[adydula]

Well after many weeks of deliberating and after a few months with the Beyer T1's 2nd Gen I have ordered a new amp to try out with them. The Schiit Vahalla 2.

I have several amps and one is the wonderful Bottlehead Crack with the constant current mod called Speedball. Its one of the better OTL amps that many, many folks use with the higher impedance headphones. I have had it for almost to years now.

So I was looking at its power out capabilities and wanted to try another OTL amp with a more power available at 600 ohms. After many interaction with several vendors the Vahalla 2 OTL has upwards to 450 milliwatts RMS at 600 ohms. Much higher than the BH Crack and many other solidstate amps. So we shall see how this "plays" out.

Most amps seem to be orientated in getting the most amount of power out at lower impedance's for all the modern day IEM's and headphones...and the emphasis at the higher impedances are lacking IMO. Most state power at the lower Z's but stop at 300 ohms....the Vahalla 2 has this spec stated on their website and I have verified this with them as well.

Yes the headphone efficiency plays an important part of how much power is really needed and this excercise may be indeed overkill, but life is short and having it side by side with my Crack and other SS amps I will be able to tell any diffrences....and besides its always fun to get new toys!!

Stay tuned!
Alex

[adydula]

Just got the Vahalla 2 from Schitt Audio and been listening for about 4 hours....over several headphones from 35 ohms to 600 Ohms....

I will do some comparisons between it and my Bottlehead Crack,,,seems like these are two of the low end cost OTL tube amps and very well reviewed for higher impedance headphones..

The V2 has been re-designed to handle or drive a wider than "usual" range of impedances....the Bottlehead doesnt do very well with lower Z headphones, but it has worked very well with my Beyer T90 and Beyer T1's.

I havent done any side by side comparisons yet, just tried 4 headphones from 35 ohm, 80 ohm, 300 ohm and 600 ohm in the V2.

The shocking surprise of all these was the 80 ohm Beyer DT1350, small portable sealed headphones. Since I have had the T90's (my favorite until the T1's arrived) the 1350's have just sat there with little or no use. Tyl over at innerfidelity liked these a lot....wall of fame etc....

With the V2 these 80 ohm cans blew me away at the sound I was hearing! Absolutley stunning. For small cans the soundstage was always a bit "cramped" due to their small transducers IMO. But listening to the orignal Trinity Series from Cowboy Junkies, the bass coming out from these headphones rivaled even my T1's.....really shocked me. Also the soundstage was stunning as well they just seemed to disappear on my head..that good!

I will do some side by side comparison to my Bottlehead Crack, its hard to find a good comparison between these two OTL tube amps....stay tuned.

Alex

[adydula]

Well, I spent a few hours this morning setting up and level matching the volume settings on my Crack with Speedball and the new Schitt Vahalla2.
 
I have not done my usual blind AB tests yet, but I can tell you what I "think" I am hearing so far....
 
I use a 1Khz test tone and set levels to 80db and then 85db, the difference between the two isn't that much physically on the actual vol knobs but its a really "perceptible" loud difference to me actually listening.
 
The crack is a little more difficult to actually set this level at, 80db no issues,but 85 seem to be in a range on my Crack that takes some attention to setting it up. I use a SPL meter I have had for years and a home-brew acoustic coupler to set the levels. With both set to these 2 levels I noticed it was easier to tell differences IMO at the lower spl level. Weird.
 
Sometimes when comparing amps, there is the tendency to crank up the volume level to make u for deficiencies so setting the levels to match is really important.....
 
Listening to my ususal favorites and demo tracks there is an immediate wow such a difference....between the two....I bought the Vahalla 2 because I wanted to see what it sounds like and it has more power available at 300 and 600 ohms compared to the Crack. My headphones range from 35 to 600 ohms. The Crack of course is not designed to work with low impedance headphones but the Vahalla 2 is. Schitt doesn't state its the cats meow with the lower headphones but it should be much better than their first generation of this amp.
 
Like with many new purchases there is that "human" element that wants the new stuff to be "better"...or you might have just wasted several hundred dollars! I am no exception.
 
So I have only had the Schitt Vahalla2 for less than 2 days and about 4 hours of ply time with the stock tubes while my good old friend the Crack I have had for almost two years and a dozen sets of tubes. It has been my go to amp for my high impedance headphones.
 
Listening to the Vahalla 2 I was amazed at how clear and transparent it sounds, using the higher gain setting, recommended for higher impedances. It has more than enough power and doesn't strain at all driving the 300 or 600 ohm Beyers. The sound is very clear, open and its easy to articulate musical instruments. Very much like a solid state amp, than a tube amp. Really shocking in a good way to me. Most good amps IMO take some real listening and "straining" to hear differences which to me tells me that they are really close in performance.
 
Comparing to the Crack the immediate thing is the soundstage on the Crack seems more open and wider...but more recessed. The drum beats seemed to be "louder" or maybe more "boomy" not a bad or poor bass but just more fuller and "wider" in sound. The Vahalla 2 bass was less thick, but very well done too. My first and immediate impression was the Crack soundstage being so different and musical was startling. Depending on what material you play and how It was recorded they both sound very well.
 
Playing rock music like the remastered "The Doors" the drum whacks on the Vahalla 2 will make your ears bleed...they are really, really well recreated on my T1's a 10 out of a 10 IMO. The Crack is just a little behind a 9 out of a 10 to me. That said the overall presentation eeks out to the Crack...its just softer and more musical to me.
 
Now all this was with the higher impedance T1's....when I shifted to a lower impedance set of headphones the story changes quite a lot.
 
I have a set of Beyer DT1350's and they just sit there not being used much since I have had my T90s and T1's and several other headhones, Tyl over at innerfidelity liked these a lot, which is saying something (LOL). They have small transducers, don't fit over my ears and when playing with other SS amps they have a smaller soundstage and presence to me. The T90s and T1's blow them away.
 
Well that was until the Vahalla 2 arrived..
 
I have tried these 80 ohm headphones on the Crack and immediately I know this was not the amp for these headphones they played but well....not that well at all. So the Crack is relegated to the 300+ plus range for sure.
 
The Schitt Vahalla 2 was re-designed to work with a wider range of headphones and this it does very well IMO. Actually when I put the DT1350s into the V2, I was really blown away...playing the original Trinity Series of Cowboy Junkies the bass response and soundstage and ambient background reverberation was better than any presentation of these headphones on any other amp I have. It shocked me so much that I had to check to see if I had these on my head!! These were played with the lower gain setting. The really low bass was actually better to me than the T1's! 
 
So I will next setup up a blind listening session and invite a few audio friends over and test them to see what they hear in a blind test environment. its the only way to me to see how they both stand up.
 
I like building stuff, and the Bottlehead Crack with the Speedball mod to me is one of the best tube OTL amps that is affordable and competes with higher priced amps and does so very well with high impedance headhones, if you have this amp you cant go wrong, its that nice. (speedball is a must :>).....).
 
That said if you like playing around with amps, and I do, I had to try this amp, it has gobs of power at 300 ohms (800mw RMS). The Crack volume knob has to be cranked up 3/4 or so where as the Vahalla2 is only cranked up to 1/3 of the way, but to be fair the gain has to be factored in here. But the Vahalla 2 will make most higher impedance cans dance very well.
 
If you don't like building stuff the Vahalla 2 is a good choice, its well built, solid and the stock tubes are to me just wonderful. I feel no need to go chasing NOS tubes. The price you pay for them is getting well, ridiculous IMO. Schitt will sell you a et of 4 for $40, now that's a great deal to me.
 
I am not going to get rid of my Crack for sure and the Vahalla 2 is also going to be around for a long time as well....both companies have real winners here....
 
All the best
Alex

[milford3]

Great review Ady.  The Schiit line up of headphone amps is amazing.  I own the Lyr and just love it.  The Lyr powers my headphones from 80 Ohms to 600 Ohms with ease.  My latest acquisition can is the Senn HD800. My first headphone amp was the Vahalla 1.  Enjoy the Vahalla 2.

[adydula]

Thats a good question Dale...

I dont know if the tubes Schitt ships with the Vahalla 2 are recently made OR older but new NOS tubes. I would expect for $40 for a matched set they are most likely newer in date of manufacture.

I have many sets of older NOS and brand new tubes for the Crack and they all sound pretty good to my ears.

Sometimes I set a setting in one of my systems music players due to differing dacs etc and I notice something different and the hunt usually finds I have a setting different one vs another! (smile).

The two players I use are Foobar 2000 and JRiver. This am I swore JRiver was sounding better than Foobar2000 and Foobar folks even state there is no real differences all things being equal...but with so many settings and permutations its easy to muck up our bit-perfect world...

Alex

 

[JohnR]

I picked up a Valhalla 2 a little while ago and liked it but feel it really came into its own when I tried it with my HE-560s just last night. I just assumed it wouldn't work with them but I'm quite surprised at how well it does.

[adydula]

Yes its an amazing amp for an OTL design....

I believe the HE 560's are 45 ohms and 90db sensitivity....glad its working well for you.

I have (9) amps of all types here now, 1/2 are DIY...building two more designs at the moment as well!!

The gain switch makes the amp work well with lower impedance cans vs the V1 of the Vahalla 2.

I was listening yesterday and it was not sounding very good compared to my BH Crack...drove me nuts until
I realized I had the gain switch on "low" LOL.....

Alex

[FullRangeMan]

These Solid State tubes are interesting to change the sound>
http://schiit.com/products/lisst-tubes

[JohnR]

I have a pair of LISST, I suppose I should try them in the Valhalla. I've only been listening with the stock tubes.

[JohnR]

Well I tried them... I guess my thoughts could be considered stereotypical, considering the price of the VH2 I probably wouldn't spend to get them.

[adydula]

Schiit in their FAQ for the V2, doenst seem to keen on using these in the V2. Yes they will work, but the logic here is you have bought this new V2 OTL amp for its tubes etc...so why go back to solid state?

But its an interesting experiment.

The LISST device was intended for Schiit's hybrid designs like LYR, LYR 2 and Mjolnir 2.

The stock NOS tubes with the T1's I have are remarkable, absolutley stunning sound.

Alex

[JohnR]

I understand that, but since I had them I figured I may as well try it.

[adydula]

This thread is a bit old, but I thought I would resurrect it somewhat...

Im my head amp roation this is Schitt Audio Vahalla 2 week...and I searched for threads on the Vahalla 2 and saw this older thread.

What struck me as intersting is JohnR's comments about using the Vahalla 2 with his HE560's a 45 ohm can and it working rather well.

Wondering if you still have this amp and headphones?

Alex

[JohnR]

No, I don't have it any more. I'm not sure why I sold it, to be honest 

[Goosepond]

Hi John,

Do you still have the LISST's?

Thanks,

Gene

[JohnR]

No, sold them with the MJ2...

[adydula]

I have come close to selling the amp a few times, but each time I use it, it make me smile once again.
With all the love and hate folks have for the Beyer T1's etc....it really pairs well with these cans IMO.

Wide, open spacious. musical and all that adjective gorp...

Its a keeper here...

Alex

[JohnR]

Yeah, I think I must have been going through a gear purge