Two years ago, Schiit introduced Vali, the least expensive serious tube amp. Now, Schiit announces significant upgrades across the board with the all-new Vali 2. Vali 2 offers higher output power, lower noise, gain switching, preamp outputs, lower distortion, and lower output impedance than the original Vali—making it an even more serious tube hybrid contender.
“When we started looking at how we could improve Vali, there were a lot of obvious things we could do,” said Jason Stoddard, Co-Founder of Schiit Audio. “Gain switch, preamp outputs, things like that. But they wouldn’t change the real limit of Vali, which were the subminiature tubes. So this is a ground-up redesign.”
This complete redesign led to an amp that is a much more serious tube amp than anything else near its price point. Unlike most tube amps at (or above) Vali 2’s price, Vali 2 is not a low-voltage, starved-plate design; nor does it use switching power supplies.
“We’re very proud of this,” Jason said. “With a unique dual-voltage AC wall transformer, we can deliver a high-voltage regulated supply for the tubes, a moderate regulated supply for the solid-state output, and AC for the tube heaters, in a very thermally efficient package.”
At the same time, Vali 2’s specs are class-leading, even when compared to hybrids that cost much more. Delivering a full 1W of power into 32 ohms, with an output impedance of only 1.2 ohms in low gain mode (5.8 ohms in high gain), and impressively low noise, the Vali 2 is suitable for virtually any headphone or IEM.
Vali 2 also offers the convenience of preamp outputs, which can be used to create a desktop system using powered monitors, or to connect to speaker power amplifiers.
Finally, Vali 2’s tube is user-replaceable, which opens up the possibility of “tuning” the sound via using different types of tubes, AKA “tube rolling.” The Vali 2 accepts many popular varieties of tubes, including 6DJ8, 6N23P, ECC88, 6922, and more.
Vali 2 is available now for $169, including a 6BZ7 NOS tube. Matched replacement 6BZ7 tubes are available as singles from Schiit for $10.
Like all Schiit products, Vali 2 is made in the USA—really—with the vast majority of cost going to US-based manufacturers manufacturing in the USA. Schiit’s PCB assembly house, chassis manufacturers, and transformer manufacturers are all in California. Vali 2 is covered by a 2-year warranty.
Source: Press Release
