Tunkejazz
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2015
- Posts
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- 102
For the headphones that you have, both amps will provide plenty of power. That's no problem. Ember has more setup options but it also is not a good match for IEMs or other highly efficient headphones. My Fostex TH-X00, for example, have a very noticeable noisefloor when plugged into Ember at 0 volume.
I have owned Ember for a couple years and I love it (#1 amp for a lot of my headphones), but I just bought a Vali 2 to accommodate my Fostex and other efficient headphones.
Also, FWIW, I really didn't enjoy most of the tubes I've tried with Ember, including a couple 6SN7 tubes. People have gone nuts with tubes on this amp and, while I'm sure they found some spectacular matches, my simple 6DJ8 Bugle Boy tube has been better than every other tube I've tried. Point being: the tube rolling may empty your pocket faster than you would like and the Vali 2 will not allow this to happen.
Well...my Ember with 25ohm headphones can be pretty quiet depending on the tube I use (it can be noisy too).
Saying that the Vali2 will not empty your pocket is...let's say not true. In the Vali2 thread some people are already discussing tubes that can cost more than the amp (i.e. telefunken e88cc).