What's the best tube I can get for Schiit Vali 3 headphone amp under $30?

[Space Lynx]

Schiit Vali 3 came out last month and I am going to upgrade to it. I know most people get the GE 5670, but I'd like to step it up just a little better than that if possible.

I am going to try to sell my Schiit Asgard 2 again for $100 and get the Schiit Vali 3 with a tube upgrade for it. Any tube rollers here have any opinions? They would be welcome. I haven't been into the hobby for years and would like a change of amps just to have something different sound signature wise.

 

[Onasi]

The best tubes I’ve ever experienced when I owned a couple of tube amps were from some of the Russian manufacturers, like Reflektor and Voskhod. Sovtek and Svetlana are p.gud too. It, uh, might be hard to source them currently in many countries.

 

[Space Lynx]

yeah tube rolling wasn't that bad in 2015-2018 when I mainly into this hobby, but they are pretty expensive now sadly. I guess I will stick with the cheap $13 GE tube

 

[Super Firm Tofu]

Tubes of any sort are difficult to source and expensive as the majority of the world's new production was/is in Russia. There's a few in China as well. NOS tubes are even more difficult and more expensive to find simply because of the resurgence in tube amps in the enthusiast market.

Personal opinion - if you can spare the coin for your witcher just pick up one of the clearance Valhalla 2's that they're blowing out at $299 and keep the Asgard. They make a nice complementary pair, and as the Valhalla pairs best with the higher impedance cans, the Asgard is nice to have if you decide to use some low impedance planars. I use the HD650's with the Valhalla and the HiFiMan's with the Asgard.

 

[Onasi]

yeah tube rolling wasn't that bad in 2015-2018 when I mainly into this hobby, but they are pretty expensive now sadly. I guess I will stick with the cheap $13 GE tube

I mean, I think I could source you some Russian ones locally maybe and send them via DHL or whatever, if you ever up for it. Not sure if that would be worth the hassle though, since the post service and delivery is likely to be worth more than the tubes themselves, but hey, it’s an option.

 

[Space Lynx]

I mean, I think I could source you some Russian ones locally maybe and send them via DHL or whatever, if you ever up for it. Not sure if that would be worth the hassle though, since the post service and delivery is likely to be worth more than the tubes themselves, but hey, it’s an option.

no its fine, not sure which way I am going to go just yet. honestly happy with the Asgard 2 so maybe I just need to forget it. the reviews were a little confusing, everyone was praising the vali 3 over on head-fi, but those people were using like 60-300 dollar tubes... lol... well fuck that. until I can see some proper reviews with stock tube I'm just going to hold off on it all.

 

[Ferather]

The company and model names make me giggle (I read shit valley), regardless I found this review that states two tube models (WE396a, Ericsson CV4013)

Schiit Vali 3 Hybrid Headphone Amplifier - Reviews