[StanD]

  Really enjoying my Vali after a couple weeks of continuous use with K601. No noise floor, no ringing, more power than I require. Have a Modi coming to see what that's like - always nice to have an additional point of reference, especially one designed to go with the amp.
 
I love the warm little classy box with it's impression of tube heaters - the biasing LEDs!
 
Today I noticed that horns can sound particularly excellent with the K601/Vali combo. Just the right lively, rich, blatty sound. I'm gathering jazz and classical trumpet recordings. Really fun.

Noise will be noticeable if you use sensitive cans or IEM's. Perhaps the K601 isn't sensitve enough to reveal the Vali's noise floor. Sensitivity is not an indicator of SQ, so enjoy your kit.

 

[K.T.]

  Two friends were checking into a hotel the day prior to a Head-Fi meet. Loaded down with bags and suitcases full of wonderous audio gear and oddities, Bob and Tom walk up to the check-in counter. Seeing no-one around the foyer except themselves, they look in the hallway behind the counter to see if an office was occupied. Seeing only closed doors, "Hey! Ring that service bell on the counter there", said Tom. Bob hit the top of the bell just enough but only a dull "clink" sound was made. "Huh, well I guess we could just yell for someone or look around some more," said Bob. Tom set his suitcase down but as he leaned down a bit his shoulder bag slipped off his shoulder onto the floor. "Tiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggggg!" Tom froze in surprise while Bob held his fingers in his ears. Moving his jaw around to get his ears to pop, "What in the hell was that?!" exclaimed Bob. "I think that was my Vali, it rang before when I used it with my headphones but its never..." Immediately a hotel clerk poped out of the back office with a hefty "Howdy!" "I appologize, I was on the phone. I heard y'all ring though! Haha! Y'all must be here for the Head-Fi meet." Bob began to sign for a room while Tom nervously went to check the Vali inside his bag, "I really hope I didn't jack it up," he wispered. As he took the Vali out of his bag and held it up to the light to inspect it, the hotel clerk saw the Vali and took interest. "Hey now I got one of those too! Say, did that make that ringin' noise earlier?" "Um, yeah. Yeah it did," Tom said slowly, unsure if he could see any visible damage to the amplifier. "Hey, thats cool, you're into headphone audio too huh?" said Bob. "Yerp! I tell you what though. That there Vali is a ringer for sure! I can't believe I didn't listen to everyone who said it rang so much before I bought it," said the hotel clerk. "Well Schiit does clearly specify on their website that the tubes will ring if the chasis is hit," said Tom, "but I didn't think it would ring that much!" " Well, I tell ya. That there amplifier isn't worth buying!" exclaimed the hotel clerk, "it just rings too damn much! Imagine if everyone in the meet y'all are havin' has one of them suckers. All you would hear is ringin'!" "Thats a bit dramatic don't you think?" asked Bob. "Listen here. I done read them Head-Fi forum over and over and there is a general consensus that the Vali rings too damn much!" yelled the hotel clerk. "Okay, okay. I just thought people tend to exagerate small issues on the forums is all," Bob said calmly. "Mabey your amplifier is defective Tom, I don't think it should ring like that." "Yeah," sighed tom, "I guess I'll send it back to Schiit when I get home. I was really looking forward to sharing it at the meet since I really enjoy the sound. Oh well, I guess its really a peice of Schiit after all..."
 
To be continued...

 
 
We're looking forward to the novel. Where can we buy it?

 

[CJs06]

We're looking forward to the novel. Where can we buy it?

Oh good. No worries, it'll be free

 

[K.T.]

Oh good. No worries, it'll be free

 
Yes! Free is good!
 
In case anyone cares, here's my take on the current round of ringing.
 
When Vali was first introduced, the way the tubes were pushed onto the pads created conditions for ringing.
 
A cure was found. It involved pre-bending/de-tensioning the tube leads before they were soldered onto the board and stuck onto the pads. This, for the most part, alleviated the ringing issue.
 
Then it seems a later batch of Vali's started having ringing problems again.
 
Here's what I surmise: The fix, as described above, was too labor and time intensive and too costly for Schiit. So they devised another more efficient and less time consuming workflow, or another method altogether, for alleviating the resonance that was allowing vibration into the tubes. But it didn't work as expected, thus the new round of ringing amps are now reported.
 
That's just pure conjecture, but I had to get it off my chest.

 

[Stillhart]

   
Yes! Free is good!
 
In case anyone cares, here's my take on the current round of ringing.
 
When Vali was first introduced, the way the tubes were pushed onto the pads created conditions for ringing.
 
A cure was found. It involved pre-bending/de-tensioning the tube leads before they were soldered onto the board and stuck onto the pads. This, for the most part, alleviated the ringing issue.
 
Then it seems a later batch of Vali's started having ringing problems again.
 
Here's what I surmise: The fix, as described above, was too labor intensive and costly for Schiit. So they devised another more efficient and less time consuming workflow, or another method altogether, of alleviating the resonance that was allowing vibration into the tubes. But it didn't work as expected, thus the new round of ringing amps are now reported.
 
That's just pure conjecture, but I had to get it off my chest.

 
Is there a way to tell from the serial number if it's going to be prone to ringing?  Like if I'm looking for a used one?

 

[eccom]

  To those with tube erection problems, did you guys stick the tubes back to the board, or after getting tired of sticking them back again and again decided to leave them erect?
 
The ringing is not as bad with high impedance headphones though...

Gently bend the leads so that you relieve the tension, and then reattach the tubes. I got random ringing (very loud) when they were both unattached. the right one still rings if i clap my hand or cough close to the amp.
 
i can only hear that when using headphones that show the noise floor, not not a real problem anymore.

 

[StanD]

I have an anti-ringing damping field that I got from Area 51. Works like a charm. 

 
By the way, the boys at Schiit have been prebending the leads on the tubes for quite some time. Unless one has an early unit, they should be good to go, unless a tube sprung loose, despite this.

 

[Snips]

   
Is there a way to tell from the serial number if it's going to be prone to ringing?  Like if I'm looking for a used one?

 
Hard to say. We'll need the guys who suffer from serious ringing to post their serial number here.

 

[MickeyVee]

#257 

 though I love the Vali with the Grado RS1i.  Takes more than a minute to stop and really never goes away.  Constant real low level ringing on the right but to be fair, Grado's are pretty efficient. Once settled, ringing is not audible with music playing.
 
Quote:

Hard to say. We'll need the guys who suffer from serious ringing to post their serial number here.

 

[fenderf4i]

Mine is #1308, Hardly rings at all with my Grado's and Audeze.

 

[BenEnglish]

   
We'll need the guys who suffer from serious ringing to post their serial number here.

I can report ridiculous ringing from unit # 209.  HE-300s in use.

 

[Stillhart]

Nifty, I'll start tracking this in a Google Doc.  I made it public so anyone who wants to can just go in and put in your S/N, whether it's ringing or not and any notes.  Perhaps if this grows it will be a useful resource.
 
Schiit Vali - Noise Tracker

 

[abhinit90]

Woah! as soon as I mentioned that my Vali doesn't ring, the right tube has now become erect and the ringing is a lot more apparent :|

 

[K.T.]

  Nifty, I'll start tracking this in a Google Doc.  I made it public so anyone who wants to can just go in and put in your S/N, whether it's ringing or not and any notes.  Perhaps if this grows it will be a useful resource.
 
Schiit Vali - Noise Tracker

 
 
Cool, good idea.
 
If I remember correctly, those serial numbers in the 200's are from the first production run. If I'm correct, these do NOT have the pre-bent leads.
 
My first Vali was SN# 272. It had a fair amount of ringing.
 
I opened it up and bent the leads myself, and the ringing is minimal now. Functionally, not an issue any longer.
 
My second Vali had a SN in the 800's IIRC.
 
Right out of the box, very minimal ringing on my second one. Equal to my first Vali after I corrected it. That is to say, ringing was functionally a non-issue in the later amp right out of the box.
 
Currently on both amps, there will be a little bit of ringing when changing phones or brushing across the volume knob with a little force. But rapping on top of the amp does not excite ringing unless done with a good amount of force.

 

[MickeyVee]

I took mine apart and pre-bent the leads to the tubes.  Helped a little.  Maybe I'll do it again today and see what happens.