[G0rt]

that would be 'f-stock'

The C is for Carbonized, maybe. Or Carbonite?

 

[jaxtrauma]

The C is for Carbonized, maybe. Or Carbonite?

Nah, its Corbomite, the one with Ronny Howard's uglier brother

 

[G0rt]

Nah, its Corbomite, the one with Ronnie Howard's uglier brother

Maybe Cavorite, to lighten it up?

 

[jaxtrauma]

They also show a Jot muli-bit

Maybe Cavorite, to lighten it up?

I loved that one! From "First Men in the..."

Did the Uber use unobtainium?

 

[bboris77]

The C is for Carbonized, maybe. Or Carbonite?

Or just Crap. Schiit Crap. Has a nice ring to it even if slightly redundant.

 

[G0rt]

Or just Crap. Schiit Crap. Has a nice ring to it even if slightly redundant.

Sounds just like a ... Code.

 

[Les Strat]

@Les Strat I am curious about your having 'buyers remorse' on first listen to the unit. Was it in passive mode, or in one of the active modes in comparison to your old passive pre? what changed your impression of the unit? how long are your interconnects between the DAC, pre, and power amps?

@tincanear That is a very good question!
I didn't listen much in passive mode, as I definitely didn't like it, and preferred no preamp.
I tried both active modes and my initial thought was, why I have I just spent about £700 on a preamp which sounds no better in my system than running without a preamp? Hence the 'buyers remorse'.
I spent several hours switching between no preamp and Freya S in the system. It only required switching some XLR cables, so was quick and easy to do. I also had volume pretty well matched when doing the comparison.

I was using one piece of music which I know well, but in hindsight, this was probably a mistake.
When I went back for a longer listening session in the evening ( the Freya S arrived early in the morning) I tried it with lots more different music.

It was then that I started to appreciate the Freya S.
On really good recordings, I still liked the sound with no preamp, but in 1x mode, there was a bit more clarity, especially at the top end, without being hard or 'digital'.
I was hearing more detail in the music, without it detracting from my enjoyment. I preferred it.
As I went through my music collection I noticed a similar pattern on all recordings; the better the recording, the less 'benefit' from having the Freya S in the system, but there was an 'improvement' on all of them.
On lower quality recordings, 1x mode definitely sounded 'better' than no preamp to me, and some albums which I thought were poor recordings and hadn't listened to for years, really came to life with 4x mode. It has meant I can enjoy these albums again!

This is all subjective stuff and the differences were relatively subtle, but I am confident I could tell them apart in a blind listening session.

I had been running my system with the digital volume control from my Logitech Transporter, which worked fine.

The main reason I bought a preamp, was so that I can use the new Schiit CD transport... when it is eventually available.

The new CD transport will have to be very good to wean me off the convenience of streaming my own ripped CDs and using Qobuz, now that it all sounds even better than before!

I hope this makes some sort of sense. Trying to describe how audio gear 'sounds' is not easy and runs the risk of straying into the worst kind of Hi Fi journalist-style BS.

The upshot is, I am very happy with my purchase, and any 'buyers remorse' has been replaced with a degree of smugness at managing to get my hands on a Freya S before they are all sold out!

Edit: I didn't answer your question about interconnects.
XLR cables from Yggy to Freya S are 50 cm
XLR cables from Freya S to Power amps ( built in to active ATC speakers) are approx. 3 metres.

I share my loudspeaker manufacturer's scepticism about the benefits of using fancy balanced cables, so mine are just simple OFC cables terminated with Neutrik XLR connectors.

If such cables are good enough for recording studios and live concerts, they are certainly good enough for me.

 

[jaxtrauma]

@tincanear That is a very good question!
I didn't listen much in passive mode, as I definitely didn't like it, and preferred no preamp.
I tried both active modes and my initial thought was, why I have I just spent about £700 on a preamp which sounds no better in my system than running without a preamp? Hence the 'buyers remorse'.
I spent several hours switching between no preamp and Freya S in the system. It only required switching some XLR cables, so was quick and easy to do. I also had volume pretty well matched when doing the comparison.

I was using one piece of music which I know well, but in hindsight, this was probably a mistake.
When I went back for a longer listening session in the evening ( the Freya S arrived early in the morning) I tried it with lots more different music.

It was then that I started to appreciate the Freya S.
On really good recordings, I still liked the sound with no preamp, but in 1x mode, there was a bit more clarity, especially at the top end, without being hard or 'digital'.
I was hearing more detail in the music, without it detracting from my enjoyment. I preferred it.
As I went through my music collection I noticed a similar pattern on all recordings; the better the recording, the less 'benefit' from having the Freya S in the system, but there was an 'improvement' on all of then.
On lower quality recordings, 1x mode definitely sounded 'better' than no preamp to me, and some albums which I thought were poor recordings and hadn't listened to for a for years, really came to life with 4x mode. It has meant I can enjoy these albums again!

This is all subjective stuff and the differences were relatively subtle, but I am confident I could tell them apart in a blind listening session.

I had been running my system with the digital volume control from my Logitech Transporter, which worked fine.

The main reason I bought a preamp, was so that I can use the new Schiit CD transport... when it is eventually available.

The new CD transport will have to be very good to wean me off the convenience of streaming my own ripped CDs and using Qobuz, now that it all sounds even better than before!

I hope this makes some sort of sense. Trying to describe how audio gear 'sounds' is not easy and runs the risk of straying into the worst kind of Hi Fi journalist-style BS.

The upshot is, I am very happy with my purchase, and any 'buyers remorse' has been replaced with a degree of smugness at managing to get my hands on a Freya S before they are all sold out!

That makes sense when you think about it, A great recording already has all the sonic information the artist produced, making it easier on the amplifier/dac when decoding for playback?

 

[jaxtrauma]

Sounds just like a ... Code.

The alimentary? not da vinci

 

[G0rt]

The alimentary? not da vinci

Could be some secret ... Mode.

 

[jaxtrauma]

Right, Modi and Modius

 

[Timster]

Title track "Dystopia" is a major offender, especially during the solos, which were seemingly recorded in a fast food cause that clipping distortion sure gives the illusion of frying oil in the background.

A bit late to this, but just checked the title track, Dystopia, as well as Fatal Iilusion, and it's great on my system. Yes it's DR compressed (like most metal!), but not too much and is clear, clean and punchy. Listened via Spotify > Modi MB > Jotunheim > Oppo PM-3 as well as output to speakers from Jotunheim > Vidar > Vaf DC-2

 

[earnmyturns]

Speakers: KEF Reference 1 (with 85dB sensitivity)

I used to own those speakers. They need a lot of power. This which I had from a smaller space with LS50s did not cut it. Ended up with this, which finally got the Ref 1s to show what they can do. I would still have that system except that I moved to a much larger, complex space that needs aggressive DSP room correction (I have a Linn Klimax system now). Anyway, Aegirs are designed for really efficient speakers, and the Ref 1s are the opposite.

 

[Jnan]

Your (very nice) speakers dip down to 3.2 ohms.

This might put a strain on either Aegir or Vidar in Mono mode. Neither Aegir or Vidar are rated into a 4 ohm load in Mono mode.

Thanks!. Exactly my worry about bridged-Mono usage.

Looking for : Vidar-2 / Vidar+ comes up with 200W in stereo or True Mono blocks from Vidar with 300+ watts ... asking too much ? anyways see how it goes on the powerful Aegir comes out ...

 

[Jnan]

I used to own those speakers. They need a lot of power. This which I had from a smaller space with LS50s did not cut it. Ended up with this

Thanks! the second this ... is there a link you can share ?