Top image: Thieaudio
The Thieaudio Valhalla is fantastic, and its soundstage is among the best I've heard. The tuning is mostly neutral with a slight warm tilt.
Nineteen drivers, no dynamic
The Valhalla is Thieaudio's flagship universal IEM. It was announced at the end of 2024 and sells for $1,999. Each side holds 19 balanced armatures: four Sonion woofers, ten Sonion low-mid drivers, four Knowles RDE-33729 units for the mid-treble, and one Knowles WBFK-30095 tweeter. A 4-way passive crossover splits them across four bores.
The woofers sit inside what Thieaudio calls the Precision Bass System, a resonance chamber with a pressure-relief vent. The stated target is a 10 dB bass shelf that drops off by 200 Hz, a nearly flat midrange, and pinna gain centered around 2.8 kHz. The idea is to get the low end people usually buy a dynamic driver for out of armatures alone. For the most part, it works.
Build, fit, and what's in the box
The shells are CNC-machined Grade 5 titanium with a matte finish and a holographic faceplate. The cable plugs into recessed 0.78 mm 2-pin sockets. Rated impedance is 9 Ω and sensitivity is 103 dB at 1 kHz, so it needs little power.
The box is modest for the price: the EliteNoir cable, a small round case, two sets of ear tips, and a cleaning cloth. Current units ship with the updated EliteNoir V2, silver-plated copper in a black PVC jacket. Linsoul lists it with 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm terminations.
These are among the largest IEMs I've worn. The nozzle is wide and short, so the body presses on my ear before I get as deep a fit as I'd like. With the right tips they stay put, even on a walk, but after a couple of hours I'm aware of them. The cable is thick and a little stiff, and fitting it into the small case with the IEMs takes some careful coiling.
Bass
The bass is where the Valhalla parts ways with most armature sets. The shelf leans toward sub-bass, with the rumble and physical weight I associate with a good dynamic driver rather than the tidy, slightly hard thump armatures usually give. It's quick too: kick drums keep their attack and bass lines stay separate. It adds warmth without pulling the tuning away from neutral, though on bass-heavy masters it can get to be a lot.
Mids
The midrange is mostly neutral, with a little extra body carried up from the bass into the lower mids. Male and female vocals both sit where they should. I hear no shout, and sibilance only when it's in the recording. Busy passages are where the driver count shows; guitars, piano, and strings each keep their own space.
Treble
The treble is detailed and extends well, with enough air to keep the presentation open. It's smooth most of the time, apart from a peak in the upper treble that catches cymbals and hi-hats on some recordings. The stock wide-bore tips make that peak more obvious; narrower-bore tips calmed it for me.
Stage, detail, and sources
The soundstage is the Valhalla's headline strength, and it's among the best I've heard. It's wide and spacious, and dense mixes have plenty of room. Imaging is precise enough that I can place instruments without working at it. The drivers also hang together well: I never hear a handoff between groups. Detail is high, but it sits in the mix instead of being pushed forward.
A dongle drives it fine. A stronger DAP adds some weight and space and leaves its character alone.
Tradeoffs
Fit comes first. If your ears are on the small side, the shells may not work no matter which tips you try. The upper-treble peak means most people will need to roll tips before the Valhalla settles.
The accessories are close to what Thieaudio ships with its cheaper models, and at $1,999 that feels thin.
Who should buy it
Buy it if you want a wide, spacious stage on a mostly neutral tuning with a slight warm tilt, plus physical, sub-bass-led low end. It's a good pick if all-BA sets have sounded thin in the bass to you before. It suits rock, electronic music, and film scores, where the stage, the bass, and the layering all get used.
Skip it if you have small ears, are sensitive to upper treble, or want a lean reference tuning.
Linsoul currently sells the Valhalla as a pre-order with three to four weeks of processing, and pre-orders there can't be cancelled or refunded. Hear it before you order.
Final verdict
For me, the Valhalla is fantastic, and it earns its $1,999 on the stage first and coherence second. The main question is whether the shells fit you.