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


Looks like they're in the same league, pricewise. But how about soundwise? Anyone have any experience with these two head to head or on their own?

Thanks.

SD



shtinkydog
gdnrbob: ive read a lot of good stuff about the schiit dacs. but where I can really use some improvement is in the pre-amp.  perhaps later on the dac.   thanks!
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
Ghosthouse, I looked at the thread on  head-fi but I find it is not interesting at all because it is all about tubes tubes and more tubes. Tubes was interesting after the early release of the the transistor that at that stage was inferior to tubes.But now is 2016 guys, not 1976! Why don't they change over resistors, capacitors or other electronic parts? Easy because they can't and that's why all the talk is about changing tubes. Where the passive and JFET options is far more superior sound wise to the tube stage. The longer I play it, the more I prefer passive, as this is most neutral in sound. I prefer "the closest approach to the original sound". And with my Quad ESL 63 full range planars that is passive.
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.