Ok here is Jason Stoddard’s latest Vali design. Vali has a long lineage. The OG Vali, Vali 2, Vali 2+, Vali 2++ and now Vali 3. Phew! That’s a lot of Vali’s and I have had them all. The best of the bunch for me was the Vali 2+. A ton of tube types and adding adapters a ton more options. The thing that caught my eye with Vali 3 was the new re-design layout and the upping the plate voltage to 100 volts. Simple Design - New Case Cover Nothing like moving the bar higher. Tubes like...

I have been doing this stuff for so many years and still get excited when new stuff comes out especially headphones, amps and dacs…There are so many great products out there and Nitsch Audio came out with a new small form factor Schiit Magni Piety. A lot of us bought into the first run that sold out very quickly. It is an amazing amp for its size and price. It had some wart’s that a potentially bigger Piety brother might address. Like more power, several gain selections, better volume control and the possibility to have an internal dac making for a...

Today I am looking at a new Schiit Modius E (aka Modius Maximus). Recently I was testing a Schiit Midgard headphone amplifier and thought that the Modius E with its similar form factor would match wonderfully. And it did. This is a story of my recent experience I had with the Schiit Modius E dac with a Schiit Midgard “Halo” headphone amplifier. I have been a fan of Schiits True Multibit ™ dacs since the beginning. Gone thru several Schiit MB dacs but never had the real desire to try their low cost DS dac like the Modi + with the ESS 9018 chip. After...

Midgard has arrived! Well when Jason Stoddard announced this new headphone amplifier I was intrigued at this new Halo (tm) stuff. Talk about upsetting the apple cart. Here we go again. I had to try one and see if there anything to this new tech. Slim 1.5" Tall, Input Button, Gain Button, Volume Knob, SE and XLR Output Connections I was surprised in other ways with this amp. Imagine specs that provide gobs of power. Enough to drive most headphones very very well. Midgard has this in spades. Well maybe not the new Tungsten headphone at 76-78...

Meet Mjolnir, Thor’s Hammer. In this case a 16 lb. Schiit Hammer! Class A amps have been one of my favorite types of amps since I started listening with headphones. I have built several, still have a few and when Schiit announced the new Mjolnir 3 I had to get one to test and listen to. Well today I received a unit from Schiit, thanks to Schiit for providing the unit. I get no enumeration from Schiit for anything I write and the unit will be returned to Schiit. All opinions here are my own as always YMMV. I will state this now and at the end...

Grado GS1000x Statement Series. "Bright and Vivid" Simple boxing: I have had several Grado headphones in the past, years back. I was just starting out looking for the perfect headphone for me. Most of the early cans I tried were often veiled, dark and warm. So when I discovered Grado, Beyerdynamics and some others made headphones that were less warm, dark and more on the bright side I had to give them a try. I bought the lower end cost Grado’s the 80 series and then the newer 325 series. I did have a set of Hemps here for a week. Nice wood...

Rumors started a few weeks back that there might me a run of Modi Multibits once again. With all the supply chain and chip shortages Schiit had to prioritize where it was going to use the AD dac chips it could get and the Modi Multibit lost out and was unavailable for quite some time. Then Jason alluded to a possible December or January run of a slightly updated Modi Multibit called the Modi Multibit 2. Wow! Folks really started to get excited about the ability of getting a Schiit True Multibit ((TM) dac for a decent price. In this case its Modi...

OK, Merry Christmas, its that time of year again. Santa Claus delivered several new toys for me to play with. Recently a Schiit Magni 3 +, a Schiit Modi Multibit 2, Nitsch Piety and a pair of nice new Rosson Designs Rad 0’s. This review or rather “experience” is about the Rad 0’s. Alex Rosson designed the Rad 0’s and they have been around for quite some time now. There are several reviews that go into Alex Rosson, his Audeze relationship and his move over to Shinola and now Rosson Designs. I am not going to rehash this history, take a look at the...

Well here we go again, just when you thought the Magni design was maxed out and could offer no more. From the Original OG to the Magni 3 +, discrete and op amp designs. Great measuring versions and a phenomenal measuring version. Whats not to please here ? Its 10 years ago that the OG Magni was introduced. Now for the new Magni on the block! A New Look! Having just purchased a Magni 3 + amp awhile ago and really liking it. Having purchased a Vali 2 + and tested a Vali 2 ++. Having a Original Magni 3. Why would one want this new Magni 3+ ? I am...

Well after owning most all of the Magnis from Schiit Audio and still owning a Magni OG, a Magni 3+ (also a Magni Hersey - sold), and having gone thru so many amps over the years. I am a sucker for new designs and at a low cost of $149 how could I resist in not trying out a Piety? One thing about this amp, that is very important to me is not the amp itself. Nope. Its about how and why this amp came to be. In a cut throat industry at times when it often all about the money. Mine is bigger, better than yours. Here I saw a person who was willing to...

Vali 2 + was touted as being a low cost hybrid tube amplifier or as Schiit states: "The most capable Affordable Tube Hybrid Amp On the Planet" Well Schiits new Vali 2 ++ is as well ! How's that for a statement! So did Jason pull off another really interesting trick! Or is it just another Luddite? The all new Schiit Vali 2 ++ I have a Vali 2 +, several months now and it has become one of my favorite amps for listening with headphones. Its really that good of an amp. Seriously it has punched well above its low cost of $149. I wrote up a review on...

Schiit Vali 2+, a low cost hybrid tube headphone amplifier or as Schiit states: "The Most Capable Affordable Tube Hybrid Amp." The OG Vali 2 had been out for 5 years and in November of 2020 they came out with the 2+ version of the Vali 2. It has 50% more power and almost a 10db lower noise floor than the original. So we have enough power to drive a wider variety of headphones, planar magnetics to sensitive IEMs. The primary difference in the Vali 2+ and the OG Vali 2 is the 2+ has a driver stage and matched paired devices in the output stage...

I have been in this hobby for a long time and I really enjoy great musical reproduction. When it’s done well it makes me smile a lot and I get lost in listening…well recently I had a purchase that makes this feeling and experience happen a lot! I had 24 amps in house at one time last year and am down to 10 at the moment, and am selling a few so it will go down to 5 - 6. Being an electrical engineering type I have fallen in love with amplifiers and their design and performance. The most important thing with an amp is its ability to amplify without...

Hello. I have had the iFi Pro/DSD original version here in house for a few months now and I am pretty happy with its performance. It only took three days In comparing it with other dacs that I had. They were sold after this comparison. Its that good. I did not know the iFi was going to come out with a newer SIGNATURE Pro/DSD dac at the time of my purchase. At present I would not hesitate buying this first version and I do not have any experience with the SIGNATURE version. The price has gone up and it has the Elite power brick and some techie...

I have been doing this headphone stuff for the past 10+ years fairly seriously. I am no youngster anymore and my hearing isn’t what it used to be but still for my age it’s pretty decent...up t 15khz still. I love music and hearing it reproduced well.... I want to listen with transducers and gear that makes me smile and often gives me the illusion of being there. Gear that allows me to look into a recording and tell how well it was recorded, how well the musicians performed. Being able to hear the room, auditorium or open-air venue.... Being a...

Burson Audio FUN Well I have received from Burson Audio a new headphone amp to me. In the past I have reviewed Burson's Audio Cable + and Pro, and have always liked the Burson products. They seem to build some really well liked and well built headphone amplifiers. For people that like to play and experiment with various op amps to see if there are any differences etc, the FUN amp I just received is the “cats meow” for this type of activity! Imagine a company that is enticing you to open up the device and plug and play to your hearts content...

I have a bottlehead Crack with Speedball for a few years and has been my go to amp for my Beyer T90 and T1's 2nd Gen. After several DIY builds, I was curious how Schitt's Vahalla 2 would work with my T1's. Most amps nowadays seems to be looking at megawatts for the lower impedance heaphones and earbuds...most likely for portable devices etc....but I wanted an amp that would drive the heck out of 300 and 600 ohm headphones. The Vahalla 2 specs 800 mw RMS at 300 ohms and 450 mw at 600 ohms. This peaked my interest fore sure. I owned a Schiit Lyr and...

I can not believe these headphones are rated at #64 in this category.   I have had many headphones in the last few years and sold most of them once I discovered these Beyer T90's.   No headphones are perfect and a lot of them are far from even being close.   I am not going to be-little other cans here but the T90s deserve a listen to and compare for yourself how great they are compared to your other cans.   Using cuts from Brian Broombergs "Wood" cd allows you to see how well and accurate bass from a musical instrument really can sound in a...