Schiit Freya+ with 6000F Worthwhile

[Ram18]

Hi All

 

Am thinking of purchasing a Schiit Freya + tube preamp. My power amp is XTZ A 2-300 (150 watt into 8ohms). My fronts are Klipch RP 6000f. Anyone who has a similar set up with a Schiit Freya preamp running with Klipsch speakers care to share your experience if it would be a good pairing.  Also do share the tubes used in your Freya +. Thanks.

[jdfrakes]

I have a Schiit Freya+ that first ran a Schiit Vidar Class A/B amp and then a monoblock pair of Vidars into a pair of Klipsch Forte III's.  In bypass and buffer only mode the Freya is kind of meh to me, in tube mode the sound really begins to have a warmer "tube" sound and the soundstage and instrument separation are improved.  As I rolled tubes things got progressively better as I tried NOS tubes.  Other than the stock 6SN7's I tried new Elector Harmonix Gold pins 6SN7GTB(matched quad), NOS Admiral matched pair with NOS GE 6SN7GTB matched pair, and finally a NOS matched pair of Sylvania 6SN7GTB with NOS Canadian GE's.  the differences between the EH's and the Sylvania were very apparent.  Both sets of GE's were closer to the Sylvanias but still in a distant second.  the Sylvania tubes really solidified the "Valve" experience in my system.  The soundstage was wider, higher and deeper.  The imaging and instrument separation was much improved, the "air" around instruments people talk about was now in my system even with the solid state amps.

 

When/if you decide to tube roll with the Freya remember to put your best tubes in the right-hand tube sockets (i believe these are the gain stage and give the biggest bang for the buck.)

 

The Freya+ scaled well too when I went to monoblock SET tube amps.  I got Yuri kits from Mellow Tone Kits which are 2W each using Russian   6S8S driver tubes and 6P7S power tubes.  That "tube" sound was further enhanced with the SET amps, the Freya didn't get in the way of the sound.  It is warm and the details are there without becoming fatiguing.  

 

In conclusion I'd give the Freya+ a strong recommendation.  It has enough connectivity options (balanced and single ended) to give you room to modify your system and it has three preamp sections you can try.  Also, they have a really good secondhand market value right now so you would be able to break even on it if you decided you didn't like it.

[Dave1291]

They do make some good Schitt!   Have been running the Mani phono-pre for about 3 years.  No problem and it kills it!