Schiit advice, DAC and Amp for HD6XX

Well yes. I share this 200%. I’m seeking soundstage too and that’s why I’m wondering between Valhalla 2 and Vali 2 even if the later is not that good.

Furthermore I like warm / dark tonality, and not so flat or with emphasized treble.

Regarding the Vyr I prefer to skip it just in case. I heard about many many users left without headphones.

About the tubes finally and the Valhalla 2, you think it’s a good idea to get the used one and to buy at tubes-store even if they are not matched? The price is unbeatable.

 

very yes

 

Of course it's my opinion. The whole post was me explaining my preferences for sound style and soundstage/headstage presentation and how that will affect what sort of amps, DACs, and headphones I'll recommend over others. It's very much personal preference. A personal preference determined by listening to lots of different amps and headphones and finding what type and style of sound works best for me.

If I'm recommending gear the responsible thing to do is explain my personal preferences for sound style when recommending one amp over another based on how it matches up with that sound style.

The Jotunheim is a good pairing with the HD650. But it is not a good choice for me. It's a wrong style of sound for me for what I prefer.

My preference is for something like the Cavalli Liquid Platinum and HD650 (although with the Liquid Platinum I prefer the Audeze LCD-2, but the HD650 is still a good pairing). Anything that gets closer to the Liquid Platinum sound and soundstage is going to be what I choose. The Valhalla gets closer to that than the Jotunheim.

 

The Modi Multibit doesn't get the amp the present a larger soundstage. What the Modi Multibit does is make the most of the soundstage the amp provides and fill it in. The magic is in how the multibit fills in the soundstage.

There are DACs that can get an amp to present a bigger soundstage than what it would normally with a more typical source. Some of the Sabre DACs can do this. They can make it seem like the sound it out there, over there, and over there. So big and spread out. But the imaging inside the soundstage will be somewhat empty in comparison to the multibit. The DAC in the PonoPlayer actually does a little of this, which is how/why it has some of the soundstage that it does.

My strategy is to find an amp that presents a soundstage that I like in size and depth and shape. Find headphones I like that work well with that amp. Then look for a DAC that plays well within the soundstage that the amp naturally provides. I don't want the DAC to try to make the soundstage sound unnatrually larger even though my preference is to have a larger and deeper soundstage with headphones.

That's a long way of saying my preference would be to get the Valhalla 2 and if funds don't allow for also getting the Modi Multibit then get the regular Modi 3.


That used Valhalla 2 is a good price considering the price a new one would be in Canada. The used one comes with stock tubes? So it already has tubes you can use? If so then good deal. As for buying tubes, there are many online stores specializing in selling tubes. Find one that will test the tubes and sell you matched pairs. It costs a little more to do that but worth it. I generally avoid buying tubes from eBay and other similar sources. With sellers like that you can end up buying batches of tubes that other shops have passed on or rejected. Buy from trusted honest tube shops and you'll be fine. Don't make tube buying more difficult and guess work than it needs to be.

 

Really appreciate all your experience. Comes super handy indeed !
The tubes I’d be buying them here Tubes-Store.com - Vacuum tubes, capacitors, nixie tubes, sockets. Wholesale & retail trade. Worldwide shipping.

Prices are excellent but it seems they don’t sell matched pairs.

 

Was this a truly blind comparison and were the 2 DACs precisely level matched? The Modi Multibit has a slightly higher output voltage than the Modi 3 which could easily make it sound “better”

 

I went with the Jotunheim because I wanted balanced and single-ended for my HD-6xx and K7xx respectively but I think if I had to do it all over again with those cans I'd get a Topping DX7S

 

We’re talking about a pair of $200 headphones here. To spend $600 - $700 on an amp and DAC to drive $200 headphones is insane to me. If I had a ~$1,000 to spend I’d be getting the cheapest yet still competent amp/DAC combo I could and spend the rest on the best headphones I could afford.

Price dicrepencies between components become less meaningful when you get higher up in price and performance, but in the sub $1,000 budget category it’s my opinion that you should be allocating as much as possible towards headphones or speakers. That’s where you’ll unarguably get the most noticeable difference in sound quality.

 

Yeah well, I’m still waiting advice on this because if not I’m going for the Vali 2, considering my budget it sounds good for me today to spend $65 in 12 pair of tubes. Spnding $50 in 2 pairs it’s a no go for me. In that subject other amps like Vyr, Vali, DarkVoice and Bottlehead have advantage over the Valhalla.

 

I would also consider this along with the various Schiit stacks:

JDS Labs

 

Don' t worry about valhalla2 tube life. I'm stil running the original tubes. It is several years old.

 

I've never bought anything from tubes-store. Or even looked at them before. There are lots of places to buy tubes, even in Canada. Shop around and find a place that will test and match the tubes.

I've never owned an amp that has the same tubes as the Valhalla. I don't know what to recommend for lower cost tubes for it or where to buy them. You'll have to get advice from some people who own the Valhalla.

Don't get scared away about tube costs by people who choose to put more expensive NOS tubes in an amp like that. Focus on the lower cost tubes like the stock ones that come with the amp. Tube rolling more expensive NOS tubes can be interesting if you have the budget, but absolutely not necessary. Stock quality tubes will sound good. Don't let the temptation and costs of tube rolling keep you from buying an amp like the Valhalla. Stock tubes are fine.

 

Audiophile Tube Price List

for the valhalla

scroll down to butt ugly 6CG7 - 25 bux for a matched pair, little more bass slam and wider soundstage, subtle but a nice improvement over stock, brent jesse runs a good business and is reliable, if you want to spend more try the RCA blackplate or there are several other choices, you can always email him for suggestions

jut an FYI the stock tubes sound just fine, i bought these so i could have spares on hand they are cheap and good

 

Interesting results from this Schiit shootout featuring the Modi 3 feeding the Magni 3+, Heresy and Vali 2: basically no difference with the HD 6XX:
Magni 3+ vs Heresy - A Schiit Shootout! | AudioHead

 

That's because you haven't heard how much these headphones can scale. Many headphone aficionados spend thousands of dollars on DACs and amps for these headphones, and prefer them to headphones costing many multiples of the original HD650 retail price (much less the amazing $200 pricepoint at which Drop now offers this version).

 

I bought the Modi 3 first then the Modi multibit about a month later. The Modi 3 is very good, especially for the price, but to my ears the multibit is a much better sounding DAC. Of course as with any piece of audio equipment it's all subjective. I use HD650's with a Bellari headphone amp. I went with the Bellari because it uses 12ax7 tubes and I have a lot different makes, old and new, of tubes because of the tube receivers and integrated amps I've owned.

 

Different combo, but I’m very happy with my HD600’s with an Ayre Codex. What really ups the game is using the balanced outputs to the headphones via Cardas Parsec cables. Great sound, but I haven’t compared to anything else except the stock cable.

 

Has anyone else had the Vali 1 and the Vali 2 with the 600’s? I had a Vali 1 for years and then it broke (my wife’s cats fault, not the amps). I now have a Vali 2 and I’m pretty sure I preferred the original version.

That being the case (though I’m sure the original poster has figured his situation out by now), I’d try something other than the Vali 2 for 600’s.

 

I've never heard the Vali 2 but consider the Vali 1 the best Schiit product I've used - I like it better then the Lyr or Valhalla.

 

HD650 sounded best with Vali 2 and a balanced/tested EH 6922 for me. Jotunheim didn’t quite do it, just not as engaging as its cheaper cousin.

But my Burson soloist beat them both by a wide margin.

 

I mentioned this in another thread but I got the HD 6XX about a year ago and have been experimenting with a few DAC and amp combinations. Currently I’m using a Schiit Bifrost 2 with a THX AAA 789 amp. I suppose it’s a bit of an unusual pairing (it wasn’t planned) but I’m enjoying it. I started with a Modi 3 DAC which I liked quite a bit, but I’ve found that Schiit multibit and R2R DACs are more to my personal liking with the HD 6XX. I still haven’t tried them with a tube amp or hybrid but I’d definitely like to.

 

This is what I use at home. A Jotunheim with a Multibit DAC, powering my Senn HD 650 with a balanced cable. Sounds REALLY great.

 

I don't own a Schiit DAC/AMP therefore my input is limited to my experience with the HD6XX and the HD600, both of which I own and like. I used both with a variety of DAC and amplifications, ranging from a portable Apogee Groove to a Violectric V281 and found that it's worth experimenting because while they do scale well with more powerful amplification they also tend to reflect the characteristics of the DAC/AMP they are paired with instead of masking them. I had a lot of fun experimenting with switching them from single to balanced on the same amplifier or switching amplifications and every time I did it I got a slightly different result. It was fun because they retained their basic characteristic of slightly warm sound, good mid and relative narrowness of sound-stage but I could hear what each DAC/Amplification pairing did.

Therefore my advise is to accept that the HD6XX are going to be long term residents in your home and that you are very likely to end up with several DAC and amplifiers during their stay. So don't agonize too much on your first purchase.

 

This is a year old post that I initially ignored. I'll respond now anyways.

Differences in imaging, layering and soundstage depth aren't affected by precisely matching output levels of the DACs. The DAC that has better imaging, layering, and soundstage depth will demonstrate that superiority at lower output levels or higher output levels. It doesn't matter. The DAC that has poor imaging, flat layering, and flat depth could have a +2dB advantage in an ABX test and it would still come out the loser when listening for imaging, layering, and soundstage depth.

 

Monoprice does do periodic sales. I haven't been paying close attention to how much the sales price for the amp fluctuates on Monoprice. Monoprice also sells the amp on Amazon. You can look at the Amazon price history for the amp using CamelCamelCamel: Monolith Liquid Platinum Headphone Amplifier - Designed by Alex Cavalli | 3.6 Watts Per Channel, Fully Balanced Amp (B07K7YSL41)

I bought the amp for $699.99 when it first came out. $699.99 was the original MSRP. Then it went up, and then up again to its current $799.99 MSRP. Maybe it was tariffs or supply that caused the price increase. Or other reasons.