Yes! I was interested in how the Valhalla would hold up as a tube gain stage in a full 2 channel system. That was one of my firsts thoughts when I got it! :thumbsup:

Well, I am still listening to it and really enjoying it. It sounds pretty darn great. It's very accurate, natural, and musical. Virtually no etch or glare; really nice.

Valhalla 2 in the rack running as a preamp...

Nice! The little tube Vally gets a chance to strut her stuff in your main system. That EAR phonostage looks familiar. :D

Valhalla 2 is definitely strutting it's stuff in my system. Sounds impressive; very clean yet musical.

Yes, the EAR is still there...still sounds fantastic.

Does the CT-5 sound more euphonic or warmer?

Valhalla 2 is continuing to amaze me with each passing day. Listening to Eagles Hell Freezes Over album, the very well recorded "Hotel California" track. Using the HD650 at the moment and Valhalla 2 is laying down some serious bass lines. I would have never thought a SET amp could be so dynamic and so musical. Not just your round and bloated bass either, the bass is incredibly tight and as deep as much as the HD650 can muster but it is very well resolved at the same time. Very impressive for a triode SET.
A pure joy to listen to with any of my headphones. :music:

I would say that the CT-5 is more neutral but no less musical. It's a lot like my Dynaudios. It's more transparent, airier, resolving, quieter, with a more expansive sound, greater presence and imaging, more "plankton", more nuanced, and has more drive (but not a lot more drive). There's a very slight "hardness" to the Valhalla's Soviet 6N6P output tubes that the Sovteks do not have. Still, you have you to bear in mind that the CT-5 originally sold for 20X as much as Valhalla 2 and it does not sound 20X better.

The most accurate analogy I can give is the Valhalla 2 sounds like my Dynaudio Contour 3.4s with their original Esotec tweeters, and the CT-5 sounds like my Dyns with the Esotar 2 tweeters. Both sound great, very musical, accurate and easy to listen to, but the Esotars just take things to another level.

The most remarkable thing is how well Valhalla 2 holds it own against a much more expensive preamp. It's absolutely ridiculous just how good Valhalla 2 sounds for the money. It's just stupid.

Well no, of course we can never expect multiples of better performance at multiples of price. That was never the case with audio unfortunately. :D But pretty amazing that the Valhalla 2 can even be put into the same system and taken seriously at $349 vs what was it, $7,500 or so CT-5?

Valhalla 2 is ridiculously dynamic and musical for an SET amp; its kinda ridiculous.

Funny you say that about the bass because I am listening to Ray Brown's bass on Cry Me A River on his Soular Energy album and the bass is taut, well-defined and beautifully articulated. See if you can find it on Tidal.

Also, listen to the bass on Diana Krall's My Love Is and let me know what you think.

Val 2's performance as a preamp has me seriously thinking of Schiit's dedicated Saga, or better yet, Freya preamp driving their 100 watt Vidar SS amplifier (which is a "dual-mono-ish" design) for a bedroom office system. I'll bet these would work beautifully with a pair of Dynaudio Special 40s; the smaller Dyns would benefit from a powerful SS amp that can provide the current they really need to fully open up.

Hmmm...:scratch2: