[jmttdr]

Anyone tried any HD 650's on it?

 

[MattTCG]

On the Vali? Yes. I thought that it was a good pairing. Good dynamics and bass punch. Vali has a nice touch of sparkle which works well with the 650. 

 

[jmttdr]

  On the Vali? Yes. I thought that it was a good pairing. Good dynamics and bass punch. Vali has a nice touch of sparkle which works well with the 650. 

Yeah, sounds good to me. I'm from the UK, and a Valhalla is £350 which is a lot. Due to importing I guess. May consider the Vali in this case, although irrelevant to sound quality, Schiit products look great too!

 

[Makiah S]

  I don´t know the Titanium but with the K701, Vali works really fine for me.

 
 

  Yeah, sounds good to me. I'm from the UK, and a Valhalla is £350 which is a lot. Due to importing I guess. May consider the Vali in this case, although irrelevant to sound quality, Schiit products look great too!

They look good and sound better! 
 
And here's a fun story, the Vali has about 1/6'th the power of my NFB 10ES2 in balanced mode [maybe more maybe less] but... welp it sounds about 94%  as good <3 [although I'm still using the NFb dac]
 
My point is... for the price the Vali imo kicks some serious tushie! It cost half as much as my Matrix M Stage and sounds better than my Matrix M Stage :O which was a warm solid state... yea a Hybrid Tube sounds BETTER than a Warm Solid State... I  SAID IT 
 
ehm so that said... buy a Vali for your bright headphones! It's very awesome! 

 

[jim723]

Just received the Vali last night and have tried it with several different headphones, including HD650 and HE400.
 
I was a little surprise about the size of Vali. It is smaller than what it looked in the photos. I have never seen the Magni or Modi so I guess I didn't know how big these devices are.
 
I was really impressed with the sound of Vali. I briefly compared Vali and Little Dot MK3 driving HD650. Vali was a little brighter than Little Dot which was great for HD650.. Although the bass sounded just a little bit punchier on the Little Dot.
 
I was also surprised to find out that Vali worked very well with some of the low impedance headphones, such as ATH-ESW9. The ESW9 sounded wonderful on Vali, very solid bass, warm, fuller and sweet sound with decent soundstage. 
 
I think I will be spending a lot of time this weekend listening to Vali. It is definitely the best headphone amp one could get for under $200.
 
Big thanks to all the contributors to this thread and kudos to Schiit Audio for producing such a wonderful product.

 

[Makiah S]

  Just received the Vali last night and have tried it with several different headphones, including HD650 and HE400.
 
I was a little surprise about the size of Vali. It is smaller than what it looked in the photos. I have never seen the Magni or Modi so I guess I didn't know how big these devices are.
 
I was really impressed with the sound of Vali. I briefly compared Vali and Little Dot MK3 driving HD650. Vali was a little brighter than Little Dot which was great for HD650.. Although the bass sounded just a little bit punchier on the Little Dot.
 
I was also surprised to find out that Vali worked very well with some of the low impedance headphones, such as ATH-ESW9. The ESW9 sounded wonderful on Vali, very solid bass, warm, fuller and sweet sound with decent soundstage. 
 
I think I will be spending a lot of time this weekend listening to Vali. It is definitely the best headphone amp one could get for under $200.
 
Big thanks to all the contributors to this thread and kudos to Schiit Audio for producing such a wonderful product.

agree'd... I had 3 amps all of which I paid $200 or less for [I got my M Stage for $215 but it came with 3 extra op Amps so :3 I'm calling it under 200]
 
and compared to my last two hybrid tubes and my M Stage the Vali is very good! Better and cheaper than the previous mentioned amps! How ever the M Stage was better looking imo... but looks are moot for an amp... which one primarly uses to listen to music with 

 

[jmttdr]

Can somebody explain to me what 'brighter' means in relation to the sound? (I'm new)
 
I have my 650's in a freshly sealed Amazon box. I have two weeks off work to burn them in and decide whether I want to keep them or not. (or stick with my 595's)
 
I have the Audioengine D1, but with the 650's I will add an amp. I just need to find out what I want first. A nice balance between the detail and warmth, but listening to them will dictate this. 
 
ATM I have contemplated between Little dot iii vs Vali vs Valhalla.  

 

[thegunner100]

"Bright - A sound that emphasizes the upper midrange/lower treble. Harmonics are strong relative to fundamentals."
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/220770/describing-sound-a-glossary
 
 

 

[jmttdr]

  "Bright - A sound that emphasizes the upper midrange/lower treble. Harmonics are strong relative to fundamentals."
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/220770/describing-sound-a-glossary
 
 
 

Thanks!

 

[karlsonklam]

- its a great little amp - mine has not exhibited any noticeable microphonics, there's plenty of drive power - the cardboard packing cradle was ingenious - - the first DAC hooked is a Ross Martin -  I'm not satisfied with stock HE-300 - too dark/recessed * something in the treble seems weak -  -  my Pro 4aaT are mid-centric with too little bass & treble sparkle - EVO 681 is about the best overall and its a bit muted- its like an extended Goldilocks journey without active EQ through many headsets to find one that works most of the time.  ( * - my HE300 aren't yet burned in so will re-evaluate after some hours with Vali)

 

[TheGame]

  Anyone tried any HD 650's on it?

Yes I use my HD650's with the Vali and personally I think they pair quite nicely. Of course this is only my opinion, but to me I think they sound great with the Vali.

 

[mhamel]

  Can somebody explain to me what 'brighter' means in relation to the sound? (I'm new)
 
I have my 650's in a freshly sealed Amazon box. I have two weeks off work to burn them in and decide whether I want to keep them or not. (or stick with my 595's)
 
I have the Audioengine D1, but with the 650's I will add an amp. I just need to find out what I want first. A nice balance between the detail and warmth, but listening to them will dictate this. 
 
ATM I have contemplated between Little dot iii vs Vali vs Valhalla.  

 
The D1 pairs up well as a DAC into the Vali.   I can't speak for the HD650s, but I've listened through Beyer 990s, LCD-X, Mad Dogs and some semi-DIY headphones I put together, all sounded great through the combo.   Another benefit is that you can turn the volume up on the Vali and leave it there, then use the volume control on the D1 to adjust - no ringing from touching the volume control on the Vali if your setup is more prone to it with the Vali alone.
 
   -Mike

 

[TheGame]

  Can somebody explain to me what 'brighter' means in relation to the sound? (I'm new)
 
I have my 650's in a freshly sealed Amazon box. I have two weeks off work to burn them in and decide whether I want to keep them or not. (or stick with my 595's)
 
I have the Audioengine D1, but with the 650's I will add an amp. I just need to find out what I want first. A nice balance between the detail and warmth, but listening to them will dictate this. 
 
ATM I have contemplated between Little dot iii vs Vali vs Valhalla.  

I use the HD650's with the Vali and really like them together. Alot of people consider the HD650 to be a "darker" sounding headphone, but for my tastes I love the sound. The Vali with the HD650's for my setup adds warmth to the lower mids, and to me the treble sounds good as well. Setups will vary, and it depends on your personal taste. A lot of people like the Valhalla with the HD650's too. I cannot say from personal experience, but from other posts that I have read, it seems the Little Dot MK III isn't the best matchup for the HD650's, but I am only going by other people's posts, not personal experience so I cannot say for sure. Vali in my opinion is an exceptional amp for the low price and like I said, I personally love it with my HD650's. The Valhalla may be a solid choice for them as well, but I have only read other people's opinion of them with the HD650's. seems most like that pairing as well. Just keep in Mind if you go the Valhalla route, the Valhalla is great for driving high impedance cans, but probably not the best choice if you are planning on using IEMs or low impedance headphones.

 

[wje]

   
The D1 pairs up well as a DAC into the Vali.   I can't speak for the HD650s, but I've listened through Beyer 990s, LCD-X, Mad Dogs and some semi-DIY headphones I put together, all sounded great through the combo.   Another benefit is that you can turn the volume up on the Vali and leave it there, then use the volume control on the D1 to adjust - no ringing from touching the volume control on the Vali if your setup is more prone to it with the Vali alone.
 
   -Mike

 
That's how I've been doing it, too.  I leave the volume at a fixed level on the amp and use the level control in Foobar for all adjustments.  I have the Beyerdynamic DT-880, and really enjoy the Vali with them at the moment.  The combination of the two provide for a seriously wide sound stage.  Plus, the low-end punch of the Vali really ratchets up the DT-880. 
 
I had some thoughts on the Vali earlier today and the issue with some of the microphonic noise that has appeared for about 30 seconds as described by most users.  This isn't so bad as normally it will take me at least 30 seconds to get situated to where I'll be able to get into listening.  Additionally, there are hard-core tube amp owners who make claims that it takes about 30 minutes for the tubes to get warmed up and acclimated for the best sound.  I know for myself, 30 seconds isn't much and certainly, I wouldn't see myself waiting 30 minutes for tubes to get to their optimal level for sound quality.  There are exceptions, though.  If I did have to wait on the tubes that long, I'd probably go for marathon listening sessions and keep the tube amp on all weekend.

 

[TheGame]

Same here, I keep the Vali at a fixed volume and adjust volume with JRiver. After the initial turning on of the Vali and having about the same microphonics issues as most others for about 30 seconds, it's good to go, and as others stated, with leaving the volume fixed on the Vali and adjusting the volume with my music player, there is no need to touch the Vali after initially turning it on. Also, I was one of those people who had the tubes in the Vali angled up off of the adhesive. After following Jason and Nick's advice at Schiit and reading the useful comments here from others with the same issue, I pushed them back down and noticed a difference. I no longer have that constant low-pitch ringing in the left channel