[Cuckoo And Delusional]

I would love to hear the Freya and Freya+ side by side.

Same for Vidar and Aegir.

 

[tincanear]

As tempting as your offer is -- thanks, but no thanks.

having Bifrost OG will also reduce the temptation to hack the firmware to try and "improve" your unit

 

[earnmyturns]

From another site (not the site that shall not be named), I found:

First MFSL CD done with that GAIN system was UDCD 593 Muddy Waters Folk Singer (Dec 1994)
Last MFSL CD done with that GAIN system was UDCD 734 Jehtro Tull songs From The Wood (Nov 1998)

Cross referencing this with the MFSL list from http://www.mofi.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/goldcds.txt, I get: ...

Let the hunt begin, what an amazing collection of titles, thanks!

 

[tincanear]

having Bifrost OG will also reduce the temptation to hack the firmware to try and "improve" your unit

from your gear list, you show a DVD3910. I have a 2910 that has been having trouble reading CD's lately-- is your 3910 still OK? or did you have the laser replaced?

 

[Ripper2860]

Hmmmmm… Firmware rolling?

 

[earnmyturns]

Hmmmmm… Firmware rolling?

That's de rigueur for Soekris DAC owners, but I've done it only once, scary enough to deter me, which is saying a bit

 

[valiant66]

Tapping tubes to change their sound? Right up to the point where they fail I assume.

Hence my preference for solid state. That's where percussive maintenance really kicks in!
.

 

[johnjen]

And here I thought that fingernail thunking tubes was still de rigueur.
I learned this 'trick' long ago and it certainly can help reveal many of a tubes 'characteristics'.

JJ

 

[tafens]

Absolutely nothing have happened when I have tapped upon any of my tubes.
Perhaps I should try with the rubber mallet?

 

[eyrepm]

More Aegir impressions

I’ve used the Aegir with my Zu Omen Dirty Weekends for a couple of weeks now, so it’s time for some more impressions. The TL; DR version is simple: I really like the Aegir. This is not a high-strung amp that can only be used to listen to a carefully curated short playlist of well-recorded audiophile demo tracks. In fact, my favorite thing about the Aegir is how it makes even less well-recorded tracks enjoyable to listen to.

Sometimes I wonder if the Aegir is a bit bass light on some tracks, but I don’t think that’s really the case. Listen to ‘Crack Baby’ by Mitski and tell me if any bass is missing. ‘My Love is Your Love’ by Whitney Houston also has a deep and juicy bass line which really comes out using the Aegir.

One of the aspects of the Aegir that stands out to me is how it presents the layering of music without drawing undue attention to details. For example, on ‘Awoo’ by Sofi Tukker you can easily hear the various vocal tracks. On ‘Gone for Good’ by Samantha Fish you can hear the back-and-forth between her and the band, but it’s fun to listen to and not distracting in an overly analytical way. Another thing the ‘Gone for Good’ track illustrates is the rhythm or drive the Aegir has. The Brits call this Prat (pace, rhythm and timing) and I’ve never understood what they were talking about until now. It’s about getting caught up in the rhythm of a track and tapping your feet or nodding your head along with the flow of the music. ‘Done Got Old’ by Buddy Guy is often used at hifi demos. Skip that track – instead, play ‘Tramp’ and revel in the distorted guitar solo at the beginning. The Aegir doesn’t analyze the odd vs even-order harmonics of the guitar but instead lets you enjoy a great guitar player doing what he does best.

What struck me when I first listened to the Aegir was how well it presents vocals and piano. Listen to ‘Nevermind’ by Leonard Cohen or ‘Slow Disco’ by St Vincent – it’s like the singer is standing right in front of you. I’m also happy to report that tracks where I’m usually bothered by sibilance are listenable with the Aegir. ‘Claire Cadillac’ by Malia is a great example. Whoever mastered this track must be nearly deaf – it’s very sharp and sibilant. The Aegir manages to make it listenable – you can still hear that the treble is overly sharp, but it doesn’t pierce your ears.

To my ears the Aegir presents a wide stereo image. On ‘Steady Me’ by Sandra some of the instruments are placed to the left of the left speaker, so it’s outside of the speaker-listener triangle. I remember having heard this before on a previous system, but it’s been a while.

Finally, I wanted to highlight how wonderful the violin sounds on ‘Ave Maria’ by Arve Tellefsen. This track was controversial among critics when the album ‘Pan’ was released – how dare he mix classical violin and modern synthesizer! I like this track and you can really hear the beautiful inner glow of the violin over the deep synth bass. Very nice!

Thanks for this! Could you contrast this with what you had earlier? And this is with Saga?

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

Absolutely nothing have happened when I have tapped upon any of my tubes.
Perhaps I should try with the rubber mallet?

Turn your amp on



JC

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Meanwhile...
He does a lot of Schiit too:

 

[Cuckoo And Delusional]

Listening to the Schiit Freya+ Preamplifier

http://fairhedon.com/2019/10/08/listening-to-the-schiit-freya-preamplifier/

first review?

 

[Paladin79]

The purple cables a couple folks here like are starting to grow on me. Currently hooking some between a Bifrost 2 and Lyr 3. It will be tonight before I can give the Bifrost much of a trial. My office computer is just not geared towards this.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Purple as the color of church princes.
And they sound good too I know from experience.