[Makiah S]

  I believe this is the case. I was talking to a buddy about this earlier. Companies like Schiit and HiFiMan are probably only making a small profit off of each product while companies like Sennheiser can easily overprice their products and people will still buy them because their name is so well known for making good products. That or the HD600/650 are made of very expensive plastic...

Very true, I still can't believe how good the Vali sounds! 

 

[Thujone]

  Very true, I still can't believe how good the Vali sounds! 

Seriously. Even with the HE-4.

 

[Makiah S]

  Seriously. Even with the HE-4.

really... deng! U sure you me HE 4 and not he 400

 

[Thujone]

  really... deng! U sure you me HE 4 and not he 400

Yes. Older/quieter recordings required the knob to be up over 12:00 but, in general, I had no problems.

 

[Makiah S]

  Yes. Older/quieter recordings required the knob to be up over 12:00 but, in general, I had no problems.

wow nice!  

 

[MrMateoHead]

The Vali is a Hybrid amp is it not? How long are the tubes supposed to last? I can see that they are soldered to the board.

 

[Thujone]

  The Vali is a Hybrid amp is it not? How long are the tubes supposed to last? I can see that they are soldered to the board.

Yes, it's a hybrid. They are supposed to last 10,000-20,000 hours.

 

[MrMateoHead]

Hi Gain, High output impedance, and quite a bit of distortion. Possible replacement in 5 years. But lots of power. Meh. For $120 this probably would be the only tube amp I'd bother with, but it has some of the issues I've had with all Schiit amps - fixed gain, and costs added by forcing me to get a 3.5mm / RCA adapter / RCA cable. A 3.5mm input makes SO much sense these days, why can't they start using one? And can't they get rid of the annoying power toggle for a lower-profile switch or button? So close . . . always so close . . .

 

[TMRaven]

Vali has pretty low distortion.  If you don't like fixed gain then Asgard2 is very nice.
 
3.5mm doesn't really make much sense compared to RCA.  If you have modi or bifrost you're using RCA to begin with.

 

[Makiah S]

  Vali has pretty low distortion.  If you don't like fixed gain then Asgard2 is very nice.
 
3.5mm doesn't really make much sense compared to RCA.  If you have modi or bifrost you're using RCA to begin with.

exactly, this is a desktop headphone amp, Schiit is marketing their products to people using preamps, not so much people using a DAP or cellular device, most preamps [this includes DACs like the Modi or BitFrost] have rca outputs, as that's usually pretty standard input output for stero equipment
 
I agree the fixed gain isn't ideal, but to impliment variable gain options would increase the cost, and truthfullay a nicer Dac may have gain settings for the level line out, my NFb 10ES2 has a low and high gain setting for the DACS Fixed Level Line out, so I have gain control with my vali in conjuction with my Dac, and a Rca converter is a about $4 max from MonoPrice[including shipping] , so it's not that expensive 
 
I do agree the power switch is kinda flimsy feeling but guess what... it's on the back and it's just a power switch lol. Granted in my review [check the link to my blog in my sig] I did complain about the flimsy ness of the switch but honestly... if the toggle switch for power is the ONLY thing I can justifibly complain about, then for $120... the Vali is some very fine schiit indeed! Let's be honest, for me it's sounding better than the last 3 amps I had, and it's cheaper than each of those as well!
 
It's sonically cleaner than my Matrix Stage [granted it lacks gain but IE I have a dac to impliment that] and much MUCH better in EVERY way over my old Indeed G3 [Bravo V3 clone] and Millet Hybrid Tube Amp
 
so again, for $120...it's one of the best amps I've heard in it's price bracket. 
 
And in 5 years if the tubes give out it's another $20 for replacements. Which ends up with costing you $140 for 10 years of wonderful Hybrid Tube Amp goodness, still a heck of a bargin! If how ever you don't like it I'm sure some one would be happy to buy it off you in the For Sale section :3 

 

[MrMateoHead]

TM-Raven I haven't used an RCA cable for an audio source in probably 5 years - maybe longer. The sources of (my) world are using fixed HDMI and 3.5mm (mobile / computing). Wireless is also gaining relevancy as I recently discovered DLNA and I adore it. So, those sorts of options are much more economical for me at the moment, and I'd rather spend the dough on SQ, not cabling / re-cabling solutions. So, I get the defense of the RCAs for components but C'mon, its not as practical as it used to be in home audio. I would think it would be cheaper to use 3.5mm also, but who knows.
 
MShenay - I don't have beef with the Vali or anything, like I said, it just wouldn't be my choice. But I doubt mainstream consumers are going to open up the case in 5 years or so and de-solder and re-solder new tubes into the Vali. Maybe it is cheaper to purchase because of fixed gain / soldered tubes, but I'd definately pay about $150 to change those features. Heck, I'll through in $10 more for a 3.5mm in and a lower-profile power switch.

 

[Makiah S]

  TM-Raven I haven't used an RCA cable for an audio source in probably 5 years - maybe longer. The sources of (my) world are using fixed HDMI and 3.5mm (mobile / computing). Wireless is also gaining relevancy as I recently discovered DLNA and I adore it. So, those sorts of options are much more economical for me at the moment, and I'd rather spend the dough on SQ, not cabling / re-cabling solutions. So, I get the defense of the RCAs for components but C'mon, its not as practical as it used to be in home audio. I would think it would be cheaper to use 3.5mm also, but who knows.
 
MShenay - I don't have beef with the Vali or anything, like I said, it just wouldn't be my choice. But I doubt mainstream consumers are going to open up the case in 5 years or so and de-solder and re-solder new tubes into the Vali. Maybe it is cheaper to purchase because of fixed gain / soldered tubes, but I'd definately pay about $150 to change those features. Heck, I'll through in $10 more for a 3.5mm in and a lower-profile power switch.

Those are good points, I guess the old standards will b replaced eventually. And yes... that switch <.<

 

[TMRaven]

I really don't get the argument for practicality.  Almost any cable is only 1 penny on amazon + shipping.  Also, your source using 3.5 doesn't really have anything to do with the amp using 3.5 or rca.  The dac usually connects to the source using a usb, coax or optical.  The only thing the rca or 3.5 is used for is connecting the dac to the amp.  Whether or not that connection is a 3.5mm or rca doesn't really matter much as far as practicality or cost goes.  As far as rca and modern day hardware, I'd wager 9 out of 10 beefy amps and dacs being sold for the audiophile market use rca.  I've only seen 3.5 used on mobile stuff and the objective combo.  Not that it matters though, as I said either a 3.5 or rca are only pennies on amazon, and chances are everybody already has 5 pair of each lying around their homes in the first place, so bringing the idea up that using rca instead of 3.5mm input on an amp as a criticism strikes me as very silly.

 

[Makiah S]

   so bringing the idea up that using rca instead of 3.5mm input on an amp as a criticism strikes me as very silly.

yea I agree, nice tact way of saying it... not to be rude but honestly RCA is still a pretty common standard for Audio gear, it's what I the consumer see more than anything on gear from $100 to $1000+

 

[MrMateoHead]

  I really don't get the argument for practicality.  Almost any cable is only 1 penny on amazon + shipping.  Also, your source using 3.5 doesn't really have anything to do with the amp using 3.5 or rca.  The dac usually connects to the source using a usb, coax or optical.  The only thing the rca or 3.5 is used for is connecting the dac to the amp.  Whether or not that connection is a 3.5mm or rca doesn't really matter much as far as practicality or cost goes.  As far as rca and modern day hardware, I'd wager 9 out of 10 beefy amps and dacs being sold for the audiophile market use rca.  I've only seen 3.5 used on mobile stuff and the objective combo.  Not that it matters though, as I said either a 3.5 or rca are only pennies on amazon, and chances are everybody already has 5 pair of each lying around their homes in the first place, so bringing the idea up that using rca instead of 3.5mm input on an amp as a criticism strikes me as very silly.

If you don't get the argument for 'practicality' then the rest of your comment strikes me also, as pretty silly. So I'll just stop knowing that we are in disagreement.