[ravager]

  I wouldn't expect it to have the best sound for $99 my only beef with the Modi is it doesn't have a Dolby/DTS decoder to hear the audio and a cheap China Fiio D07 does and can decode PCM/Dolby and DTS so shame on Schiit
 
 cant afford Marantz costs an arm and a leg

What in the world does this have to do with the Vali? Shame on Schiit for what, exactly? For not giving you what YOU want, even though it is outside of the capability of a quality 2 channel DAC? That is the very reason most head fi-ers have shunned the A/V receivers with DTS, DSP, Dolby, DBX, and the like, because those units sound inferior compared to a mid-fi quality DAC, for *stereo* listening. 

 

[betula]

 I love my Vali, but I have tried out a full sized hi-fi amp today, an old 'Dual' amp. Vali has more detail, clearer sound, much better mids and highs. But I was impressed, how much more bass and a little more space the old dual has.   
 Is it possible to buy better sounding 'full sized' amps for the same money one spend for a small headphone amp?

(Not like I feel lack of bass, I was just surprised, it can be much more...)


 

 

[jexby]

Anyone else using sensitive headphones (NAD HP50) or IEMs with the Vali
and
an external (cable) attenuator?
 
 
am trying out my HP50 today with Vali, and without -12dB attenuator there is of course hiss, even at volume knob zero.
with the -12dB installed the hiss is all but removed except with no music playing and volume knob cranked to max.
 
will be trying to pick out any changes to music sonics however with this attenuator in place....

 

[nolossaudioguy]

I would like to trade my Vali for another similarly priced tube amp.  I find the output impedance a bit too high for my HE-400's.  I don't have the box but the amp is in excellent shape and works perfectly.  If your interested message me.  Thanks.

 

[StanD]

  I would like to trade my Vali for another similarly priced tube amp.  I find the output impedance a bit too high for my HE-400's.  I don't have the box but the amp is in excellent shape and works perfectly.  If your interested message me.  Thanks.

Output impedance too high in what way? The HE-400 is a planar magnetic so it's impedance is constant (resistive). Is the combination loud enough?

 

[nolossaudioguy]

My understanding is that your headphones should be at least 8 times the output impedance.  8 x 6.5ohms=52ohms.  The HE-400s are about 32 ohms.  My main grip with it is I don't think it sounds as good as my old Yamaha receiver so I thought I'd find something tube wise that has a lower impedance(or just something different).  Granted, It's a big guess on my part that the impedance is the issue but I'm not really using the Vali anyway.  It does play loud enough though.

 

[StanD]

  My understanding is that your headphones should be at least 8 times the output impedance.  8 x 6.5ohms=52ohms.  The HE-400s are about 32 ohms.  My main grip with it is I don't think it sounds as good as my old Yamaha receiver so I thought I'd find something tube wise that has a lower impedance(or just something different).  Granted, It's a big guess on my part that the impedance is the issue but I'm not really using the Vali anyway.  It does play loud enough though.

That rule is more for dynamic headphone which many times have an uneven impedance curve and whose diaphragms have more mass/inertia to overcome and can many times benefit from electrical damping. Perhaps you prefer a SS amp, like the Yamaha. Maybe the Magni or Asgard 2 are more of your cup of tea. Both of these amps are very good. Yes, I am a Schiit collector.

 

[nolossaudioguy]

  That rule is more for dynamic headphone which many times have an uneven impedance curve and whose diaphragms have more mass/inertia to overcome and can many times benefit from electrical damping. Perhaps you prefer a SS amp, like the Yamaha. Maybe the Magni or Asgard 2 are more of your cup of tea. Both of these amps are very good. Yes, I am a Schiit collector.

Do you have other Schiit tube amps and (if you do) how do they sound to you vs. the Vali?  I do get that the drivers in orthodynamic headphones are very low mass...so you're saying the output impedance is more about the damping ability the amp has on the drivers and because the drivers are so low mass, the damping ability isn't really a factor here?  
 
To me the Vali has a sort of veiled, softened, sound...particularly in the high frequencies.  My modified cheapo P-1 amp sounds better to me.  It's a clarity issue.  Not that the Vali sounds bad, just slightly less resolution.  I hope I'm making sense here, it's hard to describe how something sounds to me.

 

[StanD]

  Do you have other Schiit tube amps and (if you do) how do they sound to you vs. the Vali?  I do get that the drivers in orthodynamic headphones are very low mass...so you're saying the output impedance is more about the damping ability the amp has on the drivers and because the drivers are so low mass, the damping ability isn't really a factor here?  
 
To me the Vali has a sort of veiled, softened, sound...particularly in the high frequencies.  My modified cheapo P-1 amp sounds better to me.  It's a clarity issue.  Not that the Vali sounds bad, just slightly less resolution.  I hope I'm making sense here, it's hard to describe how something sounds to me.

Many times the 8:1 ration is to prevent boomy bass to a poorly controlled boost due to an impedance peak, look at the impedance curve of an Sennheiser HD558.
I've driven my HE-500's by a Vali, which need more power than the HE-400's. It sounded fine to me, it was a only little short on wattage. If you insist upon tubes, the Valhalla is not a good choice for the HE-400's due to low power at low impedances. You should consider the Asgard 2, pure SS. Honestly, the Magni can do it as well.

 

[sling5s]

  Anyone else using sensitive headphones (NAD HP50) or IEMs with the Vali
and
an external (cable) attenuator?
 
 
am trying out my HP50 today with Vali, and without -12dB attenuator there is of course hiss, even at volume knob zero.
with the -12dB installed the hiss is all but removed except with no music playing and volume knob cranked to max.
 
will be trying to pick out any changes to music sonics however with this attenuator in place....

I use an Impedance Resistance Adaptor.  I have a custom cable that was made for Etymotic er4p to er4s conversion.  It adds 75ohms.  It's what I use for my JH13pro with Vali.  And it works fine.
I use it for my iPhone also.  The iPhone has a 2 to 4 ohms out put that makes the bass bloat.  The cable tightens the bass.
Ebay has some and Amazon has some. 

 

[Defiant00]

  That rule is more for dynamic headphone which many times have an uneven impedance curve and whose diaphragms have more mass/inertia to overcome and can many times benefit from electrical damping. Perhaps you prefer a SS amp, like the Yamaha. Maybe the Magni or Asgard 2 are more of your cup of tea. Both of these amps are very good. Yes, I am a Schiit collector.

 
While I am no expert; just wanted to confirm that this is my general understanding as well, and that impedance matching doesn't matter much with planars as long as the amp can deliver enough power.
 
With that said, doesn't mean a specific amp is going to be for you, and maybe the Vali just isn't to your taste. Nothing wrong with that, and it does sound like you might prefer a more solid state sound.

 

[StanD]

   
While I am no expert; just wanted to confirm that this is my general understanding as well, and that impedance matching doesn't matter much with planars as long as the amp can deliver enough power.
 
With that said, doesn't mean a specific amp is going to be for you, and maybe the Vali just isn't to your taste. Nothing wrong with that, and it does sound like you might prefer a more solid state sound.

So happens in my Schitt Pile lies a Vali. Soundwise it's not that far from a SS amp. Firstly it's a hybrid and the tube section isn't big on distortion. It's cleaner than many realize. That said, I will admit to preferring a nice quiet, clean SS amp.
When an amp's impedance rises when using a planar it forms an attenuator with the planar's resistive nature. So for the most part you lose volume or lessen the delivery of power but don't have the tonal effects more common to dynamic headphones with an uneven impedance vs.frequency relationship.
Consider the attenuator a volume control and when the impedance varies with frequency the dial turns to different positions for different frequencies. So many times the impedance rises to a peak at some bass frequency, lets say 100 Hz and that's where the attenuation is least so the bass gets boosted at that frequency. Perhaps this is a way of visualizing how this works.

 

[SpartanX58]

  I wouldn't expect it to have the best sound for $99 my only beef with the Modi is it doesn't have a Dolby/DTS decoder to hear the audio and a cheap China Fiio D07 does and can decode PCM/Dolby and DTS so shame on Schiit
 
 cant afford Marantz costs an arm and a leg

Why the heck would you like something that decodes dts and dolby? They are lossy multichannel codifications, why running them in a stereo setup?

 

[Fegefeuer]

Well, you can game and watch movies in Stereo if you like. I personally prefer not do that when wearing headphones. 
 
I'd like a Schiit device that decodes DTS/AC3 and does DTS Headphone X. Would also pay a good sum for it, just not Beyerdynamic Headzone levels of money. 

 

[ace54]

the reason why decoding DTS and most other signals is so you can connect it to new tvs and Blu ray players to watch movies because most movies are recorded Dolby or DTS signal in which case you will get no sound at all from Modi because it is not able to decode mentioned signals this is why I said the Modi is for desktop computers only