Quad Vena II is a great alternative to many amplifier streamers on the market. It is underrated in my opinion in that regard.
This will be the last of my retrospective reviews, covering gear I had in the past before this channel. This will be the last significant gear review of the equipment I used to have.
Great alternative to many amp streamers
It was one of my most mysterious buys, as I bought it in a store when I was recommended by a seller. I wanted to try those all-in-one solutions and came with the intention of buying the Audiolab 6000a Play. At that time, they could not sell me one, as they were out of stock and had problems with the delivery chain. So, they recommended me something similar in a similar price range.
I was intrigued by the mystery of that device, as I had no experience with the Quad Vena II at that moment in time. The seller told me it is the best amp in its price range and that I had to listen to it. And so I did.
I really don’t know about "best in class," but it was like a more mature Denon I used to have, with really encompassing bass. It did not blow my mind, I can tell you that, but I wanted something different from others, so I ended up with this amp, not knowing how interesting our sonic adventures would be.
What I ended up with was an extraordinary all-around amp streamer meant to satisfy a large variety of audiophile lovers.
What is Vena 2 Play
But to start first with the basics, the Vena II is an AB Amplifier with a power of 45 watts in 8 ohms and 65 watts in 4 ohms. It is decent power at this level. It can drive many speakers in a similar price range, and it can comfortably drive and open up many even more expensive ones. But I cannot say with certainty that it can drive every speaker, especially those sensitive ones.
It is also decently equipped with a great phono input, which we will talk about more later, two more analog inputs, and an additional pre-out so this amp can work solely as a preamplifier. Also, there are coaxial, digital, and USB inputs. Yes, I love when amps have a USB input, as it allows via the DAC inside the amp to connect to your PC, to play 16 and 24-bit files and DSD up to 256. Of course, there is also an APTX Bluetooth connection including a DTS Play-Fi streaming module inside, which I grew to really dislike over time.
It is not a wealth of options, but it can satisfy many needs.
DAC Inside
Let’s talk about the DAC inside. It is an ESS 9018 reference DAC. It is not the latest or the greatest from ES Saber, but it is a decent chip. I think its utility and implementation determine how well it is going to behave within a machine. There are a couple of devices using this DAC and its sound does vary in character and quality. But I think its connection with external transports and computers is where it excels. It manages to operate in the realm of organizing the sound, removing the noise floor pretty decently. You can definitely tell when listening to music via your PC, which in the past I used to do often, now super rarely, it sounds more grand in scope. It does organize better all instruments on the soundstage providing a clearer picture of what is happening within the music itself.
Design
The design of the box itself is really compact, making it among the smaller full integrated amps. That makes it easy to be incorporated into many spaces. Now, the looks are very utilitarian, with just controls to select channels, volume, and headphone input. I will not say it is bad, but I will not give many praises to it either. But one thing I really liked is the light near the volume knob; it looks so great. But for its utilitarian look, comes a great plus for this amp, as it can look really inconspicuous in your stands and among other gear, making it easy to be part of a bigger system with its size and looks.
3 Parameters of Sound Quality
Now, this was an interesting essay about looks, but here comes the most important part and that is sound. The mother of all Hi-Fi devices. I strongly believe in Hi-Fi there is no good and bad sound. There is a sound which is compared to three things: does the sound characteristic fit your needs, does it bring value in its price range, and how it compares to similar devices.
Sound Characteristics
Firstly, the sound characteristics of this device lean towards a warmer sound, but with a lot of muscle and emphasis on bass. Right away it should start painting a picture in your head about the sound it reproduces.
Fantastic Bass
Let’s speak about its greatest strength and that is how authoritative this amp is. Even though it has 45 watts, it did drive the lower end of my speakers with ease and command. It made thumping, pulsating sounds with drums and bass-driven music grounded and fun. As it is a big sound encompassing the spectrum, it allows lower notes to be more present and when you have presence and enough space for bass, it starts showing its details. Unlike treble which can easily have its details show its head, bass can be shy with details quite often. Many companies push for a larger scope and definition of bass rather than having its presence heard. But with bookshelves, you can rarely get that big sound, mostly for that you will need a subwoofer. Subwoofers mostly come with active amps and are fantastic. So what other amps should do is what Quad Vena II does: it makes bass detailed and present. It makes the movement of E strings felt with textures so I can see the material properties of those strings. Same thing for double bass on drums, making me feel when the stick reaches the drum, and what properties you can feel that way.
So it is not about how much air, body, and density the sound of bass has, it is about precision and textures as well, and this amp does this so well.
If you like electronic music, this amp is a dream. For some good jazz, this might be for you more than you expect.
Mids
But let’s go up on the dynamic scale and talk about mids. One of the most usual suspects of quality of mids can be felt with vocal reproduction, guitars, and pianos, but I like to see the quality of vocal reproduction to get a grasp of mids. The separation of instruments was good, you can clearly tell them defined and put in the soundstage. But as clearly this amp aims for a more strong presentation, it will have vocals that are more oriented towards vocals that have weight in most cases male vocals. They will appear with definition and size, but not the most focused or present. They will come from the lungs, the way the vocals sound, with big inflections and timbre. In reality, reproduction of mids on the soundstage was good, but some other amps in this price range offer more separation here from other instruments.
But that is expected with sound like this. But what it does great is how firmly it remained focused to deliver a lot of drive and movement. Combine that with bass and it made listening to music interestingly fun. It really did, I had a lot of fun listening to rock music through this amp. Guitars when chugging and shredding had a lot of drive and definition.
So let’s sum up the mids: great presence and definition, a lot of weight and mass. Good separation, but not the best, also good soundstage which opens the instruments but not the best in class.
Treble
Treble is a bit of a different story. As with every warm amp, treble suffers in the process. Well, it does not suffer but is not so energized and present with warm sound. Also, the presentation of the Vena II is a bit leaner and shy. If you want an upbeat, close-to-you presentation you might not get that with this amp. It is not a passionate amp in that regard. As for percussion, violins, and cymbals, they are not separated so precisely and thoroughly. Same like the mids, there is separation there don’t get me wrong. There are textures and details there don’t get me wrong. But for a device in the 1000 euro range, it would be wrong of me to say that this is the best you can get.
Instruments had textures which allowed me to conceptualize them more on the soundstage. They were closer together, but they were present and vivid. Just not the biggest bloom and presence. You can see them, feel them, you can deduce them with your brain, but they will not blow you away with clarity and transparency.
Pairing and Synergy
Maybe that is something to be said for all the sonic aspects of this amp, is that it does not allow the blackest of backgrounds, or some amazing separation. But it does allow for sound to shave those unpleasant highs, and to ground bright speakers. I can tell as pairing and synergy goes, you can easily take your Bowers with this, as this grounds them nicely. But like with any warm amp, there is no bad synergy, only better. So this definitely works best with balanced speakers, then bright, and in the end, kind of worst with warmer speakers. As it sounds too warm, but maybe someone likes it that way.
Great Phono Input
One aspect I have to mention as being better than most amps in this price range is the phono input. It is decent, which is a big compliment I can give. Usually, phono inputs in integrated amps are afterthoughts, but here it works pretty well. It still cannot compete with external phono preamplifiers, but like the DAC, it is what it is when you get this integrated box. It truly made my turntable sound better than with other integrated amps. Quad says it is a high-quality, low-noise, JFET-based circuit with precise RIAA equalization. Read that however you want, it is one phono input in an integrated amp that did not leave me disappointed.
As Music Streamer
Now the streamer, like all other components in an integrated system, don’t expect miracles here. But what you can expect is much better sound via direct streaming rather than through Bluetooth, or connecting your TV through the amp to play music. I think the greatest strength of the streamer lies in how much it utilizes the strengths of this amp to play music. There is no boxiness, no lack of dynamic opening, the soundstage is more freed out, it is an audiophile way to listen to music. It is a glimpse of what pleasures you can get when incorporating external music streamers. But it is all in one box, you buy the Vena II Play and add speakers and you are on your audiophile odyssey. That is such a great plus for just 100 to 200 euros. You don’t have to bother with additional boxes, synergy, or pairing. Just for your listening pleasures.
Audiolab 6000a Play
Let’s speak about alternatives, and let’s speak about the device in the title of this video. Why Audiolab 6000a Play? It is because they are very similar devices in specs, even in price, and have the same DAC. The only difference is size and connectivity. They even use the same streaming module and application. But there is something else that caught my attention now that I am doing this retrospective review. Why did the Audiolab 6000a Play get so much better sales than the Quad Vena II? It is not about which one is a better device, only which one had better numbers being pushed and moved, just statistics. If you were to ask me which one of these two devices to recommend, I would always ask you what you want from your music. Audiolab as a device is built around the idea of expanding horizons and really putting a lot of emphasis on mids. Sound is airy, and there is a lot of dynamics in all the instruments that are in the middle section of the dynamic scale. But that is done by sacrificing in treble and bass. It creates the sound of a device that is used to open the soundstage, create better focus in mids, exploit the richness, but also not have that much character. It creates wonderful sessions of listening to music, especially relaxed ones. Vena II is not that precise of an amp, it is not opening some new horizons for you, but it does create a fun full sound. It is a much weightier full sound, that is marching and commanding.
Both of the amps do things greatly, but none do all things great, and it is what you expect from this amp that will be the one you choose.
So are people more open to clarity and wideness of soundstage, and richer vocals than to the definition of bass, weight, presence, and fun? I don’t know, it is not something for me to discover without interviewing audiophiles. Especially the last thing, fun, fun for some might not be fun for others. But Audiolab has become a hit. The 6000a is in many homes, people who did not even know Audiolab prior to this boom 5 years ago, now know what Audiolab is. How should companies even approach this? Is Audiolab’s sonic character a blueprint for success, or was the marketing of Audiolab just that much better than Quad’s? As to me, they are fantastic alternatives to each other. None is better than the other, and both provide a lot of value for money.
If you want to hear me talk more about the Audiolab 6000, please look at my review, it will be linked in the description below.
Denon PMA-900hne
A great alternative with similar sonic quality is the Denon PMA-900HNE. Honestly, sonic quality-wise, very similar. Warmer sound with big body and presence. It is really hard for me to be here and try to compare this bit by bit, as I think if you enjoyed the previously mentioned qualities of sound. Maybe Quad has a bit more refinement in treble and mids, as I felt a bit more detail extraction with it. But to me, there are a few points that you need to dissect when choosing one or the other. Firstly, Quad is a far smaller amp so it is more inconspicuous and easy to find room in your system. Denon has more connections than Quad. Denon's application is far better in experience and design than Play-Fi. One more thing, while I praised Quad's phono input, another integrated amp I know that is also good with phono is Denon, but Denon has an ace up its sleeve, it can, besides MM, do MC. The most important aspect is Denon is cheaper, and that could be a big selling point. But you should demo both of these devices, and you might find your new great musical partner to follow you on your journey.
Marantz PM 7000n
Another great alternative to this amp is Marnatz PM7000n. It is inherited more warmer sound, with big weighty sound. But the difference from Quad Venna is that it tries to round lower mids into being smooth. So you get large sound that feels like a big hug. I think bass on Venna is more richer and authoritative and have bigger attack. Also it can unveil more information around mids and treble.
The Music Streamer is the same like in Denon, and I personally like it more. But overall I like Venna II more, as it is more fun amp in my opinion. The only thing you can go for Marantz is if you like smooth, warm and delicious sounds that are super easy to listen and enjoy.
Conclusion
If you need an amp that will work great with your bright speakers, or if you look for an amp that can work as an AV receiver alternative with its defined and weighted bass. An amp that is small but mighty, with a just add speakers motto. To bring fun musical sound that can envelop the room and make you want to tap your hands in the rhythm of the song.
Then consider the Quad Vena II. It is a great amp, and when the price drops a little bit it could be a fantastic value amp, but I cannot say that now, not with many great alternatives. But it might be for you, and it may in the end rock your world.
Keep Daydreaming,
And see you in the next video!
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