Can this if/else statement be reduced or improved?

I have many classes extending from a base class which has this function:

public boolean setVal(int v) {
    if (val != v) {
        val = v;
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

Since I have so many classes, I would like to make this statement as efficient as possible. I've tried this:

public boolean setVal(int v) {
    return val == v ? false : (val = v | true);
}

However, I guess I can not change val inline like this. (I'm very new to Java)

Can this be made more efficient?