[LanceSaintPaul]

Lance is absolutely correct, at this price point the Vali 3 is the audio deal of the year. Too soon yet to say deal of the decade, we’ll see I suppose.

I think we'll see this component nominated in several places for Budget Component of the Year.

 

[battleduck]

Thanks for the feedback! It may be helpful to new Vali 3 owners if we knew ...What is your 1) source 2) dac 3) Headphone?

Thanks

CD>FLACK> PC usb> latest Modi > Vali 3 (Vali2++ before) > HD6xx 60% of time / Meze 109 Pro 30% of time / Mod House Argon MK3 (when I want closed backs or the “dark” sound)

 

[DrMorbius]

6N3P-E Russian tubes I got out of the Ukraine [go Ukraine!] - (5 for about $23), I have about 8 hours burn on it in my Vali 3 and I find it gets better and better with it. I really can’t see spending that much more on a WE 396 tube, or I can’t imagine the WE tube being that much better, I’m just really happy with the 6N3P-E!

 

[BS5711]

I have what might be a minority opinion but perhaps it might be of value to someone who just got a vali 3.

To me most tubes in vali 3 (and vali 2+, and 2++) sound nearly identical. Can I hear the difference? Maybe. I would not swear to it. Maybe I can identify some in a blind AB test, and maybe I could not. I do have some favorite ones, but it can easily be placebo.



The tubes pictured are:
396A and 6N3P-DR (currently switched between)
native: 6N3P-E Reflector 1977 Mill Diamond, GE 5670 5 star, RCA 5670 Command
with adapters: 6CG7 RCA Clear Top, 6SN7 RCA 1943 Grey Glass, german ECC84,
Amprex E88CC PQ 1966, Mullard ECC88.

I don't have a Vali 3 and the only reason I don't is that for me I expect what you say is likely to prove to be true.

I did have a Woo Audio WA6 with standard tubes, several sets of NOS power tubes and a highly regarded Phillips Miniwatt GZ34 rectifier, I couldn't tell the difference between any of them and frankly I could hardly discern the WA6 from a good solid state amp even with HD600 which are supposed to be the perfect tube companion.

Like you, I am not saying that audible differences don't exist because I am sure they do but I agree 100% that folks that are reading and considering a purchase of a Vali 3 or a bunch of new tubes for it should temper expectations and dial back their perception of the discussion here a good few notches. The difference is going to be in the realm that most folks would consider to be subtle despite that subtle might be monumentally important to others.

 

[RBRIII]

I don't have a Vali 3 and the only reason I don't is that for me I expect what you say is likely to prove to be true.

I did have a Woo Audio WA6 with standard tubes, several sets of NOS power tubes and a highly regarded Phillips Miniwatt GZ34 rectifier, I couldn't tell the difference between any of them and frankly I could hardly discern the WA6 from a good solid state amp even with HD600 which are supposed to be the perfect tube companion.

Like you, I am not saying that audible differences don't exist because I am sure they do but I agree 100% that folks that are reading and considering a purchase of a Vali 3 or a bunch of new tubes for it should temper expectations and dial back their perception of the discussion here a good few notches. The difference is going to be in the realm that most folks would consider to be subtle despite that subtle might be monumentally important to others.

What is your current headphone amp of choice, if you don't mind me asking? Just curious is all and in the spirit of good conversation.

 

[BS5711]

What is your current headphone amp of choice, if you don't mind me asking? Just curious is all and in the spirit of good conversation.

After having gone through a bunch of stuff and realising that I don't hear anything tangible in the way of sound differences to the extent that folks on these forums talk about I have thinned things down to an EarMen ST-Amp as a desktop amplifier and primarily an iFi Diablo but I have a number of other DAC/Amps, amps, dongles and DAPs. I work from home and I listen to various gear with IEM and headphones pretty much all day every working day.

I haven't had the ST-Amp that long so I never compared it to the WA6 tube amp but on several occasions I had the Diablo as the DAC into the WA6 with them set up so I could plug directly into the WA6 and the Diablo in about three seconds and I could not hear anything even remotely close to the differences that people talk about, frankly I am not sure I heard any difference at al that couldn't easily be put down to expectation bias.

I acknowledge that some folks might pay much more attention to or are more sensitive to tiny nuances and subtle differences are important to them but I kind of figure that if I have owned and regularly used about a dozen or more amps and don't hear the significant differences between even the most obviously different designs (tube WA6 versus Op Amp based Schiit Heresy) the differences are simply not the night and day that people talk about, at least not in the manner that most folks consider night and day to mean in the general use of the term outside audio.

 

[JamminVMI]

Very possible. There are for sure people who have proven they can hear minute differences in tubes and equipment. That said I did attend school to study music when I was younger. My medical exams have not yet shown hearing loss, and when I try those online tests for sound distortion I do get a standard divination or so above the mean.

Im not saying that those differences don’t exist, I’m merely suggesting that a lot of people might want to lower their expectations, the differences are small among good tubes.

And personally while I think I hear the difference I would not bet money that I would pass a blind AB test.

Edit: also full disclosure 80% of the music I listen to is baroque (Lully, Bach, Handel), so it’s possible my choice of music effects results. And the headphones I usually use are 6xx or Meze 109 pros, maybe that has effect as well.

Hey now! It's not like listening Handel, Bach and the rest of the late 1600 folks is a bad thing! That's my favourite classical period as well. The only real question here is... Do you like the sound? Does it make you want to get up and join the Minuet? OK, maybe that's a stretch, but... If it makes you happy, then just be glad you don't have to buy 10 WE396As! I have questions about my own hearing as well. But I like the gear I have, and the tubes I have. That's plenty!

 

[HWB3]

I have three tubes that I used with my Vali 2++. WE396A, GE 5 Star 5670 and GE Jan 5670W. To my ears, I liked the WE396A the best. That is the only one that I've tried in my Vali 3. I've read where others have preferred the different 5670's over the 396A. And that fine It's how it sounds to you.

 

[LanceSaintPaul]

I have three tubes that I used with my Vali 2++. WE396A, GE 5 Star 5670 and GE Jan 5670W. To my ears, I liked the WE396A the best. That is the only one that I've tried in my Vali 3. I've read where others have preferred the different 5670's over the 396A. And that fine It's how it sounds to you.

The WE 396A has end game written all over it. Stop there and be ever pleased.
...(I do wonder if the current WE incarnation will ever deliver on a new production 12AX7?)

 

[battleduck]

Hey now! It's not like listening Handel, Bach and the rest of the late 1600 folks is a bad thing! That's my favourite classical period as well. The only real question here is... Do you like the sound? Does it make you want to get up and join the Minuet? OK, maybe that's a stretch, but... If it makes you happy, then just be glad you don't have to buy 10 WE396As! I have questions about my own hearing as well. But I like the gear I have, and the tubes I have. That's plenty!

Well you don’t need to convince me that baroque music is great, but I do have to admit that the lowest notes a chamber quartet will usually deliver will come from a cello/viola-da-gamba and are not quite as low of intense as most EDM or Dubstep, so might not quite show a tubes performance at those frequencies

I have three tubes that I used with my Vali 2++. WE396A, GE 5 Star 5670 and GE Jan 5670W. To my ears, I liked the WE396A the best. That is the only one that I've tried in my Vali 3. I've read where others have preferred the different 5670's over the 396A. And that fine It's how it sounds to you.

WE396A sounded great to me, even though mine is a mostly worn out one. It’s probably objectively better than my preferred tubes. But personally I prefer less treble. Darker. It ended up being ww2 RCA 6sn7 (50$), 6n3p-dr (18$) and RCA 6CG7 clear top on an adapter (12$).
The first two btw are the only ones I think maybe I could reliably pick blind out of my tubes mostly because I could listen to them indefinitely without wanting to turn down treble on the Loki.

Ww2 6cg7 sounds very luscious? Lots of low end, subdued upper mids and treble. Very relaxing. I’m 70% sure it’s not just in my head. I’d bet 10$ on it, but not more.

But again to someone just considering this madness: I got a bag of 6n3p-e tubes for around 2$ a piece, all sound great on vali 2++ and vali 3.

 

[caracara08]

Okay. Without hyperbole, where does this amp sit for you guys in the long list of amps?

Just curious what everyone thinks.

 

[RBRIII]

Okay. Without hyperbole, where does this amp sit for you guys in the long list of amps?

I liked it better than my Schiit Magni Heretic, that being my first and only one to compare it to. I actually ended up selling the Heretic just the other day I liked the Vali so much.

I was going to try the JDS Labs headphone amps as well but thought to try the tube sound and since the Vali 3 was so affordable, it seemed like a good starting journey into that realm. Granted, I don't have a plethora of amps to compare it to but I honestly don't feel like I need to try anything else at this point. I'm just enjoying listening to my music and watching movies using it in my setup.

 

[battleduck]

Okay. Without hyperbole, where does this amp sit for you guys in the long list of amps?

Just curious what everyone thinks.

For me its a perfect pet. Under my monitor sits an all in one Pietus Maximus amp/dac (if someone snuck in and replaced with a Jotunheim I would not complain)
that daily serves as the always on preamp for the speakers as well as the main headphone connect. And to the side sits a tiny stack of vali/loki/modi when I feel the mood I turn it on let it warm up for 20 minutes as I continue to listen to music on the main system, then I flip the system out on pc, switch the headphone to the Vali-3 and bask in the pleasant incandescent glow of its 5670 tube. Sometimes the mood strikes me and I put in a different tube and pretend I might be able to hear the difference.

I find Vali-3 aesthetically pleasing visually, and aurally. In the list of my amps it belong to the side, a pet.

 

[jonathan c]

Okay. Without hyperbole, where does this amp sit for you guys in the long list of amps?

Just curious what everyone thinks.

• For sheer / total ability to deliver music, Vali 3 does not topple Icon Audi HP8 Signature, DNA Sonett2, Violectric HPA V281 ... and others. But, at its price -- with tube 'upgrade' -- Vali 3 is ridiculously close to what the aforesaid h/p/a achieve.
• For that reason, I get a perverse (?) glee when listening with Vali 3: so much for so little !! My third-favourite headphone amplifier.

 

[JamminVMI]

Well you don’t need to convince me that baroque music is great, but I do have to admit that the lowest notes a chamber quartet will usually deliver will come from a cello/viola-da-gamba and are not quite as low of intense as most EDM or Dubstep, so might not quite show a tubes performance at those frequencies

Can you say ORGAN?!?!