Infinite Options.
You can keep it transparent but I like using something with flavorā¦ UNLESS your DAC is going to add something.
This is the sort of thing you want to push through Valencia. I have a Tube DAC from black ice and I was using an Italian QES Class-A headphone amp as my pre and then even with those being low power items running Tungsten or Abyss stuff on it.
Yeah, I kinda want to hear how transparent I can get with my chain despite having an R2R DAC to just try something different. I have a similar speaker setup to your recent Orchard Audio monoblocks youtube video, Mon Acoustic Platimon VC One speakers powered by Orchard Audio Starkrimson Ultra 2.0 (not the monoblocks). But I power the Starkrimson Ultra with my Supratek DHT preamp running RCA Globe 45 tubes and RCA 6SN7GT smoked glass so Iām hearing in my chain more old-school RCA tonality which is what I really like. The R2R DAC is just the cherry on top to me. I am hoping with the Topping A70 (I recently just bought one), Iāll get a more of a āFuck itā type of system where its just headphones/speakers > Orchard Audio amps > transparent amp > DAC on days where I can say fuck it and just play music.
Hopefully it doesnāt end up being too much of a good thing. Granted that if your DAC and Headphones bring some flavor to the sound then you should be okay.
I am currently listening the Topping A70 Pro as the preamp going to the Orchard Audio Starkrimson Ultra 2.0 and itās looking like it got great synergy so far!
At first, I listened the Topping A70 Pro preamp to the Schiit Rekkr to my Tiny Radials speaker and vocals have some sibilance to them. And my system sounded overall bright.
Then I moved the Topping A70 Preamp to the Orchard Audio Starkrimson 2.0 amp to my Platimon VC One speaker and I donāt really get any sibilance at all. Itās weird, I wouldnāt call this combo bright, I guess the word neutral really fits here. The biggest standout is probably how good dynamics is with the Topping A70 Pro introduced in my main speaker system. I still prefer tubes in my system at the end of the day, 2A3 tubes for maximum resolution or 45 tubes for its lovely tonality.
If Valencia is anything like the Starkrimson amp, the Topping A70 Pro is good preamp under $500 and probably will have good synergy depending what headphone you use. Iām also using a R2R DAC, so I guess thatās something to keep in mind.
Congrats to those who snagged the preproduction units. 
Think there are 2 left. I need to check patreon first. Hereās one person who got it a few days ago and Tungsten today.
2 of the Prototype units are left at $1000 each. I can make them either black or silver.
The enclosures on the prototypes are brushed instead of sandblasted and have some imperfections.
Also, these have the initial circuit boards in them which have the following 2 issues:
All of the prototypes are sold now.
Anybody stop by New York CanJam and get a chance to hear Valencia?
I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have my first Tungsten experience with Valencia. I appear to have skipped a long line of testing a bunch of different amps to see what works and doesnāt with Tungsten. Been in the audio scene for ~10 years and have stayed solidly in the mid-fi arena until now.
This is the endgame I was looking for. Going to slow my roll on new equipment from here out. I still enjoy trying cheap/bang for the buck kind of stuff, but now I donāt have to imagine what summit-fi sounds like. Iām sure itās possible to get better, but itās so far down the diminishing returns road that Iām not going to bother with it (at least not to own myself, always happy to try new equipment). The combo of Tungsten and Valencia is just sublime and Iām having fun feeding a bunch of my cheaper amps through it to see how the sound changes.
Final Board Previews from the Factory up in Canada. Feast your eyes on ā¦ Very little indeed. Efficiency and Transparency donāt need more than this. (Plus the separate Mean-Well Power Supply)
I had the Valencia Prototype Amp for a while and I gotta sayā¦ great job Leo because holy crap this amp fits so well in my audio system. I donāt know how he did it, but this amp feels really similar to his speaker power amp, the Starkrimson Ultra 2.0. By that, what I mean is that, just like the Starkrimson Ultra 2.0, this Valencia amp is really really clean sounding and everything I put on it just sounds so clear and detailed from bass to treble. On top of being so clean and clear sounding, the Valencia really brings the best of bass out of my headphones. It could be because of the power rating since the Valencia is a beast at 15.12W into 32 ā¦. But the thing is, the Topping A70 Pro got power too and can drive my DCA Stealth nicely. But the A70 Pro sounds more polite compared to the Valencia when I use my DCA Stealth. The DCA Stealth is never really a visceral bass experience headphone, but the subbass on the DCA Stealth is phenomenal. The subbass can get bigger sounding on better gear. When I used the A70 Pro as a preamp to the Valencia, the Valencia sounds bigger sounding vs the A70 Pro as just a headphone amp. But when I try my Supratek Cabernet DHT Preamp connected to the Valencia, itās a bigger sound than when the A70 Pro was used as a preamp. I think part of the reason is that the Supratek Cabernet DHT Preamp got a pretty high gain as a preamp and I can get louder on the Supratek than the A7 Pro, not that I need thatā¦
Valencia deserves to be played on good gear. You can run it with the affordable Topping A70 as a preamp and itās still really good to listen. But, manā¦ to me it really scales up on my personal favorite gears.
For the DAC, I only have 1 DAC which is the Mojo Audio Mystique Evo B4B 21 (I have a HiBy R8ii DAP, but havenāt had the guts to connect that to Valencia yet). Its a big boy R2R DAC and what I really like about it is that it adds a hint of bloom in my audio chain.
Having a really good preamp feels really key on what the hell you are trying to plug into the Valencia amp. The Topping A70 pro is the minimum on what I want on a preamp for Valencia. It has a low gain and high gain, which is crucial if you want to drive sensitive gears like iem on the Valencia amp. Another thing I feel is minimum for a preamp, at least to me, is a remote controller. Itās because I became more of a speaker guy last year, and I donāt really have a dedicated desk to really put the Valencia and the preamp near each. Especially if my main preamp is something as big as the Supratek Cabernet DHT Preamp. Having a tube preamp paired with any of Leo power amp is just a treat. Itās because all his amps I tried just really are transparent and you just have a much easier time hearing the changes that were being made in your audio chain (I only own 2, which is the Starkrimson Ultra 2.0 and now Valencia). A tube preamp is the ultimate tone control and the Supratek Cabernet DHT preamp lets me play with my 45/2A3 tubes and 6SN7 tubes to my heartās desires. Just like the Starkrimson Ultra 2.0, the Valencia just provides me a reliable clean beefy power to my headphones and all I have to worry about is what kind of tonality Iām in the mood for today.
DCA Stealth on the Valencia with Supratek preamp volume knob picture below. I usually always go over 50% on a headphone amp to power DCA Stealtht, not Valencia.
On top of being a really good tone control for my system, the Supratek Cabernet DHT preamp have a gain knob which is different from the volume knob. I can control how much gain I want instead of what most preamp have which is just a low gain and high gain button. I usually go around 50% gain knob and control the volume knob like normal on my iems like the 7th acoustic Supernova and the Jomo Audio Nautilus. Then for my non-sensitive gears like the DCA Stealth, Mysphere 3.2, and Sennheiser HD580 Jubilee, I play the Supratek like normal on 100% gain and use the volume knob almost normal. I never have to go past 50% on the volume knob when I use the DCA Stealth which is really impressive because the DCA Stealth is a pretty hard headphone to drive. So yeah, feed the Valencia a really good preamp and it could pretty much drive anything. One caveat is that I do hear a very quiet noise when I drove the Nautilus iem with the Valencia with the Supratek preamp. I havenāt played with the gain knob more to see if I can get it completely noise free. But when I tried the A70 Pro as a preamp to the Valencia at low gain, it was pretty much noise free, easy. But the one caveat for the A70 Pro is that you can still hear music being played even when you turn the Topping A70 Pro all the way down on the volume knob. When I turned the volume knob all the way down on the Supratek Preamp, its silent. I guess maybe muting the A70 Preamp is better than turning the volume knob all the way down, but that feels more unsafe if I donāt remember to turn the volume down with the wrong gearā¦ I am used to a preamp to a power amp chain so I always put the volume knob all the way down and just slowly turn the volume up as the music is being played. An all solid state chain will probably be the easiest route if you are looking for a noise-free experience and you got some serious sensitive iem you want to drive on Valencia, but its really hard to pass up on tone control with tubes as a preamp.
With my favorite gear in my audio chain, the Valencia amp feels right at home and just gives me a very familiar feeling just like when I listen to my speaker setup which also has an Orchard Audio power amp in the chain. And that feeling is audio bliss, happy listening everyone!
Solid Write-up. Glad you have one to play with! As for noise like this with sensitive IEMs. It can be quite hard to eliminate with Valencia sitting at the end of the chain. Most normal setups their wouldnāt be the power available to amplify those minute sounds so your comboās matter depending on what gear you are pushing. A hard to drive headphone you wonāt get any background noise from most sources.
I think I mentioned in the first post here and certainly in my video that I use XLR Chokes on the input side for the various headphones I want to test. Essentially giving me High-Low or H-M-L on Valencia even if the pre does not have this built in. Might be something to look into.
Thatās good. Leo amp deserves more attention, itās a really good amp. Itās hard to describe how clean this amp sounds, but to me itās one of its addicting trait. Hopefully when it release, people will talk about his amp more.
I took a peak at headfi and saw what they were talking about. Looks like today topic is preamp in a headphone chain. To me, preamp in a headphone chain feels unnecessary and I think it complicate things because you got to worry about bottleneck in the chain and how good the amp and preamp synergies. But itās a double edge sword, because the reward feels pretty high to me. The preamp can take the chain to new heights if you find the right synergy.
My old setup below before I added room treatment in my room.
It took me a while to find this setup which I liked to call my ultimate soundstage chain. 2A3 tubes in the preamp to an OTL amp to an ear speaker headphone. I had to play with tubes to make sure it works well for not only the headphone, but the headphone amp as well.
With Leo amp, his amp is transparent and always provide plenty of power to my gears. You can just go to town with whatever unique preamp you have without worrying about synergy with the amp, which I pretty much already did with his speaker power amp the Starkrimson Ultra 2.0. I pretty much heavily rely on Leo power amp and my Platimon speaker to hear more of my tube combination and see which tube combination I like the most. I pretty much settle on RCA UX-245 with RCA 6SN7GT smoked glass for a more old school RCA sound in my audio system. 2nd favorite is the Psvane Horizon 2A3 with the sylvania 6SN7GTA chrome top pair for a more modern clarity sound with a really nice sparkling highs.
Bottom line, Leo amp is really fun to just play around with if you got some unique preamp you always wanted to hear and you donāt want the amp to color the sound.
I spy Platimonsā¦ Which I run with a Starkrimson Ultra. I am currently only using a Topping DX9 as DAC/PRE to that setup but its pretty much perfect. Only improvement I found was the OA Limited LPS Monoblocks I reviewed.
I have a Black Ice Tube DAC / CD Transport I want ti put in line but then I need to find another pre for the setup.
Platimon and Leo amps are pretty much a match made in heaven, transparency at its finest. I also saw your OA limited LPS review video, man I wish I had 6K lol. It sounds like 1 amp I really want to try.
ooooooo, that looks really interesting. I feel like every preamp always add its own sound to it since you gotta make a preamp unique somehow. Looking forward on what you think of it if you ever find a combo for it.
