[nway]

Consider the impedance and efficiency of any cans you will use on the Vali. I'm a fan of it but it's best with high impedance headphones. I tried a grado on it and the turn-on "ting" and the background hiss was pronounced. However, Vali is perfect w my 300 ohm Senns.
I see posts above that say they get good results with their Grados. Good for them, but didn't work out for me.

Interesting. This thread has several accounts of the Vali working well with the Fidelio X1, which is only 30 ohms. Conversely, someone just told me that the Vali hums with the M50, which is 38 ohms. What accounts for the difference? Should I save myself the uncertainty and just go for the Magni? I'd like to get the Vali for my HD 600, but I also want to be able to use it with my other cans.

 

[rmullins08]

I'm happy with my vali with my grade sr325e's which are 32ohms.  I barely notice the ting as I let it warm up a few minutes before listening.

 

[skyline315]

 
Interesting. This thread has several accounts of the Vali working well with the Fidelio X1, which is only 30 ohms. Conversely, someone just told me that the Vali hums with the M50, which is 38 ohms. What accounts for the difference? Should I save myself the uncertainty and just go for the Magni? I'd like to get the Vali for my HD 600, but I also want to be able to use it with my other cans.

You can search this thread (or google).  Many reports of the M50/Vali combo being perfectly fine.

 

[Billheiser]

   
Yeah I'm aware of that, I've read somewhere on this thread where someone had said that the higher the better but they only recommended 50-75 ohm cans. My 400i is 35 ohms which may be a bit of an issue but I have yet to hear it when my Vali arrives. I'm assuming you are talking about the HD650 having 300 ohms?

Yes, I use it with the HD600 which is also 300 ohms.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

Apologies if this has already been addressed in the thread but I just received my Vali, which will drive either DT880 (250 ohm) or HD600/650 (whichever I choose).
 
1. First time owner of headphone amp so looking for advice on cable selection. Is there a noticeable difference in sound quality depending on which Y cable splitters (RCA to headphone jack) one uses? If so, any reccomendations on reasonably priced, good quality cables?
 
2. I mostly listen to streamed music through Pandora or Spotify on my MacBook Pro. Is there any benefit/need for a DAC or is that just redundant to the sound card?

 

[Delirious Lab]

Get a decent, well-built cable from Radio Shack or Monoprice.  No need to spend more than $20 on a connector.  Anything more should go to your "saving for the next HP or amp" account instead.

 

[Quake1028]

  Apologies if this has already been addressed in the thread but I just received my Vali, which will drive either DT880 (250 ohm) or HD600/650 (whichever I choose).
  2. I mostly listen to streamed music through Pandora or Spotify on my MacBook Pro. Is there any benefit/need for a DAC or is that just redundant to the sound card?

 
Depends on what sound card you have. If it's the onboard sound from your motherboard or a cheaper card, yes, get a Modi to go with your Vali.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

Depends on what sound card you have. If it's the onboard sound from your motherboard or a cheaper card, yes, get a Modi to go with your Vali.

Yeah just what was included originally with the Mac. So Modi will help SQ on streamed music?

Thanks!!!

 

[skyline315]

Yeah just what was included originally with the Mac. So Modi will help SQ on streamed music?

Thanks!!!

Depends on the quality of the stream...

 

[ebiscaia]

Can somebody record a song passing through Vali and the original one to compare?

 

[Daniel4IEM]

  Depends on the quality of the stream...

Thoughts for each of the below?
 
-Spotify 320 kbps
-Pandora 64k AAC+  or Pandora One 192kbps
-Tidal lossless FLAC tracks, all encoded at 44.1kHz / 16 bit / 1411 kbps 

 

[dpaton]

Lossy - good
Lossy - worst,  Lossy but better than 64
LossLess thus closer to original! 
 
I would try something like mediacoder and get a CD then encode the same song with all the formats listed above and try them for yourself.
 
Fast and fun with 'phones.

 

[DACattack]

Received my Vali today, which I plan to use at work once my Valhalla 2 arrives. Just for fun I connected it my home system tonight, using my UberBifrost as the DAC, and listened to a couple of albums with my HD 800s. Stunned at how good it sounded and how well it drove the headphones. Incredibly capable little amp.

 

[kothganesh]

Dacattack,
 
that's my work set up as well. Very good combo with the HD 800. I also have the Wyrd in the mix.

 

[reddington]

Have zeroed down on the Vali to power my HD 650. But from what I read the DAC seems to make a lot of difference on how the Vali performs.

I own a dragonfly 1.2 which is often touted as warm in nature. Anyone here has any first hand experience pairing the Vali with the Dragonfly 1.2?