Best ever explanation/illustration for impedance. Absolutely brilliant in the extreme. I'll be using that for the rest of my life. Thank you so much for that.
I own the Magni 3 and was having a hard time deciding on the Vali 2+ or the Valhalla 2 for my HD600s. I opted for the Valhalla 2 since I only own the HD600s and they're high impedence. It was a massive step up from my Magni 3. In the 10 years I've owned my HD600s, they've never sounded so alive.
Today Valhalla 2 arrived to replace my Vali 2... 4 tubes are better than 1 tube, right. Turns out the 1 tube walk all over the Valhalla 2. Aeon 2 closed headphones I get this spooky state where the music floats on the in the air on either side of my ears. The sound is between both ears yet I'm forever looking over my shoulder, getting spooked. What was that? Oh right, duh it's s the music. Sounds so natural but an unnerving effect. The music is literally floating in the air and I'm surrounded by it. This is my first jump in headgear. The Valhalla 2 is boxed for return. Yikes, I'm terrified if the sound is by some miracle accident... Future, replacing the tube in my headphone amp, Aeon 2 combo that can't be duplicated. PS the Valhalla 2 noise floor was audible without music. The Vahi 2. Zero noise in fact it’s dead silent, then music comes to life raising out the silence, that’s spooky too. DAC: THX Onyx, iMac Mini app set @ 96k 24 kbit
That's because the Valhalla 2 is designed primarily for high-impedance headphones and is no good for low impedance headphones like the AEON. I made a video specifically about this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--MWFHyxmu5U.html
This is the best video of all I've seen of yours so far-- informative, organized, thorough, concise. You come across as experienced, knowledgeable, astute, sympathetic, and you avoid your occasional tendency for elitism. Congratulations, and well-done!
Thank you, this helped me pick my first amp. I was thinking about picking up the Vali, but I'd rather get a Magni first and upgrade to a bigger tube amp at a later point.
Great explanation on the differences between amp types and their sound characteristics. I was thinking about the Vali 2+ or Asgard 3, but then the Jotunheim 2 dropped. My Jot 2 sounds amazing running balanced through my Sundaras. If I decide to try a tube amp, Vali 2+ might be the one.
My personal preference for home audiophile amplifier combination must be a tube preamp and a solid state power amp - AB class. Most likely, I would not go for other combinations, there may be one exception which is to add a separate decent quality DAC, if I decide to go for streaming music and songs. However the DAC must be separated. If I can't afford the luxury to own a combination of both preamp(tube) and solid stated power amp, I'll go for the AB class solid state amp
I have a Douk Audio and I am more than impressed. Really curious about this one. They are so back ordered though so I cancelled my order. If they had this in stock I would have gotten it right away.
Well, I'd been eyeing one of these ever since it came out as a compliment to my objectively correct amplifiers. thanks for convincing me to save some money and not buy one of these.
I could use some much-needed advice. You have the complete stack seating in front of you, is it possible to show how all those units are hooked up? Schiit does not include any instructions with any of their units. So please HELP!
I have been waiting for the vali2 on back order for 2 months.... now that i have more money should i cancel my order and upgrade? And if yes what schiit amp should i get? (HD 660s)
Valhalla It is not a versatile amp like jot 2, but specific to hd 650, valhalla synergize very well (especially if you think that hd 650 stage is small, this is the cure)
But dont get valhalla if you plan to buy something like hd800s, i know that hd800 also need a tube amp, but valhalla is a bad match for it (it will make your hd800 brighter and dryer) Told you it's not versatile 😄
I owned the Vali 2, a great little unit, absolutely hate the wall wart. Upgraded to Lyr 3, bad move. After a month it almost electrocuted me when switching on , returned to seller, they gave full refund. Nice sounding units but i went to Chord. Not risking
You'll need to plug the Vali 2 into something that has analog output, which means the sound card of your computer, or a phone with a headphone socket, or similar. If the source of your analog output isn't so good, then a dedicated DAC could be an improvement.
@@Currawong I just ordered one, to go with Bifrost and ThieAudio Oracle, but I don't know what might be a solid step or 2 above it. Seems to be a champ of the ~$500 mark.
Nice review to bad you cant buy this product or a lot of other Schit Audio products here in Australia as Schit Audio are up the s**t and cant supply Australia with products with no word when they will be able to continue supply to us here in Australia .Several emails have not answered when they will start sending products to Australia again .
@@Currawong I find it hard to believe they don't know as my emails with them made it very clear I was unhappy with them .They didn't have a clue when they will ne shipping to Australia again or were unwilling to tell me any way .I found them quite rude ,there customer services leaves a lot to be desired .So I have moved my yggy on and am looking for a new dac with a company that has better customer service .
Tubes are so missunderstood.............they do not warm up the sound..........solid state lacks qualities is more correct ......The so called warmth of tubes is mostly due to other factors not necessary caused by the tube itself............solid state is a SEMI conductor technology and electrons flow into a cristaline structure ......in tubes they flow in a vacuum , more than sevcent times faster !............and tube technology is more linear than solid state ! so far for distortion .......... Tube headphone amps where you can use different tube types in the same socket is a scam and a shame !................;one can only """ optimize """ for a given tube design and than compare different brands of the same tube..............yes it may work with different tube types but there's a real BUT ...........mostly only work .........