[socksrolleddown]

Yes/no, I believe there are two versions of the Valhalla 1, the early ones are locked in, but latter on they upgraded it to rolling even before the Valhalla 2 was released.
You would have to email Schiit with the serial number on the back to get confirmation.

Thanks for responding, emailed in and they responded quickly but looks like bad news for me:

No version of the original Valhalla that I am aware of is recommended to roll tubes with. Revision A and B or both not recommended for tube rolling.

VERY IMPORTANT: Other types of tubes may not
work. We do not recommend “tube rolling.”

 

[judson_w]

Hey @judson_w ! folks! Happy Friday!





Thanks for sharing your thoughts... Hope it ain't too "way"off topic... hehehe

I have a very similar setup with the Hifiberry DIGI+ and I am sending the optical signal to the Bifrost... pretty happy, so that is definitely "tricky" to beat the convenience of skipping tunes and switching albums with a mouse click... My old vinyls from my teenage years might be at my mom's... but not sure if she kept the boxes... but I do miss the selection process of an album, checking the cover... out of the sleeve... and literally sit back and relax...

Is there anyone from MONTREAL here? heading there for meetings / training.. and hopefully i'll squeeze time to chill.. and maybe grab a turntable...

have a great weekend , peeps!

Were this a decade earlier, I would have been in Montreal, though severely lacking in audio equipment. Enjoy the city. Last time I visited, I ran across an audio shop in Atwater that had a bunch of McIntosh gear in it. I did not walk in as it seemed well outside my price range (and I was not in Montreal to pick up audio stuff, though I believe I did pack my modi multibit and my valhalla 2 to let my friend listen).

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Soooo after having spent 6 months with this thing I still feel like I’m in love.
I’ve always loved what I heard but became even fonder for the Valhalla after having met up with a friend of mine that owns quite a few tube amps. He set up a little blindtesting rig so as I could a/b with fx the Cayin HA-300, the Lyr 3, Bottlehead Mainline and some others that I forget this minute.
I tend to prefer tests where I can keep my biases in check and just use my ears...mostly because I’ve learned that the human hearing perhaps is the easiest of our senses to manipulate with.

Anyway long story short: I ended up prefering the Valhalla and HA-300 by quite a big margin..and as to the two, it was basically a toss up as to which one I prefered. The Valhalla seemed more 3D and holographic whereas the Cayin offeret a little more meat to the bone.
I was very surprised by my findings...so much so that I’ve revisited the experience thrice just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating or some such silly thing.

The Valhalla 2 is perhaps the finest piece of kit I’ve ever bought. I find it works with just about every headphone I’ve hooked up to it. Even my HE400 and Sundara sounds sooo much better than out of any solid state I’ve tried. Hell I even sold off my little Vali 2, that I’d purchased to channel some juice into the planars, is now gone. The level of detail and holography that came out of the Valhalla compared to its babybrother was just on another level altogether.
Truth be told I haven’t yet come across a headphone that through the Valhalla doesn’t sound like it just took some extraordinary and imaginative doping: fast firefly-like transients, holography like a mosaic - strange but oddly enamouring as well as some of the best punch to instruments and sounds that I’ve yet come across. Sort of reminds me of the kick one gets from Foster’s biocellulose drivers. Works a treat with my HD600 that genuinely adores the doping-sauce....just like it’s owner who spends most of his evenings with a great big smirk on his face.

 

[bokononista]

Soooo after having spent 6 months with this thing I still feel like I’m in love.
I’ve always loved what I heard but became even fonder for the Valhalla after having met up with a friend of mine that owns quite a few tube amps. He set up a little blindtesting rig so as I could a/b with fx the Cayin HA-300, the Lyr 3, Bottlehead Mainline and some others that I forget this minute.
I tend to prefer tests where I can keep my biases in check and just use my ears...mostly because I’ve learned that the human hearing perhaps is the easiest of our senses to manipulate with.

Anyway long story short: I ended up prefering the Valhalla and HA-300 by quite a big margin..and as to the two, it was basically a toss up as to which one I prefered. The Valhalla seemed more 3D and holographic whereas the Cayin offeret a little more meat to the bone.
I was very surprised by my findings...so much so that I’ve revisited the experience thrice just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating or some such silly thing.

The Valhalla 2 is perhaps the finest piece of kit I’ve ever bought. I find it works with just about every headphone I’ve hooked up to it. Even my HE400 and Sundara sounds sooo much better than out of any solid state I’ve tried. Hell I even sold off my little Vali 2, that I’d purchased to channel some juice into the planars, is now gone. The level of detail and holography that came out of the Valhalla compared to its babybrother was just on another level altogether.
Truth be told I haven’t yet come across a headphone that through the Valhalla doesn’t sound like it just took some extraordinary and imaginative doping: fast firefly-like transients, holography like a mosaic - strange but oddly enamouring as well as some of the best punch to instruments and sounds that I’ve yet come across. Sort of reminds me of the kick one gets from Foster’s biocellulose drivers. Works a treat with my HD600 that genuinely adores the doping-sauce....just like it’s owner who spends most of his evenings with a great big smirk on his face.

Thank you for your impressions. Can you tell me more about Valhalla2 vs Ly3 comparsion? What is the main difference in sound, thanks!

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Thanks man. I’d say that there is a big difference in presentation as well as the emphasis on macrodetail ie the punch to sounds. Personally I found the Lyr to sound almost exactly like the Vali 2...most especially if one is using the same tubes. I don’t think I’d recommend purchasing the Lyr unless one already owns an HE-6 or a Susvara.
Where the Valhalla sounds like an OTL without the old school husky and to me rather muddy low end, the Lyr/Vali sounds more like a solid state with an ever so slight touch of the ethereal sauce that tends to come with tube amps.
I would chose the Valhalla over most other amps - at least the ones I’ve heard up until now - and I would not recommend getting either the Vali or Lyr unless one owns a hard to drive planar. I’m fairly certain you’d need more juice than the Valhalla can provide if you own even an HD-500.
Regarding planars, if you stay over 90db in sensitivity and preferably over 32 ohms and I’d certainly opt for the Valhalla. Just remember to select high gain for those badboys The source will already be doing the pre-amplification, and even 2 Vrms gives you a good solid foundation for just about any can.
Biggest difference between Valhalla amd Lyr/Vali? 3D vs 2D.

 

[bokononista]

Thanks man. I’d say that there is a big difference in presentation as well as the emphasis on macrodetail ie the punch to sounds. Personally I found the Lyr to sound almost exactly like the Vali 2...most especially if one is using the same tubes. I don’t think I’d recommend purchasing the Lyr unless one already owns an HE-6 or a Susvara.
Where the Valhalla sounds like an OTL without the old school husky and to me rather muddy low end, the Lyr/Vali sounds more like a solid state with an ever so slight touch of the ethereal sauce that tends to come with tube amps.
I would chose the Valhalla over most other amps - at least the ones I’ve heard up until now - and I would not recommend getting either the Vali or Lyr unless one owns a hard to drive planar. I’m fairly certain you’d need more juice than the Valhalla can provide if you own even an HD-500.
Stay over 90db in sensitivity and preferably over 32 ohms and I’d opt for the Valhalla.
Biggest difference between Valhalla amd Lyr/Vali? 3D vs 2D.

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

 

[regaet]

Kammerat Rebekka

I was wondering what tubes you are using?

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I am using a pair of Philips 6922/E88CC - an idea I stole from my friend who had them installed in his Valhalla. It was this pairing that made me (slightly) prefer the Valhalla over the HA-300 as well as the other amps.
That being said: I genuinely don’t think one needs to change the stock tubes to get great sound. What initially struck me with the Valhalla was that it sounded brilliant without having to change tubes.

 

[regaet]

Kammerat Rebekka,

I bought my Valhalla 2 used with no tubes a year ago. Initially, I used Amperex 6dj8 A frames for a while then tried some others and then switched to a pair of Brimar 6bq7 and was happy. A few months ago I found some RCA and CBS tubes from the 1950s that I have been very pleased with for the last few months. I am very happy with my Valhalla 2!

 

[tricolor]

Hey @judson_w ! folks! Hope all is well!

Were this a decade earlier, I would have been in Montreal, though severely lacking in audio equipment. Enjoy the city. Last time I visited, I ran across an audio shop in Atwater that had a bunch of McIntosh gear in it. I did not walk in as it seemed well outside my price range (and I was not in Montreal to pick up audio stuff, though I believe I did pack my modi multibit and my valhalla 2 to let my friend listen).

Right on, thanks... despite short time to "walk around" due to meetings & training... it was fun to visit 2 mortar & brick shops: Audio d' occasion & Son Idéal... really cool to feel welcomed, even though I haven't really bought anything... I will definitely keep them in mind next time I'm in town and potentially grab a turntable...

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Interesting musing: my Valhalla 2 seems to play-better-with (synergy?) my 600 ohm Beyerdynamic DT880 and Senheisser HD-series cans. My newly-acquired Dan Clark Audio (DCA) Ether C Flow seems to be more fun to listen to on my Asgard 2 (both amps are fed by a Bifrost Multibit w/ USB-3).

Pairing different headphones with 4 different Schiit amplification-technologies... and listening to different mid-rez... low-rez... and higher-rez music files. Woot woot.

 

[Mr.Tom]

The Valhalla was designed around the Senn HD650 300ohm load.

 

[G0rt]

I've been using 6BQ7A in in Valhalla2 for a while, and with my several Senns being silly satisfied.

With even more time on my hands than usual, I wired Valhalla2 up to Gumby, vs the usual Bifrost 4490, and with a new pair of 6SN7->6922 adapters, installed a matched pair of NOS black bottle Brimar CV1988.

With HD800S ... spacious.

I'd got those Brimars for Lyr3, but they'll stay in Valhalla2 for as long as they live, I now think.

Lyr3 is perfectly happy with clear Brimars, as I've found.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

I've been using 6BQ7A in in Valhalla2 for a while, and with my several Senns being silly satisfied.

With even more time on my hands than usual, I wired Valhalla2 up to Gumby, vs the usual Bifrost 4490, and with a new pair of 6SN7->6922 adapters, installed a matched pair of NOS black bottle Brimar CV1988.

With HD800S ... spacious.

I'd got those Brimars for Lyr3, but they'll stay in Valhalla2 for as long as they live, I now think.

Lyr3 is perfectly happy with clear Brimars, as I've found.

Nice. Question: Are there socket savers tucked under those adaptors?

 

[G0rt]

Nice. Question: Are there socket savers tucked under those adaptors?

Of necessity, yes.