[ben_wood]

hodjgy,
  I saw where you were thinking about getting a Valhalla amp and I've read your positive comments about the Asgard. I'm trying to decide between the Asgard and Valhalla to power my HD600s. Which amp in your opinion would be one to get? I would be using a Cambridge Audio 640C V.2 cd player as my source. Thanks for any insights you can offer.

 

[IEMCrazy]

Quote:

hodjgy,
  I saw where you were thinking about getting a Valhalla amp and I've read your positive comments about the Asgard. I'm trying to decide between the Asgard and Valhalla to power my HD600s. Which amp in your opinion would be one to get? I would be using a Cambridge Audio 640C V.2 cd player as my source. Thanks for any insights you can offer.

 
I haven't owned either Valhalla or Lyr, or even HD600, however given experience with Lyr, other SS amps, and HD650 I think I can probably give some input.
 
The sound will be very different between either of those and comes down to the bigger philosophy of "do I want tube or SS sound?"   Neither is inherently "better" in that regard, it will come down purely to preference. 
 
Both will of course power HD600, arguably higher voltage amps like Valhalla and Lyr will pair better with the impedance, but that is irrelevant compared to the sonic signature you want.  Over HD650, HD600 is a far more neutral and flat headphone, teetering toward analytical.  If you want to accentuate the drier, detailed, analytical nature of that headphone, SS would be the better pair for you to keep it as clean and true to source as possible.  If you want to "warm it up" a bit...smooth out some mids, roll the highs and lows off a bit more roundly, the tube amp would be the better bet.  You'll find an equal number of fans of either philosophy.
 
And of course there's always Lyr which does a bit of both.  It's detailed due to the SS side, but has a warming, easy to listen to effect from the tube side. Compared to an SS amp though it's still much smoother, which I like.  It's all personal preference.

 

[hodgjy]

The Asgard and the Valhalla are said to be voiced very similarly.  A pretty thorough review of each amp head-to-head said the Asgard sounded better and had a wider soundstage. 
 
I think the answer really comes down to your budget and if you want the ability to drive higher impedance headphones down the road, which the Valhalla will be able to do.  If the $100 is important to you, I say get the Asgard.  If you want the aesthetics of tubes, get the Valhalla.  I suspect the HD600s will sing nearly the same on either amp.
Quote:

hodjgy,
  I saw where you were thinking about getting a Valhalla amp and I've read your positive comments about the Asgard. I'm trying to decide between the Asgard and Valhalla to power my HD600s. Which amp in your opinion would be one to get? I would be using a Cambridge Audio 640C V.2 cd player as my source. Thanks for any insights you can offer.

 

[IEMCrazy]

Quote:

The Asgard and the Valhalla are said to be voiced very similarly.  A pretty thorough review of each amp head-to-head said the Asgard sounded better and had a wider soundstage. 
 
I think the answer really comes down to your budget and if you want the ability to drive higher impedance headphones down the road, which the Valhalla will be able to do.  If the $100 is important to you, I say get the Asgard.  If you want the aesthetics of tubes, get the Valhalla.  I suspect the HD600s will sing nearly the same on either amp.

 
Voicing is probably similar, but SS will still sound like SS and tube will still sound like tube.  The 2nd order harmonic distortion that makes a tube a tube simply can't exist on SS.  Otherwise none of us would be bothering with tubes.  However that "tube-like-voicing" would explain why some folks seem to strongly dislike Asgard in favor of other SS amps.
 
To throw the inverse into your statement: It could also depend on if you want the ability to drive LOWer impedance headphones down the line.  Valhalla is said to not play very well with orthos or K70x.  Asgard will (except the more power hungry orthos like HE-4, HE-5, HE-6 where only Lyr will do.)

 

[ben_wood]

Thanks to both hodgjy and IEMCrazy for your helpful replies! I'll probably go with the Asgard (the HD600s are almost certainly my "ultimate destination" headphones and the $100 difference in the prices of the amps is a factor for me at this time). Again, thanks to both of you for your help. 

 

[ben_wood]

A change in plans! Today I found and bought a new Valhalla on eBay with an extra set of tubes for $308 shipped (from Georgia no less hodgjy). Man, I'm stoked! 

 

[IEMCrazy]

Quote:

A change in plans! Today I found and bought a new Valhalla on eBay with an extra set of tubes for $308 shipped (from Georgia no less hodgjy). Man, I'm stoked! 

 
Congrats!  I'm sure you'll like it!

 

[ben_wood]

Thanks, the tracking number says that the Valhalla arrives Wednesday!

 

[Mutombo]

Quote:

A change in plans! Today I found and bought a new Valhalla on eBay with an extra set of tubes for $308 shipped (from Georgia no less hodgjy). Man, I'm stoked! 

 
That's a great deal!

 

[ben_wood]

Quote:

 
That's a great deal!

Well, a couple of issues: there was no power cord ( I have a couple of spares around the house, so no big deal), no stick-on feet (I can get a set from Home Depot), no owner's manual ( I emailed Jason @ Schiit and he emailed me a downloadable copy) and the amp I got is the international model (230VAC). However Jason emailed me back with advice on which step-up transformer to get ( for less than $17). So the deal could have been better. The extra set of tubes was included.

 

[hodgjy]

That stinks.  Was all that made clear in the original eBay ad?  If not, I'd contact the seller about getting a discount.
 

 

[ben_wood]

Quote:

That stinks.  Was all that made clear in the original eBay ad?  If not, I'd contact the seller about getting a discount.
 

No, it wasn't. I just sent the seller an email telling him my complaints and requesting a refund of $20. I think that would be a reasonable discount.

 

[hodgjy]

I think that is reasonable because it covers the cost of the transformer.
 

 

[ben_wood]

Quote:

I think that is reasonable because it covers the cost of the transformer.
 

Yeah, I ordered the transformer from Amazon. Should arrive thur.-fri. time frame next week. Killing me to have to wait another week to start burning in the Valhalla!

 

[Mutombo]

Quote:

Well, a couple of issues: there was no power cord ( I have a couple of spares around the house, so no big deal), no stick-on feet (I can get a set from Home Depot), no owner's manual ( I emailed Jason @ Schiit and he emailed me a downloadable copy) and the amp I got is the international model (230VAC). However Jason emailed me back with advice on which step-up transformer to get ( for less than $17). So the deal could have been better. The extra set of tubes was included.

 
Ah, bummer.  Hope the seller comes through with a refund to cover the cost of the transformer.