Schiit Freya Preamp Review (Episodic)

Discussion in 'Preamps' started by purr1n, Jan 14, 2017.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Yes, but they have less of an effect.
     
  2. Comzee

    Comzee Facebook Friend

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    TS round plates are my personal favorite, they're around four to five hundred nos. Sometime you can find ts 6F8G rounds for cheaper, sound exactly the same.
    Although it's seems a bit nonsense to spend that much on tubes for the Freya since it's $700 itself. Just throwing this out there in case someone wants to splurge.
     
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I didn't find the 6F8Gs to sound exactly the same, although there is always the possibly of sample variance. The Tung-Sol black glass round / oval plates is one of my favorites. Super resolving and neutral, but they do not provide the best synergy for the majority of systems, especially headphone based systems. Best bet is to find the same tubes, but branded differently.
     
  4. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    my EC Super Uber7 typically has a Tung Sol JAN-CTL round / oval plate in the driver slot, also have a similar (unlabelled, maybe Tung Sol) round / oval plate 6F8G (adapter) to roll in from time to time, and can't tell much of difference if at all.
     
  5. Johan

    Johan New

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    Currently using 5962 black base in gain stage, pondering what to pickup for cathode
     
  6. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Hmm. You might like CBS/Hytron (tall, T-shaped plates with bottom getter), Westinghouse (tall with black plates), or some of the National Union ones. I really like the NU 6F8G, but it seems every one I try hums and is microphonic. The NU 6SN7 may be rebrands or produced in various locations. Look for those similar to Ken Rad (plates offset to one another) or produced in Japan.

    I have found that the bassier or lusher tubes tend to have a more forward sound and a smaller stage. Usually people recommend RCA 6SN7, but I find them too bloated in mid-bass, slow, lacking low end extension, and are kinda grainy sounding. The CBS and Westinghouse so far have been balanced but slightly warm and tend to not sacrifice too much with bass tightness, staging, or air. Unfortunately, there is no perfect tube. You'll always compromise in one way or another and be tuning based on one particular piece of equipment.
     
  7. gurubhai

    gurubhai Friend

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    Just goes on to tell how different the impressions can be when it comes to tubes.
    Personally, I don't care for tungsol bgrp as I find it a bid too flat sounding and uninvolving.
    The brimar is too rolled off on either ends .
    The NU round plate is rolled off and I find it to be a bit off in timbre.
    Sylvania vt231 is on the leaner and brighter side of things, same with the chrome tops.
    The raytheons tend to be bright too.

    The ones I like are :

    Sylvania 6sn7wgta triangle plates : warm sounding but not as rolled off as regular black base version.

    Kenrad vt231 black glass: Good bass and balance, just falls a bit short in micro dynamics compared to better tubes.

    RCA vt231 grey glass: My personal favorite. Great balance, not too warm like later RCAs.
    Probably the only one which gets lower mids right and has the best micro dynamics.
     
  8. Johan

    Johan New

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    anyone know anything about the national electronics 5962? I wasn't even aware they made them
     
  9. Comzee

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    I know I'll probably get flack for this, but I like the psvane t-mkii and shuguang-t.
    T-mkii having the same level of resolution as tungsol bgrp (only other 6sn7 I've heard that did). Although it's a bit bright.
    Shuguang-t is more laid back, but still top performer in the sea of 6sn7.

    As far as the 5ish other 6sn7 models those companies sell, shit (imo ymmv).
     
  10. Johan

    Johan New

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    chi-fi tubes! blasphemy!!|\/|
     
  11. thesteam

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    Hi. Just curious, is this thread only about rolling tubes now? Is the O.P. done?
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Yes. It's episode 12 in season four now. I have no more real content. Like on Arrow, the CW show with all those hot babes, just rehashing samo samo villains, boobs, and toobs.
     
  13. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    I've been listening almost exlusively to Zana Deux but wanted go back to Freya/Jot combo. I had been using different interconnects between Freya and Jot than my other amps, and was never satisfied with the sound. I thought it was just the combo, but on a whim, I replaced the balanced interconnects with Blue Jeans Cables XLR and WOW! This is how it's supposed to sound. The previous cables pushed the sound stage further away from you, which was nice, more speaker-like, but they also squashed the sound stage layers, like everything was pushed back. The other issues with the cables were lack of bass, recessed midrage (can be nice depending on can) and a elevated treble.

    I though I might be imagining it, so I used them with two other amps and another system, and the conclusion was the same. Spent twice as much money as the BJCables and they sounded like shit. Lesson learned.

    I experienced my speakers the first time with the new cables and was blown away! I don't need a sub, although I like it just for <50Hz reinforcement.

    Running Freya->Jot->HE-6, I experienced startling dynamics, more so than straight Gungnir Multibit->Jot. I can't wait to build Gumbreya.
     
  14. e.schell

    e.schell Friend

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    Which IC's were you using?
     
  15. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    The Pangea cables:

    https://www.amazon.com/Pangea-Audio...TF8&qid=1492035815&sr=8-2&keywords=pangea+xlr

    They aren't bad but don't sound great in any of my systems. What surprised me the most was due to the pushed back sound stage, 3D imaging and target acquisition in games was severely hurt. I was literally having a hard time finding where I was being shot from! Switching back to the BJCables, bass improved, mids came forward, and treble integrated better with the rest of the spectrum. Sound stage depth, and 3D localization vastly improved.

    I was in disbelief, and tried the cables in my darkest system, a Modi Multibit fed by spdif->Vali 2 with a warm tube. I wanted more sparkle, so thought these interconnects could provide that. Bass went away, and highs became harsh, even on that system. I replaced the cables and instead changed the tube to the EH 6CG7, which was just what I was looking for.

    If it helps, I also tried several other cables, generic, to some other fancier ones, and found they most resembled the BJCables. The Pangea cables were the outliers here.
     
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    This is exactly it with cables. They are like tubes. They all have a sound, which may or may not work for your specific setup. I happen to love the Pangea ICs BTW, which use from my photostage to tube amp; but I use Ravi-cables in my digital / horn speaker system.
     
  17. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    Ravi-cables are DIY correct? Alexa and Siri got into an arguement trying to find those cables.
     
  18. e.schell

    e.schell Friend

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    Freya has landed...wow the relays make a much stranger noise than the last amp i had with a relay stepped attenuator, i really thought something was wrong haha. Other than some microphonic tubes im swapping around to find a happy place until i get more, i really love this thing! One thing i noticed is that in the manual i got (this must have been one of the first to be shipped after being on back order for a bit) it now says that front tubes are differential voltage gain stage and read are cathode follower as opposed to in the other manual i had downloaded some weeks ago to take a look at saying it was left and right....which if they changed that i do like front and back better for keeping left and right channels correct in my head when swapping tubes to narrow down issues with noise etc.

    Have a lot of combos to try out with this, had to get some balanced IC's and sorta stumbled cheaply into some DH Labs BL-1 then also grabbed some blue jeans and the short pyst...tube wise 4x sylvania vt-231, 2x rca grey glass vt-231, 2x kenrad black flass vt-231, and 2x sylvania 6sn7gt "bad boys" (at least the guy i bought the last 3 pairs from says they are, not good enough at identifying the 6sn7's yet). If i can't find a combo i like somewhere in there i'm hopeless.. haha but i have high hopes! Only other ones on my list i would like to try are the rca 5692's, but im done buying tubes! At least until i try all of these out and possibly sell what i don't like. The goal is just to find a sound i love and want to keep for the foreseeable future, not try every tube under the sun.

    **EDIT**

    Is anyone able to clear up this front/rear left/right gain/follower confusion with it being listed different ways in different versions of the manuals from schiit? Curious if it was some odd printing mistake or if it was actually switched.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2017
  19. winders

    winders boomer

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    What revision is the Freya manual? It's on the first page. Revision A says right is gain and left is follower......
     
  20. e.schell

    e.schell Friend

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    Both the copy that came with freya and the digital copy i downloaded say Revision A. Physical copy says front and rear, digital says right and left. Ha!
     

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