Schiit Freya Plus tubes and tube rolling


Hi All- I’m about to get a Schiit Freya plus tube preamp- and have read with interest some of the thoughts on Tub Rolling. However, it seems that Schiit has replaced the tubes in the Freya with JJ tubes, because they feel that they are across the board better than what they had available before. They also dropped the Russian Tung Sols that were previously an upgrade option. They still carry the Russian NOS 6n8s tubes as an option. 
Thoughts on the JJ tubes? Do you think they really are so much better than the Tung Sols? If I were to get some additional tubes to tube roll with- that are equal or better than the JJ tubes- do you have a recommendation? And a link to where to get them? Thanks!
dschen5
I tried the JJs in my "original version" Freya and was not impressed (maybe I should have let 'em "burn in" more)...I also own the new Tung Sols and they are also sort of boring...I have piles of 6SN7GTBs and have settled on NOS GEs as a reliable and long lasting solution with tone that works for me. Note these are plentiful and no more expensive that the Tung Sols...I also have NOS Sylvania "chrome domes" that sound great, as well as some Amperex labeled tubes a couple of which seem to actually be GEs. I understand the  Freya + could be a different animal regarding how the tubes do their job so my opinions might not be so relevant...but does that stop me? Hell no!
I've got the previous Freya and went from the stock tubes, then to the Tung Sols and landed on the PSVane. I got them off Amazon of all places and it added a bit better sound than the Tung Sol and over all I'm really happy. I had to grind the tube opening a tiny bit with a dremel but it was worth the short effort for the better sound. 
https://www.amazon.com/Matched-Psvane-UK-6SN7-Vacuum-Tubes/dp/B00N9T5ZHW
Another consideration is tube availability in the new product market. all manufactures have to buy for reliability, cost and future availability. so that NOS tube may be best but are there 1000's of them available at reasonable cost .....no.... So manufactures have to find the best avail tube in new production that's going to be in production for as long as the product. Not to mention spares for replacements.

If it was me I'd get the regular one and go to tubestore.com  (others too) and buy a few different tubes to try out NOS if you can. not that JJ tubes are bad. I'm personally not a fan but have not tried them in quite a few years and hear the quality has improved greatly since. 

dschen5


I’d wait till you decide which configuration you like the best, passive, tube or solid state.
You may have the perfect setup for the passive, which will then give the best transparency, dynamics, and no added coloration.

Cheers George