Schiit Freya + and S Impressions - Stream of Consciousness

Yeah, you said what I meant to. I didn't notice any difference in tone and detail between passive and JFET but you also gain the benefits of an active preamp.

I really wish I could have heard what Nexus was really capable of but at this point I am not sure the plus is going back.

 

Fun fact: Freya+ buffer mode is a unique implementation (for us), completely different from Nexus and other topologies. Dependent on distortion cancellation in the differential compound feedback pair and in the output buffer. Super simple. Good for preamp. Scary to implement as a headamp--as in, would be heroic the amount of band-aids needed, and still would probably not be super-powerful. But interesting nonetheless.

 

(The reason Freya S was Nexus and not Equipoise (crappy internal name for the Freya+ differential "buffer" is there are trade-offs between Nexus and the (hell I won't say it) other topology.)

 

Yeah it seems pretty damn transparent. As soon as I turned it on, it reminded me of when I had run Yggdrasil A2 direct into my Vidars for a while and used digital attenuation in Roon, but again with a bit more ooomph in the low end, and a bit more bite and sparkle up top on symbol hits, which I like.

Equipoise sounds like some sort of feminine hygiene product. I think I’ll forget I ever read that and just stick with JFET mode ;-)

 

Small update: I really like JFET mode but tube mode with the JJ teslas really isn't doing much extra for me other than the extra deep soundstage (A really, really nice trick btw).

I'm still waiting to hear back from Schiit about the shipping error but I think I still want the Freya S. There is no point in making room for tubes on my rack if I am never going to use them. If the S wasn't going out of production soon I would keep the plus for a while but time is of the essence it seems.

 

Freya S going out of production??!!
When?

 

Jason said as early as next week...

 

Oh no, that means I need to make a decision real quick!

 

@ertorque Go through the thread below before making any decisions. You may have an option to wait for a while (months or perhaps a little more?) if not very urgent..

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/saga-2-ideas-from-freya-s.9735/

 

I wouldn’t count on anything in the immediate future though @Vtory based on the note from Jason:

 

I am probably the only one who is Nexus confused, but in the Freya S does it come into play only in converting SE to balanced, or does it dispense its magic with balanced inputs as well? I have an OG Freya and need another Freya for a second system. I've been planning the Freya + because I like the tube mode, but have no idea if I am passing on anything with the missing Nexus. Right now Schiit has stock on the S and is onto October for the +.

 

I contacted Schiit about this and they were very responsive.

Their reply (from Daniel Katz):

 

So Nexus is super flexible. It's one topology that does all of the following:

• Converts balanced to single-ended
  
  • This is a major selling point for folks with balanced DACs who don't want to futz with transformers
• Converts single-ended to balanced
  • Useful for driving amps with XLR inputs
• In X4 mode, amplifies both single-ended and balanced input signals, adding 12 dB of gain to your chain

I think the Freya+ vs. Freya S thing is totally personal. We know that Freya+ sells better, but how they sound is a personal preference thing. Anecdotally, X4 seems to be the preferred mode on Freya S (at least on SBAF).

 

Just an fyi, Freya S vanished from Schiit's order page yesterday evening.

 

I adore my Freya S, really a bummer people did not get on board. If Schiit does a closeout/b-stock sale of the rest of their stock I may just have to grab a back up in case the Saga 2 never happens.

EDIT: So this post is not just noise, I should add some quick thoughts about why I think Freya S is so valuable. For me, I have plenty of tubes in my chain (phono, head amp, power amp) so really I want my preamp to be able to vanish for the most part. Freya S is able to do that via passive/1X. I like passive especially when I am first trying out new gear, even if it is not quite as transparent as I would like. 1X is great because it just livens up passive a bit, and is great as my phono is SE, DAC is balanced, Power amp is SE, and headamp is balanced. I do think 4x probably sounds the best, but can be a bit aggressive for me sometimes. I actually love being able to toggle between 1x and 4x depending on what I am listening to. I especially find this valuable when listening to my speakers nearfield. Some stuff just doesn't sounds right on 1x vs 4x and vice versa.

Anyway, RIP Freya S. I hope mine lives a long life stacked with my Gungnir Multibit. Maybe you will live again as a Saga 2 stacked with a BF2.

 

I just received a shipping confirmation for an order I placed last week, unfortunately about 12 hours after I noticed it's disappearance from the order page. The fact that I was as stressed as I was in the interim was another reminder of how first-world my problems actually are.

 

I got shipping confirmation on a Freya S after sending back the mistakenly shipped Freya+ this morning. Super pumped about it but bummed that the S is gone for good.

I'm on board with a Saga 2 if they can squeeze both nexus and JFET into the form factor.

 

The Freya S didn't work out for me so I sent it back. I ended up loving the Freya + and I kind of wish I had kept it.


After I contacted Schiit about sending the Plus back, I started to like the tube mode, and I mean really like it. It has been years since I have used tube gear other than the Lyr 3 I had briefly, and I did not wait enough time for those brand new tubes to "wake up" before passing judgment. I agree with the majority of the good things folks have wrote about it in this thread so I won't repeat all of that.

Lets talk about the remote though. Its garbage and I hate everything about it. The vinyl "bubble" type buttons are the worst. I was constantly racing past the level I wanted because they offer no resistance - you either have to ninja -feather touch the buttons or just prepare to overshoot your intended volume level. I'd pay for an additional premium remote if Schiit didn't want to make changes to the standard one. A premium remote with a volume knob like Purr1n mentioned or just one with real buttons that offer a more "normal" feeling of resistance. Hopefully, the vinyl bubble buttons get a bit easier to deal with over time as they loosen up.

Notwithstanding the remote issue, the Plus is my second favorite piece of Schiit gear, second to only the Yggdrasil and slightly ahead of the Aegir. Its the best preamp I have tried so far and its likely that I will repurchase it once I am finished with this sort of "preamp tour" I am on at the moment.

 

What is it sound wise that made you prefer the + to the S?