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I am a happy owner of a Freya S as well as an original Saga (bought on closeout). I tried the original Freya but returned it as it sounded notably inferior to the Adcom GFP-750 I was using (when I say notably, my wife heard it and wondered what was wrong). I am convinced that there was something wrong with that Freya, but never heard from Schiit after I returned it if it was defective.
When the Freya S came out, I decided to give that a go. My Adcom has worked great for the 15 years I had it, but the volume knob was getting scratchy in balanced mode and some parts are no longer available. I figured sell it while the selling is good (and was for $600) and get something that has a warranty and parts available. The Freya S checked the boxes, true balanced, the ability to run passive or active, and a reasonable price. To me the Freya S sounds great, as good as the Adcom, with perhaps a bit better imaging (but that could be due to the scratchy volume knob on the Adcom leading to distortion or imbalance).
The one thing I noted with the Freya S and my Saga is the deviation from spec in gain in the different modes. At first tried level matching by ear and found some differences in sound between the modes. Once I level matched by SPL meter, the differences all but disappeared (I think the passive sounds slightly more relaxed, but am not confident I could tell in a blind test). Here was what I found about the different gain levels and posted to SBAF:
So some interesting observations on the different modes and gain between the OG Saga and Freya S. I decided to pull out my SPL meter to check listening levels on my Saga for my desktop system, so I could note what volume positions net me 75db peak and 85db peak (using pink noise). As I will often be at my desk for hours at a time, I like to make sure I keep the volume below 75db peak. Keeping in mind I did this with a handheld SPL app on an Iphone X, so it may not be as accurate as if I ran it with room eq and the calibrated mic.
On the Saga OG there is about a 2 db gain between passive an active, 2 clicks on the volume gets you within .5 db.
The surprise was the Freya S (running from a Gungnir Multibit with balanced to a Sunfire amp with balanced). From passive to Gain 1, the Freya S jumps 7 db. From Gain 1 to Gain 4, it jumps another 13 db, or a total of 20db over passive. This is way above the rated 12db.
When the Freya S came out, I decided to give that a go. My Adcom has worked great for the 15 years I had it, but the volume knob was getting scratchy in balanced mode and some parts are no longer available. I figured sell it while the selling is good (and was for $600) and get something that has a warranty and parts available. The Freya S checked the boxes, true balanced, the ability to run passive or active, and a reasonable price. To me the Freya S sounds great, as good as the Adcom, with perhaps a bit better imaging (but that could be due to the scratchy volume knob on the Adcom leading to distortion or imbalance).
The one thing I noted with the Freya S and my Saga is the deviation from spec in gain in the different modes. At first tried level matching by ear and found some differences in sound between the modes. Once I level matched by SPL meter, the differences all but disappeared (I think the passive sounds slightly more relaxed, but am not confident I could tell in a blind test). Here was what I found about the different gain levels and posted to SBAF:
So some interesting observations on the different modes and gain between the OG Saga and Freya S. I decided to pull out my SPL meter to check listening levels on my Saga for my desktop system, so I could note what volume positions net me 75db peak and 85db peak (using pink noise). As I will often be at my desk for hours at a time, I like to make sure I keep the volume below 75db peak. Keeping in mind I did this with a handheld SPL app on an Iphone X, so it may not be as accurate as if I ran it with room eq and the calibrated mic.
On the Saga OG there is about a 2 db gain between passive an active, 2 clicks on the volume gets you within .5 db.
The surprise was the Freya S (running from a Gungnir Multibit with balanced to a Sunfire amp with balanced). From passive to Gain 1, the Freya S jumps 7 db. From Gain 1 to Gain 4, it jumps another 13 db, or a total of 20db over passive. This is way above the rated 12db.
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