I own the V110 driving Dynaudio C1 Signatures. I upgraded from the V70SE. I even had the V40SE as a demo for a few days in my home. I've heard the V80 but never directly compared it to the other models. The V80 does have much better transformers. For the Focus 380 I would also recommend the Super Black Box. Beside giving you more headroom it lowers the noise floor. For my C1's the Black Box is plenty.
That being said the Octave matches very well with Dyn's. With each step up you get a bit more control in the music. Now the V110 is a modified V70SE with better internal power supply caps to better regulate the mains voltage and a switch on the back to change from 110w (620 Plate voltage) to 70w (540 plate voltage). So if you interested in rolling tubes be careful with the output tubes. 6550/KT88's have a max plate voltage of 600V. The only 2 tubes I know of that will work properly at the 620V is the vintage Ei KT90 and the current KT120. Personally with all stock tubes I am NOT a fan of the KT120's sound once broken in. To me the KT120 is very forward in the mids and bright in the highs but punchy in the bass. Otherwise a very linear sound (almost solid state sounding). But changing the input and driver/inverter tubes can help smooth things out for me.
All Octave's have a fantastic protection feature should an output tube fail by arcing over (which normally would take out other parts). It also has a soft start feature which when coming out of standby it slowly (about 30 seconds) powers up the tubes to extend tube life. Also with no signal present it will go back to standby in about 8 min. Now if you use the Octave for HT bypass you would need to turn off the eco mode (another switch in the back) to keep the tubes always on. Biasing is also very easy by adjusting the led's (no meter needed).
That being said the Octave matches very well with Dyn's. With each step up you get a bit more control in the music. Now the V110 is a modified V70SE with better internal power supply caps to better regulate the mains voltage and a switch on the back to change from 110w (620 Plate voltage) to 70w (540 plate voltage). So if you interested in rolling tubes be careful with the output tubes. 6550/KT88's have a max plate voltage of 600V. The only 2 tubes I know of that will work properly at the 620V is the vintage Ei KT90 and the current KT120. Personally with all stock tubes I am NOT a fan of the KT120's sound once broken in. To me the KT120 is very forward in the mids and bright in the highs but punchy in the bass. Otherwise a very linear sound (almost solid state sounding). But changing the input and driver/inverter tubes can help smooth things out for me.
All Octave's have a fantastic protection feature should an output tube fail by arcing over (which normally would take out other parts). It also has a soft start feature which when coming out of standby it slowly (about 30 seconds) powers up the tubes to extend tube life. Also with no signal present it will go back to standby in about 8 min. Now if you use the Octave for HT bypass you would need to turn off the eco mode (another switch in the back) to keep the tubes always on. Biasing is also very easy by adjusting the led's (no meter needed).