Schiit Valhalla 3 Tube Headphone Amplifier Review

Did you notice any protection trips?

 

Any comparisons with SW51+?

 

From a voicing perspective, how much does it deviate from the Schiit house sound if at all? The Magni Unity's been on indefinite loan to a friend for some months now so I don't have it handy as a touchstone at the moment but just going off memory it might be warmer then than the Lyr+ with the stock Tung-Sol tube (cuz off the top of my head the Unity is slightly warmer-skewed, might even have slightly smoother treble compared to MOSFET/SS mode on the Lyr), then? You also mentioned that this had an expectedly good headstage, but how's imaging tightness vs the usual suspects like ZDT Jr. and such?

Sounds like this actually manages to outresolve the Folkvangr based on the 4th bullet point, could be a similar sort of affair as the ZDT Jr. is to the SW51+ is, just not as extreme perhaps.

 

+1 to that. Also compared to Mj3 when you’re able please.

 

Terminate order 66

 

+1 and the Folkvangr if one can be found

 

Ok, I threw out the thumbs up out of excitement, but can't both amps come out and live on a desk together in harmony!?

 

I kept my ZDT Jr over a SW51+, so it sounds like the V3 might be a bit too solid state sounding for me (in a tube amp).

Does it fill some void left by Lyr and Vali 3? Kind of hard to understand its purpose if it sounds like solid state and they already have tube amps that are well liked.

Choice is good though, and it looks great.

 

Ok @schiit , I don't get that misinformation tag?! I just asked if both amps could come out of the thunderdome and live together in harmony! That has to be a truth. I don't care how similar they sound!

 

Weird, I didn't do that. At least not knowingly. Fixed.

 

Misclicks happen all the time especially on mobile. It's been the root of some fun discussions on here lmao.

 

I bought Grattle's SW51+. I put some new Amperex EF85's in the amp and I find the amp on the richer, tubier sounding side with a smooth, slightly dark treble. In fact, the 6XX is to thick and dark sounding for me with the SW51+. But the HD58x sounds excellent as does my 60 ohm M1070C.

I also find I like the high impedance tap best for any headphone I have tried.
For example, the M1070 did sound noticeably more solid state like on the low impedence tap but has a nice rich sound on the high impedance tap .

 

Nobody asked, but here it is anyway : frequency response changes to the HD800 with the Valhalla 3's different gain/feedback settings vs the Magni Unity and TA-66:



Tan: HD800 impedance vs frequency from Innerfidelity
Red: @purr1n 's measurement in the TA-66 thread of HD800 from Magni Unity (0.1 Ohms output Z)
Orange: calculated response from Valhalla 3 at low gain (25 Ohms)
Green: calculated response of HD800 from Valhalla 3 at high gain (50 Ohms)
Blue: calculated response of HD800 from Valhalla 3 with 'no feedback' switch (60 Ohms)
Purple: calculated response of HD800 from TA-66 (120 Ohms; compare with the measurement in the TA-66 post).

Reference frequency is the trough in the impedance curve (2 kHz). Note the vertical SPL scale, the graduations are 2 dB.

 

Forgot to say but while I sorta get where other folks are coming from with respect to it being relatively compressed, the voicing of the Unity really isn't extremely SS sounding; it's got a nice bit of warmth to it and a surprisingly smooth treble response (not to be confused with un-detailed treble) with no prominences really standing out that aren't just in the recording.

I actually find the Unity to be surprisingly competitive with a much more expensive SS amp design also from Schiit, haha.

On that note, curious how smooth the treble response on the Valhalla 3 is relative to the Unity (cuz I remain genuinely surprised by the Magni). I remember the Valhalla 2 was known to have somewhat of a grittier treble response, never got to hear that one for myself though

 

What I can say is that what one person perceives as musical or analogue, another might find muffled, stuffy, and lacking clarity. I understand Lindsay’s perspective regarding the TA66 amp. I occasionally experience similar issues when switching from the EC ZDS, AF or CFA3 to TA66. To address this, I’ve added a GS-1 (dynalo2) after the TA66 for times when I desire a larger sound, a deeper soundstage, harder and more dynamic bass and greater transparency.

Incidentally TA66 and GS-1 work really well together and breathed new life into my otherwise neglected LCD-X 2023

 

That was my initial impression of the V2 as well. Upgrading the tubes to a pair of Reflector 6H23p-EB toned down the grain while not significantly impacting the overall tone. I really liked the amp after that upgrade. I too would be curious to see a comparison.