The All Purpose Advice Thread

I have all the gear mentioned. The Vali2/Elear sound great. At work i'm running the Modi Mulitbit and Vali2 w/ andromedas, good combo. Why sell your chord mojo? Keep it for headphones that sound good with it. Just save up for ModiMM and Vali2 . Buy one of these adapters and a cheap-o tube for a cost effective tube upgrade and call it a day.

 

Good point, I am hesitant about the vali 2 because I read from The Alchemist's HD 800 recommendation post that the amp is on the neutral side.

Wouldn't it make sense to get a warm amp to pair with the flat sounding HD 800?

I think I am going to take your advice and get the modiMM + vali 2 combo. It's cheap and actually affordable if I plan on keeping my Mojo.

 

It'd be a really good start. The Vali 2, to an extent, is what you make it- due to the choice of tube. I would maybe try taking Mike Moffat's (and @Hands ) route, and sticking a cheap EH6CG7 in there:

https://www.tubedepot.com/products/electro-harmonix-6cg7-6fq7-eh-preamp-vacuum-tube

It will probably warm the sound up for you, and make the HD800 less tiring to listen to. The Vali 2 is such an inexpensive little amp, and you could try different tubes in it, to see what suits you. Obviously, it's a small, inexpensive amp, and better sounding things exist for more money, but chances are, you will enjoy listening to it for itself. It might be small and cheap, but it doesn't suck at all.

Frankly, even if/when you end up with a bigger, more serious amp, I would suggest keeping the Vali 2, it's just nice to have around, it has a nice sound of its own. More than one person around here has ended up buying it more than once, after selling the first one during an upgrade.

I kept my Mojo too, and use it for mobile/travel stuff with IEMs, it works well for me. The amp looks bad quite quickly with even slightly challenging headphones, though.

Oh, and finally - the Modi 2 Multibit is a great DAC for the money, and will look super-cute stacked with your Vali. Maybe the Modi and Vali won't be your eventual "endgame" rig, but you absolutely won't feel stupid for buying either. They're both well-engineered and fantastic value, and will get you painlessly to a good state where you can just start enjoying listening rather than fretting.

Edit:

Oh yeah, and if you do want to sell the Elears, you can probably get a decent price for them especially while they're still The New Thing, don't worry! However, give them a listen with something better than the Mojo's amp first.

 

Vali2, I wouldn't call neutral, maybe with stock tube. But even with stock tube there's some inherent roundness to the sound. A few of us suggested cheap tubes to buy that sound way better than stock. For your 800's get the Sorrodje mod. Very easy to do and I think sounds better than the 800S.

 

Decided to go with the Vali 2 + Modi Multibit combo.

Also got the 6922 Gold lion tube as well.

Would you recommend the 5670W tube or would the 6922 gold lion tube be sufficient?


Pretty excited to get my new set-up. Maybe I'll keep the Elears for a little longer to try them with my new set up before selling them.

Definitely going to sell my Chord Mojo though since I use my HTC 10 with my Andromedas more often than with my Mojo.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

Also, don't be shocked if you don't really like the stock tube much- I found it underwhelming and quite microphonic.

 

Looks like I'll be picking up a used Valhalla 1. It apparently has a very 'warm' sound signature, but finding many reviews online is kinda difficult since people are mostly talking about the Valhalla 2 (even though they just refer to it as "the Valhalla") and that loads up the search bar a bit.

Any experienced users have any input/advice for it? I don't want to go too ham on the tube rolling aspects, and my DAC would be a GOV2 running in low gain mode.

edit: Apparently, tube rolling isn't something you can do with the Valhalla 1, or is at least very not intended.

 

No comments on the Val 1, but test out the GOV2 on high gain as well to see how you like the sound.

 

Oh I use the GOV2 on high gain with headphones right now. I meant that I'd be using it on low gain if I was feeding it into my Valhalla. Not sure 1,000mW of output into the Valhalla's line in would be a great idea.

 

I understand what you meant. But try it out nonetheless.

 

Yeah. $200 CAD (+shipping) for this if the deal goes through haha. It looks like Schiit still sells the original Valhalla tube set on their website, so it's nice to be able to get those from them if I do need a replacement set.

 

I'm looking for an amp/dac pairing for my upcoming Ether Flows. I currently have a Valhalla 2 and 40$ dac. I need to upgrade the Dac and was thinking either modi multibit or bifrost multibit. I'm using a sound blaster Z for surround in games. If the Valhalla is a bad pairing in willing to change

This will mostly be a Pc gaming sound rig. I do listen to tidal but more focused on immersion and positional audio.

Please note I had the HD 800 and the thin sound isn't for me. I have also owned He 400 and the bass in gaming was amazing so hoping for that combo in the ether flows.

You guys have been much more useful then Head Fi

 

To be honest, I don't think there's much point in the Bifrost right now- unless they figure out a way to crowbar an even higher spec DAC onto a board for it. You may as well pay less and get the Modi Multibit, which uses the same chipset crammed into a smaller box- it performs about the same for way less money.

The choice really becomes between the tiny and killer value Modi multibit option and the larger and much more expensive Gungir multibit- which sounds like total overkill for you right now. I'm pretty sure that you won't hate the combination of the Modi Multibit and your existing amp- it's a competent DAC that works, with no real gotchas.

Oh, there's just one, actually- the Schiit multibit DACs sound their best when they have been switched on for at least a couple of hours (some people rarely switch them off)- the accuracy of the DAC is higher when they're warmed up. That's it, though. They're well-made sensible devices that do what you'd expect.

 

I'm bored. Back to thinking about a desktop setup. Thinking Jot Bifrost Multibit stack. I think Gungnir Multibit would be overkill, but not sure. I only have in set if headphones, fostex th900, but lots of nice iems.

BTW, also considering adding new phones. Thinking the hd650. I've heard the 800s, both new and modded old ones. I really did enjoy them but I need a bit more bass.

What do you guys think? Good stack for a basshead that wants clarity and decent treble extension?

 

So roll with the Mod multibit then

Are there any other DACs that will increase Soundstage and immersion or are they 1000$ plus so it isn't worth it.

 

Depends on what you want to spend. The Utopia sounded absolutely amazing with the jot and Gungnir Multibit but that is a lot of money for me, but damn if that didn't sound better then anything I head at the Hi fi shop I was at even over the Stax 009.

 

Can my Campfire Audio Litz wire be reterminated from SE to balanced 3.5mm? And where can I get it done (in NYC btw)?

 

So im getting a new phone soon, what phone has the best audio solution? looking for a nice powerfull amp built in for my modded T50RP's.