[walterboss]

Having just ordered one of these, I'm fine if the bass isn't up there with 1266 as suggested in the review.

I didn't buy Valkyria to compete in that regard. It was to fill gaps between 1266 and Susvara.

 

[Clawd]

@Exekuhtor,

No, sorry, I don't have anything to measure my Valks with, but, as I already wrote, the bass impact is Abyss Phi TC level, easy. I mainly listen to classical and jazz, and for those genres, Valkyria is a real treat, so real, so impactful, so organic.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Having just ordered one of these, I'm fine if the bass isn't up there with 1266 as suggested in the review.

I didn't buy Valkyria to compete in that regard. It was to fill gaps between 1266 and Susvara.

It's for sure special regardless. The realism with instruments and vocals alone is extremely unique. And it's a good complement to the Sus and TC due to its uniqueness, especially its tone and timbre.

 

[Hiker816]

Having just ordered one of these, I'm fine if the bass isn't up there with 1266 as suggested in the review.

I didn't buy Valkyria to compete in that regard. It was to fill gaps between 1266 and Susvara.

Right there with you. TBH, from the midbass up, the Valkyria is so rich, weighty, and powerful, it's hard to even notice the subbass roll-off, let alone care about it, when listening to actual music.

 

[ThanatosVI]

My Pulsar returned from inspection.
Damn did I miss those.

 

[Exekuhtor]

We demand ventilation mod sound tests / measurements!

 

[Fox88]

For people who use the Valkyria with tube amps or pre-amps. What tubes are your favorite to pair it with? My pre-amp has 300B, 6L6GC and supports mostly every rectifier. Right now I'm using Elrog 300B (Might be too analytical for my taste but they are impressive, gotta pick up a pair of WE300B), RCA 6L6GC Black Plate and a M.W.T. U52 rectifier (got a WE 422A on the way also).

 

[Exekuhtor]

The Valkyria is already very warm and bassy, so i like Elrogs (got MO's) a lot with it. They counteract that rolled off treble and are super detailed.
@ThanatosVI We are still eagerly waiting.

 

[normie610]

For people who use the Valkyria with tube amps or pre-amps. What tubes are your favorite to pair it with? My pre-amp has 300B, 6L6GC and supports mostly every rectifier. Right now I'm using Elrog 300B (Might be too analytical for my taste but they are impressive, gotta pick up a pair of WE300B), RCA 6L6GC Black Plate and a M.W.T. U52 rectifier (got a WE 422A on the way also).

My tube pre has 300B as output tubes, 6SL7 as input tubes, GZ34 as rectifiers, and 0D3A as regulator tubes. So many permutations there, but for the 300B, definitely Elrogs as the WE300B sounds more bloated and darker to my ears, which does not suit Valkyria. My tube amp can only use one type of power tube (SV572-10, also a DHT) but I can roll the driver tube (I’m using WE437A). All these combinations of tubes on both my preamp and amp gives the best sound for Valkyria and the rest of my headphones.

 

[ardbeg1975]

For people who use the Valkyria with tube amps or pre-amps. What tubes are your favorite to pair it with? My pre-amp has 300B, 6L6GC and supports mostly every rectifier. Right now I'm using Elrog 300B (Might be too analytical for my taste but they are impressive, gotta pick up a pair of WE300B), RCA 6L6GC Black Plate and a M.W.T. U52 rectifier (got a WE 422A on the way also).

I’ll go rather obscure and say I really enjoy the Valkyria pairing with the Icon HP205D running NOS WE205Ds. The amp also supports 300Bs and I also like the Tak 300Bs. Elrog-MOs were too analytical in that particular amp with the Valkyria.

 

[Fox88]

 

[Fox88]

My first impression after a few hours is that it is underwhelming. I am having a very hard time with the midbass, kick drums sound anemic something I was looking forward to after reading Exekhutor's and watching CMA's review. I understand they have the old Valkyria and that's what I wanted. When this whole 3-hole / 5-hole was brought up I thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference but I guess it does. My Susvara has better midbass to my ears and I cannot justify the price for what I'm getting. Yes, the timbre is excellent, and the piano and acoustic instruments are very good. I will give it a few more days but most likely I will return them.

 

[msq123]

My first impression after a few hours is that it is underwhelming. I am having a very hard time with the midbass, kick drums sound anemic something I was looking forward to after reading Exekhutor's and watching CMA's review. I understand they have the old Valkyria and that's what I wanted. When this whole 3-hole / 5-hole was brought up I thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference but I guess it does. My Susvara has better midbass to my ears and I cannot justify the price for what I'm getting. Yes, the timbre is excellent, and the piano and acoustic instruments are very good. I will give it a few more days but most likely I will return them.

I tried them with 465 and was quite underwhelmed, made them sound congested and muddy. While 465 has insane pairing with Susvara they just do not work with Valkyria in my experience. I doubt you will find older variant any better with this chain (mine is #12), it’s all about synergy at this level and they just do not work together.

 

[Exekuhtor]

My first impression after a few hours is that it is underwhelming. I am having a very hard time with the midbass, kick drums sound anemic something I was looking forward to after reading Exekhutor's and watching CMA's review. I understand they have the old Valkyria and that's what I wanted. When this whole 3-hole / 5-hole was brought up I thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference but I guess it does. My Susvara has better midbass to my ears and I cannot justify the price for what I'm getting. Yes, the timbre is excellent, and the piano and acoustic instruments are very good. I will give it a few more days but most likely I will return them.

What exactly bothers you the most?
Is the midbass kick / dynamics in general not enough? When i heard the Pulsar (which the Valkyria [except the very first iterations] sounds very similiar to), the midbass was very good and somewhat the star of the show. Livemusic and rock / metal in general sounded awesome, that's why i initially wanted to get a Valkyria / Pulsar. Of course planars have way better technicalities like details / speed / soundstage etc, but the Pulsar really gave me that "live music" presentation which i only heard before from my Trifecta. At that point i didn't even know about the old Valkyria revision, and while the subbass dropoff was annoying, the midbass was very satisfying.
I highly prefer very detailed / almost bright tubes with the Valkyria, it gets too muddy otherwise, i preferred the same with the Pulsar. I have no idea how the 465 sounds, but if it's (too) warm it's probably not a good pairing. For me the Valkyria is basically the opposite of what the 1266 TC needs, that's why i love the option to easily swap tubes.

I understand they have the old Valkyria

We don't know what model Koji had in his review, it could very well be the normal revision you can buy nowadays.

Yes, the timbre is excellent, and the piano and acoustic instruments are very good.

They sounded even more realistic to me than on the Susvara, same as kickdrums.

All in all i'm a bit sorry for the glowing hype review i did, but i in the end i chose to buy the Valkyria after hearing the Pulsar for a week, so the driver revision did not play any role in that decision at all. The Pulsar easily outperformed the Verite Open (except in the subbass region / for certain genres), which was my one and only dynamic driver at the time and so far my favourite one. The Valkyria butchered it.

 

[normie610]

My first impression after a few hours is that it is underwhelming. I am having a very hard time with the midbass, kick drums sound anemic something I was looking forward to after reading Exekhutor's and watching CMA's review. I understand they have the old Valkyria and that's what I wanted. When this whole 3-hole / 5-hole was brought up I thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference but I guess it does. My Susvara has better midbass to my ears and I cannot justify the price for what I'm getting. Yes, the timbre is excellent, and the piano and acoustic instruments are very good. I will give it a few more days but most likely I will return them.

In my experience, Valkyria sounds best with linear sounding tube amps. With my CFA3, similar to your experience, the mid-bass can be a bit anemic with some of the songs, but with my Primavera, I haven't encountered an instance where kick drums sound anemic. As a matter of fact, Primavera improves a bit on the sub-bass region, where it's mostly non-existent with CFA3. It could be a matter of synergy with your MK 465 just as @msq123 said above.