[Mondo Caliente]

I had to wait a little last year for my Freya, and it was worth the wait. Note that I am still surprised at the Freya noise issues that some have noted as mine is DEAD quiet with any of the tubes I've used, from the original "el mysteriouso" Russian stock things to new Tung Sols and my current pile of NOS Sylvania Chrome Domes and RCAs...and for my tastes the tube setting sounds much better than the FET or passive, and as noted previously my SE power amp prefers the higher gain. By the way, here's a hilarious recent interview with the Schiitheads:

 

[papoopeepoo]

I had to wait a little last year for my Freya, and it was worth the wait. Note that I am still surprised at the Freya noise issues that some have noted as mine is DEAD quiet with any of the tubes I've used, from the original "el mysteriouso" Russian stock things to new Tung Sols and my current pile of NOS Sylvania Chrome Domes and RCAs...and for my tastes the tube setting sounds much better than the FET or passive, and as noted previously my SE power amp prefers the higher gain.

The noise problems I've read about here are the main reason I waited so long to order. I thought Schiit might have a few bugs to work out in the beginning. The one post about the gain on the Tube stage being brought down interests me. My power amp (ARC D240 mk2) has a 1.6V input sensitivity, so with too much gain from the preamp, it would be especially easy to run it into clipping. I ordered the new tubes and LISSTs, so I'll have plenty of experimenting to do. This is my first piece of tube equipment to own. I've heard plenty of tube amps and preamps, but they've always been completely out of the question price-wise.

 

[Mondo Caliente]

Did they actually reduce the tube stage gain? The site still says 14db...still, I doubt it's going to clip any reasonably designed amp, but you'll know immediately! Note that complaints of tube sourced or whatever noise/distortion issues although reported here and there, don't account for what is likely unreported thousands of Freyas without these issues...or I just got lucky...in any case there's a good chance you're gonna like the thing...

 

[DrJam]

Did they actually reduce the tube stage gain? The site still says 14db...still, I doubt it's going to clip any reasonably designed amp, but you'll know immediately! Note that complaints of tube sourced or whatever noise/distortion issues although reported here and there, don't account for what is likely unreported thousands of Freyas without these issues...or I just got lucky...in any case there's a good chance you're gonna like the thing...

Perhaps I'm one of those "unreported thousands" so that's why I'm chiming in: The few times I have had an issue with Freya has always been due to tubes: My stock Russians were a bit noisy and I also got a couple off ebay that were either very noisy or dead (which I did exchange for replacements in each case), but I have now a collection that all sound great, including some Sylvania + GE, or is it Raytheon or RCA in there now?... anyway, it doesn't matter, I'm happy with all of them and can put my ear to the drivers (while muted, of course), and only occasionally do I hear a slight background noise from the tubes that never bothers me during normal listening.

And, I like the tube gain. I only wish the JFET stage had some gain as well to compensate for some lower-amplitude sources (be it cable box or older CDs mastered before the volume wars.)

 

[Jamiee]

In most cases noise is probably from a noisy tube. Freya itself is pretty quiet in my experience.
I have a pair of Focal studio monitors sitting roughly 3ft away from me and in Tube gain my Freya is nearly dead silent. Only if I put my ear right beside one of the tweeters can I hear the slightest amount of tube noise. During regular listening at normal listening distances --- not a chance!

Of the 6-7 quad sets of tubes I own - only one TUNG-SOL 6SN7 (new stock) tube was found to be a bit microphonic & noisy when placed in the front gain position. It would very audibly pickup clicking from the volume control relays and occasionally hum --- The sound coming out of the left speaker. Moving the offending tube to the rear gain position or one of the output positions solved the problem. All other tubes I've owned have been near silent, so I've been lucky that way.

Right now I have 160+ hours on a quad of TJ Full Music 6SN7's (same as Sophia 6SN7 ???) and I'm really liking them!
They sound rather interesting out of the box to say the least, but after a good 48hrs, they really start to calm down / open up and become quite a fantastic tube. Dare I say I might even like them more than the Shuguang Black Treasure CV-181z by just a little bit.

BTW, I've gone back and forth between JFET buffer and tube gain modes... JFET is good, very good, but nothing quite beats out the sound of a really top notch tube!

 

[Mondo Caliente]

Tubes in a class A arrangement as utilized in preamps and some amps (my little single ended amp is one) seem to deliver more detail…I could be imagining that, but hey…that works for me. I switch to the other modes from time to time as the Freya makes that so easy, and it's my "tube honesty/deterioration" monitoring sentry (!) not available in many , or any, other preamp…it's good. I still have NOS RCAs in the first position and NOS Sylvania Chrome Domes doing the gain work, and the thing just sounds beautiful…wait…I think I'm gonna weep…*sniff*...

 

[Noldir]

So, I got my Freya in and I can confirm the tube gain is almost the same as the JFET gain, yes there's a small difference but nothing shocking. 1 vs 1.5 gain I'd say.
I tried searching the forums but I can't find the part where it's explained why the Freya has a mute button that doesn't completely mute. Anybody know where to look?

 

[Jamiee]

Indeed JFET buffer and tube gain stage are pretty close with tube having a bit more output.

Re: Freya mute.... yeah, It doesn't fully mute for me either. Nor does zero volume attenuation fully mute anything that's being played back.
Minor annoyance that I've learned to live with in my setup. Can't say I've heard or read an explanation as to why this is though?

 

[Noldir]

Indeed JFET buffer and tube gain stage are pretty close with tube having a bit more output.

Re: Freya mute.... yeah, It doesn't fully mute for me either. Nor does zero volume attenuation fully mute anything that's being played back.
Minor annoyance that I've learned to live with in my setup. Can't say I've heard or read an explanation as to why this is though?

Glad to hear that, I've already asked them to confirm their site is out-of-date

For my own sanity: is your gain also quite low with the Freya? I totally dig it, but the passive, JFET and Tube all sit around 1 gain.

 

[Jamiee]

for me passive is by far the most quiet (in terms of gain -- cos their isn't any really ), JFET is a subtle step up in gain and Tube is another step up (more noticeable than between passive and JFET). They definitely don't all sit at the same level.

 

[Noldir]

for me passive is by far the most quiet (in terms of gain -- cos their isn't any really ), JFET is a subtle step up in gain and Tube is another step up (more noticeable than between passive and JFET). They definitely don't all sit at the same level.

I'm used to the knob setting at around the 25% volume max, but with Freya that sits around 50%. So a lot lower gain then normal. But going by your story that seems the same.

Also weird thing: I think I sometimes hear the Freya make a "click" when playing music. Would that be some protection circuit kicking in?

 

[Jamiee]

Yeah, I usually have my volume set to between 35% & 65% on Freya for most listening sessions -- depending on how much I want to let my hair down
My previous solid state pre-amp (more of a straight volume control) didn't need quite as much, but it's not apples to apples with Freya so....

Can't say I've heard my Freya make a click while in operation while left alone. Perhaps the volume dial wasn't quite set and clicked up/down to the next level?

 

[Noldir]

Yeah, I usually have my volume set to between 35% & 65% on Freya for most listening sessions -- depending on how much I want to let my hair down
My previous solid state pre-amp (more of a straight volume control) didn't need quite as much, but it's not apples to apples with Freya so....

Can't say I've heard my Freya make a click while in operation while left alone. Perhaps the volume dial wasn't quite set and clicked up/down to the next level?

Was thinking the same, I'll have to see if I can reproduce it. I think it might have something to do with going from JFET to tube output.

 

[sam6550a]

Was thinking the same, I'll have to see if I can reproduce it. I think it might have something to do with going from JFET to tube output.

Toggling between the Freya operating modes is accomplished by relays, so that is what you are probably hearing. note: there are about 24 relays in Freya--used for volume control, input selection, mode select, muting, and communication with the orbiting mothership.

 

[Noldir]

Toggling between the Freya operating modes is accomplished by relays, so that is what you are probably hearing. note: there are about 24 relays in Freya--used for volume control, input selection, mode select, muting, and communication with the orbiting mothership.

I understand that, but not 5 minutes into a song while I was on the other side of the room touching nothing