[Keno18]

Eerie connection! And plastic sprayon insulator!? Nice.

My wife muses that all my hobbies are expensive: SCUBA, telescopes, chainsaws, bushcraft knives,... It’ll either be Amazon Basics or Monoprice.

Gee, what a coincidence, my wife feels the same way. Mine are computers (8), Home Theater and movie collecting as well as headfi.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Gee, what a coincidence, my wife feels the same way. Mine are computers (8), Home Theater and movie collecting as well as headfi.

...tack on tear-assing around my woodlot on an ATV and being a gentleman-forester. Heh.

 

[Keno18]

...tack on tear-assing around my woodlot on an ATV and being a gentleman-forester. Heh.

Well, that explains the chainsaws .

 

[ScubaMan2017]

My very first tube headphone amplifier arrived yesterday. And it’s exactly what I hoped for....

Um, I don’t hear aural nirvanna. The glass tube looks like a smoldering reefer. And my tinnitus flared up. Where’s the magic?

 

[Keno18]

My very first tube headphone amplifier arrived yesterday. And it’s exactly what I hoped for....

Um, I don’t hear aural nirvanna. The glass tube looks like a smoldering reefer. And my tinnitus flared up. Where’s the magic?

The stock tube supplied is anything but nirvana. Head over to the Vali 2 tube rolling thread to get ideas. I have my own preferences but that would be off-topic here.

 

[Mike-WI]

The stock tube supplied is anything but nirvana. Head over to the Vali 2 tube rolling thread to get ideas. I have my own preferences but that would be off-topic here.

How is tubes for the Vali 2 off topic for the Vali 2 thread?

 

[Jacobh]

How is tubes for the Vali 2 off topic for the Vali 2 thread?

I guess because there is a separate tube rolling thread?

My understanding is the stock tube changes a bit based on what their current supply looks like. While it may never be a great tube, I do think it's worthwhile for people to listen to it for a while before jumping into tube rolling. This way they get a better understanding of how tubes affect the sound.

 

[Keno18]

How is tubes for the Vali 2 off topic for the Vali 2 thread?

I thought the subject of tube rolling itself would be off topic, didn't want to break any rules. If it's OK then I'll make my suggestions here.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

How is tubes for the Vali 2 off topic for the Vali 2 thread?

I understand why the OP (@inseconds99 [back in 2015]) might have decided to split it up... This thread's about making this little doohicky work (and compare it to other gadgets out there).

I thought the subject of tube rolling itself would be off topic, didn't want to break any rules. If it's OK then I'll make my suggestions here.

It's cool. I've already been censured by the moderators on Mr. Stodard's thread (I got gung-ho about discussing practical firearm safety... and that's a no no).

I guess because there is a separate tube rolling thread?
There's a separate rolling thread for Vali2? Huh... I'm easy. I'll post where ever it's appropriate.
My understanding is the stock tube changes a bit based on what their current supply looks like. While it may never be a great tube, I do think it's worthwhile for people to listen to it for a while before jumping into tube rolling. This way they get a better understanding of how tubes affect the sound.

Indeed. I'm going to cool it with the purchases until I let the stock tube settle in. I was expecting a bit more printing on the tube... I found a faint code number (picked up by my iPhone). It has no other markings. I'll fantasize it being some NOS pulled from a NORAD, GoldenEye, or the DEW line facility...

{edited = yep, added an image}

 

[Mr Trev]

I understand why the OP (@inseconds99 [back in 2015]) might have decided to split it up... This thread's about making this little doohicky work (and compare it to other gadgets out there).

It's cool. I've already been censured by the moderators on Mr. Stodard's thread (I got gung-ho about discussing practical firearm safety... and that's a no no).

Indeed. I'm going to cool it with the purchases until I let the stock tube settle in. I was expecting a bit more printing on the tube... I found a faint code number (picked up by my iPhone). It has no other markings. I'll fantasize it being some NOS pulled from a NORAD, GoldenEye, or the DEW line facility...

{edited = yep, added an image}

I'm not too sure I've read anybody say anything too positive about the stock tube, probably why the markings are scrubbed off - so nobody can actually identify what it really is.

Looking at your location, have a browse through CAM. There are plenty of tube sellers in the GTA. I'm sure you can easily find something better for a reasonable price.

 

[riffrafff]

...I got gung-ho about discussing practical firearm safety... and that's a no no...

LOL. Yeah, safety and responsible ownership's bad, m'kay?

 

[ScubaMan2017]

If you just want to split a signal as described, as both Schiit support and other posters have said a RCA Y-cable is fine and there will be no noticeable signal degradation. If you want to switch and only feed one at a time, then you need a switch. You can use a backwards SYS for this if you like the look, but you can find cheaper switches if you only want to switch.

Made sense. I moved my SYS to a more useful location in my “chain”.

Nice, I actually found these that I had from a clearance set of long RCA's I got for my subwoofers a few years back. My only concern is if they're rotated and the ground touches each other? I'll likely get the wyvern y-cable on amazon so I won't have to worry about it, or plasti-dip spray the "body" of the connectors.

...just to add content to the thread...
...and noticed I misspelled ‘made’ on my image. Sigh...

 

[ScubaMan2017]

What an unusual little toaster! For spoken word, like podcasts or horror fiction, my solid state (S/S?) head-amp makes it easier to detect all the weird inflections and ticks of the voice artist. For strings (like what I’m listening to right now [Benjamin Britten’s cello suite #1]), my new tube amp excels. Do I detect a background hiss (high-gain flicked up, HD650 clones, fresh morning ears, tweaking on Saturday morning coffee)? I perceive it as a gentle whooshing noise that gets drowned out by the tunes. With the way Schiit stock tubes were described on the thread, I was expecting a snowy-white-noise-hiss-fit. I was wrong.

@SchiitFerBrainz ... let your fellow assemblers know of my appreciation, eh.

 

[Jacobh]

My Vali 2 has some hum. It’s not audible on most tunes on low gain with something like the 650. It is if you are listening for it on high gain with many tubes, but you have to listen for it. With lower impedance headphones it’s much more pronounced with certain tubes.

 

[Keno18]

I guess my ears aren't what they used to be. I haven't been able to detect any noise in either high or low gain on my Vali 2 with 6XXs. Oh well, ignorance is bliss. I was reading some posts on the Vali's use of negative feedback and found that the characteristic of the tube used shows through better at the high gain setting because less negative feedback is applied at that setting. Low gain applies more so you get less distortion and less tube sound. Didn't know that.