New Schiit Vali 2 Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by jexby, Dec 11, 2015.

  1. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    HD600 and HD6XX. No need to get another amp, I'm happy with my SW51+ (which works perfect on Senns) and my DNA Starlett.

    I was just curious about the Vali 2, and someone was offering me one to hear. I was like why not.....
     
  2. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    So..I have to tell this story.

    @YMO had never had experience with the Vali 2 and with his love of tubes with his DNA and his SW51+, he lent out his THX 789 amp (which turned into a mini-tour), so I sent my Vali 2 along with a few tubes for him to evaluate/enjoy.

    While on this detour to Jacksonville, Florida, the right channel stopped going into high gain. Left gain would engage, but the right side refused to go into high gain and remained in low gain. Low gain for both channels continued to work fine. This is with all tubes. So it was sent back to me for evaluation.

    I checked the switch, tube socket, and all other things I could. I cleaned the board, still could not figure it out. Did a super close inspection of all components and then I see where a SMD part would be, but it appears to be broke in half and sticking up in the air on one side. I followed the trace, and it goes back to one side of the gain switch...EUREKA!

    [​IMG]

    [In the picture you can see R104 there just missing and half of it just blow up and sticking up there. Compare to R103 (to the right) as to what it is supposed to look like.]

    Luckily we are all human and Jason made the layout the same image on the right side of the circuit board to the left. So I was able to see that the missing part was a SMD resistor with "3220" stamped on it. Looked it up, 320 ohm resistor. Mouser order was placed for 4, because those damn things are tiny as crap and one sneeze and it might as well be in another dimension, and they are only $0.65.

    Resistors and more stylish knob arrived today and sure as hell, the first resistor took a spill in my carpet. It might as well been dropped off in the abyss. Next one I was more careful, soldered the best I could all crooked and what not. Still did not work. Re-flowed the solder on the other side as it appeared too shiny, powered on again and high gain returned! Holy Schiit! I fixed a Schiit! High and low gain working as designed and all has returned to normal.

    Only the second time I have had to pull out my soldering iron on a Schiit product. The other time was when during the Unison beta, I was taking apart my Bifrost a few times to install beta card, remove beta card and return, get returned card and install...I wound up breaking the legs of one of the LEDs getting them to line up in those tiny holes. Luckily it broke off at the bottom and I did not have to buy a new one. There was enough stretch left. But I am not opening that thing for nothing anymore. As far as I am concerned, that Multibit card and Unison card live in there as far as I am concerned.

    Now to just replace that tube that broke in shipping, but that is a different story, lol.

    ;TLDR - Shiit Vali 2 broke, I fixed it.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2020
  3. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    My EH 6922 is developing static in the left channel. My Sovteks have yet to arrive from tube depot so cant switch out to determine if its the Vali2 or EH. The EH is only a few months old. Is this typical tube behavior? This is my second tube and both developed static in the left channel after the course of a few months. The first tube was a used Amperex Orange. Before I order more tubes is there something else I should try?
     
  4. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    Have you checked for rust on the pins, sockets, and your cable connectors? Worth giving them a clean as a precaution either way.
     
  5. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    I inspected sockets, pins, and cables but didnt see anything unusual. I ordered some deoxit anyway just in case. Ill try contacting Schiit as well and see what they recommend. Ill update later with their response.
     
  6. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    My guess it is something with the tube. Try some other tubes to verify.

    And also check your source just on case as well.
     
  7. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    Daniel Katz (Schiit Audio):
    If it developed again after a few months, it sounds like the tube must have been close to the end of its life somehow.
    ... If another premature death Ill try an Asgard this time. C’est la tube vie.

    Edit: New tube (Philips PCC88) arrived. No more static.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2020
  8. Seaner

    Seaner New

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    Sorry to bump thread but I was told to post my question here by mod.
    The Vali 2 only has one variable output. Can I use two Y adapters to double (split) my variable outputs, having one pair go to my power amp and the other pair going to my powered subwoofer? Thanks
     
  9. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Shouldn't be a problem. Unlike doing that with a DAC, Vali 2 is a headphone amp and will have plenty of current to spare in that application.
     
  10. robot zombie

    robot zombie Friend

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    I've done just that. It can even work with DACs but like Cspirou said it is down to the output current the DAC has on tap. Personally I think a Sys would be better as a preamp to split from if you just want consolidated volume control for the speaker amp and subs, provided you have a DAC that's up to the splitting, which many are. I know the modibit and even the older modi 2 uber are - I've personally run them to a pair of monitors and a sub via splitters. Cheap, functional, and transparent option. If you don't use the other input on the Sys, the toggle button functions as a mute and you can even split the DAC to feed the Sys and the Vali 2. This way you just mute the speakers and turn the amp on when you want to use your headphones.

    Hasn't yet broken anything. If anybody can point me to a reason why it would, I am all ears.

    I also wanna add that while you absolutely can use the Vali 2 as your dedicated preamp, it's not the best way to go. There are other Schiit amps that'll serve you better as a preamp, unless you've already got a Vali 2 or that is the sound you're sold on (in which case, no harm in using those outs that way - don't get me wrong.) I wouldn't hold it against you if you want to use the Vali 2 because you like it and can't be messing around with more stuff. I still use my Vali 2 sometimes, even though I also have an SW51+. Not much out there quite like that little guy.

    It's just that it does need to warm up every time you turn it on, and the tube life will be significantly less if you run it all of the time... also if you turn it on and off too frequently. The tubes aren't expensive at all, and for some needing to replace it a little sooner is not even an issue. But even then, it's not the best sounding as a preamp. Not terrible, just not ideal. It's not like purpose built tube preamps that can really do nice things for the sound. At that price the preamp functionality is somewhat of an afterthought added because it's easy and inexpensive to implement. It's a headphone amp first and a preamp second.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2021
  11. Cooper32

    Cooper32 Facebook Friend

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    I'm currently using a Modi Multibit feeding a Vali 2 and an Asgard 3. No issues. Thought about using another set of RCA splitters to feed some active speakers from the Modi MB but didn't because I thought it wouldn't have enough current to drive 3 things at once (even if 2 are muted at any one time), like @robot zombie mentioned.

    In the end ended up hooking up the speakers to the Asgard 3 pre-outs.
     
  12. Seaner

    Seaner New

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    Thanks Cooper. Did you happen to compare the Asgard 3 to Vali 2 as far as preamp duties? I'm looking to add some 2nd order harmonic distortion to fatten up my speakers' sound a bit primarily, with headphone usage a distant second. Asgard 3 is also in my price range. The pseudo Class A of Asgard 3 has me intrigued as opposed to OP Amp/tube buffering of Vali 2.

     
  13. Cooper32

    Cooper32 Facebook Friend

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    No I didn't compare the pre-outs. I use the Asgard 3 as a pre-amp because I can turn it on in the morning when I get to my desk (it's my home/work from home office) and forget about it till I turn it off at the end of the evening. If I used the Vali 2 as a pre-amp, that'd be a lot of hours on the tube for no reason. I mostly use the speakers for background music while I work during the day.

    The Vali 2 and Asgard 3 (headphone out) only "come out to play" after work with my HD 6XX or HE-4XX.

    If your primary use will be as pre-amp and want that tube sound, try the Saga+. Note that I have never heard it so do some reading on the Saga+ to determine if it has a sound signature you'd like.

    There's also plenty of cheap tube pre-amp buffers on Amazon. Never tried any but they might be cheap enough for you to try without much financial investment.

    Or maybe somebody else in this forum has some experience with the Vali 2 pre-outs and can comment on them.
     
  14. robot zombie

    robot zombie Friend

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    What I'm describing really is not the best solution. It just happens to work with this stuff. The Sys helps because it has a 2 way switch that helps minimize the interaction between the two amps, which are essentially connected together.

    As you start splitting on multiple devices, you CAN run into impedance issues and dumb stuff like shorting on a muting relay and killing the sound completely. Other amps just short their inputs when turned off and since you have multiple amps essentially sharing a connection, you'll just get gross distortion. I'm sure there are even a few circumstances where you could really damage something. In this particular case it's not likely to hurt anything but caveat emptor and all that. Most amps should be well-behaved enough to not cause issues, but it's gonna be case-by-case.

    With the Sys having that switch, you are in practice separating the speaker setup from the headphone one when you press the toggle. There really shouldn't be too much influence, even though the effect is less like disconnecting wires and more like closing down a potentiometer all of the way. Still, not so different from using one of these: 51A6YE9NDKL._AC_SY355_.jpg

    Ideally, you still want a preamp that can just feed it all and avoid the y-splitters. Still gotta split off for the sub at that point of course, but it's not the worst thing you can do. Unless you can find an active RCA box that will drive two outputs at the same time. Just using the Vali 2 instead is still a good option if there are uncertainties.

    A lot of subs have passthrough crossovers that make this a non issue. I've got an SVS SB1000 that the DAC can feed right into, and then crossover to the speakers past 80hz. Something to look for when upgrading, if this is the predicament. That would be the 'clean' solution. But then you get to be paranoid over if the crossover in the sub is good enough, or if it's hurting the sound at all. :p Really can't win.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2021
  15. Case

    Case Anxious Head (Formerly Wilson)

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    A quick question for the SBAF brain - With an adapter of course, is it safe to roll an ECC 84 tube? I know it's safe with Vali 2+ but that has different specs.
    Edit: so tube heater current is 6.3v and it looks like Vali 2 can run up to 6v. Is 5% over too much?
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2022
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Vali 2 should be fine. 6DJ8, 6BZ7 are all 6.3V and pull 0.3 and 0.4 amps respectively. ECC84 should be OK, so as long as the pinout and current are the same. "6V" heater means 6.3V.

    EDIT: pinout not the same, so adapter needed.
     
  17. Qildail

    Qildail Friend

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    Several of us over in the tube rolling thread are big fans of Vali 2+ with ECC84 + Adapters (required, as noted). Starting about here: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...rolling-measurements.11416/page-2#post-370919

    My only real problem is I have had shit luck with adapter quality, so I order three expecting to bin two, and end up happy to only bin one.
     
  18. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    anecdotal, but 6/7 ECC84 tubes I got were bad. 5 of them being from one of my normal tube vendors and 4 of these had very loud noise. The vendor flat out said they weren't surprised for this tube family and to just toss them VS their normal response with any other tube I've had issues with is to try to figure it out first. Received 2 more from another member and although they tested them briefly, both had a lot of noise only after warmup about 5-6 min in (to be explicitly clear, this member was not trying to conduct a scam, received full refund immediately).

    I thought it was my adapter initially but there is 1 tube that's worked without issue for months now. The one tube isn't better than some of the other 6922 compatible tubes available for the V2+ including other families with other adapters, but it's a good price/performance tube....
     
  19. ergopower

    ergopower Friend

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    I ended up with 11 good ECC84 out of 16. 3 are somewhat microphonic, but once you're settled, there's no noise.
    That eBay adapter is crazy tight, it's a PITA to get a tube back out of it.
     
  20. Case

    Case Anxious Head (Formerly Wilson)

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    Running one now for about two hours (thanks @ergopower ). Initial impressions, compared to RCA 6CG7, are some more liveliness and presence, but I feel like there's some tizziness up top. With PortaPros (HD414 pads) running directly from
    Fiiio X5iii.
     

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