Schiit Valhalla has been shipped......reviews, impressions and musings. - Page 10

Yay. My Valhalla just shipped :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctorandrew 

Yay. My Valhalla just shipped :)

When did you order?

just hooked up my Valhalla.

comparing with a Meier Headfive which I have had since they first came onto head-fi.

using pc audio, emu 0404 - valhalla - Senn HD650 + Zu Mobius and Alessandro MS2i.

please keep in mind these are literally out-of-the-box and (very) initial impressions:

- i prefer the highs on the Valhalla than the Headfive (using the Alessandro MS2i)

on the headfive - with the MS2i, i could not turn up the volume high because on rock songs the highs were too shrill (required some EQ tweaking to lower the gain on the high shelf). this despite over few hundred hours of burning in + listening time.

on the valhalla - the highs are not 'as' shrill. they are still slightly harsh, but somewhat tamer than the headfive. i have hopes the highs will smooth out after burning in.

- mids are lush. (using the HD650)

but not 'thick / viscous'. more like a full-bodied wine that u can feel the texture and the density, but still easy to swallow. 

it is not 'warm'. it is not 'cold'. maybe 'lukewarm', just nice. i do however prefer the valhalla sound over the headfive already. 

there seems to be a bit more resolution and separation with the headfive.

- out of the box, there is a significant amount of bass (with both headphones), much more than the headfive.

but not as tight. and not as much slam.

there is texture, but at the moment i think the headfive has a more refined bass.

- at this point in time the soundstage seems slightly bigger than the headfive. 

- headfive sounds 'faster' with electronic music. the valhalla seems to slightly lag. (solid state vs tube? dunno..)

- valhalla > headfive with jazz / vocals. the music and the voices just sound so lush..!

so far i'm glad i decided to puchase the valhalla. if, after burning in, the highs settle down a little and smooth out, the mids become more defined (but still retain their volume), the bass goes lower / slams harder / tightens up, then I will be a very very happy owner..!

i will chime in again after some time to update my impressions.

many thanks to Jason and the Schiit team!

oh i forgot to mention, both headphones (ms2i and hd650) have a minimal hum when the volume is turned to the max, but is silent when the volume dial is set at normal listening volumes.

will be pairing my setup with a gamma 2 dac (that is currently being built), so more impressions when that arrives too.

I ordered 7/30

Well, I am no longer Schiitless...  In fact, I am now officially full of Schiit since my Valhalla arrived today!  It is burning in now with my AKG 701s connected.  I will let it play through tomorrow before I give it a serious listen, but I like what I hear so far.  To be continued...

Bill

If anyone has a Valhalla and the Little Dot MK3, please post a comparison.  Will be curious to hear your impressions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by golgi 

If anyone has a Valhalla and the Little Dot MK3, please post a comparison.  Will be curious to hear your impressions.

Same here... would be nice to know...

These things get really hot, otherwise they sound pretty damn awesome, comparable with my WA6, too bad I might sell/return it for a Zana Deux.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fonebone10 

These things get really hot, otherwise they sound pretty damn awesome, comparable with my WA6, too bad I might sell/return it for a Zana Deux.

Return which... the Valhalla or the WA6?

Both, the Zana Deux is expeeeensive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luisev 

Return which... the Valhalla or the WA6?

Hmmm, it's kind of quiet in here. To those of you in the thread who are enjoying your Valhalla, any more impressions to share? I was so curious about this amp and about Schiit Audio that I ordered one last week. I want to stack it up against my boutique build Millet MiniMAX to see how well it drives the HF-2 in comparison. Curiosity killed the bank account?  Anyway, I'd love to hear more Schiit while I'm waiting on mine to hit the Fedex/UPS depot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab 

Kevin, I don't think anyone doubted this at all - I'm certain you are right, and it's true,-- since the 6SE has more power, who could doubt that it would be better.  The question is more one of price point, and also for people (and there are quite a few) who already own a regular WA6; given that, is the WA6 decent with the LCD-2?  I think so; JMO.

 

But this is off topic here - someone asked if the Valhalla would be good with the LCD-2.  Given the design of the Valhalla this seems unlikely to be a good match to me, but I will get to try it in a week or so.

I would love to hear your thoughts on that pairing as well since I'm trying to decide on a desktop amp for use at the office. I think I've pretty much decided on the LCD-2's as the headphone for that rig. Why do you think the pairing would probably not be good? Would the Schiit Asgard be a better match maybe?
 

ahhh im too impatient.  shipping takes forever :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by cn11 

I would love to hear your thoughts on that pairing as well since I'm trying to decide on a desktop amp for use at the office. I think I've pretty much decided on the LCD-2's as the headphone for that rig. Why do you think the pairing would probably not be good? Would the Schiit Asgard be a better match maybe?

 

At least in terms of *theory*, an output transformerless tube amp with relatively small-triode output tubes like the Valhalla isn't the ideal match for a fairly low-impedance, low-efficiency headphone like the LCD-2.  But hey, I'm keeping an open mind - stranger things have happened.  The LCD-2 definitely sounded their best to me on tube amps that are power-pentode based and transformer-coupled and more able to deliver more juice to a load of that impedance.