[Tuneslover]

That annoyed me too. I upgraded to a Project Ember ll and won't look back. It's a much better amp.

That's interesting, I did the same thing. The Ember is a terrific amp but I decided to go with the lesser expensive Vali 2 as a way to dabble into a tube amp. However about a year later I went for it and bought the Project Ember. It deposed the V2 and it's been getting shuffled around my various systems. I ended up selling my Magni 2U and slotted the V2 into that system. I couldn't stand that annoying popping sound (the Magni 2U did it as well) so I replaced it with a Jotunheim. Not sure what I'm going to do with the Vali 2, probably sell it at some point.

 

[ACDOAN]

That annoyed me too. I upgraded to a Project Ember ll and won't look back. It's a much better amp.

Pop and microphonic, meh. Going to get this one instead of the Jut . Made in Jap. Quality vs Quantity, it's just me. I am too old to mess around with tube rolling . I had my share of tube rolling many, many moons ago.

 

[ACDOAN]

Vali and Valhalla seem to be designed for different purposes.

The Vali is a hybrid head amp with the tube preamp stage. It will sound like solid state amp no more, no less. The Valhalla is a tube head phone amp. Two different animals with two differrent sounds.

 

[bd6675]

I was hoping someone could help me out. I am new to the world of DACs/amps....What is the recommended way to manage volume control. This is the setup I have:

Source(Computer for me) -> DAC(Modi Multibit) -> Vali2 -> Headphones

I use JRiver to manage and play my music. Should I be turning the volume control to 100% on both the application (JRiver) and the computer and then controlling the volume from the Vali 2?

Any help/recommendations on this would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,

BD6675

 

[jnak00]

I use JRiver to manage and play my music. Should I be turning the volume control to 100% on both the application (JRiver) and the computer and then controlling the volume from the Vali 2?

I asked Schiit this same question and they said yes, put the computer volume at 100% and control the volume with the amp.

 

[Jacobh]

I was hoping someone could help me out. I am new to the world of DACs/amps....What is the recommended way to manage volume control. This is the setup I have:

Source(Computer for me) -> DAC(Modi Multibit) -> Vali2 -> Headphones

I use JRiver to manage and play my music. Should I be turning the volume control to 100% on both the application (JRiver) and the computer and then controlling the volume from the Vali 2?

Any help/recommendations on this would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,

BD6675

I believe that would give you the least theoretical loss in quality and what most people would suggest. If you find that doesn't give you enough room to play with on the Vali volume pot, then I'd lower the player but keep Windows / MacOS at 100%. Some DACs force you to keep computer master at 100%. You could also put a passive pre-amp or volume control in between the Modi and Vali if you really wanted to keep all volume control in analogue.

In practice, I personally wouldn't worry too much about it, but that's me.

 

[bd6675]

Thanks jnak00 & Jacobh for the quick responses

 

[Mizicke5273]

I just ordered a Vali 2 and wanted to know which Gain mode people were using for HE-500s.

 

[Louisifer]

I'll try to be brief:

When I first got Vali/Modi 2 delivered, the amp briefly made the tube glow (at times), but I never got any sound out of it. There was current flowing thru my finger when I touched the toggle switch to power it up. Schiit promptly replaced.

Although I've moved from the Vali 2 amp, I am still using the Modi 2 basic DAC.

Although I love my Denon AH-D2000's cans, they keep falling apart, so before I ever got into the Schiit stuff, I bought Denon AH-MM400. Not bad cans, but I intend to restore the D2000. Once in a lifetime upgrade, I went to the Focal Elear phones, but they were not much of an upgrade from the 400's and they sounded "choppy", hence returned. I went for broke and got Beyers t1.2. They sounded like crap. I thought; "break in".

I am an old school guy, and when young, before the concept of CDs, I listened to almost all of my recordings on compact cassette tapes (car audio and budget), so I understand "jitter". What I heard from the T1s was jitter. I thought the output of the Modi was too low as a preamp to drive the amp in handling the requirements of the T1.

I thought "jitter" was a thing of the past as long as vinyl or CD was the source. I was going to upgrade using another Schiit DAC.

Searching for a new budget DAC, I found the following:

 

[Louisifer]

Sorry, I am dork at forums and timed out. I found this: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/budget-dac-review-schiit-modi-2-99.1649/

 

[Louisifer]

Correction to "jitter"; I meant "wow and flutter". Flutter and jitter what ever. I am going back too much time.

Because of what I heard on the T1's, I switched back to the Denon's, and what I've heard was there but no but not as noticeable. I also changed all the tubes, but no difference in the aberrance.

I inspected the USB connection to the Modi and it was to an USB 1. I switched to 2.0, and the distortion and jitter was reduce, and the output to the amp improved but still distortion and jitter. I assembled my PC about 6 years ago so no USB 3.

 

[Louisifer]

In essence, what I heard was on the graphs of the following review: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/budget-dac-review-schiit-modi-2-99.1649/

The resolution of the T1s is that good, but distortion and jitter won't go away on me with lesser cans now. I hope the T1s are as good as the cost, but I can't tell at this moment.

On the hunt for another DAC preamp. I still like the Vali especially after the big tube. I recommend the following site: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?articles/

 

[chef8489]

In essence, what I heard was on the graphs of the following review: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/budget-dac-review-schiit-modi-2-99.1649/

The resolution of the T1s is that good, but distortion and jitter won't go away on me with lesser cans now. I hope the T1s are as good as the cost, but I can't tell at this moment.

On the hunt for another DAC preamp. I still like the Vali especially after the big tube. I recommend the following site: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?articles/

Have you tried using powered usb hub? Maybe you should check out our sound science forums.

 

[volly]

@Louisifer - Have you got the optical or coax inputs on the your Modi? Your computer should at least have an optical out. If you're getting too much noise from USB I'd suggest going optical if/when you have the option to!

Very cool site, might have a read through it later.

 

[Louisifer]

Have you tried using powered usb hub? Maybe you should check out our sound science forums.

I never thought of that solution. Very creative. My thought was that the DAC only took the data from the USB and that was all. Too me, the implementation from Schiit was very poor (to be nice).

Please take a look at the links that I posted. Makes me think. Look at the other post on Schiit stuff. I know now why there was current flowing thru my fingers.

Nonetheless, I am going to a powered USB hub as you suggested. Very cheap and practical solution in the meantime.

Hype. I've seen so much as this old fart thought was immune.

In car stereo, you would start with the head unit (usually), and build up from there. The weakest link would provide your end results.