A few weeks ago I reviewed the Schiit Freya S preamplifier. It performed really well in passive mode, providing fully transparency to my ultra low distortion and and noise audio analyzer. In active mode, one channel produced excellently low distortion and noise but the other was some 9 dB worse. One or two dB is normal but not such a wide gap. After the review was published, company contacted me and offered to send me another sample to test. This is article is the results of measuring that unit. FYI, the owner of the unit who loaned his to me received a unit with a new board.
As I noted in the previous review, the ultra wide and not so tall height produces a much more attractive look than some of the other Schiit products:
The back panel shows the nice balanced connectivity:
Combined with the stepped attenuator providing good channel matching, this is a very attractive set of features.
Preamplifier Audio Measurements
I won't be repeating all the previous measurements but rather, focus on where the issue was starting with active "0 dB" mode. This is what we had before:
As you see, there is 9 dB of difference in SINAD between the two channels. Here is how the new unit performs:
The two channels are much closer and within margin of error I normally see. There is a slight drop in how good the one channel is though and we can see that in follow on measurements:
I think some variation is inevitable given the architecture here (stepped attenuator with many passive parts).
Conclusions
Honestly, there is no way I could ever build you a preamp with this functionality and performance and sell it at this price. Many of us who need a preamp have a digital source (DAC) and one analog input (Reel-to-Reel in my case, turntable for others). Having balanced preamplification including a passive and low gain mode is quite excellent here.
With the channel discrepancy fixed, I am happy to put the Schiit Freya S on my recommended list.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
I have been spending every dollar you all donate but then someone asked me what I am doing for a "rainy day." I said it rains most of the time here so every day is a rainy day. It was explained to me that rainy day meant having a huge bank account that I could draw upon for wild parties and such, after this effort has gone bust. So I thought I come to you all and ask for BIG donation to fill that new account using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
As I noted in the previous review, the ultra wide and not so tall height produces a much more attractive look than some of the other Schiit products:
The back panel shows the nice balanced connectivity:
Combined with the stepped attenuator providing good channel matching, this is a very attractive set of features.
Preamplifier Audio Measurements
I won't be repeating all the previous measurements but rather, focus on where the issue was starting with active "0 dB" mode. This is what we had before:
As you see, there is 9 dB of difference in SINAD between the two channels. Here is how the new unit performs:
The two channels are much closer and within margin of error I normally see. There is a slight drop in how good the one channel is though and we can see that in follow on measurements:
I think some variation is inevitable given the architecture here (stepped attenuator with many passive parts).
Conclusions
Honestly, there is no way I could ever build you a preamp with this functionality and performance and sell it at this price. Many of us who need a preamp have a digital source (DAC) and one analog input (Reel-to-Reel in my case, turntable for others). Having balanced preamplification including a passive and low gain mode is quite excellent here.
With the channel discrepancy fixed, I am happy to put the Schiit Freya S on my recommended list.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
I have been spending every dollar you all donate but then someone asked me what I am doing for a "rainy day." I said it rains most of the time here so every day is a rainy day. It was explained to me that rainy day meant having a huge bank account that I could draw upon for wild parties and such, after this effort has gone bust. So I thought I come to you all and ask for BIG donation to fill that new account using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/