[peter123]

Subscribed, really looking forward to this one.

 

[olor1n]

 

Reading up on this.. this should be a fun ride. Hype and all.

 
The fact that Team Anti-Hype is hyping this means it must be something special. 

 
Could also be a cynical parody. Hyping up a truly Schiit component for the masses to blindly lap up.
 
 

Spoiler

 

 

[M-13]

Just found this thread. Holy Schiit! Give me that tube goodness!

 

[Darknet]

Damn I was almost deadset on a dx50 for my Christmas spending, but now this.... I don't even need it as much as the dx50 but it still seems so awesome.

 

[M-13]

How is the Vali with the HD800? Do we finally have a cheap solution for this picky guy? How is it with the LCD-2/HE-500?
 
Edit:
 
Just to answer my question: (Found this impression from Purrin)
 
"With Paradox, HE-400, HE-500, HD800, it's GREAT."
 
Cool world exclusive by the way.

 

[DADDYDC650]

I was just about to purchase a headphone amp for the HE-500 until I saw this thread. Is the Vali fully compatible with the HE-500 out of the box? No modded cables and tube rolling? I just want something that works and works well.

 

[proid]

A 120$ amp that is "the best amp under $1650.00!!!"? A new hype of the year, lol
Schiit must be deaf to price it at only 120$, if it's that good this amp will completely destroy all of schiit products. No one will ever care about Lyr, Asgard, Valhalla because they are more expansive and sound not as good as Vali. Schiit will be able to sell very very many of these Vali but no more Lyr, Asgard, Valhalla. If the Vali is that incredible good and Schiit guys are smart, they will give it a better enclosure, power and price it at more resonable price. A company should price their product by its performance and build quality, judge by the price 120$ i think the Vali will sound better than a Magni and can be as good as a Asgard.

 

[wewewho77]

Subscribed

 

[AHorseNamedJeff]

I may be getting a custom made tube amp similar to a WA6 for Christmas but this... this has indeed caught my fancy. Where's the preorder

 

[tdockweiler]

I'm going to buy this. I always liked the Magni so if this is a little warmer than that's a plus.
$120 is portable amp territory and it's American made. That's a good enough reason for me.
 
I must be the only person here who prefers their budget amps. Still looking for a good amp under $150 for the bedroom..maybe this will be it.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Hey all, yep, Vali is coming. A real production version of Vali will be at RMAF, together with the Ragnarok prototype. I expect we'll ship about 3 weeks after that. The ordering page with complete information will go up when we're ready to ship.
 
Jude, Purrin, and a handful of other early listeners had hand-built "production qualifiers" to help us confirm what we were hearing, and to make sure everything was ready for production. While we've also had a few early prototypes running 24/7 for the past 6 months to help confirm tube durability, we also wanted to do a beta test, so to speak.
 
So are we deaf for pricing it at $119? Sure, maybe. You guys know us. We're not going to tell you "you'll see god without drugs" when you listen to our stuff, nor are we going to say "of course if you spend more, you get more." Because you don't. Not always. It depends on your cans, and what your own sonic preferences are. Fully half the email responses from Schiit are something like, "We never comment on competitive products," or "We do not speculate on perceived sonic differences." Maybe we should be waving the banner as hard as a used-car salesman. But we don't do the hard sell, nor do we price things at any more than we have to, regardless of what they sound like.
 
As to how Vali happened...it was a lark, like a lot of our projects. I have a pile of dead product ideas on my shelves that will never see the light of day, because we're always trying something new and interesting. And it doesn't always work out. A lot of these projects get to fairly finished form. Some of them have to take a few twists and turns, but eventually make it. But if it doesn't sound good, or if it's an answer to a question nobody is asking, it gets shelved.
 
When Vali started, it was one of those what-if projects. It could have gone nowhere. But we heard it and liked it, so we started production planning. For the tech-heads out there, Vali uses 6088 pencil tubes, triode-strapped, with a discrete Class AB follower afterwards. It won't win any awards for low distortion or noise, and the output impedance is a highish 8 ohms. But it is a serious tube amp. The 6088s are run on 60V rails, which is great for a tube with a maximum plate voltage rating of 67.5V. All supplies are regulated, including the HV supply, the output stage rail, and the heater. Yes, this thing has DC heaters. It uses the same wall-wart as Magni, with a voltage quadrupler to get the rail voltages we need. 
 
So, downsides? Sure.
 
I mentioned the higher distortion, noise, and output impedance. Vali isn't a great amp for IEMs.
 
Also, microphonics. These little tubes may sound great, but if you rap on the chassis (or even plug in some headphones), the tubes will ring for a while before they settle down. The solution? Long listening sessions, not on a paint shaker table.
 
And, finally, no rolling. The tubes are soldered in the board, with a 1-year warranty. Expected lifespan is in the 15-20K hour range, so they should last much, much longer than that. Even listening 4 hours of listening a day, every day, that's almost 10 years at 15,000 hours. 
 
So there you go. Vali. Coming soon. I hope you like it!

 

[blueangel2323]

Too much geek speak for my poor artsy brain. What on earth is a DC heater? I'll just wait for the plain-English sound impressions 

 

[wewewho77]

Sweeet Schiit indeed. Can't wait to order one!

 

[nehcrow]

240V version available when shipping starts?
I'd like one but located in Aus though

 

[purrin]

  How is the Vali with the HD800? Do we finally have a cheap solution for this picky guy? How is it with the LCD-2/HE-500?
 
Edit:
 
Just to answer my question: (Found this impression from Purrin)
 
"With Paradox, HE-400, HE-500, HD800, it's GREAT."
 
Cool world exclusive by the way.

 
I don't like the HD800 in stock form from any amp. Too bright with a hard glare with popular and rock music. However, the Vali is excellent with Anax 2.0 mod HD800s. I was listening to it for several hours on the HE-400 with Jerg pads last night. Works great with HE-500 too, but see below for additional comments.
 

I was just about to purchase a headphone amp for the HE-500 until I saw this thread. Is the Vali fully compatible with the HE-500 out of the box? No modded cables and tube rolling? I just want something that works and works well.

 
Yes. You can't roll tubes, but the tubes will probably last the life of the amp. With the HE-500, the Vali vs. Mjolnir is a toss-up. The Mjolnir has much more slam, low-end extension, and precise grip on the driver. (The Asgard 2 is kind of in between). The Vali is clearer, more able to reproduce those tiny instantaneous dynamic swings which bring an immediacy and realism to the recording. I probably most prefer the HE-500 driven from an old Crest CA-2 pro power amp I happen to have lying around.
 

  A 120$ amp that is "the best amp under $1650.00!!!"? A new hype of the year, lol
Schiit must be deaf to price it at only 120$, if it's that good this amp will completely destroy all of schiit products. No one will ever care about Lyr, Asgard, Valhalla because they are more expansive and sound not as good as Vali. Schiit will be able to sell very very many of these Vali but no more Lyr, Asgard, Valhalla. If the Vali is that incredible good and Schiit guys are smart, they will give it a better enclosure, power and price it at more resonable price. A company should price their product by its performance and build quality, judge by the price 120$ i think the Vali will sound better than a Magni and can be as good as a Asgard.

 
You do realize there is now an Asgard 2, which sounds nothing like the original Asgard, and in certain sonic attributes, is superior to even the older Mjolnir. The Bifrost uber > original Bifrost. There's the Ragnarok amp now too. Given the nature of the hi-fi business, I doubt Schiit can afford to rest on their laurels and survive as a company by keeping all their schiit the same or rehashing the same schiit over again.
 
There are certain things the Asgard 2 does better than the Vali and vice versa. I happen to know the person who made that statement and I know his sonic priorities. To him, that statement is certainly not hype or BS. If his Eddie Current Super 7 blew up, I have no doubt in my mind that he would resort to the Vali. The fact is, there is a lot of mediocre performing stuff from under $2K.
 
That being said, the Vali does have limitations. It has a higher noise floor which may not go well with very sensitive cans (Grado, Audio Technica, etc.) or IEMs. The output impedance is a little high @ ~8 ohms, which could be a good thing (HD800s) or bad thing (UERM). The tubes in it are extremely microphonic. Every time you switch headphones, you will hear a little ringing which may take up to a minute to decay and fully stop.
 

  I'm going to buy this. I always liked the Magni so if this is a little warmer than that's a plus.
$120 is portable amp territory and it's American made. That's a good enough reason for me.
 
I must be the only person here who prefers their budget amps. Still looking for a good amp under $150 for the bedroom..maybe this will be it.

 
I don't know which Magni version you heard, but the early Magni I heard was a bit splashy in the treble at higher SPL. The Vali has a more warmth and bloom in the upper bass, lower mids. The treble volume is about the same, but it's way smoother, better quality. No glare, no hardness, no splashy, no steely, no stridency, no roughness, etc., but at the same time incredible separation and layering. We are talking about tube treble here.