[dfiled]

I had the f

This is the way to do it. High power reference grade solid state amplification (like the Bliss) at the end of the chain and then can add whatever crazy coloration you want upstream of it.

Been considering Freya+ as a tube pre for my Bliss. How much "tube sound" do you feel you get out of it? I'm looking for a tube pre that really lays on the tube sound. Way I see it is I don't want some clean sounding tube, if I want clean, I'll run the Bliss alone. Point of the tube pre is to lay on those juicy tube harmonic distortions

I had the freya + a couple of years back and couldn’t discern any tube flavor added to my solid state amp. It is a hybrid design and I wonder if an OTL amp with a preamp output would be more to your liking.

 

[kumar402]

Have a Bliss on the way, which I’m very excited about. Has anyone listened to the Utopias (or ZMF dynamics) on the Bliss using a tube pre like the Euforia, and if so have you heard an appreciable difference compared to the Bliss with no pre?

A good tube preamp doesn't hurt. Does color the sound a bit and give boost to soundstage. Not sure how good Euforia is as tube pre.

 

[dfiled]

Which amp

You're not going to love my answer but I prefer my Utopia straight from the tubes without the Bliss. I didn't feel it added anything on top of them.

That’s ok — without getting too off topic, what amp have you thought was a good match for the utopia?

 

[kumar402]

I had an opportunity to listen to Utopia OG out of my amps( in signature) and it had fantastic synergy with both my amp. Utopia OG works well out of OTL. However I feel the newer one which is warmer may work well out of Bliss.

 

[orrman]

Which amp

That’s ok — without getting too off topic, what amp have you thought was a good match for the utopia?

Linear Tube Audio MZ3 personally but I know many people love it with DNA Stratus or Stellaris as well as Viva Egoista 845, Riviera AIC-10 and Eddie Current amps (B and T) to name a few. Utopia really shines on tubes and doesn't require power as much as good synergy. Bliss is a very nice amp but what it's really good at doesn't really show on the OG at least

 

[dfiled]

Linear Tube Audio MZ3 personally but I know many people love it with DNA Stratus or Stellaris as well as Viva Egoista 845, Riviera AIC-10 and Eddie Current amps (B and T) to name a few. Utopia really shines on tubes and doesn't require power as much as good synergy. Bliss is a very nice amp but what it's really good at doesn't really show on the OG at least

Thanks.

 

[gammi]

I had the freya + a couple of years back and couldn’t discern any tube flavor added to my solid state amp. It is a hybrid design and I wonder if an OTL amp with a preamp output would be more to your liking.

I actually got my Freya+ already and was really pleased with my first impressions:

Well my Freya+ arrived today. Definitely glad I got it, I think it's a great addition to the Bliss. I haven't done critical listening yet but my first impression on songs I'm familiar with is it got punchier, airier (background is more open/blacker?) and the there's more texture as in the notes have more vibration to them. Strings especially really resonate and you can hear that "zing" as the string is struck. I put on the MTV Unplugged version of Plush by Alice in Chains and man, those strings were zinging and you could really hear the vibrato in Layne's voice. This was all on the Tung Sol tubes btw, I have a pair of Ken Rad VT231's on the way.

And it's funny you suggest an OTL amp as a preamp, I tried that with my Feliks Echo and didn't notice anything...

 

[dfiled]

Who knows? Maybe I didn’t have the right tubes with my freya? Or maybe my hearing isn’t finely tuned enough to notice the difference — a real possibility since I can’t really hear the difference between DACs.

 

[dudeX]

Well my Freya+ arrived today. Definitely glad I got it, I think it's a great addition to the Bliss. I haven't done critical listening yet but my first impression on songs I'm familiar with is it got punchier, airier (background is more open/blacker?) and the there's more texture as in the notes have more vibration to them. Strings especially really resonate and you can hear that "zing" as the string is struck. I put on the MTV Unplugged version of Plush by Alice in Chains and man, those strings were zinging and you could really hear the vibrato in Layne's voice. This was all on the Tung Sol tubes btw, I have a pair of Ken Rad VT231's on the way.

Mildly off-topic, but where should I be setting the Freya's volume to? I have it maxed out currently, the thought being I don't want any attenuation of the signal, just purely passing through the tubes (which gives 12dB gain) and then I dropped down the volume on the Bliss.

Plush by Alice In Chains? Plush is Stone Temple Pilots.

Was it the first track of Unplugged? That’s “Nutshell”.

 

[gammi]

Plush by Alice In Chains? Plush is Stone Temple Pilots.

Was it the first track of Unplugged? That’s “Nutshell”.

Heh, you're right. I was listening to both of them and I mixed it up. The live at the Majestic Alice in Chains album is excellent as well.
Plush was the correct song I was referring to, but you're right that's STP.

 

[DMITRIY R]

Spending the entire July 4th holiday with the Bliss KTE and my Custom Build CFA3..

It would be interesting to hear your impressions of the comparison between Bliss and CFA3.

 

[whitefang]

Can you share with us the spec of the custom beast compared to the standard maxed-out one? Is this from Dukei? Looks different, but really in a great way!

This is not a Dukei build, parts choices are different so there should be some difference in sound but should be about the same level in SQ, just like Dukei's build it uses top quality parts.
If anything it is more maxed-out than a standard Dukei one, it is dual mono(two transformer) running +-30V, and I also replaced the pot with an Alps RK50.
But there were issues with my amp and Dukei actually helped me to troubleshoot and fix the problem, which I really appreciate. I would recommend anyone who wants to get a CFA3 should go for Dukei for a reliable unit. Or the upcoming Headamp CFA3.

Very nice! Which one do you prefer?

It would be interesting to hear your impressions of the comparison between Bliss and CFA3.

Will do, I was drained yesterday because too much critical listening lol. Will play with them some more and write a brief compairson maybe this weekend.

 

[gammi]

Anyone know if the Bliss can handle a 2ohm load or is that too low for it? Just picked up an LCD-R which is supposed to be used with a special amp but some amps that are good with very low impedance can drive it too.

 

[newToAudio100]

Does anyone else have a hdva600 or hdvd800 they can test the susvara with and compare it to the bliss? I have noticed the hdva600 seems to have a darker background and be more clear sounding than the bliss. The bliss seems to have more resonance and longer decay. For me it is very apparent, I've been using the hdva600 for a few weeks before getting the blisss.

Overall I almost get the impression of the bliss being tube like compared to the hdva600. It even seems to me the hdva600 has more detail while the bliss seems to fill in the spaces a bit more and offer more of a tube like sound. Just curious if anyone else has the hdva600 and bliss. I also notice it if I use the hd6xx with either amp.

 

[gammi]

Continuing my listening with the Freya+ and the Bliss, I hooked up my Verite Open last night and was quite impressed. I haven't really used these much since I got the Expanse, CA-1a, etc I mostly kept them because I think they're beautiful and I like the idea of keeping at least one of each driver type on hand, but wow, I might actually start using these again.

I remember when I would listen to them previously they would always sound veiled compared to the Utopia and Empyrean I had bought back in the day as upgrades to the Verite. I had no sense of that veil/muffle listening last night, they were actually really dynamic and punchy, listening to tracks like Take the Power Back by RATM, those drums really HIT. I think a lot of this is the Bliss being able to drive them hard but I still have a lot of testing to do, all listening has been pretty casual so far and I haven't ABed with/without the Freya and on different amps.