Well just got in Valhalla 2 for half-price used for 249 euro, and had modi magni stack before. So this is a test with various headphones and styles of music, as have around 8 cans right now and recently acquired Arya Stealth magnet which is my biggest purchase. Only just set up RCA split cables and extensions, not good quality or anything, cheap things with zero shielding etc. But they work to output signal from Modi to Magni+ and Valhalla2.
Track: Bonnie Raitt, Not the Only One off Tidal plus, quality 'high'.
HD 600 off Valhalla2: Gain set high, very clear, good separation, maybe a tiny bit of sibilance, good bass. Plenty of volume more than loud enough at 11 oclock. Very good spacing and breathing.
HD 600 off Magni: Lacks presence of Valhalla, but very close. Lacks some of the air if u know what I mean. But very close. Maybe lacking separation as opposed to tubes spacially. Not sure. But very close.
Arya Stealth magnet off Magni gain set low: didn't work so set gain on high. Ok phew! Plenty volume at 12 oclock. Not that much different than hd600, maybe a tad more detail. Good spacing! Good overall sound, not a bass-head but very good in mids.
Arya Stealth on low gain on Valhalla 2: Nice airy sound, better sound stage. A step up! No noticable distortion in lower end etc. Highs a bit rounded off, nice smooth sound! Like pair of he-4xx from drop but better detail. Good! Bass doesn't blow me away though..
On high gain, more grain and more distortion, not a good choice. But doable as well.
Last mid-to high end cans, the AKG k712 pros.
On magni: Great detail, bit sibilant, very pronounced high end, magni has no problem driving them at 12 oclock. Lacks some bass. Not as smooth as my old akg k612's. I would put them up there with hd600's and arya stealth for presentation.
On Valhalla: Immediately better breathing, a bit of that tube magic! Better spacial resolution as well. Good pairing! Rolls off some of the high end as well. On low gain, knob is at 13 oclock. Bit harsher than both hd600 and Arya stealth though. Perhaps more detailed. But not unpleasant by any means. Think that's a pretty good pairing of cans and amp.
Mid to lower-priced cans
Drop he-4xx
On Magni: Great! Smooth, warm sound! Not significantly worse than those above, but lacking in details. Was my favorite pair of cans before Arya Stealth. Not analytic by any means, but good for hours of easy listening! On high gain on magni.
On Valhalla 2: Immediately more open, better cans! More breathing! So a big step up! Still I would probably just buy better cans. Still tubes made a big difference in sound signature there! So There! all those who say that planar magnetics don't work with Valhalla2! Pretty nice combo!
DT-770 pro the classics at 80ohm.
They have their place in every recording studio of course.
On Magni: Good but maybe a bit thin on midrange. Still the classics. Breaks up at times. Terrible non-replaceable cables. Already replace entire cans once. Good enough for some uses, but a long way off hi-fi. Break-up in midrange, and very little bass. On magni comfortable listening is with gain set to hi, and knob at 12 oclock. Not terrible, pretty good, but once you've gone hi-fi hard to turn back!
On Valhalla2: Much better, better spacial resolution, better from lows to highs immediately. Note on high-gain setting, low-gain was too low. Still some breakup and noise at even medium volumes. So disappointing there. But the Valhalla helps a lot. Still a great beginner can! Well Superlux makes copies that are nearly as good of course.
AKG k271mkii
My goto cans while in 3d school, as they didn't leak too much! Replaced twice!
On Magni+: Bright, but not much bass presence. Needs to be on high-gain on Magni. Not much detail compared with higher-end cans, but good enough for a beginner. Some distortion at higher volumes. Bit harsh on the high end. Good with knob set to 11 oclock, past that there's breakup.
On Valhalla2: Better, airier and more space between bass and treble. But then at this price point, just buy better cans! Still a bit harsh when volume increases. So distortion at higher volumes. Otherwise good sound! For such a budget pair of cans! Recommended (and dt-770's of course!). Big plus for mini-xlr replaceable cables.
Superlux hd681 32ohm semi open from China
Well the cheap and cheerful variant, have 2 more (hd660 and hd330 which are not reviewed here, copies of Beyers). Found on ebay, various other places, cheap but still very good value for money.
On Magni+: Needs to be on high-gain on Magni. Great sound, just as good as waaay more expensive cans! These are a steal! at the price! Prbly better sound than akg-k271mkii and dt-770's. These are basically copies of a pair of classic akg's, the akg k171's or whatever they were. But damn these work! Highly recommended! These are 32 ohm but work best on high-gain. Very smooth! Great sound! Run and buy!
On Valhalla2: Works both on low and high-gain. Listening in low-gain. Bit better air, breaghthiness on the valhalla. Sounds great! But then I doubt you buy a 550 euro tube amp to listen to a 40 euro pair of cans! But still heads up, superlux is on the up! Great cans for cheap monies!
Well will still have to test out iems (kinera) to test if the claim of Schiit is true...but wow these cheap Chinese cans are great! Remind me of my first good cans, akg k171 etc.
Kinera IEM's old ones:
Magni: harsh, unpleasant compared with straight from mobile or via FiOO Q1. Not good. Then again, only 100 dollar iem's. Believe it or not had to have Magni's on high gain to drive iem's.
Valhalla: Immediately better sound and soundstage! That's more like it! On low gain. Will have to invest in better IEM's though, around the 5-600 dollar range! Good times! Now IEM's are showing their potential! So yes you can listen to IEM's off Valhalla2, despite rumors to the contrary! Works fine! Why you would want to is another question, sitting at a desk!
So conclusion: Super happy with used half-price Valhalla 2, it CAN drive planar magnetics and iems without sounding rubbish, maybe not ideal for the most picky of us, but very good for e.g. hd600 and so on. Bit expensive at 550 euro at Schiit Europe, I would buy used if I could, probably not worth it at that price. USA prices seem ok. But pretty happy with mine so far. Then again, not a gigantic difference between it and say the Magni+, it's incremental tiny differences at best. But nice to see tubes on the desk!
Track: Bonnie Raitt, Not the Only One off Tidal plus, quality 'high'.
HD 600 off Valhalla2: Gain set high, very clear, good separation, maybe a tiny bit of sibilance, good bass. Plenty of volume more than loud enough at 11 oclock. Very good spacing and breathing.
HD 600 off Magni: Lacks presence of Valhalla, but very close. Lacks some of the air if u know what I mean. But very close. Maybe lacking separation as opposed to tubes spacially. Not sure. But very close.
Arya Stealth magnet off Magni gain set low: didn't work so set gain on high. Ok phew! Plenty volume at 12 oclock. Not that much different than hd600, maybe a tad more detail. Good spacing! Good overall sound, not a bass-head but very good in mids.
Arya Stealth on low gain on Valhalla 2: Nice airy sound, better sound stage. A step up! No noticable distortion in lower end etc. Highs a bit rounded off, nice smooth sound! Like pair of he-4xx from drop but better detail. Good! Bass doesn't blow me away though..
On high gain, more grain and more distortion, not a good choice. But doable as well.
Last mid-to high end cans, the AKG k712 pros.
On magni: Great detail, bit sibilant, very pronounced high end, magni has no problem driving them at 12 oclock. Lacks some bass. Not as smooth as my old akg k612's. I would put them up there with hd600's and arya stealth for presentation.
On Valhalla: Immediately better breathing, a bit of that tube magic! Better spacial resolution as well. Good pairing! Rolls off some of the high end as well. On low gain, knob is at 13 oclock. Bit harsher than both hd600 and Arya stealth though. Perhaps more detailed. But not unpleasant by any means. Think that's a pretty good pairing of cans and amp.
Mid to lower-priced cans
Drop he-4xx
On Magni: Great! Smooth, warm sound! Not significantly worse than those above, but lacking in details. Was my favorite pair of cans before Arya Stealth. Not analytic by any means, but good for hours of easy listening! On high gain on magni.
On Valhalla 2: Immediately more open, better cans! More breathing! So a big step up! Still I would probably just buy better cans. Still tubes made a big difference in sound signature there! So There! all those who say that planar magnetics don't work with Valhalla2! Pretty nice combo!
DT-770 pro the classics at 80ohm.
They have their place in every recording studio of course.
On Magni: Good but maybe a bit thin on midrange. Still the classics. Breaks up at times. Terrible non-replaceable cables. Already replace entire cans once. Good enough for some uses, but a long way off hi-fi. Break-up in midrange, and very little bass. On magni comfortable listening is with gain set to hi, and knob at 12 oclock. Not terrible, pretty good, but once you've gone hi-fi hard to turn back!
On Valhalla2: Much better, better spacial resolution, better from lows to highs immediately. Note on high-gain setting, low-gain was too low. Still some breakup and noise at even medium volumes. So disappointing there. But the Valhalla helps a lot. Still a great beginner can! Well Superlux makes copies that are nearly as good of course.
AKG k271mkii
My goto cans while in 3d school, as they didn't leak too much! Replaced twice!
On Magni+: Bright, but not much bass presence. Needs to be on high-gain on Magni. Not much detail compared with higher-end cans, but good enough for a beginner. Some distortion at higher volumes. Bit harsh on the high end. Good with knob set to 11 oclock, past that there's breakup.
On Valhalla2: Better, airier and more space between bass and treble. But then at this price point, just buy better cans! Still a bit harsh when volume increases. So distortion at higher volumes. Otherwise good sound! For such a budget pair of cans! Recommended (and dt-770's of course!). Big plus for mini-xlr replaceable cables.
Superlux hd681 32ohm semi open from China
Well the cheap and cheerful variant, have 2 more (hd660 and hd330 which are not reviewed here, copies of Beyers). Found on ebay, various other places, cheap but still very good value for money.
On Magni+: Needs to be on high-gain on Magni. Great sound, just as good as waaay more expensive cans! These are a steal! at the price! Prbly better sound than akg-k271mkii and dt-770's. These are basically copies of a pair of classic akg's, the akg k171's or whatever they were. But damn these work! Highly recommended! These are 32 ohm but work best on high-gain. Very smooth! Great sound! Run and buy!
On Valhalla2: Works both on low and high-gain. Listening in low-gain. Bit better air, breaghthiness on the valhalla. Sounds great! But then I doubt you buy a 550 euro tube amp to listen to a 40 euro pair of cans! But still heads up, superlux is on the up! Great cans for cheap monies!
Well will still have to test out iems (kinera) to test if the claim of Schiit is true...but wow these cheap Chinese cans are great! Remind me of my first good cans, akg k171 etc.
Kinera IEM's old ones:
Magni: harsh, unpleasant compared with straight from mobile or via FiOO Q1. Not good. Then again, only 100 dollar iem's. Believe it or not had to have Magni's on high gain to drive iem's.
Valhalla: Immediately better sound and soundstage! That's more like it! On low gain. Will have to invest in better IEM's though, around the 5-600 dollar range! Good times! Now IEM's are showing their potential! So yes you can listen to IEM's off Valhalla2, despite rumors to the contrary! Works fine! Why you would want to is another question, sitting at a desk!
So conclusion: Super happy with used half-price Valhalla 2, it CAN drive planar magnetics and iems without sounding rubbish, maybe not ideal for the most picky of us, but very good for e.g. hd600 and so on. Bit expensive at 550 euro at Schiit Europe, I would buy used if I could, probably not worth it at that price. USA prices seem ok. But pretty happy with mine so far. Then again, not a gigantic difference between it and say the Magni+, it's incremental tiny differences at best. But nice to see tubes on the desk!
