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Valhalla 2 review coming soon!
Jun 29, 2014 at 8:42 PM Post #31 of 907
I took the plunge and have a pair of Telefunkan 6922 cca tubes for my valhalla 2 the ones made in ULM Germany. they are pretty much the holly grail and very very expensive. It will be very interesting to roll them into the amp. I believe they are gorgeous to listen to.
 
In the mean time I am now a few days into using my Valhalla 2 with the stock tubes. I definitely concur with other reports here. It has definitely opened up a lot. It is just a magical pairing with my Beyer T1's. They are so balanced . The only thing that is frustrating is. In some source material I am finding the some higher frequencies a bit taxing on my ears. I hope this may be over come with the new tubes I intend to put in and a bit more burn in time on the amp and headphones. The T1's are only a few weeks old themselves so we shall see.
 
Jun 30, 2014 at 4:28 PM Post #32 of 907
Coming from the original I am currently breaking in a brand new Valhalla 2. Below is a very positive 2 cents about this successor from my side. The force is strong in this one. The main reason for buying the Valhalla 2 only a few months after buying the previous one, was my Shure SRH1840 with an impedance of only 65 Ohms. A damping factor of just over 2 times with the original Valhalla, was stretching it too much.
The Shure SRH1840 has a modest bass with ground shaking foundation and I could always hear that via my Fostex HP-A3. The ground shaking element was weakened to say the least using the original Valhalla and is restored again using the Valhalla 2. The bass has more punch and control, not a big surprise looking at damping factor which is now over 18 in low gain mode. In my DIY past I used the thumb-rule of > 15.
The sound of the Valhalla 2 has more clarity when compared to the original but this does not say it all. In combination with that clarity there is a warmth which I would like to describe as the sound signature of tubes. The Valhalla 2 seems to slow down time. You also get the impression of serene silence around you while listening to loud music. I think that description is more poetic than just saying it sounds darker black than before. In combination with the natural mids of the SRH1840, human voices become something special at this price point. Talking about human voices, I never heard more coherent and fluent transitions between dim and loud passages (Body and Soul, Lioness by Amy Winehouse, 44.1kHz 24bit).
There is a change in the projection of the sound stage but I do not know exactly how to describe it. Bottom line, it is more realistic.
I transferred my Cryoset tubes to the new amp: A 6N1P-EV Super Cryo matched pair and a russian 6N6P Gold Grid Cryo matched pair. The Valhalla 2 has much better focus and separation of instruments and voices than before. I think the new topology makes the amp less sensitive for the tolerance of the active components because the tubes are really the same. Focus benefits from narrow tolerances between channels (and the absence of feedback).
Yes I am using the Fostex HP-A3 as a source, together with JRiver's standard crossfeed. An AudioQuest Sydney interconnect sits in between and the digital audio goes over a Carbon USB cable from the same brand (in my defence I would like to say that I do not want flipped PCM bits via isochronous USB transfers).
I already preferred this Schiit over the Fostex phones output because of the wider stage and the more natural sound. The Valhalla 2 brings it to the next level.
 
Jul 1, 2014 at 9:08 PM Post #35 of 907
Today I rolled in some platinum golden lion ecc88s and a pair of 6H30pi Electro Harmonix. Wow what a sound. I have been listening to the new 24bit remaster of Pink Floyd's Division Bell , spectacular , warm airy . With my Beyer T1's the highs also sound a lot more controlled and far less sibilant .
 
The sound just envelops you. It feels like your in the room with the players. Its almost like another veil of detail has been revealed .  Lesson its worth spending some decent money on getting some great tubes as when you do you get the best from it.
 
Jul 1, 2014 at 9:27 PM Post #36 of 907
grrorr76 said:
  Today I rolled in some platinum golden lion ecc88s and a pair of 6H30pi Electro Harmonix. Wow what a sound. I have been listening to the new 24bit remaster of Pink Floyd's Division Bell , spectacular , warm airy . With my Beyer T1's the highs also sound a lot more controlled and far less sibilant .
 
The sound just envelops you. It feels like your in the room with the players. Its almost like another veil of detail has been revealed .  Lesson its worth spending some decent money on getting some great tubes as when you do you get the best from it.
Click to expand...


So are the 6H30pi Electro Harmonix are on the output side?
 
Jul 2, 2014 at 5:36 PM Post #38 of 907
I would really like to try a set of Gold Lion ECC88 tubes but will save my budget for a Bifrost Uber. And if I am planning to buy a Bifrost... an update must be due. Happened to me before just a few months after I purchased the Valhalla. No complains however, I think it is worth double the price and more. So until the Bifrost 2 becomes available, I might let the hifi-cat from next door play with my cryo tubes. I will report on any improvement to the sound...
 
Jul 5, 2014 at 6:18 PM Post #40 of 907
I have now been burning in for about 50 hrs now with my gold lion and electro harmonic tubes. I can report the highs have settled down theres a nicer control in the bass. The amp is really sounding milky smooth now without that grating spike in the highs. One thing about this amp the hotter you can get it in my opinion the better it sounds . Before listing I like to leave it on for a few hours to let it hit its stride. Its giving me a head of pleasure. When burnt in with my beer T1's it just lovely.  I have some telefunkan e88cc tubes arriving this week it will be interesting to see how they sound to.
 
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