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Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up
Jan 4, 2017 at 6:57 PM Post #15,904 of 155,174

Hi, i don't have enough time to pick out what i hear, only have about 45 minutes on it. but i will in a few days. i do have the Micro Rendu going to a Gumby and two xpa-2 Gen-1 bi-aming to a pair of Vandersteen 2ce Signatures MKII.
 
Jan 4, 2017 at 7:11 PM Post #15,905 of 155,174

Here in Canada, I’ve always had excellent experiences with FedEx.  They picked up my Freya at 6PM EST yesterday from Schiit and it was out for delivery in Toronto within 15 hours, even with a stopover in Indiana.  I had it by noon.  Unbelievable!
 
A few pictures below:  A little inside shot of the Freya.  I couldn’t resist since the nudes aren’t online yet.  I’m curious if the 4 big WIMAs are in the signal path when in tube mode.  I was too excited to try it out to test for that today.  Maybe Jason will enlighten us.
 
 

 
The Freya with the Adcom GFP-750 it replaces, the Freya in my system with Yggy and Bryston 3BSST, and also a side shot of my NS-1000M speakers. 
 



The NS-1000M were completely refinished by me inside and out and now have Troels Gravesen crossovers on the inside.  The Adcom GFP-750 was completely recapped by me and all caps in the signal path were replaced with clarity caps.  The Adcom was designed by Nelson Pass and is a tremendous preamp, but it always annoyed me how the volume takes huge jumps with every small touch of the remote control when in active mode.
 
I set up the Freya (balanced connections both ways) and gave it a quick listen.  Passive mode sounded just like it did on the Adcom – dull and lifeless.  The JFET buffers sound excellent, just like the Adcom in active mode, except the Adcom adds gain in this mode.  In passive and buffer mode, the Freya is indistinguishable from the Adcom in passive and active modes.
 
Then I tried tube mode with the stock tubes.  Meh.  It sounded good, but I preferred the JFET buffer mode.  So, I tried a quick tube swap.  I have 2 Sylvania 1940s VT-231, 2 Kenrad 1940s VT-231, and 2 Sylvania early 1950s chrome dome to play around with.  I dropped in some NOS tubes and tried again.  Magic.  This is where the magic is.  It’s more dynamic and a tad more spacious in tube mode than in buffer mode.  After a quick 30 minutes of swapping, I settled on the Kenrads in the voltage gain stage and the chrome domes in the buffer stage for now.  Granted, none of these tubes are broken in yet, so I’m sure I’ll revisit these decisions many times in the future. 
biggrin.gif
  The stock tubes are probably better than I give them credit for, since they’re likely not broken in.
 
The great thing about the Freya is the magical tube mode with 128 steps of volume selection.  This thing is definitely a keeper.
 
This system is so transparent the sound is largely determined now by the choice of tubes.  This should entertainment me for next few months while I consider whether a couple of Vidar mono blocks could outperform this Bryston. 
smily_headphones1.gif
 
 
Jan 4, 2017 at 7:24 PM Post #15,909 of 155,174
Jan 4, 2017 at 7:26 PM Post #15,910 of 155,174
Jan 4, 2017 at 7:27 PM Post #15,911 of 155,174
Jan 4, 2017 at 7:30 PM Post #15,912 of 155,174
us blues said:
 
Same reason people roll tubes.
Click to expand...

 
Elaborate, please. Tubes are active devices in the audio signal chain.  They're not directly analogous.
 
Jan 4, 2017 at 7:34 PM Post #15,913 of 155,174
watchnerd said:
   
Elaborate, please. Tubes are active devices in the audio signal chain.  They're not directly analogous.
Click to expand...

I have met a few people who are totally convinced that after market, expensive fuses make a dramatic difference. I believe
some of them are made of ceramic or similar, and the prices start at around $50 from various brands..some from Germany.
 
I think it case of some listeners hearing what they want to hear.  
 
I am not a believer in allocating resources to parts that are not in the signal path except if has to do with the power supply (power cords etc)
and some degree of resonance control. 
 
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