Schiit Fans ?
- Thread starter Frank Sol
- Start date
I get it, it’s the new generation of thinking and marketing. It worked…good for them.
Im in my 60’s, and when I was a kid I always thought brand names ending in “co”, seemed lesser, (Eico, Dynaco, Texaco, etc, compared to Mac, The Fisher, Scott, etc.
I now own Eico and Dynaco, and have a different perspective on those brands as being excellent. Crazy how we associate names with quality. Marketing, it’s a thing.
Im in my 60’s, and when I was a kid I always thought brand names ending in “co”, seemed lesser, (Eico, Dynaco, Texaco, etc, compared to Mac, The Fisher, Scott, etc.
I now own Eico and Dynaco, and have a different perspective on those brands as being excellent. Crazy how we associate names with quality. Marketing, it’s a thing.
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I think that most of us Pile-O-Schiit owners in this thread and this site can say that.
I was an early adopter and bought their TOTL 1st edition Lyr headphone amp. Their irreverent attitude towards audiophillia, the audacity to make a high quality, high value, 1A, 6V PTP, 6W 
headphone amp aimed at my beloved Yamaha orthodynamic and modern planar magnetic cans in my home state just a scant 40 miles from home checked the right boxes. To do so with USA components, good engineering to eliminate point to point wiring and do it in house, except for the cases sealed the deal. Oh and the 5 year warranty didn’t hurt either.
Don’t let the name fool you. They’re for real.
headphone amp aimed at my beloved Yamaha orthodynamic and modern planar magnetic cans in my home state just a scant 40 miles from home checked the right boxes. To do so with USA components, good engineering to eliminate point to point wiring and do it in house, except for the cases sealed the deal. Oh and the 5 year warranty didn’t hurt either.Don’t let the name fool you. They’re for real.
The quest for the inky blackness is over. If previously moving the Skoll halved the hum, the hot rod DL-103r is 95% quieter and digs much deeper for bass with the AU-320 SUT on the Skoll SE outputs. I just put in new 3ft midline Guitar Center (5 minutes away) balanced cables and found the last 5% of inky blackness. Fun fact about Skoll - since it doesn’t switch between inputs both signal paths are hot and can be wired to the Freya + for switching on the fly. The difference between balanced and SE outputs is significant.
Ahhh there’s peace in the valley.
The 45 don’t lie.
And that ancient Lyr is still working fine in the Plus Size Stack O’ Da Fine Schiit for bed time.
Ahhh there’s peace in the valley.
The 45 don’t lie.
And that ancient Lyr is still working fine in the Plus Size Stack O’ Da Fine Schiit for bed time.
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StimpyWan
Addicted Member
My Lyr 2 still works and sounds great on my HiFiMan Edition XS phones. I've thought about 'upgrading', but don't really see the point, as the Lyr has plenty of power as-is...! I do admit, adding a Buf to the chain, made a nice improvement to the sound. Mimir was a great upgrade too, over my Bimby OG.
Gigantic
A big, big love
speak for yourself, geezer!
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RVT1K
Super Member
My Freya + arrived yesterday. The additional freight charge -the shipping company puts a premium on electronics- and import duty added 200 bucks to my investment but that's a given here.
So far I have only listened very briefly, mostly to verify that it is working - it is.
This is the very first bit of tube gear I have ever owned. I'm old enough to have grown up with a tube TV - not just the picture tube and even remember a tube tester in the drug store by my grandparents house.
I plan to use it almost exclusively in tube mode. It is why I sought out a tube pre amp after all.
Any considerations to shut down? Is it safe to presume that Schitt knows what they're doing and that simply hitting the power switch is fine? Or should I switch it out of tube mode first and then shut it down?
So far I have only listened very briefly, mostly to verify that it is working - it is.
This is the very first bit of tube gear I have ever owned. I'm old enough to have grown up with a tube TV - not just the picture tube and even remember a tube tester in the drug store by my grandparents house.
I plan to use it almost exclusively in tube mode. It is why I sought out a tube pre amp after all.
Any considerations to shut down? Is it safe to presume that Schitt knows what they're doing and that simply hitting the power switch is fine? Or should I switch it out of tube mode first and then shut it down?
iono, man. i just turn the tubes off, and leave it on in ss mode. it got tiresome reaching behind stuff to turn things off.
so, it's on 24/7 along with my wiim pro plus, schiit mimir, and amps. if i go away for a few days, ill turn it all off. been doing that ever since ive had a decent system.
i get about 50hrs of tube time a week.
I have all three of my Freya's plugged into Furman PST-8 power strips so I just turn the power strip off. Just make sure you turn the volume all the way down before you turn it off (so there are no "surprises" when you turn it back on).
I have found it it best to turn the Freya on then wait 5 minutes for the tubes to get their juices flowing before playing any music... sounds best after an hour of playing, so when I turn mine on I play the Classical FM station for an hour before I listen to other stuff. The Tubes Schiit sends are not the best, you will notice a nice difference with better tubes, you could try some Psvane Horizon CV181-AT tubes (same electrically as a 6SN7, not expensive, and have a one year warranty that you don't get with expensive NOS tubes). I have a quad of them that is 18 months old and has a couple thousand trouble free hours on them.
I have found it it best to turn the Freya on then wait 5 minutes for the tubes to get their juices flowing before playing any music... sounds best after an hour of playing, so when I turn mine on I play the Classical FM station for an hour before I listen to other stuff. The Tubes Schiit sends are not the best, you will notice a nice difference with better tubes, you could try some Psvane Horizon CV181-AT tubes (same electrically as a 6SN7, not expensive, and have a one year warranty that you don't get with expensive NOS tubes). I have a quad of them that is 18 months old and has a couple thousand trouble free hours on them.
Today I did a bit of tube rolling with my newest tubes: Psvane CV181-T MKII (silver lined shouldered tube with copper base) and Psvane Summit 6SN7(balloon tube with blue base). I had a quad of the CV181's in my office stereo and it was a bit on the warm side, and a quad of the Summit's in my main stereo which were a bit "clinical" (precise is a better word). So I put the CV181's in the buffer sides of both Freya+ and the Summits in the gain side.
The main system (silver Freya) with KEF R7 Meta speakers is most excellent: 3D like crazy without the slight edge. The office system (black Freya) with monitor Audio Silver 500's is likewise most excellent, the bit of darkness/warmth is now neutral. Overall I'm pretty happy with this little experiment !
The main system (silver Freya) with KEF R7 Meta speakers is most excellent: 3D like crazy without the slight edge. The office system (black Freya) with monitor Audio Silver 500's is likewise most excellent, the bit of darkness/warmth is now neutral. Overall I'm pretty happy with this little experiment !
RVT1K
Super Member
I'm super happy with the new Freya+. Mine is black and came with the 6N8S tubes.
I do hear a slight "smoothing" in the upper mids and highs but it is subtle and hard to describe. The bass slams but I can't say it is much if at all different from my Adcom pre amp. The imaging is fantastic. Strings and voices sound great. All of the above is based on using the tube output buffer. I have yet to really sit down and listen to the passive or FET buffers.
Likes:
All of the above mentioned.
The styling and very solid feel. Kinda heavy given the size.
It is dead silent when on, zero noise added even with my ear right up to the tweeter.
I love the feel of the volume/attenuator and especially its precision.
Easy and intuitive to use once the markings are figured out.
Balanced inputs and outputs available should I choose to experiment with other gear in the future.
Two sets of pre-outs.
Dislikes (actually more like nits to pick):
While I love the feel of the attenuator, I'm not crazy about all the relay clacking that goes on when adjusting volume. I'm not crazy about the taper either, if I'm using the correct term. There is a lot of dead area meaning I hear nothing for a good part of the low volume travel if that makes sense. But, once I do start to hear things, it works very well.
While I'm very much on-board with the minimalist design, I would have liked to see a balance control added.
Tiny, incomprehensible markings on both the unit and the remote.
All in all I'm very happy with my decision.
I do hear a slight "smoothing" in the upper mids and highs but it is subtle and hard to describe. The bass slams but I can't say it is much if at all different from my Adcom pre amp. The imaging is fantastic. Strings and voices sound great. All of the above is based on using the tube output buffer. I have yet to really sit down and listen to the passive or FET buffers.
Likes:
All of the above mentioned.
The styling and very solid feel. Kinda heavy given the size.
It is dead silent when on, zero noise added even with my ear right up to the tweeter.
I love the feel of the volume/attenuator and especially its precision.
Easy and intuitive to use once the markings are figured out.
Balanced inputs and outputs available should I choose to experiment with other gear in the future.
Two sets of pre-outs.
Dislikes (actually more like nits to pick):
While I love the feel of the attenuator, I'm not crazy about all the relay clacking that goes on when adjusting volume. I'm not crazy about the taper either, if I'm using the correct term. There is a lot of dead area meaning I hear nothing for a good part of the low volume travel if that makes sense. But, once I do start to hear things, it works very well.
While I'm very much on-board with the minimalist design, I would have liked to see a balance control added.
Tiny, incomprehensible markings on both the unit and the remote.
All in all I'm very happy with my decision.
I have come to appreciate the relay clicking feedback for making precise, single-click, uniform 1 of 128 steps adjustments with the remote. The linearity is worth it to me.
red 111
Addicted Member
Forkbeard module gives you balance control
My "Normal" listening volume on all three of my Freya's is at straight up "12 o'clock" on the dial... I never turn them up past "2 o'clock"- they get loud fast after 1:30...
Gigantic
A big, big love
in my very efficient system, one click is 1dB, which is very convenient for doing REW sweeps with consistency.
zenith2134
Lunatic Member
I still have my original Magni headphone amp, which still works fine. Serial number 112....When they first started gaining traction, I gave it a chance and was enamored by how much you got for the money.
Fast forward to 2023, I was shopping for a new headphone amp thinking I'd make a jump in performance over the Magni. Tried a few tube and solid state units from JDS, Little Dot, all the usual high-value makes-with a wide array of 'cans since I have about 10 sets.
Ended up with a Magni Unity which contains a small DAC card (ESS chipset). It pushes even the biggest planars I have and is totally transparent. For about a 1/3rd less than the big boys. That's a win
Fast forward to 2023, I was shopping for a new headphone amp thinking I'd make a jump in performance over the Magni. Tried a few tube and solid state units from JDS, Little Dot, all the usual high-value makes-with a wide array of 'cans since I have about 10 sets.
Ended up with a Magni Unity which contains a small DAC card (ESS chipset). It pushes even the biggest planars I have and is totally transparent. For about a 1/3rd less than the big boys. That's a win
RVT1K
Super Member
I didn't know that. But I really wasn't interested in Forkbeard so I didn't really investigate.
But I'm also not a fan of extra capability being hidden behind an upcharge.
