[mystaiced]

Quick Freya+ / N questions...

Anybody else leave their Freya + or N on 24x7? I leave mine powered on and just switch to SS passive mode to cut tubes off. I only power off if heading out on vacay or if there are T-Storms in the area.

Any danger in leaving it on all the time? I'm of the opinion that the power rush on turn-on is more taxing on gear than leaving it on, but those glowing things in the preamp always being lit up makes me curious. Am I wrong?

I turn everything off every night. My routine is turning my amp off first, then Freya N, then DACs. If I don't turn things off in that sequence, I get a little pop in the speakers from the amp.

Just tried an experiment with Gungnir and Bifrost 2/64. Left them both on for over 48 hours, but my ears couldn't detect a difference in sound. They both sounded as fantastic as they did when first turned on.

And tube mode on Freya N is used whenever I can listen without any background distractions (which has been rare these days). Otherwise I just use the differential buffer due to balanced to single ended conversion. I guess my thinking is, if Freya N ever wears out, then I'll be forced to upgrade to a Silver Freya +

 

[cricket]

Care to make a few suggestions?

My gateway to appreciating jazz was through a local radio station that plays a two hour show Monday through Friday in the afternoon. There is a different programmer each day and each specializes in different eras, styles, or sub-genres. Most of them are/were performers and/or instructors and are highly knowledgable. They'll play a few songs, then tell you what you heard in that set, so stand by with pencil and paper.

Of the five shows, Tuesday's with the Jazz Disciple were always my favorite. Here's a Spinitron listing of a recent show.

The first five shows listed here are strictly jazz and you can stream them. (I just noticed times listed on that page don't agree with the program schedule.) It's probably not hi-def quality, but you'll get a great sampling of stuff to investigate later.

Oh yeah, all programming for this station is commercial free and without that mindless chatter on other stations. The programmers play what they want, within FCC rules, not what some distant corporation mandates.

 

[EricDH]

Not really. There are three things going on.
1. My hearing is congenitally defective. For that reason I can't abide "hi fi" sounding systems, it has to sound natural or my brain cannot process it.
2. For what I'm willing to spend, digital surpasses analog.
3. The fiddly nature of LP playback drives me crazy: VTA, rotational speed, wow, flutter, worn needle, MC, MM, MI, taking too many seconds to place the needle on the album, etc, etc. No thank you.

As one of the Stereophile writers has said, people either optimize their system for analog playback or they optimize it for digital playback. I choose digital.
For similar reasons I have no interest in tubes.

And it seems that some (not you, @dstrimbu) take my statement, "I have never heard my turntable sound better than my DAC" as a universal statement of truth.

It's my old, middling turntable (see sig) versus my old SOTA-at-one-time DAC playing my old, original, records versus new digital remasters. I am fairly certain that someone else's SOTA turntable (not that SOTA) and SOTA speakers would make the farting noises coming out of my playback system sound fairly ridiculous. Would love to hear one someday and yet, still not going to go analog source....

Lastly, iiuc, one of the last remaining hurdles digital often has in matching/exceeding analog has to do with soundstage. We just went through that and I'm in the camp that reproducing soundstage takes more than a source recording that has it. Not in a place to deal with that either.

I never had interest in tubes either. But this little cute Vali 3 made me think, why not try just for fun?

Would the Jotunheim 2 pre-amp output match the Vali 3 input values? I don't want to buy a separate DAC, but if I only have to buy the Vali 3 to compare with my solid state Jotunheim, it's almost a no brainer.

The only (and big) difficulty will be that my headphones (Aeon 2 closed) have a balanced cable only. My modest 7Hz Timeless AE IEMs can easily switch between SE and balanced though, so I can try with these. Now, these are more fun than neutral, but good enough for my first steps in tube land I guess.

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

I never had interest in tubes either. But this little cute Vali 3 made me think, why not try just for fun?

Would the Jotunheim 2 pre-amp output match the Vali 3 input values? I don't want to buy a separate DAC, but if I only have to buy the Vali 3 to compare with my solid state Jotunheim, it's almost a no brainer.

You will love the Vali 3, for sure !

At Jot 2, use low gain only, will be golden.

I forgot if the Jot 2 can convert SE to balance at the phone outs, if it does, put the Vali 3 as pre.

 

[EricDH]

You will love the Vali 3, for sure !

At Jot 2, use low gain only, will be golden.

I forgot if the Jot 2 can convert SE to balance at the phone outs, if it does, put the Vali 3 as pre.

Vali 3 as pre is not going to work, I have nothing to feed it.

As I have the multibit DAC card in my Jot, it will have to be Jot as pre, Vali 3 as power amp.

If Jot 2 as pre amp has 2V output, it would match any amp input I would assume.

 

[Senex49]

My gateway to appreciating jazz was through a local radio station that plays a two hour show Monday through Friday in the afternoon. There is a different programmer each day and each specializes in different eras, styles, or sub-genres. Most of them are/were performers and/or instructors and are highly knowledgable. They'll play a few songs, then tell you what you heard in that set, so stand by with pencil and paper.

Of the five shows, Tuesday's with the Jazz Disciple were always my favorite. Here's a Spinitron listing of a recent show.

The first five shows listed here are strictly jazz and you can stream them. (I just noticed times listed on that page don't agree with the program schedule.) It's probably not hi-def quality, but you'll get a great sampling of stuff to investigate later.

Oh yeah, all programming for this station is commercial free and without that mindless chatter on other stations. The programmers play what they want, within FCC rules, not what some distant corporation mandates.

Wow. Fantastic! I was a Nuclear Trainer for 30 years so the idea of hearing and then some analysis by learned pro sounds great. Pencil & paper, indeed.

 

[Bowmoreman]

the big Maggies are hot

Even better Apogee Duetta Signatures….stomped the Maggies of that time (Ribbons)… til death do us part (hopefully)

 

[Bowmoreman]

Can't go wrong with:

Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald

Mile's Davis (Kinda Blue, Sketches of Spain, etc)

John Coltrane - Love Supreme

Dave Brubeck - Time's Up

Charles Mingus - Mingus Uh Um

Lot's of the Marsalis Brothers

Sarah Vaughan

Thelonious Monk

This…

Plus: Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton, Art Pepper, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evan’s, Sonny Rollins…

Once you get into the mid/late 70s, more of the atonal stuff starts creeping in, but, for example, Stanley Clarke and Herbie Hancock can be outstanding ways to bridge from those classic 40’s through 60’s (Sara Vaughan notwitstanding, LOL) Jazz into more “modern” stuff. Do NOT fear the old mono recordings, some of them are EPIC in musicality.

I use:

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, and Kinda Blue
Lionel Hampton: The legendary Decca Recordings of Lionel Hampton
Sonny Rollins: Way out West

As references (for various instruments, recorded well in real space with no *mods*), Davis for Trumpet (yeah and ‘Tranes sax), Lionel Hampton for Vibraphone (you have not LIVED until you’ve heard some of his stuff on a system that can soundstage and has transparent mids - almost orgasmically real, and Sonny Rollins for Sax

I would say that “Jazz Rollin’” is similar to Tube rollin… there are so many performances from each of the best artists, and so many different pressings/releases…

But, I think the above combo suggestions would be an excellent place to start for anyone

 

[Bowmoreman]

I do not like jazz either. Agreed, I just dislike almost all jazz. Jazz at the pawnshop is the only Jazz album I own.

Maybe that’s why? <poke>. JATPS is reference-level *recorded*, but musically (at least to me), it’s pretty meh… that said, if you enjoy it, find the OG artists for the songs they played on it (it is almost all covers)… just a thought

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

7 hours 50 mins ..... 76 songs

 

[sam6550a]

To each his own, of course. I simply prefer my butler to be wearing his finely polished Christian Louboutins when he serves mine.

Where you are now residing, would that not be a cowgirl with scuffed boots?

 

[cricket]

Wow. Fantastic! I was a Nuclear Trainer for 30 years so the idea of hearing and then some analysis by learned pro sounds great. Pencil & paper, indeed.

Welcome to the group.

If you're new to jazz, I'll warn you that you'll hear something you can't stand and then something that makes you think, "Gotta get more of that." And there were times I'd look something up after work, and decide, "Nah, changed my mind."

 

[Bowmoreman]

Where you are now residing, would that not be a cowgirl with scuffed boots?

Some cowgirls with scuffed boots are HAWT

 

[AstronomerXI]

I never had interest in tubes either. But this little cute Vali 3 made me think, why not try just for fun?

Would the Jotunheim 2 pre-amp output match the Vali 3 input values? I don't want to buy a separate DAC, but if I only have to buy the Vali 3 to compare with my solid state Jotunheim, it's almost a no brainer.

The only (and big) difficulty will be that my headphones (Aeon 2 closed) have a balanced cable only. My modest 7Hz Timeless AE IEMs can easily switch between SE and balanced though, so I can try with these. Now, these are more fun than neutral, but good enough for my first steps in tube land I guess.

This will do the job for you. Price shown is in Canadian, so should be ~$15 USD. I have one and it works fine.

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

Official Bootleg Recording, very nice.