New Schiit Vali 2 Discussion Thread

Long time lurker, first time poster. Here's my favourite tube for the Vali 2 at the moment. Ken Rad Black Glass 6SN7GT. Dampers because it's a bit microphonic and it helps a lot.

 

I'm sure I just haven't hit upon the exception that proves the rule, but so far my he500 has always worked best with solid state options.

 

Interesting, I still don't understand why I sold my Vali 2

 

@Hands, are you talking about this tube : http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/6CG7-6FQ7-Tube-Types/Electro-Harmonix-6CG7-6FQ7

Thanks

 

Ok thanks a lot

 

So.... how does it sound? Comparisons to stock tube? What's the rest of your system?

 

Hi. right now my setup is Foobar - > Wyrd - > Modi 2U (b stock) - > Vali 2 (EH 6CG7) - > HD650 (Foam removed, coin modded, Dynamat added). I want all of your opinions on upgrading my setup DAC to Modi Multibit. Is it worth it?

 

Wow, the stock tube is seriously microphonic!

I have a PCC88 in there right now, and a 6CG7 on the way, hopefully arriving this week. Looking forward to getting this thing home and hooking it up to more challenging headphones than a pair of HD25.

 

Maybe it's a bad tube or a loose connection. I've been using the stock tube for about 10 months and it's completely silent with the volume turned up using low impedance IEMs. It sometimes makes a humming sound in the upper mids I believe, but it goes away if you tap the chassis lightly or turn it off and on. And even then it only happens once every few weeks with daily usage.

Still, people have reported good improvements with those other tubes you mentioned so they're worth getting anyway. I really should go buy the PCC88 and treat myself a little.

 

It's microphonic with regards to vibration from the desktop- but the whole building is shaking like a sex toy due to nearby demolition works. Hopefully, at home, at the top of a stack of things with rubber feet, it should be far quieter.

I also had it directly on the desk, sans feet- an unfair test. When I built a little platform out of an old hard drive on top of a couple of packs of travel tissues (high tech), the problem all but went away.

The 6CG7 is the one that really interests me, but neither of the tubes that I have here sound horrible so far. I shall pick up some 20mm dampers anyway. Given that this thing only takes a single tube, it's probably not that expensive to mess around a little..

 

An EH 6CG7 arrived today (and is stored safely in a Peli micro case, in my bag). Looking forward to hearing why @Hands and others rate this tube, compared to my PCC88.

What a fun little amp, and so cheap to tit around with tubes!

Edit:

Ok, EH 6CG7 installed, and.. well, it's bloody lovely. Really nice staging, very lovely tone. Maybe the highs aren't so high and the lows aren't so low, a little roll-off at each end, but it's not a problem. It's a little warm, but not worryingly so.

I tried to "break" it with different music, but nothing has actually stood out as sounding bad per se- unlike with the PCC88, which ran out of steam in on brightly mastered stuff with some layers.

I know that it's considered dangerous to admit it, but @Hands and co were right about this tube. Really and truly a great upgrade. Even "Nevermind" through my planars sounds like a good time.

Very nice to have a relaxing and musical little amp like this in reserve, when you are in the mood.

Edit the second:

Been running this tube all evening- and now the bass is cattle-sterilisingly robust, it's actually a bit uncomfortable.. I hope this is just a transitory effect, or I am gonna need new pants. What an interesting tube!

 

Would you consider this amp a good "all rounder"?
What I mean by that is if I gave you 50 different headphones with a dynamic driver (no IEMs etc), would it sound equally good with all of them?
I don't mean portable headphones but ones that are slightly harder to drive.
Will it allow me to listen to them as they were supposed to sound? A tiny touch of warmth is OK.

Now some will say this is impossible, but I disagree. It seems that it requires a very specific amp and not even the O2 or Magni seems to do this.
On the O2 or Magni 1 you can use a very bright/thin headphone and it will sometimes sound worse.

I read the first 20 pages of this thread and didn't find my answer yet, but apparently it's a bit more neutral sounding than the Vali 1.

I fell for the hype on the Vali 1. Sounded pretty impressive with my Q701, but not much else. Thought it was terrible with my HD-650.
Actually I probably would have loved it more if I had maybe a DT-990 or something. The bass was a bit sloppy on the HD-650 with the Vali 1.

I wonder what exactly makes the Vali 1 so good with the Q701? It doesn't change it's sound, but make it sound like it's at it's best.
Identical in sound to my Headroom Micro Amp + Astrodyne, but only with the Q701. That amp also cost about $400 with the PSU.
BTW it wasn't adding any warmth to the Q701 either.

If the Vali 2 is a better match for more headphones and they somehow made it sound great with the Q701, then it's a winner for me.

I was thinking perhaps Jotunheim is a closer match to what i'm looking for. It's a bit past my price range though.
Maybe Valhalla 2 or something is another good option. I haven't given up on Schiit yet

 

If you like nasty, trebly things like the AKGs, you might not enjoy the Jotunheim It's.. unsparing. It wouldn't be a good pairing.

For what it's worth, the Vali 2 can drive the famously cranky HD650 nicely, especially with a bit of a tube swap. You don't get the plankton that you get through the Jotunheim (which is a weirdly good pairing with the stock 650), but it's a relaxing and pleasant listen- no obvious lack of oomph to control the bass, for example (as you'd get with the Magnis). It also does a good job with HE-560, which is a middling planar, and not so hard to drive. The sound is smooth and pleasant, with an expansive stage, and tubes permitting, decently low noise levels. My favourite tube certainly ends up sounding a bit warm, but it's enjoyable.

Essentially, it's trade-offs all the way down. Vali 2 sounds sensational for the price and size, with a nice tube. However, you will get more extension from the Jot, and more detail, especially when balanced. The downside of that is that if your headphones have nasty FR issues anywhere, Jotunheim will slam them into your face, it's not very forgiving. That means that a lot of AKGs and Beyers will be somewhat painful, and an unmodded HD800 will be scarily pokey.

I'm not sure that there are any budget amps that are good at everything. However, a Vali 2 and a Jot isn't a bad combo to have kicking about, it covers a lot of bases for a lowish price. If you have weird and varied transducer tastes (good for you), you might need more than one amp.

Is it a bad sign that I am having a hard time thinking of low-priced non-Schiit amps to suggest? They seem to have that segment covered, the traditionally mediocre budget SS offerings from people like Lake People are Burson really no longer appealling.

 

Thanks. This is helpful and I will probably need to keep doing some research. I even looked into the Bravo Ocean. Not a huge fan of the Bravo V2, but it sounds pretty good with the HD-650. Awful with the Q701. I sometimes use that in my bedroom, but it feels like just a cheap toy to play with. Someday I need to try the Little Dot Amps too.

The only budget all rounders I've found that seem to sound good with everything is the Ifi Ican and Headroom Micro Amp.
It seems like I like every amp with the OPA2134! Those two use it and so does the underrated Fiio E9.
Matrix M-Stage probably sounds very similar to those amps. M-Stage uses the OPA2134 as well I think.
The Ifi Ican is probably the 2nd best budget amp i've heard, but it has some really awkward design choices.
Definitely better sounding than the O2 and Magni 1, but it costs twice as much..or was it 3 times as much?!

BTW I myself have never found the Q701 to have any nasty treble, but the K702 I had in the past was much worse.
Even the harshest music on the Q701 doesn't bother me much. The K712 seems to actually be more trebly than the the Q701 when I tried it.
If I didn't have a bass modded Q701 I'd be using the K712.

Of course i'm one of those who find the Q701 to not sound like a clone of the K702.

My DT-990 I just bought isn't too painful somehow, but the 32ohm version I had a week earlier was rather annoying.
I regret swapping my DT-880 for a DT-990. THe DT-880's cups are too shallow and they hurt my ears.

 

Maybe someone who has heard those cute Garage1217 amps could chime in, they do look interesting, too.

I suspect that for lack of hassle, reliability and ability to co-exist with a bunch of headphones, the Vali 2 has the Little Dot amps soundly beaten. Their QA is pretty awful, so they have a high level of DOA units, and some of them (esp the III) commonly suffer auto-microphonic "ringing" as they warm up..

I'd be interested to see what you end up with, and how you like it, as a lot your cans are orthogonal to what I'd want or need- so I can't help too well, but also can't help being nosy. Still though, love my Vali 2 in the "toy amp" category- I can lose whole evenings listening to its mellow and expansive sound. They're so damn cute, I wish I'd bought one earlier.

 

@atomicbob recommends them in his System Synergy - Special Sound thread, paired with the HD650 and Schiit's MB DACs. Project Sunrise III has only 24V though, whereas Vali 2 comes with 60V: tube amps seem to do better with higher voltages. (At lower voltages @schiit starts talking of "starved plate" designs.)

 

Aye, but a lot has changed since then.. That was last September.. this thread started last December. Interesting stuff, though.

 

That thread started out with Gungnir Multibit. When Bifrost Multibit was introduced, it made its way into the "System synergy" replacing Gungnir Multibit. My money is that now, with Modi Multibit out there, it's a worthy DAC replacement in this "entry-level" system. I for one am still on the fence on Vali 2 vs PS-III vs Jotunheim, but I'll likely end up with all three at one point...

 

Hah, I currently have two of those amps, and a Modi Multibit. I'm really not complaining, for the price, either- I'm all about getting an enjoyable sound and big bang for buck. At those sorts of prices, we need to sweat the "vs" part a little less.