Schiit Freya + and S Impressions - Stream of Consciousness

Discussion in 'Preamps' started by purr1n, Jun 30, 2019.

  1. jeff free

    jeff free New

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2021
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    1
    Location:
    Brooklyn
    Thanks for the reply -

    I hadn't thought about the XLR vs RCA issue , so here is some more info :
    Input is Schiit Bifrost / multibit , so via RCA
    Output is via the XLR connector, but this cable has an RCA on the other end , going into an NAD 100W power amp.
    So your thought about single vs double-ended voltage made sense. I tried RCA to RCA on the output, and the same results all around:
    • the buffer channel is still 6db lower than the passive channel
    • the tube channel still gives a very loud audible popping through the speakers (not the internal mechanical relay /zipper noise) when adjusting volume and muting.

    I've been in touch with support and they sent me a second set of tubes, but that also made no difference.
    So now I'm sending the unit back. Not pleased that I have to foot the bill on the shipping on a $900 unit that was defective when it left the factory.

    Thanks again,
    Jeff
     
  2. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,274
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bird-watcher's paradise
    If the unit is actually defective and you purchased it new from Schiit, I am surprised they won't pay for its return. Good to know.
     
  3. jeff free

    jeff free New

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2021
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    1
    Location:
    Brooklyn
    Yeah - I'm letting them know about it - haven't they heard of Amazon? They would've replaced or refunded by now! I had to wait 2 months for delivery for this...
     
  4. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    9,937
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Texas and California
    Home Page:
    DOA or early defective products are replaced with rapid return/exchange, where we give the customer a call tag and send a replacement when it has been shipped. In cases where a call tag is impractical, we reimburse for shipping. The customer pays nothing.

    Just email [email protected] and they'll take care of you.
     
  5. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,274
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bird-watcher's paradise
    As I suspected, from my experience and reports from others. Even better to know.
     
  6. TTBrown

    TTBrown New

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2021
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    Galicia Spain
    I just had a positive experience with Schiit Customer Service ( Laura Z) regarding my Freya S that has a volume control issue. My emails were answered quickly and politely. When it became clear that servicing was necessary an RMA and Fedex sticker were issued immediately.

    Well done Schiit!
     
  7. jeff free

    jeff free New

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2021
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    1
    Location:
    Brooklyn
    Excellent news ! Thanks for helping to straighten this out. Dropped off the unit with Fedex today - Looking forward to enjoying the replacement :)
     
  8. lithium

    lithium Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Likes Received:
    217
    Trophy Points:
    50
    Location:
    Northeast of somewhere
    I recently acquired a used Freya S towards building a 2 channel system and I have been trying out various ways of keeping it in the chain for my headphone amp ( Jot 2) . My goal is to use the freya as a passthrough while using headphones and it has been working well in passive mode for this.
    In the spirit of experimenting with various outputs, I was trying out nexus stage on the freya as well. It seems it causes some sort of distortion ( audible) and significant channel imbalance when used in this way as an active preamp into the headphone amp. I have never had a preamp before so wanted to get an understanding (for my curiosity and knowledge) about why this would be happening. My theory is that it might have something to do with how the 2 nexus stages are interacting with each other, but I don't know anything about preamp design.

    My set up is bifrost 2 balanced into the freya S, followed by balanced out into the Jot 2. Before anyone asks the issue is still there when I use the single ended outputs from the freya. No difference with using a different balanced input either. Thank you for your knowledge!
     
  9. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,274
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bird-watcher's paradise
    I have the same setup except with a Gungnir MB instead of the Bifrost, and don't experience any distortion or channel imbalance using any of the three settings, although normally with the Jot 2 and headphones I use the passive stage. Both of the active stages actually sound fine into the Jot, and in fact I find that with iems there is less noise if I use the 4x gain stage and turn the volume down on the Jot, versus the passive stage and higher volume setting on the Jot. Volume matching is just by ear of course. Makes me wonder if there isn't something wrong with the Freya. I would try asking Schiit. I would also be curious to hear what they say, especially about using the active gain stages into the Nexus gain stage of the Jot 2. Good luck.
     
  10. lithium

    lithium Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Likes Received:
    217
    Trophy Points:
    50
    Location:
    Northeast of somewhere
    Thanks for the info. I have sent a message to them about this already and awaiting a response. I forgot to mention that I am listening single ended on my headphones, are you using the balanced outputs?
     
  11. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,274
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bird-watcher's paradise
    With headphones, always. I have a few iems for which I only have unbalanced cables, but the ones I use most with my desktop setup are used balanced almost exclusively. I also have a Vali 2 but don't use it much. It still is used via the Freya, but of course SE. Let me know what you hear from Schiit. Feel free to ask any other questions, via pm if you want. I'm no expert certainly, but more than willing to assist if I can.

    Edit: I have used the se outs in the past with various transducers but never heard anything like what you described.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Epic Epic x 1
    • List
  12. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2016
    Likes Received:
    10,682
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NOVA
    Home Page:
    I was having similar issues with Freya S, YggdrasilA2 XLR out into Freya S XLR in, Freya (4x) RCA out to Elekit TU-8600 (Alps bypassed/running full volume), running headphone out. Speaker out was fine, no hiss but headphone out was a mess at various output impedances running through HD600. I put together a Cinemag Bal to SE converter and it completely solved the issue. So, now I'm running full balanced from source to Cinemag converter. Hell, even with IEMatch the Elekit is *nearly* silent into Andros using the Cinemag converter. I don't know what to make of this, but haven't brought it up with Schiit yet either.

    Also, and interesting aside: I'm was also running 2 cheapo Pioneer 8" subs running from the speaker terminals of my towers, and when using Freya S RCA outs I was getting a quite loud pop when adjusting the volume knob right around 12 o'clock. If I ran the RCA out from Yggdrasil directly into the Elekit, no pop, and a lot quieter. Now, running Bal to SE converter, no pop either.
     
  13. lithium

    lithium Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Likes Received:
    217
    Trophy Points:
    50
    Location:
    Northeast of somewhere
    Thank you both for your responses. I am going to try my headphones balanced ( once I have the cables) for a completely balanced chain and report back the results.
     
  14. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,274
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bird-watcher's paradise
    Please do. I have since tried every setting available on both devices with every pair of 'phones I own and cannot recreate what either of you have reported. I can create hiss with a combination of high gain, high sensitivity iems, volume levels, etc., but I basically have to do it on purpose, with settings I would never use irl for listening. But I can't get anything I would characterize as distortion or certainly channel imbalance (which I in the past have been very sensitive to). If either of you have a group of settings you want me to try, I am game. For now I guess I will just consider myself lucky none of these issues have presented themselves for me.

    Edit: Also tried all of the above with bal/unbalanced i/o. Kind of exhausting actually. Wahwah.:cool:
     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Epic Epic x 1
    • List
  15. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2020
    Likes Received:
    12,237
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Home Page:
    You are very kind sir.
     
  16. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,274
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bird-watcher's paradise
    Just human, but thank you.
     
  17. loadexfa

    loadexfa MOT: rhythmdevils audio

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2017
    Likes Received:
    2,542
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    SF Bay Area Peninsula
    When I had the Jot2 loaner I also did not experience any distortion or issues with 4x gain on Freya S and high gain on the Jot2. I no longer have the loaner so I can't experiment further and the chain was all balanced.
     
  18. lithium

    lithium Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Likes Received:
    217
    Trophy Points:
    50
    Location:
    Northeast of somewhere
    Thank you everyone for weighing in having a Jot2 in the Freya S chain, in the interest of "science". I now have a balanced chain as well. I can confirm that with the HD6xx + full balanced chain that issues are much reduced and predictable. I would describe it a slight increase in audible distortion ( 4X>1X nexus) but no longer any definite channel imbalance - I can get rid of the distortion if I attenuate the signal with Freya S volume control. To my ears, the difference between the modes in how upfront the sound stage feels. Perhaps the impact of things like drums is more in 4x, but I suspect that this difference is gain related and will be very minor if properly gain matched. I don't believe that attenuating the signal with the Freya S volume control has any deleterious effects that I can detect. Again, I have no issues with passive mode so all of this discussion is only applicable to the Nexus modes on the Freya S.

    Of note, I believe @yotacowboy was using a HD600 and also reported "headphone out was a mess at various output impedances". Perhaps this issue might be specific to the Senn HD600/650 family of headphones.
     
  19. weicheheck

    weicheheck Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2018
    Likes Received:
    135
    Trophy Points:
    60
    Location:
    Miami
    I currently have an OG saga feeding my Vidar, connected to my Gungnir with xlr to rca cables.

    Does anyone have comparisons about potential benefits of going from a set up like this to using regular balanced connection from Gungnir to Freya+?

    This set up feeds my HE6 and I also wouldn't mind a slight taming of the upper treble range as they can be a bit fatiguing there
     
  20. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    May 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,895
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Texas
    More tube flavor with Freya means more rolling to your preferences. Also slightly better performance from Gungnir. Worth the trouble if the money isn't an issue.
     

Share This Page