[Paladin79]

Which leads to my nomination for best delivery of awkwardly rhythm'ed lyrics:

"A liitle old lady got mutilated late last night..."

I can't even think those lyrics without tripping all over myself. Warren sings it flawlessly.

I can remember Warren doing a song confronting Sweet Home Alabama, Neil Young did the same of course. David Letterman was amazed he worked the word burcellosis into a song:

"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long
Daddy's doing Sister Sally
Grandma's dying of cancer now
The cattle all have brucellosis
We'll get through somehow


A favorite line in a song is by Bob Dylan, his grammar was always in question with songs like Lay Lady Lay but the line:

"The only person on the scene missing was the Jack of Hearts". How can a person be on the scene and missing as well?

Now for some funny lyrics, Austin Lounge Lizards, the song Big Rio Grande River..... "Up high on Table Mesa I felt her nearness close to me". Pretty much every lyric in the song is a redundancy, some are etymological redundancies (you might have to look that term up.)

A song that could be a poem, Taxi by Harry Chapin

It was raining hard in 'Frisco
I needed one more fare to make my night
A lady up ahead waved to flag me down
She got in at the light
Oh, where you going to, my lady blue
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain
She just looked out the window, she said
"Sixteen Parkside Lane"
Something about her was familiar
I could swear I'd seen her face before
But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"
And she didn't say anything more

 

[the finisher]

I can say that to my ears Vidar punches WAY above it's weight class, as my Vidar have been using my Parasound JC-1's as amp racks for the last 10 months or so...

Yea, $700 vs $4,495.00 LOL, God they must be GOOD!

 

[KoshNaranek]

Yea, $700 vs $4,495.00 LOL, God they must be GOOD!

Oh they are. They are.

Edit: By the way, my Parasound DP2000 preamp is now sitting on a shelf in the basement because of Freya. Even Saga pounded it into the ground.

 

[Ableza]

As many wise people have said long before me, "Cost does not equal quality."

 

[Paladin79]

I have heard nothing but good things about the Freya and right now I am pre-amp poor, that is my next component. It is always nice to have clear cut goals.

 

[FLTWS]

I have heard nothing but good things about the Freya ....

Enough good things to almost make me want to buy a pair of (decent) speakers so I purchase and use a Freya/Vidar combo.

 

[ashirin]

I appreciate the comments about the Sys/Vidar combo. I thought it might work, given that Saga can also be used very similarly in passive mode as a basic attenuator/switch. However, I guess the much more basic potentiometer in Sys isn't up to the task of regulating volume to something like Vidar.

@Rensek : I seriously appreciate your situation, it's hard to know when to make a half-step or when to wait to get the components you really want to keep long-term. I'm curious though, what are you using to power your Wharfedale speaker now? I ask because the way you phrased it made it sound like you had a functional two channel system already. Absent that information, my recommendation would probably still be to hold out for the Vidar / Saga combo. And you never know, in that time, Jason might release something else which would be even more appropriate or cost effective for your needs.

I for one am very curious about the Gumby mini that was hinted at. However, personally I don't care about my DAC being balanced, because nothing else in my system is, and I'm probably not going to go full balanced for a very very long time (if ever). Balanced outputs the "cheap way," as Mike put it, might be a nice feature, if it doesn't increase the price. As long as we're fantasizing, my ideal DAC would be a Bimby (I don't meed more than 16 bits... don't tell John Atkinson), but with a discrete I/V and remote control. When the Bimby first came out, Jason said they could never get a discrete I/V in there with the supercomboburrito filter. But they also said they couldn't fit a multibit module in a Jot, and Jason's newer analog designs seem to have fewer parts and take up less space (like the Magni 3 vs Magni 2 Uber). This is all a stretch, but one can dream. A discrete I/V would help differentiate the Bimby even more from a Mimby. A remote control would allow me to switch between music and TV without getting to the Bimby, which would be placed in a somewhat inconvenient location under the TV.

A quick rant about remotes. I've had this idea for a while, and it may very well be terrible. But here it is. I think it would be cool if Schiit integrated remotes into more of their products, especially the DACs. Each could come with its own remote for the sake of simplicity. Then they could sell an Uber remote that would control multiple products, in case you had a complete Schiit system.

 

[Ableza]

My home theater amp started doing strange things and I considered replacing it with four Vidars: three in mono for the L-C-R speakers and one in stereo for the surround channels. But then the Butler stopped making noises all by itself, so I dropped the idea... but I like the thought of using a Vidar array.

 

[rlow]

Folks I own both Saga and Freya (and Vidar, Gumby and Mimby).

Saga is a better preamp if your goal is transparency, with an optional touch of tube flavoring. The only reasons to go for Freya IMO are:

1. You want more tube flavour
2. You need more gain (which you will get from Freya's tube mode only)
3. You want the JFET mode, which has no tubes or extra gain, but can drive longer cable runs. (however if you need this, you can get the LISST for Saga as well)
4. You need 128 steps in volume, rather than 64 (tip: you probably don't)
5. You need balanced inputs and/or outputs

Now that last one is a bit contentious I know. However I will tell you that running Gumby balanced into Freya, vs. unbalanced RCA into Saga, is IMO, actually better sounding into Saga. So balanced isn't everything (as Jason has said many many times). However, for those with Yggy, I have heard the balanced out is noticibly better, so I can understand why some might prefer Freya for this reason.

But IMO, with Gumby or below, you do not NEED the balanced from Freya - Saga sounds just as good or better. YMMV.

 

[Paladin79]

Very good info, thanks rlow. What I am building is balanced throughout so the Freya is for me.

 

[rlow]

Very good info, thanks rlow. What I am building is balanced throughout so the Freya is for me.

Sounds good. For me, I am thinking of selling Freya and sticking with Saga because I like the sound of it better. And because I only have a single Vidar, it only takes unbalanced inputs anyhow. Plus, I have found that sourcing matched pairs or quads of truly great 6SN7 tubes is difficult and/or expensive (where I live at least) and also takes a lot of patience with tube rolling.

 

[Paladin79]

Yeah each situation is different, if I was not already committed I would make an offer. You are also in Canada and hard telling what kind of tariff an ally has to pay now. Is it 2020 yet?

 

[Xcalibur255]

For sure one tube vs. four is much easier to manage. I actually need to convert from balanced (the only Yggy output I'm not currently using), to unbalanced (for the amp downstream) so I was locked into Freya.

I'm not the type to fire off "where's my stuff" emails....... years of working customer service informs me all too well what that is like on the other side of the fence. But, I think maybe it's time to fire off a polite email to Schiit asking what the status is on Freya shipments. The current status of "backordered to 6-6" that the website shows seems optimistic at this point since I ordered one three weeks ago and haven't heard a peep. I certainly don't mind waiting, but at this point I guess I need to find out for how long that wait is going to be.

I don't think Schiit has been shipping Freyas for a while now actually. Prior to the current backordered status on the website it was showing as backordered through May and April too. Maybe they are doing revisions to the chassis or something and ran into an issue?

 

[yonson]

My home theater amp started doing strange things and I considered replacing it with four Vidars: three in mono for the L-C-R speakers and one in stereo for the surround channels. But then the Butler stopped making noises all by itself, so I dropped the idea... but I like the thought of using a Vidar array.

I have 3 currently for my L-C-R and as soon as I quit procrastinating and sell some other equipment I'll replace my Parasound A31 that's now only running the rears with another pair of Vidar...

 

[yonson]

5. You need balanced inputs and/or outputs

Now that last one is a bit contentious I know. However I will tell you that running Gumby balanced into Freya, vs. unbalanced RCA into Saga, is IMO, actually better sounding into Saga. So balanced isn't everything (as Jason has said many many times). However, for those with Yggy, I have heard the balanced out is noticibly better, so I can understand why some might prefer Freya for this reason.

But IMO, with Gumby or below, you do not NEED the balanced from Freya - Saga sounds just as good or better. YMMV.

Unfortunately you can't pair Saga with Vidar as monoblocks...