ZenGentleman
New Head-Fier
I’ve had the Valhalla 2 for about 2 years now. I’m using it with a Bimby Gen 5 and Senn HD700 and Focal Elear headphones. TBH, I really don’t go back to the Senns much anymore since getting the Elears.Can anyone offer any opinions on a pair of tubes that will bring out a little more weight and lushness to the Valhalla 2. I've not felt the need to change the sound since May but I recently picked up a liquid spark and while the v2 is a better amp I want more of that fun mid range sound and a little more weight if possible. Cans are HD600/HD6xx.
Anyway, my first affordable tube upgrade was to a pair of JJ E88CC Gold Pins from The Tube Store. Affordable and they had a noticeably pleasant impact on mids and lows.
Then I bought a pair of NOS Russian 6N23P-EV tubes on eBay from VivaTubes. Long story short, JJ Gold Pins sounded better in my setup but I felt these sounded better than the stock tubes.
Finally, given the rave reviews of the 396a tubes in the Valhalla 2 (need adapters), I bought some adapters and some NOS Russian 6N3P equivalent tubes but I haven’t taken the time to swap out the JJ’s. I went with the Russian versions because, frankly, the Westinghouse 396a tubes are not cheap, and neither are the c251 equivalents. But if cost were no object, I’d buy the made in the USA adapters listed a few posts above and a pair of 396a tubes for the best performance.