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  #11  
Old 02-04-2015, 01:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by antipop View Post
It gave me a lot of insight on the audio business and on how they work. Since, I have a lot of respect for what they are doing and I'll be sure to follow them in the future.

I've even recommended non-audiophile friends to read it because the business side is also interesting and well written. Anyone looking to launch a company should read this.
Absolutely agree. I referenced it to a friend of mine who is getting her MBA at Cal Hastings School of Business.
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  #12  
Old 02-04-2015, 01:49 AM
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I've been listening to my Valhalla 2 every evening since I got back from the UK to a variety of content.

Let me start off by saying that the amp is not burned in yet, but I am already very impressed. Even though this is a triode-based tube amp, it is extremely quiet and clean, and very fast. It's overall character is very neutral, but like my AK 100 II, it is not cold or analytical-sounding. Rather, it's musical in a very natural way. The amp scales extremely well from soft to loud, and has a nice propulsive drive to it, particularly after I rolled in the Amperexes (see below). It's also very resolving; in listening to it with my Senn HD600s, I am hearing subtleties and details on very well-recorded albums that I simply have not heard before. Per Schiit's prouct literature, if you own headphones like the Senn HD-series high impedance headphones, this is a terrific amplifier. The Val2 and HD600s work together to create a very resolving yet synergistic partnership. That shouldn't be surprising as Jason probably used a HD600s as his reference when designing the amp.

After a few nights listening, I finally rolled some of my vintage Amperex 6922s (Orange PQ label) from my C-J Premier 17LS preamp into my Schiit Valhalla 2 today to replace the stock JJ 6NIP tubes. The nice thing is you can roll a whole series of triodes into this pair of slots, anything from 6DJ8s, 6922s, to E88CC to 6BZ7s, etc. Pretty cool; a tube rollers dream amp.

Anyway, after rolling in the Amperexes, all I can say is "Whoa"!

The amp sounded great with the stock JJs, but the Amperex 6922s take it to another level. I listened to a variety of music ranging from classical, medieval, jazz, rock with the Amperexes, and the improvement was across the board, both from the sound spectrum to the content. Most notably is that the music is much more fleshed-out, palpable, dimensional, and, for the lack of a better word, "tangible". The other major improvement is in the bass; I'm listening to HD600s and I've heard folks say that the HD600 is a bit bass-shy in the sub-bass. Well, not with this tube. The Amperex 6922 provides a full, solid, bass definition, articulation and power that is simply fabulous. Some of the content I was listening to was from the Atrium Musicae's classic recording of "The Tarantula", a collection of medieval tarantellas. Many of the tracks have large drum instruments whose bass response goes quite low, and the 6922s reproduced this bass signature with power, definition, and beautiful articulation. Also, organ bass is deeply rendered, and beautifully textured.

Those that have had some issues with the HD600s being a little too hot on the treble would love this tube; the 6922s are ever so slightly relaxed on top, which combined with the HD600s makes for almost perfect treble articulation and detail. By comparison to the 6922s, the stock JJs have a very slightly hard and glassy top end; the 6922s take this range and add detail but also sweetness and smoothness. It reminds me of going from a Dynaudio Esotec tweeter (which is no slouch) to a Dynaudio Esotar 2 tweeter (which is world-class); the top end is more detailed yet smooter and sweeter at the same time.

And lastly, the mids. I've commented how the tube adds dimensionality and palpability to the presentation, but the entire midrange is more beautifully rendered; there's more natural and accurate timbral color, texture, and tonality, and a smoothness, liquidity and musical sweetness and beauty that reminds me of Harbeth 30.1 loudspeakers, which probably have the most beautiful midrange of any transducer I've ever heard. Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.

If you're considering getting a Val 2 for your Senn HDs or Beyers, you should really consider rolling these Amperexes into your amp, especially if you're using Senn HD600s; they are absolutely wonderful.
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Last edited by Puma Cat; 02-07-2015 at 09:31 PM.
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  #13  
Old 02-11-2015, 01:31 AM
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So, I received some Amperex 7308s last week from Upscale for use in my Val 2. These are reputedly a mil-spec style tube with tighter tolerances and increased durability over the Amperex 6922s that I've been using my Val 2 (which I took out of my CJ Premier 17LS preamp to try over the stock JJ 6N1Ps). I really liked very much what the 6922s did for Val 2, so I ordered these for permanent use in my Val 2 so I could put my Amperexes back in my Pr17 preamp. I somewhat mistakenly ordered Amperex 7308s as I thought that is what I pulled out of my Pr17, as they had an orange PQ label on them, and I have Amperex tube boxes with 7308 on them, so I thought that's what these were.

It was only when I pulled out them out of the headphone amp to put in the new NOS tubes and looked at them closely did I realize the Pr17 Amperexes were 6922s, not 7308s. The confusing about this is that Amperex used orange "PQ" labels for both 6922s AND 7308s, apparently.

I installed the Amperex 7308s in Val 2 last night, and have been comparing them to my Amperex 6922s. These 7308s are white label JAN tubes and are NOS. There are some differences I am hearing, but those differences may be initially due to the 7308s being NOS, and have no burn-in time on them. When I first listened to them last night, they were a bit bright and glare-y, but after about an hour of use, they started to sound much nicer, smoothed out and the high-end glare abated. I swapped the Amperexes 6922s back in before finishing up last night, and at that time, I still preferred them over the 7308s, but I've done another swap of the 7308s back in tonight, and they are coming in to their own quite nicely.

Initial impressions are just that, but here's where I am presently for reference: The 7308s appear to be a bit more neutral, perhaps a bit more resolving, but not quite as "palpable" , full-bodied and textured as the 6922s; the highs on the 6922s might be slightly more laid back than the 7308s, but I'm not going to make any final judgements until I get more hours on the 7308s, they've improved quite a bit just over the course of a few hours last night and tonight.

I've experienced rather significant changes in tubes as they burn in; I bought a pair of Ediswan 6922s for use in my CJ LP70S power amp, and initially did not like them at all, but eventually decided to leave them in and get some good hours on them, and ended up preferring them over the Electro-Harmonic tubes the amp originally came with. Ediswans are a lovely 6922, BTW, so those of you interested in considering these, I would give them a go. They are on the pricey side at $95/ea but one of the nicest 6922s I've heard.

More updates in time, but thought I would give this initial set of impressions, as I had a query via PM about the differences between the Amperex 6922s vs the 7308s.
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Lumin P1 streamer/DAC/preamp, Constellation Inspiration integrated TT: Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V, Koetsu Urushi Vermilion, EAR324. Harbeth 30.2s, REL R-305, Shunyata Alpha V2 ICs, Alpha V2 SPs, Sigma XC, Sigma NRv2, Omega QR-s & Alpha NRv2 PCs, segmented Altaira SG stack w/ Alpha & Omega CGCs, Everest 8000 PD. Remote Server Room: Uptone EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock & LPS, Alita, Battle Angel, (Akasa NUC Roon Core), iFi DC Purifiers (for SMPS used for Alita & router), Shunyata Gemini combo power distributor & Altaira-type CG GP-NR hub, Venom & Alpha CGCs, Shunyata NRv14 power cords for digital components.
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