[ntbm3]

Just picked up a Vali 2.

Love this little thing! Has really impressed me.

Trying a few things I ended up using it as a pre-amp for my Jot and found it to be an amazing combo.

All the slam and speed of the Jot with some tube magic air and imaging. Killer combo!!!

Today's set-up:
Bimby->Vail2->Jot-> LCD-X


My plan was to add Vali2 to my work set-up which is Modi multi->magni 3-> JH16 PROV2. I am hoping for the same synergy putting it in front of the Jot.

Curious how it work out with the low impedance CIEM's (13-20 ohms), I am living on the low end of the magni3 dial, the Vali2 as a pre amp should allow me to adjust a bit.

I will report back on my CIEM experience, maybe not the best option with this amp but worth a try!

Happy listening!

 

[Tuneslover]

Just picked up a Vali 2.

Love this little thing! Has really impressed me.

Trying a few things I ended up using it as a pre-amp for my Jot and found it to be an amazing combo.

All the slam and speed of the Jot with some tube magic air and imaging. Killer combo!!!

Today's set-up:
Bimby->Vail2->Jot-> LCD-X


My plan was to add Vali2 to my work set-up which is Modi multi->magni 3-> JH16 PROV2. I am hoping for the same synergy putting it in front of the Jot.

Curious how it work out with the low impedance CIEM's (13-20 ohms), I am living on the low end of the magni3 dial, the Vali2 as a pre amp should allow me to adjust a bit.

I will report back on my CIEM experience, maybe not the best option with this amp but worth a try!

Happy listening!

Your post inspired me to give this a try.

I have Bimby>newly inserted Vali 2> with JJ E88CC gp tube>Jotunheim.

I'm still playing around with settings on the Vali 2 and Jot. Right now I have the Vali 2 on high gain and the volume knob around 2 o'clock with the Jot on low gain with the volume knob pushed up at 12 o'clock which makes it about as loud as would consider going. It sounds very impactful, less harsh with good deep bass. I wasn't able to achieve this with the Jot alone.

The immediate thing I noticed is that my HD650 and HD6XX has deeper bass and the brightness of the Jotunheim has been tempered however detail of the high frequencies is still very good.

My Paradigm Shift powered speakers never sounded better. I'll have to keep this setup for a while to see how I end up liking it.

Has me inquiring the Schiit site to see what the Freya is all about.

 

[AudioChaosx]

Just picked up a Vali 2.

Love this little thing! Has really impressed me.

Trying a few things I ended up using it as a pre-amp for my Jot and found it to be an amazing combo.

All the slam and speed of the Jot with some tube magic air and imaging. Killer combo!!!

Today's set-up:
Bimby->Vail2->Jot-> LCD-X


My plan was to add Vali2 to my work set-up which is Modi multi->magni 3-> JH16 PROV2. I am hoping for the same synergy putting it in front of the Jot.

Curious how it work out with the low impedance CIEM's (13-20 ohms), I am living on the low end of the magni3 dial, the Vali2 as a pre amp should allow me to adjust a bit.

I will report back on my CIEM experience, maybe not the best option with this amp but worth a try!

Happy listening!

That's very interesting as I have both amps. I will have to try that out sometime. What tube are you running in the Vali 2?

 

[ntbm3]

Running stock tube right now. I have the EH 6922 on the way to try.

Hooked up the Vali2 in my work set up:
Modi multi->Vali2 ->Magni 3-> JH16 Pro V2 CIEM

With this set up it is fun to swap between the Vali2 and the Magni3.

Overall the the super low impedance CEIM's not the best match for the Vali2 (some bloomy bass) but switch to the Magni3 with vali2 as a pre amp clean things up a bit.

But now I miss having the Vali 2 at my home set-up where it really shinned!!

Maybe need to get another Vali2 or even a Saga for the home set up.....

Overall the Vali2 brings that little bit of magic to my set up, I love it!

 

[volly]

In my experience, the Vali 2 will sound it's best after a period of warm up time, when I roll a tube, if it's new to me, I would roll it in and turn on the amp and leave it for 10-15 minutes.

I rarely burn-in tubes and much rather just listen to it raw and judge on whether it's got the legs to stay in the Vali 2. Saying that, my stash of tubes gets at least a few days of amp time per tube. With other "Favourties" getting long periods.

There are a few tubes in my stash that I know needs much more time to mature, that is from a personal experience as well as shared information from the web. i.e. Russian tubes, my Shunguang (which is still burning in approximately 200hrs) and my Telefunken (first sounding bad).

Passing a signal through after the tube is warmed up isn't a bad idea either as the tube is directly being used.

IMHO.

 

[raf1919]

well just spent over 100 bucks on various tubes and adapters all thanks to this thread.

 

[Tuneslover]

well just spent over 100 bucks on various tubes and adapters all thanks to this thread.

That's a reasonable amount to spend in my opinion. Personally my suggestion is not to get carried away with too many tubes. I suspect you managed to get 1-2 decent tubes for that money so simply enjoy them and replace them when they fail (several years from now).

I found that I didn't notice too much of a sound difference between tubes (I purchased 3 good tubes: EH, JJ & Tesla) so I decided that I have accumulated a decent cross section of tubes. After I purchased the Project Ember though I was able to hear differences between these tubes, however I personally didn't feel that I needed to add to my tube inventory.

 

[Mr Trev]

That's a reasonable amount to spend in my opinion. Personally my suggestion is not to get carried away with too many tubes. I suspect you managed to get 1-2 decent tubes for that money so simply enjoy them and replace them when they fail (several years from now).

I found that I didn't notice too much of a sound difference between tubes (I purchased 3 good tubes: EH, JJ & Tesla) so I decided that I have accumulated a decent cross section of tubes. After I purchased the Project Ember though I was able to hear differences between these tubes, however I personally didn't feel that I needed to add to my tube inventory.

Pretty sound advice to me. Personally, for the most part I don't hear much of a difference between tubes either. Especially when comparing tubes in the same family. I do hear a bigger difference when comparing say a 12au7 to the 6dj8 or something on those lines. I have to think that it might just be the nature of the Vali that tube differences are minimized.

 

[raf1919]

That's a reasonable amount to spend in my opinion. Personally my suggestion is not to get carried away with too many tubes. I suspect you managed to get 1-2 decent tubes for that money so simply enjoy them and replace them when they fail (several years from now).

I found that I didn't notice too much of a sound difference between tubes (I purchased 3 good tubes: EH, JJ & Tesla) so I decided that I have accumulated a decent cross section of tubes. After I purchased the Project Ember though I was able to hear differences between these tubes, however I personally didn't feel that I needed to add to my tube inventory.

I just purchased several NOS Russian ones based on feedback. Also some adapters to try different tubes. I figured I can go out to dinner and drinks and spend more and this will entertain me for a lot longer. With adapter I'll be able to use same tube on Vali2 and Darkvoice to just see how same tube sounds on different amp.

 

[volly]

I just purchased several NOS Russian ones based on feedback. Also some adapters to try different tubes. I figured I can go out to dinner and drinks and spend more and this will entertain me for a lot longer. With adapter I'll be able to use same tube on Vali2 and Darkvoice to just see how same tube sounds on different amp.

Saw the drop going down over at Massdrop for the DV currently, would love to jump on it! Your thoughts on the Vali 2 v DV?

 

[raf1919]

Saw the drop going down over at Massdrop for the DV currently, would love to jump on it! Your thoughts on the Vali 2 v DV?

I actually just ordered the drop myself was curious.

 

[volly]

Hot Damn, very tempted myself, just been breaking in a new pair of HD650's, sounds so nice with the Vali2!

Rolling in the Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z at the moment, damn fine tube!

 

[raf1919]

Hot Damn, very tempted myself, just been breaking in a new pair of HD650's, sounds so nice with the Vali2!

Rolling in the Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z at the moment, damn fine tube!

I fell for temptation.. I ordered 6sn7 for vali which will fit DK so will get see how same tube sounds on the amps

 

[Louisifer]

Too me, the Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z is the pinnacle

(thanks to Volly because I could not wrap my head on implementing the Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z on the Vali).

 

[Rossliew]

PIcs please!