[Timster]

Need to ask the hard question, does the Kara have the same hiss as the Freya S? I could hear the Freya S hiss from the seated position so ended up parting ways despite liking the sound signature.

Hopefully Kara has fixed this for a pure blackground

Have the Freya+ and in S/S mode it's silent. In tube mode there is some minor residual hiss if I stick my ear against my (95db+ efficient) speakers. But that's the tubes and expected.

 

[bevanc]

My Freya S has zero hiss,,,

Neither does mine

 

[Les Strat]

My Freya S has zero hiss,,,

Neither has mine. It is silent!

 

[Jason Stoddard]

A couple of quick comments (back to the salt mines, we have a couple of big and painful projects we're working on now):

Bigger product better sound? Dave and Mike would certainly agree. They like to have tons of space to physically separate analog and digital stages, etc. Me, I'm not so sure. Bigger is certainly easier to do, though.

Kara+ with 6SN7. Nope, that would be a new Freya, and Freya+ is fine. Hard to improve on that without going to a much different (and more expensive) preamp, which doesn't thrill me.

Freya S hiss? Ah, no, that's not a thing. At least not when using balanced output. The noise floor is higher when using single-ended outputs in Freya S, but certainly not disturbing in the context of speaker amps with rational gain and speakers of typical efficiency. Happily, Kara's dedicated SE stages result in a much lower SE-output noise floor with Kara, so there's that.

 

[supersonic395]

A couple of quick comments (back to the salt mines, we have a couple of big and painful projects we're working on now):

Bigger product better sound? Dave and Mike would certainly agree. They like to have tons of space to physically separate analog and digital stages, etc. Me, I'm not so sure. Bigger is certainly easier to do, though.

Kara+ with 6SN7. Nope, that would be a new Freya, and Freya+ is fine. Hard to improve on that without going to a much different (and more expensive) preamp, which doesn't thrill me.

Freya S hiss? Ah, no, that's not a thing. At least not when using balanced output. The noise floor is higher when using single-ended outputs in Freya S, but certainly not disturbing in the context of speaker amps with rational gain and speakers of typical efficiency. Happily, Kara's dedicated SE stages result in a much lower SE-output noise floor with Kara, so there's that.

Thank you regarding the hiss comment. Indeed I used SE-output so this is awesome news. Will look to order soon!

 

[corndog71]

Need to ask the hard question, does the Kara have the same hiss as the Freya S? I could hear the Freya S hiss from the seated position so ended up parting ways despite liking the sound signature.

Hopefully Kara has fixed this for a pure blackground

This is exactly why I sent Freya S back. I measured about 20 dB of extra noise in either active mode which went away when I switched to passive mode.

 

[riffrafff]

Jot 2, BF2, and Lokius stack...will the 10" XLR PYST interconnects reach comfortably with a vertical stack?

 

[fendermke]

My Freya S has zero hiss,,,

Mine is also dead quiet.

 

[richard_hing]

The release of the Mjolnir 3 is very exciting news. I had a chance to audition the Folkvangr at the Schittr last month, and I’ve been a mess since trying to find something remotely close. Knowing SS pure Class A is nothing like an OTL tube amp, I wonder if the Mjolnir 3 gets me closer to the Folkvangr than anything else. Driving Sennheiser HD 800 S headphones.

I have a Freya+ in silver and a Mani 2 in silver, so if the Mjolnir 3 is the answer for a state of the art balanced headphone amp, I would want a Mjolnir 3 in silver. I also would like to know if I can continue to use my Freya+ as a tube preamp feeding a Mjolnir 3. I currently have it feeding my Pass DIY Aleph J single-ended Class A SS speaker amp driving my KEF LS50’s, and it’s magical. The heat doesn’t bother me as long my system takes me to audio nirvana.

 

[golfbravobravo]

On the cusp of Mjolnir 3's arrival...

...I've been listening a lot to my OG Jotunheim, driving the Senn HD820s. These 'phones are evolving in a very linear fashion, and with about 200 hours on them, they are as neutral as anything I've ever heard. It's so weird, after years of owning open-backed Sennheiser headphones, to listen analytically to the closed-back 820s. The bass is, well... shocking at times. <g>

Upstairs (office) source is the Qobuz Windows client, with the (infamous) Canon USB-A to USB-B cable between my Lenovo P340 i9/64GB workstation and Jot's True Multibit card. And I'm generally floored, it just sounds sooo good that it's hard to explain. Low gain, volume at nine-'o-clock, through the Senn-supplied balanced cable (4.4mm adaptor in Jot's 4-pin DIN connector). Not loud, at all, because I value my hearing... but the clarity and pacing of the music is just grin-inducing, at an absolute minimum...

Based on @Timster and @GumbyDammit223 's comments regarding schiity SQ, I can say that even though Qobuz streams generally sound phenomenal, a lot of recorded music sounds like total crap. But there are many, many exceptions - in no particular order, and CERTAINLY not in playlist order (unless you like to shock people):

Sara K. - "Stop Those Bells" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/151838629
Lauren Daigle - "Thank God I Do" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/200785519 <<<- she's an Angel
Elton - "Madman Across The Water" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/28107799
The Doobie Brothers - "I Cheat The Hangman" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/32299296 <<<- a spectacular 2016 remaster!
Tool - "Invincible" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/65897608

A Perfect Circle - "Weak and Powerless" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/4687059
Silversun Pickups - "Little Lover's So Polite" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/63453942 <<<- OK a bit bright but I love it
Smashing Pumpkins - "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/14580136 <<<- crystal-clear, well-tempered 2012 remaster
Van Halen - "Hot for Teacher" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/23448607 <<<- 2015 remaster... wow!
David Bowie - "Lazarus" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/203636904 <<<-

Thomas Dolby - "I Scare Myself" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/4676605
Prince - "Incense and Candles" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/4676605
Elliott Yamin - "Wait for You" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/77196278
Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/2997174
Hans Zimmer - "2049" (from 'Blade Runner 2049') - https://open.qobuz.com/track/43928362

Bob Dylan - "Man in the Long Black Coat" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/4887308
Jimi Hendrix - "Little Wing" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/307412
Sarah McLachlan - "Plenty" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/452306 <<<-omg you should hear this on LP!
Lori Lieberman - "Truly" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/157236737
Peter Gabriel - "Biko" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/49812003 <<<- auf deutsch gesungen

The Tragically Hip - "Grace, Too" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/99814859
Marie Dahlstrom - "Like Sand" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/171640326
Sophie Milman - "I Can't Make You Love Me" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/139055367
Bonnie Raitt - "I Can't Make You Love Me" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/1940697
James Blunt - "Monsters" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/126483796 <<<- miss you, Dad.

...and for each of the songs listed here, there are 10K more that are as spectacular / moar spectacularer.
I phreaking love this Schiit!
p.s. - one more: Dream Theatre - "You Not Me" - https://open.qobuz.com/track/2782903

I now have a strimbo playlist

 

[bevanc]

Jot 2, BF2, and Lokius stack...will the 10" XLR PYST interconnects reach comfortably with a vertical stack?

Yes

 

[GumbyDammit223]

I loved the magic eye tubes in the Cary 805 amps. Provided no useful information whatsoever, but it was a blast to watch.

A tuner is a much more practical use for that tube.

How about a magic eye graphic EQ with spectrum analysis?

 

[GumbyDammit223]

When someone has the MJ3 at operating temperature please take a FLIR picture. Curious as to how "hot" hot is.

Thinking my OG Silver Gumby -> MJ3 -> Eta Mini C is my end game. Unless the Mini C is a bad match for the MJ3?

Personally, I'd like a half-width Kara. Would love to make a Bifrost/Half-Kara/Gjallarhorn stack, in silver. I even have some silver T+A mini speakers to complete the system.

I'm sure @Jason Stoddard has done this during development and testing. Maybe we can persuade him to upload a representative picture. If not, I have one at work that I could borrow for a weekend once mine arrives.

 

[Voxata]

I'm sure @Jason Stoddard has done this during development and testing. Maybe we can persuade him to upload a representative picture. If not, I have one at work that I could borrow for a weekend once mine arrives.

Always good to have independent data on this, just be sure to share ambient and other info

 

[riffrafff]

Yes

Great. I was afraid the diagonal cables from input to output might be too tight, if that makes any sense.