[Makiah S]

Does anyone think those really tall tubes tend to produce more "airy" music?

Hmm that's a good question
 
I do know I have a BIG GE 6sn7 GTB that's really airy 

 

[jlangholzj]

Does anyone think those really tall tubes tend to produce more "airy" music?

 
Some guys say that yes, longer plates will give you more treble and a bit more "airy" sound along with a little more presence. I've not done an A-B myself so I can't say with 100% certainty but I've heard it around a few watercoolers.

 

[jfoxvol]

   
Some guys say that yes, longer plates will give you more treble and a bit more "airy" sound along with a little more presence. I've not done an A-B myself so I can't say with 100% certainty but I've heard it around a few watercoolers.

I experienced that myself.  I'm sure physics has an answer for why.  I've noticed vastly increased micro dynamics and openness with tubes that have longer plates all else being equal.  

 

[Makiah S]

 
I experienced that myself.  I'm sure physics has an answer for why.  I've noticed vastly increased micro dynamics and openness with tubes that have longer plates all else being equal.  

hmm I'll have to look into some long plate tubes, what familys are well know or is it just a manufactoring glitch 

 

[jlangholzj]

  hmm I'll have to look into some long plate tubes, what familys are well know or is it just a manufactoring glitch 

 
It's quite literally just finding iterations of the same family of tube that were manufacture with...well...longer plates. Some examples.

 

[Makiah S]

   
It's quite literally just finding iterations of the same family of tube that were manufacture with...well...longer plates. Some examples.

ugh an here I just spent a ton on some short plates xD great
 
well the good ish news is it seems, there are not to many "long" plate variants of the tubes I got [well I found none] 

 

[HOWIE13]

  well the Vali 2 already has more noise in the circuit it self than the Starlight does, an while I'd love to see both a 12v an 6v support including octals, I have my doubts given the price point. Still though, the Vali 2 unlike the Starlight has considerably more power output! Given it's price an I can Schiit really did find a pretty good happy medium, while I love the customization of my Starlight it is limited to >300 ohm Under Dynamics... which is roughly 8/9 of what I own atm so for me it's perfect! 
 
Though I'd love to see a balanced design based off the Valhalla2 with more power 

If you have the hum/noise too with the Vali2 then I presume it's inherent to the design, rather than me having a faulty unit, which is what I was beginning to think since nobody else on the Schiit Forums mentions the hum..
This is a problem with, for instance, my HD650 as the hum is audible in quiet musical passages. So although the Vali2 has greater output power it come at the cost of noise, whereas the Starlight is absolutely silent. In any event the Starlight has ample power for my needs also. I can achieve 100 dB from my HE400's at the 11-12 o'clock position on the Starlight's vol pot.

 

[joeexp]

I don't have any hum or noise with my Vali 2.  Completely silent.

 

[RickB]

 
I don't have any hum or noise with my Vali 2.  Completely silent.

 
Same here, with HD600.

 

[Makiah S]

  If you have the hum/noise too with the Vali2 then I presume it's inherent to the design, rather than me having a faulty unit, which is what I was beginning to think since nobody else on the Schiit Forums mentions the hum..
This is a problem with, for instance, my HD650 as the hum is audible in quiet musical passages. So although the Vali2 has greater output power it come at the cost of noise, whereas the Starlight is absolutely silent. In any event the Starlight has ample power for my needs also. I can achieve 100 dB from my HE400's at the 11-12 o'clock position on the Starlight's vol pot.

 
 

 
I don't have any hum or noise with my Vali 2.  Completely silent.

 
 

   
Same here, with HD600.

Both my HE 4 an my W1000X have a very aggressive top end an are pretty sensitive to hum an noise. That an the 300 Ohm on the HD 600 does a great job at reducing that noise passively, I found that my 600 ohm Dt 880 was dead silent on the orignal vali, were as my w1000X was again noisy! Still with my all of my low impedance headphones it was audible, granted it's a HUGE step up from the Vali 1, but given the price there are quiter options for low impedance headphones 
 
though, the Vali 2 in High gain offered me a much better quality of sound with my HE 4, than the Starlight. Simply because the Vali just had more power on tap to drive the rather insensitive HE 4, though the HE 400 isn't nearly as hard to drive as it's single sided brother 

 

[RickB]

   
 
 
 
Both my HE 4 an my W1000X have a very aggressive top end an are pretty sensitive to hum an noise. That an the 300 Ohm on the HD 600 does a great job at reducing that noise passively, I found that my 600 ohm Dt 880 was dead silent on the orignal vali, were as my w1000X was again noisy! Still with my all of my low impedance headphones it was audible, granted it's a HUGE step up from the Vali 1, but given the price there are quiter options for low impedance headphones 
 
though, the Vali 2 in High gain offered me a much better quality of sound with my HE 4, than the Starlight. Simply because the Vali just had more power on tap to drive the rather insensitive HE 4, though the HE 400 isn't nearly as hard to drive as it's single sided brother 

 
Maybe you got a bad tube?

 

[Makiah S]

   
Maybe you got a bad tube?

Well this was using the same 6n23p in the Vali 2 that I use with my Starlight, 
 
in the starlight there was very little audible noise, in the Vali 2 the same tube was much noiser, the same applied to the stock tube in the Vali 2 as well. Just as a hole I found the amp to not have the same black background as the Starlight did 

 

[GrouchoMarx1933]

No hum on mine with the HD600, HE-400S, or Grado 225e.

 

[Makiah S]

No hum on mine with the HD600, HE-400S, or Grado 225e.

well that's good to know :3 how ever in my rig I didn't find the background to be entirely black 
 
anyways, I'll have a full comparison review in both written an video form, I reshooting everything now 
 
Frankly, in terms of sound quality, I found the Vali to be lacking overall, how ever it does have a lot of power on tap an it is very easy to operate. Where as with the Starlight you really need to experiment with the different jumper settings to get the best quality of sound. So to me each amp is really targeted at a different audiance, Schiit is like the Apple iOS. They sell an ecosystem of high quality an easy to own equipment, with Garage 1217 an the Starlight more like Android, better over all but only if you work to draw out the latent potential, or "experiment" a little 
 
So obviously, the Starlight is not for every one. Some people will get frustrated with having to experiment, as they may already have busy lives an simply want a "plug an play" amp that just sounds good! For that market the Schiit Vali 2 is clearly the better purchase, an of course the reverse is also true. Others may be willing to spend the time need to get the better overall quality from the Starlight in their systems, as opposed to having to "settle" with the some what limited options the Vali 2 offers 

 

[HOWIE13]

Sounds like some Vali2's hum and some don't. Maybe it's a power supply issue. I wonder how good the QC is in China?
Mine can be most easily appreciated when I stop the music and switch from low to high gain. The background hum is then obvious as on low gain the amp is silent.