[adydula]

Thank you ~~ !!

Your welcome!
My Vali 2+ is one of my all time favorites...the only real difference in Vali 2++ was the support for the "other" tubes...no need for an adapter for those small mini tubes like 396a's etc.. Pretty much a side-grade as Jason stated.

Vali 3 seems like with the higher plate voltage might just be a real nice step up the ladder here...

Alex

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

 

[Paladin79]

I am now the proud owner of some thin stock tiger maple that should be suitable for a mini tower build for @bcowen.

I have some thoughts on the supporting posts and the base so I will get to that this weekend.

 

[valiant66]

Lololol haha as if... I worked an arts event for three days over the weekend and I'm struggling to catch up. It's Wednesday and I'm only 30 pages behind
.

It's Friday and I'm only 22 pages behind. Progress!
.

 

[valiant66]

Like this?

Mine was sky blue with more rust lol
.

 

[valiant66]

Your wish is my command (well, until I got tired...):

"Accelerando" Vijay Iyer Trio
"Nightfall" Charlie Haden & John Taylor
"Rising Grace" Wolfgang Muthspiel
"East/West" Bill Frisell
"Trickster" Miles Okazaki
"Now This" Gary Peacock Trio
"Good Hope" Dave Holland, Zakir Hussein, Chris Potter
"Andando el Tiempo" Carla Bley
"Concentric Circles" Kenny Barron Quintet
"Tone Poem" Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
"Mbókò" David Virelles
"Joy in Spite of Everything" Stefano Bollani
"December Avenue" Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet
"Indicum" Bobo Stenson Trio
"Authority Melts from Me" Bobby Avey
"The Way We Are Created" Grabriel Vicéns
"D'agala" Sylvie Courvoisier Trio
"The Bad Plus Joshua Redman"
"Points of View" Dave Holland Quintet
"Out of Nowhere" James Carter Organ Trio
"Into the Silence" Avishai Cohen
"Present Joys" Dave Douglas & Uri Caine
"I Have the Room Above Her" Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian
"In Movement" Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane, Matthew Garrison
"Who Are You?" Joel Ross
"Mesmerism" Tyshawn Sorey
"Lathe of Heaven" Mark Turner Quartet
"Body and Shadow" Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
"Garden of Expression" Trio Tapestry
"I Told You So" Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio
"Faith" Gonzalo Rubalcaba
"What Now?" Kenny Wheeler
"Amaryllis" Mary Halvorson
"Across the Way" Brad Shepik Quartet
"Class Trip" John Abercrombie
"Freya" Tineke Postma
"Gravity Without Airs" Kirk Knuffke Trio
"Sounds from the Ancestors" Kenny Garrett
"America's National Parks" Wadada Leo Smith
"Molecular" James Brandon Lewis
"Música de las Américas" Miguel Zenón
"Love Stone" J.D. Allen

Awesome! Thank you very much! Added to my listen list. Much appreciated...
.

 

[Adam Balm]

I am now the proud owner of some thin stock tiger maple that should be suitable for a mini tower build for @bcowen.

I have some thoughts on the supporting posts and the base so I will get to that this weekend.

Your builds are all superb.

 

[SunRa Fan]

The Lyr+ has been extremely entertaining to listen to. Especially with the Apos tube. One huge disappointment: Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here. I think they’ve been remastered to death and there’s no nuance left in them. They don’t sound any better than on SS. Literally EVERYTHING else has sounded better, even old recordings like Robert Johnson.

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

One month with the Aegir 1, so enjoyable .......

 

[Paladin79]

Your builds are all superb.

Thanks and this one is obviously Schiit related. Once I get this one completed I will work on completing the walnut and honey locust five shelf rack. Most likely I will put that on a walnut base unless I feel like more contrast will work better. I do have choices.

 

[sam6550a]

Nice! And great that you added the gain information. As @sam6550a pointed out recently, just 'cause an alternate tube will fit in the socket and has heater current requirements that fall within the max allowed doesn't mean it is going to work well in a specific component, and the gain is an important part of that equation. From my own experience, Vali 2 (OG) came stock with a 6BZ7 (gain of ~35). It plays nicely with a 6SN7 (gain of 20), and also plays nicely with a 12AT7 (gain of 60). Folkvangr plays nicely with both of those into high-impedance 'phones in low gain with the impedance multiplier disengaged, but doesn't play nicely with either of those into low impedance 'phones in high gain with the impedance multiplier engaged. Incubus sounds amazing with the 6SN7-gain it was designed for, but doesn't play nicely with a 3x gain 12AT7. The TL;DR point? Components are designed with tubes of specific gain. Substituting a tube with different gain may work, and it may not. And if it doesn't, it's not a failing of the component or design, it's only that that component sounds best keeping the designed gain structure intact. My advice for anyone just starting with tube rolling is to stick with tubes that have the same gain (or close) as the stock tubes, and having this information included in the spreadsheet is great. Once you have entered the depths of the rabbit hole where even light can no longer escape, only then start playing with tubes of differing gain.

Very well stated, Bill! The operating point of the tube was chosen by the designer to be on the most linear part of the transfer curve, so, when you deviate a lot in gain and other parameters, you get increased distortion. Sometimes it sounds good, sometimes it does not. In a few cases, it is possible to release the magic smoke.

 

[sam6550a]

I am now the proud owner of some thin stock tiger maple that should be suitable for a mini tower build for @bcowen.

I have some thoughts on the supporting posts and the base so I will get to that this weekend.

Will those thoughts include forms of corrugated cardboard?

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

Will those thoughts include forms of corrugated cardboard?

Make some zig zag lines at the edge .....

 

[brankin]

Agreed. My line preamp has a stepped attenuator, and I have used both OG Freya (in my system) and (most recently) Freya+ (in a friend's system), and I have not noticed any audible break-up of the signal when the devices were working properly.

Why the italics? The aforementioned Freya+ was shipped with a set of matched 6SN7s. It exhibited an audible pop in the left speaker when crossing the center point of the volume ladder, and some variable "crackling" sounds from said left speaker when scrolling the volume control over a 6-12db range.

Tom from Schitt support asked us to switch the tubes, and the sound shifted channels. Lindsay at Schiit shipped out a new set of tubes last week... long story short, we installed them in the preamp last night and... all clicking / popping / breaking-up is 100% gone. YMMV, this is just my experience with a small pool of devices.

BTW: thanks Tom and Lindsay for the great comms about the issue, and the great customer service! @Jason Stoddard

Do you (or anybody) know if the top tube corresponds to the left channel, bottom tube to the right channel - or vice versa? I also have the same behavior in a Freya+ and would love to eliminate it.

I know this from the manual:
The right tubes are for the differential voltage gain stage. The left
tubes are for the cathode follower output stage.

 

[NoahFence]

Ok. Vali 3… Keeping in mind hat I have 2 and 2++. And I kinda beat some folks up who were saying that the only change they saw was the 100 Volt tube rail. And I figured that if Jason was going to call it a 3, it had to have more chops and changes than that. And to my ears, it is indeed more than that.

Mine arrived today, so I’m currently in hour 4 of listening (because bloody work!), with the stock 6N3P. Haven’t gotten to the 396A or the various other 6N3P or 5670s I have. I. Am. Gobsmacked. This is quite the improvement, and i’m loving it. Detail uis just pouring out of this thing. Evelyn Glennie’s percussion can be overly dramatic or terribly subtle in equal measure, but I’m hearing the tiny stuff and loving it.

Thanks for MORE amazing gear. For (in my case p, 159usd). Are we lucky or what?

I didn't need to read this. Now I have to keep telling myself that my Vali 2++ is good enough over and over again!

HWB3 said: I didn't need to read this. Now I have to keep telling myself that my Vali 2++ is good enough over and over again!

Sorry HWB3, it won't work. You are doomed.
But you also are lucky.
This is just the way I ended up with an MJ3,
and that makes are rather larger dent in the finances.
Noah

edit: makes no sense if you don't see HWB3's plight