Now for those caveats: do not use the Vali for in-ear monitors. There are very few looking to drive IEMs with tube amps anyway, but I thought I'd mention it. Do not choose the Vali if the headphone you're going to pair it with is a really sensitive, low-impedance headphone--you'll likely get into the amp's noise floor that way. Don't expect it to have the burly take-charge-of-any-headphone power that, say, the Schiit Mjolnir has. (It does do well with more sensitive planars like the Audeze LCD-X and HiFiMAN HE500, though.) And don't expect it to be as quiet as a solid state--it's not as quiet as the Magni, for example, but, with the right headphones, is, to my ears, the nicer sounding amp. The tubes are microphonic, too. Plug your headphones in, and riiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggggg. Tap on the chassis (even lightly), and riiiiiinnggggg. Thankfully, the ringing subsides after a minute or two, and is a small price to pay for the tube sound you get with the Vali.
Now for those caveats: do not use the Vali for in-ear monitors. There are very few looking to drive IEMs with tube amps anyway, but I thought I'd mention it. Do not choose the Vali if the headphone you're going to pair it with is a really sensitive, low-impedance headphone--you'll likely get into the amp's noise floor that way. Don't expect it to have the burly take-charge-of-any-headphone power that, say, the Schiit Mjolnir has. (It does do well with more sensitive planars like the Audeze LCD-X and HiFiMAN HE500, though.) And don't expect it to be as quiet as a solid state--it's not as quiet as the Magni, for example, but, with the right headphones, is, to my ears, the nicer sounding amp. The tubes are microphonic, too. Plug your headphones in, and riiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggggg. Tap on the chassis (even lightly), and riiiiiinnggggg. Thankfully, the ringing subsides after a minute or two, and is a small price to pay for the tube sound you get with the Vali.