[geerock]

@Geerock

The karna is a truly remarkable amp! It makes every other amp pale in comparison. I’ll build up mine or have Don build me one this late summer/fall. Spatial sent there’s back for Don to rebuild it to the modern mono block design. I’m missing it dearly 😪.
You put it best “it puts everything into place”

Don told me how much you loved that amp and how you enjoyed listening at hypersonic levels.  I've found the perfect tube combo for my liking and I simply sit back and enjoy every session.  No more analyzing, replays, swapping tubes and cables etc.  I'm there.
I'm glad to hear you guys are up and running and that Clayton is much better.  All the best to you guys.

[Daryl Zero]

Well friends. I now can directly compare the Valhalla to the Z40i+ because I received my Valhalla today from Cloud. I've finally got it set up right and I'm going to need to run it a while for it to break in. Initial thoughts are that it is similar to the Z40i+ sound (I did roll all of the tubes and apparently I got a similar sound to the Valhalla at least for now). A bit more bass from the Valhalla. I have to play more music to decide if it is as fast at the LTA's bass.

Anyhow, it is really way too early to make any judgments yet. It starts at a pretty high point so that's good.

[Cloud.sessions]

@daryl
 
I’m glad to hear it’s up and going. The amp will take 50 to 100 hours to come into its own. I’ll love to hear your impressions after you have a couple weeks on it. 🤘🔊

[jjss49]

...

[Daryl Zero]

@daryl
 
I’m glad to hear it’s up and going. The amp will take 50 to 100 hours to come into its own. I’ll love to hear your impressions after you have a couple weeks on it. 🤘🔊

It's going to take a while to get 50 to 100 hours as I still am a working stiff. I hope the intermittent use won't prevent me from hearing improvements as the amp opens up.

I can relate impressions so far between the two amps in this thread. The Valhalla is sweeter, separates sound better and has better bass. After playing different types of music, I was taken aback about the bass increase since I thought my X5s' bass was completely controlled by the hypex amps on the woofer but apparently that isn't all of the story. 

I'm a bit pleased with myself as to the way I adjusted the Z40i+ by tube rolling essentially went towards the sound the Valhalla puts out. The Valhalla definitely sounds better with the X5s though.

One question for Cloud though. The Valhalla's volume resets every time you turn it off. I would prefer it to be at the last setting and is there a way to do that or is this part of the tube protection protocol?

I've moved the Z40i+ to drive my secondary system with Nola Boxer S3s and that sounds pretty durn good.

[dls123]

HI
Yes, the Khozmo can be programmed to remember the last volume setting.  I sent instructions to Cloud and he will contact you.

cheers,
Don

[Daryl Zero]

HI
Yes, the Khozmo can be programmed to remember the last volume setting.  I sent instructions to Cloud and he will contact you.

cheers,
Don

Thanks.

Fantastic amp!

[jnschneyer]

Well friends. I now can directly compare the Valhalla to the Z40i+ because I received my Valhalla today from Cloud. I've finally got it set up right and I'm going to need to run it a while for it to break in. Initial thoughts are that it is similar to the Z40i+ sound (I did roll all of the tubes and apparently I got a similar sound to the Valhalla at least for now). A bit more bass from the Valhalla. I have to play more music to decide if it is as fast at the LTA's bass.

Anyhow, it is really way too early to make any judgments yet. It starts at a pretty high point so that's good.

I'm glad you were able to get your hands on a Valhalla.  I don't know why I'm glad.  I'd like to think my being glad comes out of an altruistic impulse that finds...what? comfort? pleasure? solace? a mix of all three? in your bettering your life even that fraction more that an improved hifi experience can.  Unfortunately, I suspect the source lies more closely to vanity than to altruism and I'm pleased mostly because it affirms and confirms my own assessment of the two amps.  I think there's a famous Bible verse, all is vanity, or something to that effect.  In any case, whatever my motives, congratulations.  I hope it brings you as much pleasure as mine brings me.

Josh   

[Daryl Zero]

And I am glad that you are glad. Must be more of that altruism. 

In any event, thanks to everyone who recommended the Valhalla. Lighting fast, great separation, great bass control, transparent etc ect.
I didn't think the LTA could be improved on but I was wrong.

[jnschneyer]

And I am glad that you are glad. Must be more of that altruism. 

In any event, thanks to everyone who recommended the Valhalla. Lighting fast, great separation, great bass control, transparent etc ect.
I didn't think the LTA could be improved on but I was wrong.

And I’m glad you’re glad I’m…okay, I won’t start. I’m curious if your room is treated. Mine is not, and is also not entirely symmetrical, but I still get tremendous breadth, depth, and imaging, and the X5s do a nice job of disappearing, which I ascribe to the open baffle not having the same level of side-wall reflection issues more typical of box speakers, though I’m going off more of what I’ve read and heard people say than from any real understanding of the physics of it. Still, good as my sound is, and always looking to eke that nth bit of better out of it, I wonder if some room treatment would improve it. With my old system, which included a pair of B&W 802 Diamonds in a far too small room for them, I very unprofessionally put in some floor to ceiling corner bass traps and absorbing panels at roughly the first reflection points and some bass traps on the rear wall and the difference was astonishing. It made me an instant convert to room treatment. Since then, I’ve moved and no longer have the traps and panels I had, but the sound has been so stellar with the X5s and Valhalla without treatment, I haven’t felt the need to add any. Maybe the open baffle technology obviates the need for it? Since you now have, at its heart, the same system I have - X5+Valhalla - I wondered what your experience has been. Also, are you using a DAC, and, if so, which one? Okay, enough. Again, congratulations and welcome to the club of remarkably intelligent and cultivated X5 and Valhalla owners. Not quite as intelligent and cultivated as Don Sachs 300b owners, but, hey, number two tries harder. Thanks, brother. Please excuse the inanity. I try to be a serious person, but somehow it always eludes me.

[Tyson]

Yep, OB speakers work WITH the room instead of against it, so it's much easier to get great sound from an OB speaker in pretty much any room, vs. a box speaker.

[lazbisme]

True, that, Tyson. I actually removed floor to ceiling GIK bass traps behind my speakers after listening to my X3s a while. Was just messing around but the sound was much more realistic and lively after the removal. Now have P I Audio diffusors behind and that works!

[Daryl Zero]

And I’m glad you’re glad I’m…okay, I won’t start. I’m curious if your room is treated.

Mine is the opposite of treated because I'm still working and the speakers are in a garage which serves as my office. Concrete floor with a few throw rugs plus shelving with files and papers behind the speakers. Plus I just plopped the speakers down without any care or thought and they just sounded great. I might accidentally have "treatment" in the shelving behind them.

[sockpit]

Can you comment on how much warmer the Valhalla runs compared to LTA. I have the Ultralinear running M5s in a very small room. Live in Bay Area with no AC. Summers do get warm in that room. The LTA is bearable on warm nights. I worry traditional tubes would cook the room and perhaps the amp.

[Daryl Zero]

It is warmer but I've got a pretty big area and the amp is about 15 feet away from me so I don't feel it. I moved my LTA Z40+ into a smaller room and now notice that it actually warmed up a bit too but not quite as much. I don't see the Valhalla changing the temperature in any room even if small. Just give it ventilation space. Probably best to talk to Cloud about the specifics.

[jnschneyer]

Can you comment on how much warmer the Valhalla runs compared to LTA. I have the Ultralinear running M5s in a very small room. Live in Bay Area with no AC. Summers do get warm in that room. The LTA is bearable on warm nights. I worry traditional tubes would cook the room and perhaps the amp.

For what it’s worth, I’ve got mine on top of a cabinet, so it’s not enclosed at all, and it really doesn’t get very hot at all. Other than to touch the tubes, I don’t know as I’d say it gets any more than warm. It certainly doesn’t get warm enough to affect the room. I don’t have any experience with owning tubes outside of the Valhalla, but my experience with it makes me wonder at people’s describing their tube amps as heating the room or having to abandon them in the warmer months. Unless there’s something particular about mine, I think you’d be safe with a Valhalla regardless of the room’s size.

[Early B.]

I don’t have any experience with owning tubes outside of the Valhalla, but my experience with it makes me wonder at people’s describing their tube amps as heating the room or having to abandon them in the warmer months.

When people say their tube amps heat up the room, there's some exaggeration going on. Likewise, some people believe turning off the lights cools a room. 

[Mr. Big]

Not just tubes give off heat so does some solid-state designs depending on how they are biased and how much class watts are in play. All amps unless they run cool to slightly warm should be on a stand with open air above. Ideally, an amp stand between the speakers is the way to go so the speakers are open between them and the back wall behind them with curtains and or acoustic panels.

[AllanS]

And I am glad that you are glad. Must be more of that altruism. 

As a Sapphire owner I’m following with some ignoble interest.  Compared to the passive 90dB M4, is there any thought to how much of the Valhalla’s performance is related to the X5 powered woofer and higher efficiency?

[Daryl Zero]

As a Sapphire owner I’m following with some ignoble interest.  Compared to the passive 90dB M4, is there any thought to how much of the Valhalla’s performance is related to the X5 powered woofer and higher efficiency?

I would guess that other members might have the answer to that. The Valhalla is 33 watts and I don't know the impedance or efficiency of your speakers, not to mention your set up. I would guess that if your speakers are 8 ohm in in the 90db range efficient, the 33 watts would be sufficient. I do know that the Valhalla does improve the bass performance in my speakers over the LTA even though there is a hypex amp in the path. I asked Cloud if this was possible and he texted me:

"That is the Valhalla. The X5's are high leveled so they take on the characteristics of whatever amp drives them. Clayton did that because most line level sub setups have their own tone and it often isn't coherent with the rest of the system."