Schiit Freya + Class A in Stereophile

@mward

Agreed, no generality holds up all the time. A separate power supply is an upgrade in the design… typically has a big improvement. A change from dip switches to front controls are the same features implemented differently.

Stereophile gives ratings based on sound quality. There is an inverse relationship between sound quality and features. Feature rich audio stuff is mid-fi or low-fi. Sound quality is the important criteria in high end audio.

@invalid

+1 and Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Pass, and other truly high end companies will still be there. Pushing the envelope, improving the sound that is possible. 

@mrmojo

I don’t understand your point.

I have a couple of true audiophile systems (see my UserID), I also own three Schiit components and have extensively auditioned another (Yggdrasil, Gungnir… head amp and amp). Never read their stated mission. I resisted auditioning or buying for years because of their name. But they earned consideration by their great performance compared to their cost.

They provide excellent budget high end products (cost effective mid-fi?), whatever you want to call them. They can be worth double or maybe triple the cost for there performance. But they do not outperform Class A products costing $10K or more. I have often heard multiple products from Class A in multiple categories and established in reality the more costly perform at higher levels. In fact, this was one of my first questions decades ago when I started reading Stereophile. I quickly got an answer when I bought an inexpensive Class A rated Phonostage… quickly upgrading up the list of components until I got to a significant level of performance. 

@invalid 

+1

@hiendmmoe +1

Some form of clarification from Stereophile would be useful. I have frequently listened (and many times owned) cheap Class A and expensive Class A stuff… no comparison… but in general, if there is a Class A at $200, $1000, $5000, and $10,000, and $22,000 they are spot on worth their price at each price point. It is an attractive delusion that you can buy a $200 component that sounds as good as a $5000… but in reality it doesn’t happen. A company getting started can sell a product with exceptional sound quality… but this is not something that happens often or for long… great sounding equipment requires competent designs and costly components.

You need to understand what class A means. It means for the money. I have compared Class A equipment from Stereophile and The Absolute Sound for decades. A class A component that cost $200 is class A against other $200 components… not against $20,000 Class A components. I have confirmed this many times.