Rogue RP-1 or Schiit Freya

The Rogue.

The Rogue. Schiit is built to a very low price point. You gets what you pay for. 

I am listening to the following budget system in a big room as I type this, and I recommend you do a home demo of the Freya+ just to save money.

- KEF LS50 + KEF KC62 sub

- Schitt Freya+

- Benchmark DAC3B

- Benchmark AHB2

- Fibre optical streaming

The combo of the Freya+ and the AHB2 is excellent. It sounded great with a warmer DAC and my very bright headphones. Now in the living room with a brighter DAC the sound is still fantastic, I am not much of a tube guy and this Freya+ does not go too overboard with the distortion.

I like the Freya+ with the AHB2 over the KRELL Duo 175XD and CODA #8 that I use in the office. The AHB2 is not warm at all so maybe that is why I like the pairing.

 I recommend you do a home demo of the Freya+ just to save money.

       I agree!

I don't have a Freya+ but do have several other pieces of Schiit gear. I've been very impressed with the sound quality, especially so for the price.  I'd agree with the others that it is worth an audition. They give you 15 days to audition and charge a 5% return fee if you choose to send it back. Not free, but reasonable if you want to give it a serious try.

I haven’t had the best luck with Schiit. Owned a Yggdrasil twice, and each time it developed issues. Sound quality was good, but subject to overhype online.

I’ve owned several Rogue pieces and they’ve all been extremely reliable - and customer service is much more responsive with Rogue than Schiit. Sound quality wise the Rogues generally range from a good value to excellent. Your Atlas Magnum III is an excellent amp.

That said people I trust who are more familiar with the Rogue RP line have insisted that you really want to try to go for the RH-5 or RP-5 over the RP-1.

stereo5

5,293 posts

01-26-2022 11:15am

The Rogue. Schiit is built to a very low price point. You gets what you pay for. 
 

Sorry but that doesn’t make sense. 
 

Schiit is sold DTC at $1k, the Rogue sold thru dealers at $1,795? 
 

Guarantee you that they are both built with at the same price point, build quality is not a negative with Schiit. 

No experience with Schiit.I do own the RP1 and couldn't be more pleased. If you buy new from audio advisor you can send it back if you don't like it.When I bought mine I really didn't expect to be as impressed as I was. Right out of the box it was dead quite, smooth as silk but quite detailed, and worked flawlessly. The JJ tubes are not bad either though I like RCA black plates better myself,a touch warmer.It's a perfect match in my system with the very sensitive Zu omen Def speakers,much better than the LTA pre I was using. The LTA was so transparent it was a little on the cool side with my speakers.

@blkwrxwgn 

The one piece of Schiit gear I tried was the Loki. It was noisy, made pops through my system when engaging and disengaging the EQ from the loop on my McIntosh integrated.  The Bellari EQ I ended up buying made no such noises.  When I spoke to Schiit, they were totally useless, I was told and I quote “we never heard of that before”.  No offer for a new one, no nothing. 
 

I owned a Rogue RP5 and have nothing but great things to say about it.  So again, The Schiit is built to a lower price point and you get what you pay for, or in my case…….Schiit. 

I got the RP-1 . I like it.  Got a worthy phono stage. I replaced the stock tubes with Mullards.  

The Freya + is a really nice sounding preamp for the money and can be made a lot better sounding with better tubes.  I am quite impressed with it.  I also have the Benchmark LA4 which is also good a bit more of a cool and open sound.  I would like to see how much better an ARC Ref 6 or something in that league would be.  I also have my eye on the Rogue RP 9

Had freya+.  Not a fan of the sound. Sounded like it was made out of recycled cans.  

I was reading the review of the Topping pre90 on Stereophile ($599 preamp) and I saw that Stereophile will be reviewing the Freya+. I got the impression that the measurements of the Freya+ will be very good.

@ejlif  What tubes would you recommend for the Freya+?

I’ve run a Schiit Freya+ through a Rogue Stereo 100, and I had no complaints about the sound quality. I did have a problem with the user interface: no balance control, no mono button, source selection can only move to the right (meaning you have to cycle through all five to get to the one to the left). But I did like the balanced connections, I also liked being able to run the Schiit in three different modes.
 

I too was looking at the RP-9, but happened on a McIntosh C100 for the same money. The RP-7 also has balanced connections.
 

I’m still not sure if I want the maintenance involved in a tube preamp, I did encounter instances of distortion with the Freya+ in tube mode. I think if you’re going to get the most out of a tube setup, you need to be willing to roll a few tubes. 
 

Just my thoughts, experience. 

The Freya + is a nice sounding Preamp. I use NOS 6sn7GT Ken-Rad (Pre-Ge) staggered plates with black carbonized glass. The sound to my ears is balanced from top to bottom. As for the sound of the Freya + you must try it in your rig to know if you like the way it sounds.

Mike

I’m still not sure if I want the maintenance involved in a tube preamp, I did encounter instances of distortion with the Freya+ in tube mode. I think if you’re going to get the most out of a tube setup, you need to be willing to roll a few tubes. 

Most tube preamps are incredibly reliable and low maintenance. Sounds like a issue specific to the Schiit / Freya tube mode, which wouldn't surprise me. But to be fair, rolling vintage 6SN7 tubes is inviting more trouble than with other preamp tube types - noise, microphony, and worn to hell tubes people try to pawn off there.

Had freya+.  Not a fan of the sound. Sounded like it was made out of recycled cans.  

😂
That is the best short review I've ever read.

Rogue gets my vote for synergy, sound and build quality. I owned RP-1 paired with ST-100. 
Upgrade the stock JJs to Gold Lions or Brimars and it’s hard to beat. As an added bonus the RP-1 has a very nice built in phono stage that worked great with MM and MC. 
 

I’m running an RP-1 (stock tubes) into a Benchmark AHB2 driving a pair of Fyne Audio 702s.  Sources are NAD 568 CD player and Apple Lossless via iPad Pro & iFi Zen Stream, both through Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC.  My result is superb open sound, with wide sound stage and excellent reproduction of the instruments and voices.  With many recordings, it is as if the performer(s) are right in the room.

I am wondering if going to balanced interconnects from the DAC to preamp and preamp to power amp would make any difference.  That would mean a new preamp, and I was considering the Freda+ for a trial.  Perhaps the Rogue Audio RP-7 or the Backert Rhumba 1.3 would be more appropriate preamp options, although they are a great deal more money.

I have had dealings with both Rogue’s and Schiit’s customer service, the former with questions and the latter with a faulty remote, and both were prompt and fully satisfactory with their responses—Schiit sent me a replacement remote within two days.

@mike4597 I owned RP-1 and liked it a lot. It’s a very capable preamp.
IMO, if you’re happy with the sound I wouldn’t bother upgrading the preamp. I would focus on the source in this system. You can squeeze more out of streaming by getting a dedicated streamer like the Lumin U1 Mini or the new U2 Mini and use Qobuz instead of Apple. Also, the Brimar CV4003 tubes can take the performance of the RP-1 to the next level. The stock JJs are ok to get you going but they don’t a candle to the Brimars. 

Audphile, many thanks for the info.  Will look for the Brimars soonest!

save your money and get a used rogue RH 5 headphone amp and line stage.  sounds much better than the rp 1 and schiit.  

Agree, save and get the Rogue ....it's good stuff, but you already know that !   

Get the Rogue. Every piece of Schiit that I've seen is just that 😁

Parts quality on the Rogue is superior, as is the build, the cosmetics, and the casework.

 I've also found Rogue to be easy to deal with if in need of service information.

I own a Schiit Freya plus. I do not understand those who say it is not good quality. I’m currently using 2 Sylvania 7n7’s with adaptors for the input stage, and Tung-Sol 6sn7’s for output. The sound is good. I have had no issues with this preamp. If you can try either of the 2 pieces you mentioned, try them both, then decide.