Nimble Niimbus – As a brand separate from Violelectric launched in late 2018, Niimbus gear is built by the same pro-audio firm Lake People in Germany. Their latest creations are the US 5 and US 5 Pro headphone amps [€4'999 / €5'499]. They share a 10mm fascia behind which a dual-mono circuit with 50V rails drives four gain stages for 7 watts into 50Ω augmented by 50'000µF of filter capacitance. Headfi outputs are on 6.3mm, XLR4 and 4.4mm balanced. In the back are two RCA inputs, 1 XLR input and 1/ea. pre-out plus dip switches to set gain. Where the two models diverge is in their attenuators. The US 5 uses a motorized potentiometer, the Pro a reed-relay-switched MCU-controlled resistor ladder for 256 x 0.4dB steps. Common to both again is the metal remote and Men in Black dress code. In Lake People's hierarchy, Niimbus sits above Violectric for their consumer models.
