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Hi I'm looking for an OTL tube amp in the $500 area. I've been looking at the schiit Valhalla 2 - what are its competitors?
 
My current headphones are:
Beyer DT880 600ohm
Beyer DT990 600ohm
Philips Fidelio X2
*Future purchase* Sennheiser HD600/650 or AKG K7XX
 
I also own a Matrix-m-stage as my SS amp of choice.
 
Thanks in advanced!

 

[jodgey4]

The Bottlehead Crack and Crack-a-Two-a are great options that come as a kit you assemble yourself, though you can get others to do it or buy used. DarkHorse I think has some OTL amps, as well as Garage1217.

 

[notfitforpublic]

Garage1217 Ember is great amp, but I believe its (along with the rest of the Garage line up minus Polaris) a hybrid amp, not OTL. Own the Valhalla 2 and either currently own the headphones listed or did at one time. Valhalla works well with all the high impedance cans you have listed, though be prepared to do some tube rolling. The stock tubes didn't appeal to me but you may enjoy them.
 
I'd hang on to the SS amp you have as well though if your looking at going OTL. I found the X2 and K7XX both to perform better with a SS amp over the Valhalla.
 
With those cans, in that price range, Schiit and Garage1217 are fantastic options. Both companies have a far range of amps suitable for the headphones you've listed. Just depends on your flavour. I've never head the Crack but all sorts of good reviews on it. 

 

[AltCtrl]

  Garage1217 Ember is great amp, but I believe its (along with the rest of the Garage line up minus Polaris) a hybrid amp, not OTL. Own the Valhalla 2 and either currently own the headphones listed or did at one time. Valhalla works well with all the high impedance cans you have listed, though be prepared to do some tube rolling. The stock tubes didn't appeal to me but you may enjoy them.
 
I'd hang on to the SS amp you have as well though if your looking at going OTL. I found the X2 and K7XX both to perform better with a SS amp over the Valhalla.
 
With those cans, in that price range, Schiit and Garage1217 are fantastic options. Both companies have a far range of amps suitable for the headphones you've listed. Just depends on your flavour. I've never head the Crack but all sorts of good reviews on it. 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm definitely keeping my Matrix-m-stage, it's a great amp for the money. I'm also highly considering the Feliks Elise and Espressivo.

 

[notfitforpublic]

  Thanks for the suggestions. I'm definitely keeping my Matrix-m-stage, it's a great amp for the money. I'm also highly considering the Feliks Elise and Espressivo.

If I were to feel the need to upgrade from my Valhalla, Elise would be high in the list of things to try along with the MJOLNIR 2. If your willing to stretch your budget to the Elise, there's lots of claims that it's better than most in its price range.

 

[buke9]

Had the Valhalla 2 and with stock tubes sounded very SS to me so I would think tube rolling is a must but you can spend more than amp on tubes real quick. Project Ember is a very good amp and being a hybrid can run very different cans as well. The Crack with HD-6xx's is also very nice indeed. I have one coming to run my 700's but have to do a bit of a tube change as they are 150 ohm cans.

 

[notfitforpublic]

Had the Valhalla 2 and with stock tubes sounded very SS to me so I would think tube rolling is a must but you can spend more than amp on tubes real quick...

Yes... Very much this. 

 

[Frihed89]

The best OTL I ever heard and owned was the Single Power MPX-3 and its variants.  I owned mine for 7-8 years and it never missed a beat.  I did add bleeder resistors on the PS caps and disabled the high power switch, for safety reasons only.  I generally ran 6SN7GT and 6F8G as the 2 power tubes, sometimes 5687s or 7119s.  I used a number of different 9 pin medium-semi-high mu drivers.  I forget the ones I liked best.

 

[Spork67]

I haven't tried any of the others you mention, but I have the Elise and very, very happy with it.