[LouS]

What helped me on the buttons (hard to hold in place) was a piece of tape on the outside holding them in place, while I "played" with the LEDs. What I saw when I first opened it up, was totally unexpected. Such is life.

I just held it facing down, but then I work on strange gear for a living. As long as you don't DO anything to the preamp there is no reason to void a warranty. Mine had no sticker, I think that I read that earlier ones had tamper proof labels, but I believe that someone said that Schiit relented about voiding warranties, but since I can'tsay that Schiit said it, don't count on that being true... It is difficult to imagine that they would void a warranty without evidence of real tampering. Looking something over and tampering are not one in the same things.

 

[LouS]

I usually warm up any tube gear at least two hours before listening. With Freya and it's given function I will probably just leave it on all the time. I was under the impression that was Schiit's intention for it too, just like with Yggdrasil. Tubes don't sound their best unless they are very thermally stable. By the time it actually sounds good I'd probably be done with it for the evening and be switching it back off, so the alternative is to just let it run.

I can see why a lot of people would find that excessive, but I'm still surprised by how many people in this thread turn their Freyas on and off. If it were a power amp I probably would too, but for a pre I feel it's more important to keep the thermals correct so it can do it's job optimally. The power consumption is not as high as an amplifier so there's less guilt in it too.

If they were able to faithfully reproduce NOS tubes at a reasonable price I might consider doing this too.

 

[jeffrt]

I usually warm up any tube gear at least two hours before listening. With Freya and it's given function I will probably just leave it on all the time. I was under the impression that was Schiit's intention for it too, just like with Yggdrasil. Tubes don't sound their best unless they are very thermally stable. By the time it actually sounds good I'd probably be done with it for the evening and be switching it back off, so the alternative is to just let it run.

I can see why a lot of people would find that excessive, but I'm still surprised by how many people in this thread turn their Freyas on and off. If it were a power amp I probably would too, but for a pre I feel it's more important to keep the thermals correct so it can do it's job optimally. The power consumption is not as high as an amplifier so there's less guilt in it too.

The Freya manual says:
Q: Can I leave it on all the time?
A: You can, BUT it'll dramatically shorten the tube lifespan. We recommend you turn it on and off as you need it.

I agree with subsequent posters, that most tubes, once broken in, stabilize fairly quickly. I'd suggest 15 - 20 minutes, maximum of 1 hour, which is pushing it, as far as I am concerned.

 

[jeffrt]

I just held it facing down, but then I work on strange gear for a living. As long as you don't DO anything to the preamp there is no reason to void a warranty. Mine had no sticker, I think that I read that earlier ones had tamper proof labels, but I believe that someone said that Schiit relented about voiding warranties, but since I can'tsay that Schiit said it, don't count on that being true... It is difficult to imagine that they would void a warranty without evidence of real tampering. Looking something over and tampering are not one in the same things.

I agree with you, in principle. I suspect Schiit may also. In the warranty section, they say, "The warranty may not apply if the product is modified or tampered with. (this could be interpreted several way. "Tampered with" could be just removing the top, as we did ....). "is damaged by negligence, accident, unreasonable use, coffee or by other causes unrelated to defective materials or workmanship."

Some of that is open to interpretation.

 

[Xcalibur255]

The transformer area of my Freya gets far warmer than the tube area. I don't think there's any advantage to be gained from leaving it on all the time as it will absolutely kill the tubes far faster than turning it off when not being listened to, and I haven't noticed it sounding any better beyond an initial warm up of 20 minutes or even less….there's a lot of mythology regarding components supposedly sounding better with constant power up, and its "optimal" state can be influenced by far more subtle things like the AC quality in your area, humidity, the rest of the system, and the listening ability of the user.

I'm not quoting tube mythology. I'm just stating my personal opinion based on my own experience with tube gear. With all three of my current tube amps, if I turn them on and begin listening immediately I can absolutely hear the sound steadily improve for the first three hours, and can usually hear additional subtle improvment up until past five hours. If it's been on all day then those are usually great listening sessions.

Two hours of warmup is what I settled on for my routine as a compromise to not be excessively wasteful. I know people who refuse to turn their tube amps off, or will insist on warming them up for 24 hours before listening to them because they don't think it's worth listening before that. I do feel it's worth the two hours to get the high end reasonably free of grain and glare before listening. But that's just my experience and preference. I'm not asserting it as general fact.

 

[Xcalibur255]

The Freya manual says:
Q: Can I leave it on all the time?
A: You can, BUT it'll dramatically shorten the tube lifespan. We recommend you turn it on and off as you need it.

I agree with subsequent posters, that most tubes, once broken in, stabilize fairly quickly. I'd suggest 15 - 20 minutes, maximum of 1 hour, which is pushing it, as far as I am concerned.

I'm guessing you would get roughly 3 years out of the tubes, maybe 4, leaving the unit on all the time. Assuming nothing else goes wrong with the tube before that, which it often will. If the operating points are aggressive and Jason has the 6SN7 at or near it's maximum dissipation rating then it would be quite a lot less than this. Probably not even 2 years. But my gut feeling is he doesn't have them running quite that hard. If the OP points are very conservative then that 3-4 year guess might be a low ball even.

My point is, unless you're using pricey desirable NOS tubes, I personally feel the benefit of keeping the unit on is worth the cost in the tubes it uses up over time. I can see why others would feel differently of course.

 

[Mondo Caliente]

Having used tube amps for about 50 years, I can say with certainty that leaving one on will absolutely kill the tubes perhaps 3 times faster than otherwise.

 

[Xcalibur255]

I agree, I'm just saying it's worth it for some fussy people like myself.

I ordered the Freya. When I get it I suppose I'll play around with warm-up times and see how much impact I can hear. I'm not dead set on leaving it on all the time if there isn't enough sound quality benefit to justify it. I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Get the 4 LISST "tubes".. Problem solved.

 

[Mondo Caliente]

Note that, at least in the case of my Freya, the thing gets hottest over the transformers for some reason (they're close to the lid maybe) so there's that. And also I don't understand the point of the LISST things as they're not tubes, and the Freya has 2 other non tube settings already….is it gain? Is it solving irrational tube fear issues? Or maybe they're for keeping people from becoming tube freaks, as that sort of makes sense since clearly collecting tubes can be highly addictive.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

The Freya with 4 LISST does sound better than using the onboard JFET mode, so in a sense it's like the tubes that never stop giving? Using the tube mode also turns SE signal into balanced so the LISST will allow you to do that without tube-like sound. AND you can always just leave the sucker on and not fear of burning up your tubes life.

 

[jeffrt]

Note that, at least in the case of my Freya, the thing gets hottest over the transformers for some reason (they're close to the lid maybe) so there's that. And also I don't understand the point of the LISST things as they're not tubes, and the Freya has 2 other non tube settings already….is it gain? Is it solving irrational tube fear issues? Or maybe they're for keeping people from becoming tube freaks, as that sort of makes sense since clearly collecting tubes can be highly addictive.

Here on the Schiit LISST replacement page,
http://www.schiit.com/products/lisst-tubes
they say just that,
"Have you ever wanted a solid-state Freya, Mjolnir 2, Lyr 2, Saga, or Lyr? Then a pair of Schiit LISST (linear, integrated solid-state tube) is what you need. Just plug a pair of these small metal cans into the tube sockets, and you have a solid-state amplifier, with zero concerns about tube life and tube variability."

and,
"Sounds Just Like Tubes! Or Not.
Solid-state tube replacements aren’t a new idea. However, most of them go on and on about how they sound “just like tubes.” We’re not going to say that. We will say that they sound very good. We will also say they have lower distortion than tubes, though with a similar overall profile. Beyond that, it’s up to your own perceptions."

I have not tried them myself; I see no reason to as the 6SN7s, to my ears, are so linear and so neutral sometimes I wonder if I'm even listening to tubes.

 

[dave615]

Hi everybody - I have been lurking for a while and have read most of this thread. I have a couple of questions.....

I am wanting to order a Freya, but their site says back ordered to 6/6. Do you think I should go ahead and order, or wait until it says "in stock". I emailed them and they said go ahead and order (it was a pretty vague answer). Has anyone heard how long it's going to be, one week - one month - 3 months?

Also, has anyone heard anything about a Freya 2? It would be nice to turn the tube section off so you don't have to pull the tubes when in passive or JFET. I would hate to buy and then the next month a new model comes out. How long did it take for Schiit to update other products? I think the Freya has been out for about a year and a half?

Sorry if these questions have been covered already, and thanks.

 

[deserat]

Hi everybody - I have been lurking for a while and have read most of this thread. I have a couple of questions.....

I am wanting to order a Freya, but their site says back ordered to 6/6. Do you think I should go ahead and order, or wait until it says "in stock". I emailed them and they said go ahead and order (it was a pretty vague answer). Has anyone heard how long it's going to be, one week - one month - 3 months?

Also, has anyone heard anything about a Freya 2? It would be nice to turn the tube section off so you don't have to pull the tubes when in passive or JFET. I would hate to buy and then the next month a new model comes out. How long did it take for Schiit to update other products? I think the Freya has been out for about a year and a half?

Sorry if these questions have been covered already, and thanks.

I wouldn't expect a Freya 2 anytime in the near future. Frey isn't that old and I don't think Schiit has up'd the version in less than 3 years. Though, ya, give the price of good tubes. I'd love to see that feature.

 

[LouS]

Hi everybody - I have been lurking for a while and have read most of this thread. I have a couple of questions.....

I am wanting to order a Freya, but their site says back ordered to 6/6. Do you think I should go ahead and order, or wait until it says "in stock". I emailed them and they said go ahead and order (it was a pretty vague answer). Has anyone heard how long it's going to be, one week - one month - 3 months?

Also, has anyone heard anything about a Freya 2? It would be nice to turn the tube section off so you don't have to pull the tubes when in passive or JFET. I would hate to buy and then the next month a new model comes out. How long did it take for Schiit to update other products? I think the Freya has been out for about a year and a half?

Sorry if these questions have been covered already, and thanks.

Here's the thing, if you don't get on the list, and they have more people on the list than they have preamps, you may not find one available for some time. I'd get on the list, you can always tell them you changed your mind.