[Adam Balm]

You bring up a good point, Kara may indeed be less neutral than Freya S, but I enjoy Kara's presentation so much more.

Kara sounds more natural than neutral.

And while it might sound/appear like I'm joking, the longer I think about it, the truer this becomes for me.

My impressions too.

 

[kh6idf]

Received my Kara today. I have a mild cold so critical listening will have to wait another week or so.

What I am hearing now sounds good. It is replacing a Linn Kairn preamp which I will continue to use as a phono preamp.
Nothing wrong with the 30+ year old Kairn, but I didn't want to wait for the day it eventually fails to have a replacement.

I got some of these lightdims stickers (medium size, original strength) to put over the super bright LED's and they work great.
I put them over the LED's I would normally have illuminated (inputs 1 and 3), gain=1 (active) and mute. That way if I am not in a normally used configuration the bright LED will alert me.

I also cut a piece of one of the rectangles to stick on the volume knob, like a clock hand. Now I can see the volume position from the listening chair.

 

[decooney]

@kh6idf "What I am hearing now sounds good. It is replacing a Linn Kairn preamp..."

Thanks for sharing your introduction of Kara into your system. Interested in your thoughts after the first week of settling in. Also noting that you have listened to the Linn Kairn for a long time. What you hear in comparison, differences, and other observations along the way will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Basil65]

Finally received my Kara and it has been burning in for a week. These are my first impressions.

Matched it with my Vidar 2 and used my QAccoustics Concept 500 just for kicks as this is not their intended use. Wow! Never heard such deep bass in my system (I`m not a basshead). My first impression is that the Kara timbre is tonally neutral but there is weight and heft to the sound that is very nice. Maybe it`s just that it brings the Vidar`s performance out to it`s full potential? This combo brings much needed weight and heft to my little Kef LS50 Metas. I`ll be doing more listening next weekend to solidify my impressions... but this is off to a pleasant start!

 

[decooney]

@basil65 "This combo brings much needed weight and heft to my little Kef LS50 Metas. I`ll be doing more listening next weekend to solidify my impressions... but this is off to a pleasant start!"

Nice first update @Basil65, Thx. Being familiar with LS50s they offer some weight and appreciable midrange tone in bone stock form with most amps. What I'm after is to hopefully learn a little bit more about the midrange character - hopefully a little more about the body and tone of the midrange itself with Kara. We are all recently reading regular feedback now from various sources how Kara's timbre and tone is "neutral", yet bass has "weight". What about upper midrange, does that have some weight too - at all? i.e. Not seeing any comments about the midrange yet, and someting some of us look for in testing and listening to different amps, dacs, etc.

Some forum members swapping from the older 80s/90s Class A preamps with large outboard power transformers know exactly what's being referred to when I ask about weight to the midrange or midrange body. Dare I say the words midrange bloom - or some folks will jump right in and accuse of looking for a preamp with a lots of color. Nope. No, just a well designed preamp that normally offers this type of character and weight to the midrange too, in a similar manner how some comment Kara adds weight to the bass.

Apologize If I dare ask too early, what are you hearing with the body of the Midrange itself with Kara - Is it truly neutral as in somewhat laid back compared to high/low frequencies with Kara? [anything more you or others can add here would be greatly appreciated] before I decide to possibly compare this preamp to a few others, waiting a few more replies here to decide more. Watching closely for more replies here. Thanks in advance to all for your time and replies about the new Kara preamp!

 

[kh6idf]

Speaking of midrange, I listened to two tracks this morning of female singers where the voice kind of stood out with a bit more prominent midrange 'body' compared to my previous Linn Kairn. The Kairn has excellent transparency and coherence but with the Kara the voice was projected forward a little more, like the singer was standing slightly closer to me. Also, although both preamps have low noise levels (Kara being the best), It sort of seems like there is more silent 'space' between the singer, instruments or between multiple singers in a choir. These are fairly minor differences though.

The two tracks mentioned were "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" by Bree Sharp on the 'Live at Fez' album, and "Land of the Living" by Lucy Kaplansky from 'These Times We're Living In - A Red House Anthology'.

Another thing I noticed today, playing records sounds better. I'm using the Kairn phono preamp, sending it to the Kara via one of the tape outs. This bypasses part of the Kairn since it doesn't get reduced in volume. Bass is better defined, there is more 'weight' and transients are snappier. I'm using an Ortofon 2M Blue on an RB300 arm, original (1979) Rega Planar 2 with quite a few modifications.

 

[meirellm]

I've used a vintage Sansui receiver for many years. Sounded very good and I was happy. Until it started crackling quite a bit every time I've turned it on or changed the volume. I know, time for a nice rebuild...

But I was unsure where to take it for a fair service, so I've lived with the crackling. That was until I've decided to try using my desktop Vali2++ as a preamp and test if the crackling was from the preamp side of the Sansui, or the a amp side. Nice surprise. The power amp still works and sounds great. No crackling

I've been living satisfied with this solution until I've started reading this thread. I've wondered if a proper preamp would sound better. And there is a remote... Long story... my wallet hates all of you!

But my ears are pleased. Very pleased. Got a Kara delivered today and after plugging it in without any proper break-in, using single ended and cables that were laying around I have to say: "what the h@#$ m&$_#$*" hell!". Everyone in my family agrees.

Nice job Schiit!

 

[adias]

I've used a vintage Sansui receiver for many years. Sounded very good and I was happy. Until it started crackling quite a bit every time I've turned it on or changed the volume. I know, time for a nice rebuild...

But I was unsure where to take it for a fair service, so I've lived with the crackling. That was until I've decided to try using my desktop Vali2++ as a preamp and test if the crackling was from the preamp side of the Sansui, or the a amp side. Nice surprise. The power amp still works and sounds great. No crackling

I've been living satisfied with this solution until I've started reading this thread. I've wondered if a proper preamp would sound better. And there is a remote... Long story... my wallet hates all of you!

But my ears are pleased. Very pleased. Got a Kara delivered today and after plugging it in without any proper break-in, using single ended and cables that were laying around I have to say: "what the h@#$ m&$_#$*" hell!". Everyone in my family agrees.

Nice job Schiit!

Now imagine what happens getting a new power amplifier…

 

[meirellm]

Now imagine what happens getting a new power amplifier…

I can imagine.... my wife?! Not as much...

 

[adias]

I can imagine.... my wife?! Not as much...

Does she realize:

1 - the Sansui is really old

2 - the Sansui filtering caps may blow any day and create a fire or…

3 - the old Sansui failing power caps may fail and destroy the attached speakers.

Those, I hope, are very good reasons and actually true.

 

[decooney]

@meirellm depending on which model pre/amp you have, there are techs who refresh the units, replace caps and a refresh few parts, in Sansui amps and preamps. Some of the better versions can be gems worth updating and keeping if you like the sound of your Sansui components. I sure enjoyed some of my former Sansui AU units.
Best of Luck.

 

[decooney]

@meirellm @kh6idf @33na3rd @Adam Balm

How is the Kara coming along for each of you at this time:

-those with more time on the unit, did it change or improve for any of you [how so]?

-what did Kara replace, if you don't mind sharing a little more?

Thanks in advance, posting this for a friend considering one.

 

[kh6idf]

@meirellm @kh6idf @33na3rd @Adam Balm

How is the Kara coming along for each of you at this time:

-those with more time on the unit, did it change or improve for any of you [how so]?

-what did Kara replace, if you don't mind sharing a little more?

Thanks in advance, posting this for a friend considering one.

OK, I had a listening session this morning so here is my impression after about a week of ownership. The mild cold I had has mostly gone away now so I think my hearing is back to normal (it didn't seem to be affected much anyway).

For the first day or two, I thought the Kara might have sounded a bit rolled off at the top, but after more listening it isn't rolled off, it's better integrated. What might be heard as treble brightness with another preamp is heard as detail with the Kara. All of the frequencies are so well integrated into a "whole" sound that it's hard to isolate the treble. You just hear the sound of an instrument playing, or of a voice or voices and it sounds natural (others have used that word to describe it), like it would in real life. Don't read too much into that but that's my impression.

Dynamics are good and the sound has some 'weight' or 'heft' behind it in the lower mids and bass. The analyzer report on the Schiit website shows frequency response is very flat, so it isn't an exaggerated low end, maybe it's the sound of a decent power supply and/or brand new capacitors. My 30+ year old Linn Kairn, while not sounding thin or bright, does not have quite the heft that Kara has. I might attribute this to 30+ year old capacitors in the Kairn except that others are reporting it too. It's not too much weight/heft, but it was noticeable to me (and I like it).

Kara is quieter than the Kairn. I have to put my ear within an inch of the VERY sensitive Beryllium tweeter to hear any white noise at all. With the Kairn I could hear the noise from a foot or two away. For all intents, Kara is dead silent which lets me hear the quiet parts of the music with more clarity, and the space between the notes (where Mozart said the music lives) is well, silent unless there is some reverberation, and even then I can hear the reverberation better.

So, in summary, the sound of Kara is very good, certainly worth the price and then some. If your friend orders one I don't think he will be disappointed.


Now I will try to list any things I didn't like (there aren't many).

As you know, adjusting the volume makes (brief) clicking noises. These are just mechanical noise from the relays inside the case and none of that is present in the output signal. I don't mind it, once you get the volume set the clicking stops. My wife hated it though. Somehow my 30+ year old Linn Kairn does this in near silence plus having a nice LED readout of the volume (0-100).
The stock Kara gives you no indication of what the volume is set to, other than the tiny mark on the knob which isn't visible from the listening position. This is easily remedied by placing a small piece of black tape (I used a section of LightDims rectangle - see lightdims.com) on the knob like a clock hand. See my photo near the top of page 10 of this thread.

There is also an audible 'pop' when muting but it isn't very loud. When you are muted, you can't change inputs. You must do this unmuted. So better to have the volume turned down before changing inputs in case the new input level is higher.

That's about it for the dislikes.

I found using the XLR input sounded a LITTLE better than the RCA, though that depends on what's on the other end of course, and the cables used. In my case on the other end was a Bryston BDA-2 DAC. Cables were Mogami gold 3' (XLR) and a nice sounding 2 foot Grimm TPR RCA cable made by ProAudioLA.

Although this is head-fi, I didn't listen to the headphone output yet as all I have is a pair of Grado SR60 (my serious headphones are Stax with different connectors).

Rest of system was:
Source: Raspberry Pi 4 running PiCorePlayer, USB output to DAC
DAC: Bryston BDA-2
amplifier: Linn LK280, recapped 5 years ago
Speakers: Focal Sopra 3

 

[33na3rd]

OK, I had a listening session this morning so here is my impression after about a week of ownership. The mild cold I had has mostly gone away now so I think my hearing is back to normal (it didn't seem to be affected much anyway).

For the first day or two, I thought the Kara might have sounded a bit rolled off at the top, but after more listening it isn't rolled off, it's better integrated. What might be heard as treble brightness with another preamp is heard as detail with the Kara. All of the frequencies are so well integrated into a "whole" sound that it's hard to isolate the treble. You just hear the sound of an instrument playing, or of a voice or voices and it sounds natural (others have used that word to describe it), like it would in real life. Don't read too much into that but that's my impression.

Dynamics are good and the sound has some 'weight' or 'heft' behind it in the lower mids and bass. The analyzer report on the Schiit website shows frequency response is very flat, so it isn't an exaggerated low end, maybe it's the sound of a decent power supply and/or brand new capacitors. My 30+ year old Linn Kairn, while not sounding thin or bright, does not have quite the heft that Kara has. I might attribute this to 30+ year old capacitors in the Kairn except that others are reporting it too. It's not too much weight/heft, but it was noticeable to me (and I like it).

Kara is quieter than the Kairn. I have to put my ear within an inch of the VERY sensitive Beryllium tweeter to hear any white noise at all. With the Kairn I could hear the noise from a foot or two away. For all intents, Kara is dead silent which lets me hear the quiet parts of the music with more clarity, and the space between the notes (where Mozart said the music lives) is well, silent unless there is some reverberation, and even then I can hear the reverberation better.

So, in summary, the sound of Kara is very good, certainly worth the price and then some. If your friend orders one I don't think he will be disappointed.


Now I will try to list any things I didn't like (there aren't many).

As you know, adjusting the volume makes (brief) clicking noises. These are just mechanical noise from the relays inside the case and none of that is present in the output signal. I don't mind it, once you get the volume set the clicking stops. My wife hated it though. Somehow my 30+ year old Linn Kairn does this in near silence plus having a nice LED readout of the volume (0-100).
The stock Kara gives you no indication of what the volume is set to, other than the tiny mark on the knob which isn't visible from the listening position. This is easily remedied by placing a small piece of black tape (I used a section of LightDims rectangle - see lightdims.com) on the knob like a clock hand. See my photo near the top of page 10 of this thread.

There is also an audible 'pop' when muting but it isn't very loud. When you are muted, you can't change inputs. You must do this unmuted. So better to have the volume turned down before changing inputs in case the new input level is higher.

That's about it for the dislikes.

I found using the XLR input sounded a LITTLE better than the RCA, though that depends on what's on the other end of course, and the cables used. In my case on the other end was a Bryston BDA-2 DAC. Cables were Mogami gold 3' (XLR) and a nice sounding 2 foot Grimm TPR RCA cable made by ProAudioLA.

Although this is head-fi, I didn't listen to the headphone output yet as all I have is a pair of Grado SR60 (my serious headphones are Stax with different connectors).

Rest of system was:
Source: Raspberry Pi 4 running PiCorePlayer, USB output to DAC
DAC: Bryston BDA-2
amplifier: Linn LK280, recapped 5 years ago
Speakers: Focal Sopra 3

Very nice review, @kh6idf.
Thank you for taking the time to write it!

 

[decooney]

Very nice review, @kh6idf.
Thank you for taking the time to write it!

Agree, much appreciated. Thanks again @kh6idf !