Schiit Audio Vali 2+

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. Increased power supply filtering, work in gain optimization, resulted in a lower noise floor. It has a custom taper ALPS pot, some folks dont know what a taper really is but its related to how the amplitude comes up as you turn the volume knob. The gain switch and power switch are on the back side. It has a real linear power supply, no switching anywhere. Regulated rails. Nichicon audio-spec capacitors and precision thin film resistors round it out. I like this design. Alot.



Well I have had this little gem here in house for a few months now. Time to do a little write-up about this often-overlooked gem of a headphone amplifier from Schiit. A $149 steal of an amp that will make you smile often, As I write this review, I am listening with it and a pair of ADX 5000 headphone which are 420 ohms and on the bright side for many. To me they are a wonderful dynamic set of cans that are open and airy.... with the Vali 2+ it's a perfect paring. More on that later.

I have had most of the Schiit amps here over time, from Asgard 1 to Asgard 3, Lyr OG to Lyr 3, Magni OG to Magni 3 +, Vahalla 2, Jot 1 and Jot 2...and many others. So why does one buy a lower priced amp when you have all these others. Well, it's because I can! LOL....life is short and there is no time to waste!! For $149 it's not a big deal in the scheme of audio things. I am a very technical and analytic person, love circuits and amplifiers for sure. Some folks think just because an amp has a tube in it it's going to sound "tubey"...not always so. Where is that tube in the circuit, in the input, in the middle or at the output...how is it biased, how is it coupled, feedback...etc.



With the Vali 2+ the amp you get 1.5 watts at 32 ohms, 1 watt at 50 ohms, 300 milliwatts at 300 ohms and 200 milliwattts at 600 ohms. Not too shabby. Schiit notes max power is rated at less than 5% for tube and tube hybrid amps.... compared to the often less than 1% for solid state amps....so in this case there is more distortion than in a run-of-the mill SS amp. Tubes are tubes and distortion is one of those things that you live with...but it's not the only thing that makes an amp sound good, great or bad. The Schiit Vali 2 + does not sound bad at all.

It has both a low and high gain setting via a switch on the back as well as the usual Schiit power switch in the back....on low gain the specs for THD are <0.009% (300 ohms) with a SNR of >115 db, unweighted referenced to 1 V RMS. In high gain the THD rises to < 0.3% (300 ohms) with a SNR of >100 db referenced to 1 volt RMS. The impedance for low/high gains are 0.4 and 1.8 ohms respectively. This amp distortion that is 1000 - 10,000 x higher than the Schiit Magni Hersey ( which I have sold)....and Schiit does not hide this fact. Lots of second harmonics. Euphonic? Blind, level matched tests with other amps with much less distortion was really hard to tell them apart! YMMV. But as Schiit states on their site you have to look at the "whole" picture.... including your headphones or transducers at -40db to -60 db themselves....go figure!

For those asking is this a Class A or AB amp Schiit states the topology is Coherence: ™tube voltage gain with convolved bipolar current mode inverter and discrete bipolar class A driver and Class AB output stage." It has a protect delayed start relay and fast shutdown with a muting relay. I did notice a slight "pop" when powering up/down at times. Even with this protection built in I always power on and off my stuff with the headphones NOT plugged in whether its a $99 amp or a $5000 amp, with the volume turned down all the way. It's just me. Remember the days when dropping the needle on a record not knowing the volume was still turned up and getting the shock of your audio life!!...Not Good. LOL.

It's not an amp for Susvaras or Abyss 1266 TC's but for most everything else it has plenty enough current for low impedance transducers and voltage swing for 300 or 600 ohm headphones....and its driving my 420 ohm ADX 5000's very well ATM.



Wanna play with tubes? Sure, go ahead: 6DJ8, 6922, ECC88, 2492, 6N1P, 6CG7 and even more according to Schiit. I even tried a 6SN7/6922 adapter and use a nice old US Navy Sylvania JAN-CHS-6SN7 GT tube with good results. And there is only ONE tube to play with...no extra cost for matching sets etc....wonderful. IMO the stock tube I got was just great, no need to chase tube nirvana unless this is your thing.... have at it. Only 60 volts on the plate so these should last 5000 hours easily unless you drop one on the floor! Schiit is selling these tubes at $10 at present.

The small size is easily stackable and fits almost anywhere. The wall wort is special and has a different plug that goes into the Vali 2+ box. It's got 2 AC voltages for the tube heaters and the low voltage "rail" for the output and the high voltage "rail". It's a DIN connector. In a way with all your wall wort's wondering what fits with what at times....no mistaking this here.... it's the DIN or it's not going to work! Simple, eh?



Listening with the ADX 5000's on high gain, stop the music and turn up the volume pot all the way and its dead silent. No audible hiss or hum. Nice. For loud music the volume pot is at 9 to 10 o'clock. On Low gain with the ADX 5000's the volume pot is a t 12 o'clock ish.....more than enough power.

Need a pre-amp output, the Vali 2+ has you covered. Drive your powered monitors, easily. Muted when using headphones. It has a 2-year limited warranty and 90 days on the tubes. Not too shabby for a $149 amp. Most at this level are the 12 months at best warranty. I had a microphonic tube and contacted Schiit and they immediately replaced the tube with a NOS Channel Master tube. Solid now, and awesome Schiit Customer Service!

How does it sound? Well IMO an amp should not sound. It should just amplify the input signal with no changes at all...at least that's the perfect straight wire with gain definition for amps.... But many of us objectivist's turned into semi-subjectivists know or think all amps have some sort of flavor added to the input and the opinion on this "magic" is all over the floor and debate.....a never-ending discussion.

Well, the Vali 2+ doesn't sound real "tubey" to me like a BH Crack. It's more like a decent SS amp to me but a tad on the soft side of things. It's like having a equalizer in the circuit with the high end cranked down a few clicks.... compared to a Magni 3, 3+ or Hersey....closer to a Jot 2 sound profile for me at times. It's not as crisp as a Asgard 3 to me or a high-end SS amp. But again, we are splitting hairs here to me. I tried several tubes, and they all pretty much were the same sounding to me ear. I did have a slight preference to an old US NAVY NOS 6SN7 tube using an adapter. See pix. YMMV.



It seems to work very well for me with brighter headphones like my ADX 5000's. I tried my Final Audio D8000 Pros as well at a lower impedance of 60 ohms and it drives them well. Sennheiser HD 600 or 650's no issues with power at all. For this price level its decent for sure.

What kind of music did I listen to? All kinds, ripped FLACS, Qobuz. Laura Marling, James Taylor, Joe Satriani, Beth Hart, Feist, Donald Fagen, Spyrogyra, Fourplay, Brandi Carlise, Natalie Cole, Beatles, Eric Clapton, Roberta Flack etc....the results were more biased via the recording quality and headphone qualities than the Vali 2+. Very good amp for a wide variety of music.

So are there any real negatives here? Well with the crazy supply channel issues this amp is on a backorder as of the date of this write-up. So is it ho-hum? Well not really, its a super special "entry" level hybrid tube amp that for this price is well worth the cost of admission. The power switch on the rear? Really? Oh well. Tis' what it is.... LOL.

I have and will continue to thoroughly enjoy this Vali 2 + amp and just might try some different tubes for grins after all I did say "ya can't take it with ya!"...

Alex

I recently took delivery of the Schiit Vali 2+ headphone amplifier. After giving it a good workout, I'm happy to share my impressions of it.

TL;DR
In the audiophile world, we often equate price with audio quality. We can spend thousands of dollars to gain those last few percentage points of improvement. I've even gone down this road myself. Well, the Schiit Vali 2+ is a $149US amplifier that destroys this belief system. I'm sure some people have crossed it off their lists simply because of its price, but it is a masterpiece and should not be ignored.

Pics Or It Didn't Happen

Audio chain: ALAC --> Pure i20 dock --> optical --> Musical Fidelity V90-DAC --> Schiit Vali 2+. The Teac HA-501 is my other main amplifier currently in use.

Amplifier Basics
The Schiit Vali 2+ is a hybrid tube amplifier. Much has been written about it here and elsewhere. It takes a single tube with a 6922 pin layout and 6V. It can utilize other near equivalents as long as they draw no more than 600 mA of current. The 6N1P is one such possibility.

My Listening Preferences and Background
I have long loved tube sound. There's something about it that I have difficulty describing with words. "Warm" is a cliche when it comes to tube amps, and that's not what has really drawn me to them anyway. For me, tubes have a certain texture to the notes that solid state often cannot duplicate. They also have a holographic image that even the best solid state amplifiers fall short of. For lack of better terms, to me, tubes sound like realistic "performers" and solid state sounds more like "reproducers" of the performance.

I have had various tube amplifiers in my collection, including the Woo Audio WA3, Schiit Valhalla 1, and Trafomatic Head One. As much as I love tubes, they've given me some problems and I have difficulty keeping up with the maintenance of them after several years of enjoyment. My WA3 developed a hum that I cannot pinpoint the source of, and the same can be said about the Trafomatic. The Valhalla 1 wasn't to my liking so I moved on from it.

If you've read many of my older posts here, you'll remember that the Trafomatic is my absolutely favorite amplifier. It has wonderful texture, linearity, imaging, tonality, and a holographic nature. If you're familiar at all with the amplifier, there's virtually no options to roll the signal tubes because it's based around a specific Soviet-era Russian tube. You can roll different years and modern reproductions, but the sound doesn't change significantly at all. More on Soviet-era Russian tubes later...

Since my tube amplifiers are often down for the count with noises and hum, I invested in the Teac HA-501, which is a solid state amp. It comes as close to "performing" instead of "reproducing" that I have come across in my price range (I have a hard time willing to spend over $1000 on a solid state amplifier when better tube amplifiers could be had for less). It has a musical tonality, smooth mids, relatively wide sound stage, just enough warmth, and overall pleasing sound. However, it comes close to, but never quite matches, the texture and holographic sound that even the most modest tube amplifiers cast. As much as I love it, I always long for that seductive tube sound.

Enter the Schiit Vali 2+. I thought I'd take a chance on this amplifier to help cure my itch for the tube sound for which I've been longing. For $149US, it's an easy choice, considering I have single tubes that cost more than the Vali 2+.

I was hoping the Vali 2+ would accomplish two specific goals for me, in addition to achieving the texture I love: 1) drive the Audeze LCD-2 adequately and 2) take some of the sizzle off the top end of the Philips Fidelio X2HR. I have several Sennheisers in the HD 600 family, and they are great pairings with the Teac. I don't need to take any more treble off them, their mids stand on their own, and their three-headed blob sound stage isn't overly enhanced by tubes, in my experience. On the other hand, the Philips isn't a great pairing with the Teac because the treble can be a bit much at times and the mids could use some tube love.

To make a long story short, this amplifier has completely surprised me. I came into this with very modest expectations, but I have been completely blown away. Both goals were achieved far better than I thought was possible for this little, inexpensive amplifier.

Tube Rolling
I've read various posts about tube rolling the Vali 2+, fully ranging from no difference in sound to drastic transformations. I entered tube rolling with an open mind.

The stock tube supplied was the one of Canadian origin. I understand there are also US stock tubes in the wild. The bottom of the tube was uneven, so it didn't seat very securely in the socket. This wasn't much of a concern, but the sound of the tube was. There's nothing egregiously wrong with the tube, but it was dull. It had a wool over it, voices were recessed a bit, and the bass was a little uncontrolled. So, due to the seating and sound issues, I decided to roll in a different tube.

Going back to the Trafomatic, I loved the sound of the Soviet-era Russian tubes. Many of those tubes are known for their tight specs, excellent linearity, low noise, and overall tonality. In fact, several amplifiers are now using the same tube as the Trafomatic, notably a couple offerings from Woo Audio. So, the secret is out.

Anyway, I wasn't able to use that particular family of tube in the Vali 2+, but I did explore other highly regarded Soviet-era Russian tubes. I settled on the Voskhod rocket 6N1P-EV. Once rolling it in, I immediately noticed changes. Voices popped and the bass was more under control. More importantly, the texture I have long been missing from the Trafomatic was back! Maybe it was the tube. Maybe it's the circuit design. I don't know, I'm not an engineer. But it doesn't matter to me in the end because the sound I love was back.

The Actual Review
Where am I going with this review? The long build up is basically the review.

The Vali 2+ comes eerily close to the Trafomatic Head One, provided you use the correct tube. They are very different designs and drastically different prices. The Trafomatic is a true tube amplifier, using three tubes and an output transformer. It's also quite expensive, retailing for more than $2000. The Vali 2+ is a hybrid utilizing a single tube. Despite these major differences, they share many characteristics.

For me, the biggest takeaway from the Vali 2+ is the texture. It has all of the textural characteristics that seduce me into long listening sessions. It is more holographic than my Teac HA-501. The Vali 2+ also has an incredibly low noise floor, which is important to me because my other tube amplifiers have developed noise issues that prevent me from using them (at least until I can diagnose them and/or get them serviced). Simply stated, it sounds wonderful.

Bass has excellent slam and texture. It's not one-note and reproduces what the artist intended. If the recording has lingering bloom, the Vali 2+ reproduces it. If the artist wanted fast bass transients, the Vali 2+ has no issues with that. I threw my usual torture tests of Big Head Todd, Brian Eno and David Byrne, and Rush at it, and it never broke a sweat.

Mids have just enough bloom to make you realize there's a tube in the circuit, but it's not overdone. There's nothing overly warm, syrupy, or smokey here. The mids sound very believable and will satisfy mid lovers.

The treble is ever so slightly rolled off, which I have come to expect from many tube designs and the Schiit house flavor. It maintains all the necessary details, but it takes off the unnecessary edge.

This is definitely a tube amplifier without the usual headaches from a tube design. You know there's a tube in the signal path, but it doesn't have the noise that plagues many amplifiers.

The Vali 2+ drives the LCD-2 and Fidelio X2HR with wonderful control and musicality, addictively so. The LCD-2 needs power to open the image. Without proper power, it's more of a wall of sound instead of a 3D image. The Vali 2+ lets the LCD-2 breathe. The Fidelio X2HR doesn't require much power, but it needs the amplifier to take control of the drivers, especially in the bass. Its bass can be out of control and bloomy at times, but the Vali 2+ adds the proper control and texture, providing a very enjoyable experience. Also, the Fidelio X2HR has some sizzle in the treble, and the Vali 2+ takes this edge off, making for a more balanced and linear experience throughout the sound spectrum.

Is this a Trafomatic Head One killer? Well, no. The Trafomatic pulls a bit more detail out of the recording, is slightly more holographic, and has a touch more of the texture I crave. But, the two amps are close. Maybe too close for comfort. In fact, I feel that I might fail a volume-matched blind comparison when using certain tracks, mainly rock songs.

Recommendations and Conclusions
The Vali 2+ gets a yes. A big yes. If you're able to get past the stigma of price and the hybrid design, this amplifier is simply a triumph. It's a hidden masterpiece in plain sight.

Just make sure you ditch the stock tube. I recommend rolling in a Soviet-era Russian Voskhod rocket 6N1P-EV and calling it a day. In fact, this combo driving the Fidelio X2HR is about as a pleasing experience for rock that I can remember. I don't have any immediate plans to interview and do background checks for service technicians who could potentially repair my beloved Trafomatic, but I'll get to that eventually.

If you want to rock out on a budget, you could do worse for much more money.

The Vali 2+ was kindly provided by Schiit Audio.
This is my honest and subjective evaluation of it.
(A Greek version of the review is uploaded at hxosplus website - https://www.hxosplus.gr/reviews/schiit-vali-2-review/)

Introduction

Well , Schiit Audio needs no introduction.
Widely known since 2010 they have started a revolution in the audio industry by designing audio products with really great value to performance ratio.
Run by the legendary Mike Moffat and Jason Stoddard it is a company that is always evolving , never resting on their laurels.
They pay great attention to the customer feedback and keep improving all the products.
At the beginning there were small headphone amps and dacs but since then they have expanded to include everything an audiophile will need to build a complete audio system.

One of the first and most beloved headphone amplifiers was the original 2013 Vali which was then upgraded in 2015 to the Vali 2 and now a new Vali 2+ version is available.



Technical

There is no better place to be informed about Vali 2+ than Schiit's own website where you are going to find detailed information with their unique sense of humor.
https://www.schiit.com/products/vali-3

We have summarized for you below.

Vali 2+ is a hybrid headphone amplifier designed and built in California retailing at just $149.

Vali 2+ delivers plenty of power for hard-to-drive headphones and also provides low noise for sensitive cans. Plus it acts as a preamplifier to use it with powered monitors.
The key difference between the previous and this version is that Vali 2+ has double the power with lower noise and the same price.
Pretty impressive.

There is a single Canadian made NOS 6BZ7 tube at the preamplifier stage and a discrete bipolar class A driver and Class AB output stage.
The tube can be rolled with all the ECC88/6922/6N1P/6CG7 equivalents.
It is their latest topology called "Coherence" and it is a scaled down version as can be found in Lyr 3.

This is the only hybrid at this price point to run the tube at high 60V voltage on the plate thanks to the unique linear power supply with both 24VAC and 6VAC outputs, regulated HV and LV rails for tube and bipolar components plus 6V AC heater.

The board is populated with Nichicon capacitors and precision thin-film resistors and the volume pot is a ‘custom-taper’ ALPS.



The old Vali 2 was an already well measuring amplifier but the 2+ is a major step up with numbers like THD<0.009%, 20Hz-20KHz, at 1V RMS, 300Ω , SNR>115db at low gain and THD<0.3%, 20Hz-20KHz, at 1V RMS, 300Ω , SNR>100db at high gain.

According to Schiit, it’s an amplifier that loads in plenty of second-order harmonic distortion to thumb its nose at low THD obsessives and to remind us that THD figures can be highly misleading when read in isolation.
As a single figure, we know not if the distortion being summed is mostly odd order or mostly even order.
Anyway if you ask us we find that the results are excellent for a hybrid headphone amplifier to satisfy even the most hardcore objectivists.
The maximum rated power is 1.5W/32Ω at 5% THD and the output impedance is 0.4Ω/low gain and 1.8Ω/high gain.

Physical

The footprint is very small measuring just 5 x 3.5 x 2.75” and it will perfectly stack with Modi and Loki.
Build quality is very good without hard edges and the unique minimal Schiit design that is much to our liking.
They use the plain metal chassis and not the machined thick aluminium one that we find in the higher priced products.

At the front we can see the potentiometer and the 6.35mm headphone output without a power LED.
At the back it is a little more cramped with stereo RCA inputs and outputs the gain and power switches plus the power supply jack.

Inside the box we get the amplifier with the AC transformer and the stock 6BZ7 tube plus the very amusing manual.
Line cable is not included.



Listening sessions

Since this is a tube amplifier we decided to let it burn for about 100 hours before critical listening.
We have used various headphones from the Sennheiser HD660S and Hifiman Sundara or Drop 5XX to the 20 times more expensive Meze Empyrean (yes why not?).
A few listening sessions were performed with iems in order to check the noise floor.
Power is sufficient to run most of the headphones in the market but it may struggle with hard to drive planars or inefficient high Z cans.
The amp was fed with various sources from the high end Denafrips Venus mkii to the Cambridge Audio 851N or even the entry level SMSL M100 mkii.
All impressions are taken with the stock tube unless otherwise noted.



Is this a solid state amp in disguise?

Well , if a warm , syrupy , old school tubey sound is what you are looking for then the Vali 2+ is not meant for you.

This is a neutral and linear sounding amplifier with a great technical refinement and linear frequency response no matter the tube used.

The Vali 2+ is clear and resolving with a great extension to both ends of the frequency spectrum.
Fast enough with good transient response can easily handle busy and complex passages without losing it's pace.

Bass is full but still tight and well controlled with great layering.
Mids are clear with strong presence and well articulated while higher frequencies sound lively and detailed yet smooth and engaging.
The transistors come into play with great dynamic behavior and full control of the drivers especially at the high gain position while the low gain is somewhat more restrained.

Power supply is certainly improved over the previous generation because now the amplifier is dead silent with a black background even with higher sensitivity headphones at least in the low gain.

A very satisfying technical performance not far behind from pure solid state amplifiers of the same price point

So by now you have probably been wondering what's all the fuss about the tube and why shouldn't I buy the Magni 3 which is a better technical performer and also cheaper?

It's the Tube you stupid...

The included tube is not just there to illuminate the room and produce heat.
It's job is to mess with harmonics and add a touch of magic while not affecting the overall performance.

Sound is rich and meaty with great density from top to bottom.
Bass is visceral and textured without bloating the mids which sound very lifelike , rounded and vibrant.
Notes gain in substance and presence even at the strident higher pitched instruments which decay and fade away very naturally.
If you ask us, timbre is what we seek and in our case that single tube helps with voicing to add a great dose of natural tonality with a very musical and analogue character to it.

As we all probably know , tubes are the stage masters and this is one of Vali 2+ greatest strengths.
Excellent space allocation with a three dimensional soundscape full of all the necessary reverberation that results in an out of the head and lifelike experience although lacking in ultimate positioning precision.

It is perfectly clear by now that the Vali 2+ can challenge solid state siblings in technical performance although it cannot reach in ultimate control , slam and precision or clarity and resolving ability.
But in exchange we are rewarded with a natural and very musical voicing that is equally pleasing with all kinds of music.

The Vali 2+ was a great match with all the headphones we tried even with the mighty Empyrean and we have thoroughly enjoyed all our listening sessions.
Of course we don't imply that the Vali 2+ is an end game solution but it is certainly up to the task.

Last but not least let's not forget that it also acts as a very capable preamplifier very useful to run active speakers at our desktop.




From Russia with love

While the supplied 6BZ7 tube is really good for starters (and free of course) a little tube rolling was an eye opener.
And don't be scared at all as we are talking about some budget options from the land of Tsars that outperform the stock Canadian without costing an arm and leg.

Meet the usual suspects the Sovtek 6N1Pi (€14.20) and the Electro Harmonix 6922 gold pins (€28.30) or even the Electro Harmonix 6CG7(€20.50) which are all current production and easy to find.
The stock tube can sound foggy and a tad harsh or edgy at the upper registers plus it is somewhat restrained regarding dynamics and overall bass weight.
Switching to one of the above mentioned tubes and we get instantly rewarded.
More smooth and extended top end with added clarity and detail plus an increased and more dynamic bass.
Every tube used added a touch of different flavor without altering the general sound signature or affecting the technical performance.
All of them are worth considering and if you ask about our preference we lean on the 6CG7 for it's excellent timbre.



Compared to the Lyr 3

It's been a while since we have reviewed the excellent Lyr 3 and it is not of a secret that it is our favorite hybrid tube amplifier.
Unfortunately the sample has returned back but since we have spent a lot of time listening to it we feel confident and offer a brief trustful comparison.

The two amps share the same approach regarding music presentation both favouring timbre and tonality with an analogue character to them without severely lacking in overall technicalities compared to similarly priced solid state offerings.

The Lyr 3 is the Vali 2+ on steroids with more power and control , better articulation and refinement , higher resolving ability and clarity , greater dynamics and more visceral and nuanced presentation.
So yes the Vali 2+ is a scaled down Lyr 3 for the budget conscious buyers who will get a good portion of the bigger brother excellent performance without breaking the bank.

At the end

The Vali 2+ from Schiit Audio is a clear winner and a proof that Schiit aren't just replacing their models for mere marketing reasons but rather they are greatly improving on them.
Don't be fooled by its low price as the Vali 2+ in our opinion is the best budget hybrid tube amplifier in the market with a highly musical nature and excellent technical performance.
If you can't afford the Lyr 3 and you like tube hybrids then the Vali 2+ will get you almost there without breaking the Bank.
We have greatly enjoyed our time with Vali 2+ and we strongly suggest that you should do so.

Playlist - http://open.qobuz.com/playlist/5669033

Copyright - Laskis Petros 2021.