tube rolling with Schiit Freya +

I'm not sure how much burning in the Schiit stuff really needs.  My Vidar did not go through much change, and neither did the Saga.  And the Freya+, with maybe 75 hours on it so far, hasn't gone through changes I've noticed.  That is to say, it was pretty damn  impressive out of the box.

It's my first tube pre, so the following comments should be taken with a grain of salt, but it gets pretty warm after about 1.5 hours.  Even hot, though not too hot to touch.  But I was wondering about some kind of active cooling, just to sate my OCD tendencies!  

Way to go on the Aegir, Wolf, you keep one upping me!  I bought the Freya+ partly based on recommendations such as yours, so keep a lid on the Aegir praise until the end of January when my audio-use-only cc gets paid off, will ya?

On breaking in the tubes, with the Freya + one would need to have the tube mode selected, because it turns them off in the other two modes.  

I’m listening to the Mission soundtrack as I type this, the sound is clear, open and impactful. The bass has good weight to it, it’s the best I’ve heard this music sound.

I should add that I went over my notes and I only had about 55 hours on the Freya at the time of my last post.   I just noticed tonight as I’m closing in on 70 hours that the jfet buffer mode is starting to have more depth to the soundstage than the tube mode.  

So I let the tube mode run for an hour and noticed that it’s improving as well.  In either mode, things like piano and cymbal have an authenticity that I’ve never heard from my Tannoys before.  This is fun!

I can update my findings on the heat issue as well. The Freya + isn’t heating up as much now, it still gets pretty warm, but not as much as previously.  I have it on its own shelf of an open unit with about 6 inches of space above it.

Reading up on the various Freya threads at SBAF forum, apparently it does run pretty warm when in tube mode, nothing to worry about.

This pre is a real treat.  The audio quality is simply superb.  I’m presented with a sound stage that is seamless and doesn’t seem to be coming from the speakers’ locations whatsoever.  I’m surprised at how much benefit a good pre adds to the end result.

I googled Had Firebottle tube amp, it seems quite exclusive?   Made by one of the major dudes from Cary Audio or something like that.  5 watts per channel of class A.  Quite an interesting piece for sure.


I'm guessing you're using it with the Freya, so that's a tube pre and a tube amp?  I've been dragged kicking and screaming into tube based gear!  The Saga was enough of a win for me that I was willing to consider the Freya.  

But the Schiit Vali 2 tube headphone amp really made my jaw drop, and I realized that tubes can really sound amazing.  Paired with the Modi Multibit, the Vali 2 is by far the best headphone rig for 300 you can get.(I got both as b stock, hence the lower price).

Anyway, that's why I was willing to shell out the cash for the Freya +, and it's become my end game pre.