.It really feels solid and like it will last several lifetimes...After a complete introduction and listening session A friend who has a vintage Quad tube rig driving Quad 57’s guessed it’s retail price at somewhere between $3500.00 & $5000.00 when asked...
Real world driving ability...Unless you have a large room or listen at head banging levels the 17wpc.actual(8ohms)/15wpc.(6/4 ohms)is enough power for most modern speakers that do not have wild phase swings and super low impedance...Case in point I am using Dynaudio Excite X14’s in a borderline medium size treated room with wonderful results...The sound is highly detailed,smooth and listenable for days on end with imaging and staging far outside the speakers and wonderful depth...
Sweet as honey headphone stage...Not super powerful(15 mil.watt @ 32 ohm/65 mil.watt @ 300 ohm)but beautifuly quiet and tonally lit like a tropical sunset(through HiFiMan HE400i)...I would LOVE to hear the Sennheiser HD800S on this amp!
In closing if you need a simple system for a small/medium room you can spend a lot more and not get anywhere the sweet sounds this amp is capable of...Highly recommended!!!