Today Schiit Audio announced the release of a new tube headphone amplifier called the Vali 2+.
Technical measurements have become increasingly easy to perform in the headphone space. A few low-cost options have sprung up that allow just about anyone with a keyboard and a voice to express their translations of electronic equipment measurements. Whether that growth is ultimately beneficial to the hobby as a whole has been debated by different camps on the subject.
Regardless of the impact, it looks as if Schiit Audio is aiming to provide products that appeal to both sides of the coin with the recent release of their Magni 3+ and Heresy editions as well as today’s newest tube amplifier dubbed the Schiit Vali 2+. The press release touts an interesting dichotomy in the specs for the newest version of the single tube amplifier – more power, lower noise floor, but higher distortion. In founder Jason’s Stoddard’s words “it measures like a tube amp. It accurately reproduces a tube’s distortion characteristics”. How much more? “1000x more distortion than, say, Magni 3+”
That may sound a bit unusual, but if we know anything about Schitt Audio’s willingness to buck an audiophile trend – its probably just par for the course. The name is literally Schiit Audio. It also points a reasonable finger (which one is probably up for debate) at putting too much emphasis on measurements over actual listening. Is the resulting sound uncolored? Probably not. Does it sound pleasing? Well, that depends on your tastes. I wouldn’t tell you how much salt to put on your food, some people like a lot of salt. For what it’s worth, some distortion done right sounds pretty fantastic in my experience. In other rare cases, extremely clean systems can sound dull or lifeless. That’s say that correlation leads to causation, but rather a far simpler statement – this amp could be a lot of fun. Especially at $149.
More info: Schiit Audio Vali 2+
