Schiit Fans ?

[Vlad Soare]

3. When going from tube mode to solid state it worked perfectly and sounded really damn good for a solid state preamp, much better than my Parasound Halo P6 preamps, however when cycling through the modes from solid state to tube the first step Voltage Gain (?) worked fine, but when trying to get the second step Current Gain (?) to fire I got the "over current" warning/flashing lights (this happened on all my NOS tubes and half of the new production ones) A simple power cycle where it restarted in all tube mode cured this glitch, so maybe they tweaked the time delay on start up but need to add some more delay to it when you're cycling modes ??? Something for Jason and Martin to ponder. Its not going to be an issue for me because I really LOVE the all tube mode and that is where it will stay 99% of the time.

Can you switch from tubes to SS and back on the fly? I thought the SS mode on the Freya was achieved by replacing the tubes with some SS tube-shaped things, which you ordered separately. I believe they called them LISST tubes.
Is this not the case anymore? Is the SS mode embedded in the device itself now, and you can simply turn the tubes on or off on the fly?

 

[RVT1K]

Can you switch from tubes to SS and back on the fly? I thought the SS mode on the Freya was achieved by replacing the tubes with some SS tube-shaped things, which you ordered separately. I believe they called them LISST tubes.
Is this not the case anymore? Is the SS mode embedded in the device itself now, and you can simply turn the tubes on or off on the fly?

I have the Freya + F but it works the same way as the Freya 2.

When operating in solid state mode, the Freya uses internal FET's. The LISST "tubes" were actually FET devices that were supposed to mimic tubes and plugged into the tube sockets. I'm pretty sure they have been discontinued and I have never seen or heard them.

You can go from passive -no gain and only the resistor ladder volume-, to differential (FET) buffer, to tubes and back all you want. When going into tube mode, the output is muted while the tubes heat up because they are totally shut down when not in use.

 

[krautmaster]

You can go from SS to tube but you it takes about 1 minute for the tubes to warm up and activate (this happens on all versions of the Freya). Going the other way,tubes to SS, is instant.
The Solid State mode on the Frey and Freya+ has nothing to do with the LISST tubes, which were sold as tube alternatives they developed for the Freya and Freya + when it was getting hard to find 6SN7 tubes.

There were two versions of the LISST, an old square top for the original Freya and a dome top for the Freya+. IIRC their literature said they used a Depletion Mode MOSFET.

They will not work in the new Freya 2 as they are already built into the circuit board. I have a quad of them that I use in the Freya+ in my bedroom sometimes and they sound fine, they just look weird.

 

[krautmaster]

I sent my quad of Psvane ART CV181-T II to Schiit so they can test them out and see if they are the cause of my minor issues. I have my old quad of Psvane Horizon CV181 AT tubes in it now and it is behaving as it should. I have noticed that the Freya 2 is more susceptible to differences in tubes than the older Freya+. Many times on the F+ I could roll tubes and not notice much difference if any between them, but with the F2 I notice differences easily... the Horizon tubes are much livelier than the slightly laid back ART tubes.

 

[Aerobat]

Still enjoying my Modi after a number of years. Sometime I'd like to put a higher-end DAC in the system to see how it sounds but the combo of Qobuz, the Modi, and the R8 sounds pretty good to my ears.

 

[krautmaster]

Still enjoying my Modi after a number of years. Sometime I'd like to put a higher-end DAC in the system to see how it sounds but the combo of Qobuz, the Modi, and the R8 sounds pretty good to my ears.

View attachment 3855937

I have their Mimir DAC and it is pretty darn good for only $299... sometime this month they are supposed to reveal the new Bifrost 3 for $699 ($100 less than the Bifrost 2 as they now manufacture the circuit board themselves).

 

[Aerobat]

I have their Mimir DAC and it is pretty darn good for only $299... sometime this month they are supposed to reveal the new Bifrost 3 for $699 ($100 less than the Bifrost 2 as they now manufacture the circuit board themselves).

Tempting, and Christmas is coming up ..

 

[StimpyWan]

Still enjoying my Modi after a number of years. Sometime I'd like to put a higher-end DAC in the system to see how it sounds but the combo of Qobuz, the Modi, and the R8 sounds pretty good to my ears.

Schiit also has the new Modi 5 for $149. It's another MESH DAC, like the Mimir and the yet to be release BF 3. I use the Mimir, and love it. It's my daily DAC, with a Lyr 2 and my HiFi Man Edition XS phones. You can't go wrong with any of the current Schiit DACs.

 

[krautmaster]

Schiit is in the process of updating their website (should be finished tonight), right now it is functional and looks pretty good but there are a few missing bits they are cleaning up. Bifrost 3 is now listed for sale.

Interesting post (headfi.org) from Jason this morning to queries about which tubes to use where in the new Freya 2, I have summarized it here:

To clarify Freya 2 voltage/buffer stages, voltage (gain) in front, buffer in back. Left is left, right is right... In general, the largest impact on sound will be from the voltage gain stage (front tubes-use your best ones here). Freya 2 actually measures as "most classically tube" with tubes as voltage gain (front tubes) and MOSFETs as current gain (leave back sockets empty).

 

[Aerobat]

Schiit also has the new Modi 5 for $149. It's another MESH DAC, like the Mimir and the yet to be release BF 3. I use the Mimir, and love it. It's my daily DAC, with a Lyr 2 and my HiFi Man Edition XS phones. You can't go wrong with any of the current Schiit DACs.

I'd like to try one, but the last thing I want to do is spend a bundle and not hear an appreciable difference from the Modi 3 I have.

 

[StimpyWan]

I'd like to try one, but the last thing I want to do is spend a bundle and not hear an appreciable difference from the Modi 3 I have.

I moved from an original Bifrost MB DAC to the Mimir. I felt that I heard a fairly substantial difference. Where the Bimby was thick and warm in tone, the Mimir was more forward, without being bright. Fantastic dynamics and low level detail. I felt it was like switching from conventional cone/dome speakers to horns, or perhaps to sitting mid-hall for a concert, and then shifting to row 3. Much more energy and excitement.

 

[rickb119]

I'd like to try one, but the last thing I want to do is spend a bundle and not hear an appreciable difference from the Modi 3 I have.

Whether you hear a difference or not will depend on your system and, of course, your ears.

Several years ago I did a bunch of DAC and cable swapping/comparisons in the 3 systems I had set up, at the time. Only with my most revealing system--Sansui AU-919/Ascend acoustics Sierra 2--was I able to hear subtle, but significant differences.

DAC's used were Schiit original Modi. Schiit Modi Multibit and Topping D30; with the multibit sounding the best, with more detail and less harshness.

I was all set to buy a Modi 5, when I came across a used Bryston at a good price.

I know how you feel though as I'm debating buying a Freya 2, and wondering how much better, if any, it will sound compared to my China tube preamp clone; which is night and day different from the Schiit Saga that I had been using.

 

[krautmaster]

Whether you hear a difference or not will depend on your system and, of course, your ears.

Several years ago I did a bunch of DAC and cable swapping/comparisons in the 3 systems I had set up, at the time. Only with my most revealing system--Sansui AU-919/Ascend acoustics Sierra 2--was I able to hear subtle, but significant differences.

DAC's used were Schiit original Modi. Schiit Modi Multibit and Topping D30; with the multibit sounding the best, with more detail and less harshness.

I was all set to buy a Modi 5, when I came across a used Bryston at a good price.

I know how you feel though as I'm debating buying a Freya 2, and wondering how much better, if any, it will sound compared to my China tube preamp clone; which is night and day different from the Schiit Saga that I had been using.

The new Freya 2 in tube mode isn't much different than the Freya+, but has a quieter background which lets you immediately tell the difference when tube rolling. On the Freya+ many times I rolled tubes only to find no appreciable change, with the new Freya 2 you can hear it right away.

The biggest difference is in sold state mode - the F2 is way better sounding than the F+. In solid state mode the F2 sounds like my F+ in tube mode with the LISST tube thingies installed. I'm very happy with this new one and the Boss likes the way I don't have to use socket savers "the tubes don't stick up like ugly little sky scrapers" so I am allowed to get another for the living room system for Christmas !

 

[krautmaster]

Some folks were having issues with the very first Freya 2 s that were sent out not being able to read/accept certain tubes. They hypothesized a cause, stopped sending out new ones until they came up with a firmware fix, then sent out replacement Freya 2's to everybody that had the first edition. They solicited owners to send in some of our troublesome tubes to see if it was the tubes being bad or not and causing the problem. I sent my Psvane ART CV181-T II tubes to them last week and they sent this e-mail this morning:

Ran the PS Vanes through our testing this morning. In our tester, no faults with shorts or inter element leakage. Although some difference between tubes and triodes, not enough to cause any issues electrically and/or audibly. Test values (emission):
1st triode 2nd triode
112 - 98
95 - 90
95 - 97
104 - 98
We then ran a current test, and curiously the current spiked to 5 amps at initial turn-on before settling down to 2.56 amps (that's for all 4 tubes, not each). The Tung Sols and Electro Harmonix tubes we have here normally only go to about 3.5 amps initially before settling down to 2.4 amps. I'm not sure why the PS Vanes go so high initially, but that may have been tripping the fault in the original Freya. I'm glad that the modified Freya is working with all your tubes now.

I am amazed that they were able to identify a possible cause of the failure and do a firmware update to fix it in ONE day (they extended the time frame that the microprocessor uses when checking the tubes) and send out new ones to everybody-- customer service with these guys is incredible.

 

[izeek11]

I have the Freya + F but it works the same way as the Freya 2.

When operating in solid state mode, the Freya uses internal FET's. The LISST "tubes" were actually FET devices that were supposed to mimic tubes and plugged into the tube sockets. I'm pretty sure they have been discontinued and I have never seen or heard them.

You can go from passive -no gain and only the resistor ladder volume-, to differential (FET) buffer, to tubes and back all you want. When going into tube mode, the output is muted while the tubes heat up because they are totally shut down when not in use.

and best to give them 20-30 minutes warmup, too.

 

[izeek11]

So I noticed that my new Freya + F is making a decent amount of hiss in tube buffer mode from the right channel when I first turn on.

It does go away after a few minutes but this is a new development. I do not hear any hiss when in passive of FET buffer mode.

Since this is my first bit of tube gear, I'm not sure how concerned I should be? I thought about re-seating the tubes but haven't tried that yet.

Any thoughts?

try reseating the tube. i got weird stuff like squeals, turned to need that.

 

[izeek11]

I have the Freya + F but it works the same way as the Freya 2.

When operating in solid state mode, the Freya uses internal FET's. The LISST "tubes" were actually FET devices that were supposed to mimic tubes and plugged into the tube sockets. I'm pretty sure they have been discontinued and I have never seen or heard them.

You can go from passive -no gain and only the resistor ladder volume-, to differential (FET) buffer, to tubes and back all you want. When going into tube mode, the output is muted while the tubes heat up because they are totally shut down when not in use.

i have a lisst tube for my saga+. from that time we tubes were going to be scarcer.
eh. i put maybe a 100 hours on it and went back nos tubes

 

[krautmaster]

I been been playing the Schiit out of my new Freya 2 and here are my impressions:

1. Solid State mode is much better sounding than the Freya+: the F2 in solid state mode sounds the same as my F+ with the LISST tubes installed

2. All Tube Mode: darker back ground, "fuller" sound, but not the proverbial "night and day" difference between the F+ and F2. When tube rolling on the F+ many times there was no discernible difference in sound, but with the F2 I can hear the difference in tubes immediately when I swap tubes in the gain stage (front sockets).

3. Gain stage in Tube mode, buffer stage in Solid State mode: excellent sound this way. Go the other way around with solid state mode in gain and tube mode in buffer the sound is MEH- don't bother with this mode.

4. I love the colored light indicators- they make it so easy to tell what mode you have it in. Remote control is very intuitive and the volume control is much smoother than before.

5. The top cover has a nice recessed panel with tubes spaced 1/4" farther apart - I don't have to use socket savers anymore. Power supply transformers run a whole lot cooler - 15F to 20F cooler. The F2 has about 70 less parts, and no electrolytic capacitors or resistors anywhere near the hot tubes... The F2 should last a lot longer just due to the reduced heat

6. If you have a Freya+ and you use mainly tube mode you don't NEED a Freya 2 but all the little fixes make it damn nice. I'm going to get another for the main stereo for Christmas !

 

[RVT1K]

6. If you have a Freya+ and you use mainly tube mode you don't NEED a Freya 2 but all the little fixes make it damn nice. I'm going to get another for the main stereo for Christmas !

I'm very happy with my Freya + F. But had I known a new model was only a couple of months away, I certainly would have waited for the "2".

 

[krautmaster]

I'm very happy with my Freya + F. But had I known a new model was only a couple of months away, I certainly would have waited for the "2".

Yep... I bought a Freya+ with Forkbeard in June, had I known they were making a new one I would have waited. I think there are going to be a lot of used Freya+ up for sale soon.