[paradoxper]

Quote:

 
You might want to give these a try...I've been using them on my Lyr/bifrost combo.
Some guys love-em..some guys-well you know?
Also,This is a good seller,bought , a few pairs from him.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/280838950356?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_2578wt_1396

Nope, those tubes aren't compatible with Valhalla.

 

[mikek200]

Thanks for the correction ,Paradoxper.
 
Sorry ..MrTom

 

[schaaf]

All my music with the exception of maybe 20% of it is lossless. It's running right into the amp. I dont have a DAC yet.

Yes. It sounds better thru the amp, but straight out of the Mac they're not as bright. Just more... muffled and less powerful/impactful.

I'll stick with it, but I hope they start to mellow out.


S-

 

[paradoxper]

Quote:

All my music with the exception of maybe 20% of it is lossless. It's running right into the amp. I dont have a DAC yet.
Yes. It sounds better thru the amp, but straight out of the Mac they're not as bright. Just more... muffled and less powerful/impactful.
I'll stick with it, but I hope they start to mellow out.
S-

And with what headphones are you using?

 

[schaaf]

HD650's

 

[Mr.Tom]

Quote:

All my music with the exception of maybe 20% of it is lossless. It's running right into the amp. I dont have a DAC yet.
Yes. It sounds better thru the amp, but straight out of the Mac they're not as bright. Just more... muffled and less powerful/impactful.
I'll stick with it, but I hope they start to mellow out.
S-

The D2A chip in the mac is not high end, or even close. I suspect what your hearing is amplified noise from the mac.
 
One thing I've learned about the Valhalla(maybe all OTL amps), is that it reproduces everything. I only figured that out when I went from a Zero dac to the Bifrost dac, as some of the harshness I was hearing was the Zero dac.

 

[paradoxper]

Quote:

HD650's

The 650's are pretty laid back, so I am going to say that's not the problem. Hopefully you've got all your music properly
converted to FLAC/ALAC. Which would just leave one big problem, you don't have a DAC.
It's most likely just your amp amplifying garbage from you Mac digital out. Get a DAC and this should alleviate the pain. 

 

[Mr.Tom]

Quote:

The 650's are pretty laid back, so I am going to say that's not the problem. Hopefully you've got all your music properly
converted to FLAC/ALAC. Which would just leave one big problem, you don't have a DAC.
It's most likely just your amp amplifying garbage from you Mac digital out. Get a DAC and this should alleviate the pain. 

It's not even going via digital out. He's running out of the line level to the Valhalla. That means the audio is being amplified to line level by a $.05 op-amp, and a handfull of other cheap parts.

 

[paradoxper]

Quote:

It's not even going via digital out. He's running out of the line level to the Valhalla. That means the audio is being amplified to line level by a $.05 op-amp, and a handfull of other cheap parts.

Is he using a 3.5mm stereo male to 2RCA male?

 

[schaaf]

Yes. As I don't yet have a DAC, it's all there is to do.
And all but 20% or so of my music is lossless, yes.

I'm working on getting a DAC, but it might be a couple if weeks.

 

[Mr.Tom]

Quote:

Yes. As I don't yet have a DAC, it's all there is to do.
And all but 20% or so of my music is lossless, yes.
I'm working on getting a DAC, but it might be a couple if weeks.

You may want to look at something like a DAC Magic, as there said to sound a little warmer than a Bifrost. And I often see used for half of new.

 

[paradoxper]

I'd go with either ODAC or Bifrost. Just based on hearing everything over and under your potential budget. Both those DACs are a very good value.
DAC Magic isn't that great, IMO. But give us a budget to better specify options for you. 

 

[schaaf]

Sorry - yeah it's going to be a bifrost.

S-

 

[paradoxper]

Quote:

Sorry - yeah it's going to be a bifrost.
S-

Should be quite a few hitting the F/S forum in August, er, maybe early September. haha

 

[Mr.Tom]

Back to Rolling! So I was very please with the 6n1p, as it gave the Valhalla a very HiEnd SS sound, also keeping the tube sound in the upper bass/lower midrange. But I was finding a slight fatigue after 6 hours of listening.
 
And I could not even take the Dead Kennedy's for 5 minutes. So I dug around and found some 6n23p. These tubes remove the extreme detail of the 6n1p, also replacing the dry with a wet warm distortion. So I'm finding the 6n23p is not 
as good of a tube as the 6n1p(in an absolute transistor way), but if you need a more syrupy sound, as to listen to poorly mastered music, the 6n23p will do just that.