Van Alstine Trans 10RB vs. Freya Schiit. Which do you prefer and why??

Have had a Freya for about a week now. Never heard a Van Alstine Trans 10RB. Bought the Freya mainly to have a balanced, solid state pre. Didn’t really want tube output but at least it didn’t have a DAC or phono pre. I wanted those less. Initially one of the tubes was microphonic. Schiit provided a replacement set but in the interim I listened to it in passive mode: Gungnir DAC>>Cabledyne Copper Ref. XLR>>Freya>>AQ Columbia XLR>>Taranis amp>>Totem Forests. Things sounded excellent. WAY better than I expected from passive. None of the thin, bleached-out sound sometimes associated with passive. A few days later, got the replacement 6SN7 tubes installed. Immediately struck by a delicacy and refinement to the sound compared to the 6H30 tubed preamp I’d been using. There’s more detail but no harshness. On female vocals performed at higher volume, a kind of hardness I’d sometimes hear with the other pre seems gone. I am very pleased. From new, out-of-the-box, the sound has opened up. Nice air. Have been listening only to tube mode since they arrived.

The unit is very quiet. Between tracks it’s like somebody shut off the system. Tap the unit with volume up, nothing. Ear up to speaker with volume up and nothing playing, dead silent. Very pleased. Seems like a very good value for just $700 bucks. Schiit does have a 15 day return policy (less 5% restocking fee). I do not hesitate to recommend auditioning Freya.

Like wout, I got a couple other pieces of Schiit (Asgard 2 as well as the stock Gungnir).  Guess you could say I'm a fan of Schiit.

Glad the comments were helpful, 'dog  Good luck with your purchase.  Hope whatever you choose gives you a lot of listening enjoyment.

shtinkydog - 
Late arriving thoughts.  Wanted to comment about a couple of things.  Volume control does "click" as you change levels.  The sound is inherent to the stepped attenuator design.  Heard the same thing with a CJ Premier preamp.  The other item was about the remote.  It's a little plastic thing.  Doesn't look like much but "works a treat" for mute, volume, input and output.  Personally, if the design budget target is tight, I'd rather pay for essential components and not a massive metal remote that can double as a paper weight or door stop.  Anyway, just thought I'd mention a couple of things that some might find less than optimal.   

Mechans - the OP’s inquiry did allow for observations about the individual preamps (i.e., "on their own"). Not owning a Van Alstine, I was only able to provide comparison to a 6H30-based preamp that I had found very satisfactory sound-wise.  

wout31 has explained the single opening at the right end of the face of the Freya. I’ll add that along with 3 push buttons for mute, output and input selection and the volume knob, there are 9 LEDs: 1 for mute, 2 for output mode (JFET buffer mode or tube mode; none lit = passive mode), 5 for input selection (2 balanced; 3 SE), and a final LED to indicate remote control of volume. When this last is lit, the volume control knob is disabled.

wout - I hope you will be as pleased as I am with the Freya. Will be interested in hearing your thoughts about it.

wout31-
Good to read your positive comments.  Have now had my Freya for two weeks and have somewhere in the range of 75 - 100 hours on it.  In my system gain differences between pure passive and JFET are minor compared to tube mode.  Apart from gain, I do find sonic differences between the modes somewhat subtle.  While tube mode does not strike me as fatiguing at all (some further hours for your tubes to "burn in"?), I, like you, prefer it for vinyl.  Am using JFET for digital sources.  Sonics from all modes are very good to my ear.  

You might be interested in this Schiit Freya thread at HeadFi:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/832177/schiit-freya-impressions-and-tube-rolling-thread

That's your call, wout.  You are not a "tube-o-phile", I take it.  Don't think I am either...at least not to any exclusive extent.  Consider ways to elevate and advance that discussion beyond the fixation on tubes.  Provide further input similar to what you already left there ( I did read it).  I entered the Freya buying process actually disinclined to go with a tube-based pre.  Bought Freya despite the tube mode.   After a couple of weeks now, I am finding the Freya's tube mode preferable when listening to vinyl but use JFET buffered for digital.  Passive is NOT far behind to my ear...perhaps a little less "heft" compared to JFET though I'm not certain I could identify either in blind listening.  Different strokes for different folks, as "they" say.  Hope you are enjoying music even more with the Freya in your system.