This is a review, detailed measurements and listening tests of Schiit Freya+ selectable passive, active solid state, and tube pre-amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $1,199 plus shipping.
I am a fan of the wide aspect ratio Schiit audio products. They look a lot more classy than their compact versions. What I am not a fan of is rear power switch (especially for a tube amp), and controls with cryptic symbols. Luckily there are not too many of them and you can memorize them. Stepped relay volume control means chatter when you change volume with some static in the output but probably worth it for the channel match.
Unusual for a tube product is balanced input and outputs:
The included tubes are "matched" JJ 6SN7.
Given the three operational modes and many inputs and output variations, I chose to only test balanced input and outputs.
Gain settings are odd. While I can appreciate the pass-through mode being at 0 dB, the active solid state is also 0 dB while the tube mode is much more at 12 dB.
Schiit Freya+ Balanced Measurements
Let's start with passive mode with unity gain which required max volume (best case scenario for passive mode):
Naturally we more or less get the analyzer response. I am not going to show you the degraded performance as you decrease volume with this or other passive pre-amps. See my other reviews on this.
Switching to active SS mode produced surprisingly high penalty:
Look at the very large third harmonic. I expected the Freya S performance which is far, far better SINAD of 111 dB. Disappointing.
Switching to tube mode takes performance many more steps lower:
Power supply noise interferes and modulates the high harmonic spikes. The amplifier is quiet for a tube product:
And gets much better in the other two modes:
The active tube mode is capable of very high output:
Notice however how fast distortion sets in using active solid state mode. You can see the same in IMD test:
Crosstalk is extremely good:
Frequency response has a low frequency roll off even in solid state mode:
I wonder if it is capacitor coupled?
There is little frequency dependence in distortion profile which is nice:
Schiit Freya+ Listening Tests
Performing proper AB tests is made challenging due to much higher output level/gain of tube amp. Likely this is the reason for positive remarks for tube mode. And the fact that selecting the tube mode can cause a 45 second mute. I managed to still do a half-decent test by cycling from tube to the other two modes which is instant. And even in reverse by switching back to tube mode quickly before it decided to time out for 45 seconds.
Testing consisted of RME ADI-2 Pro as the source, driving the Freya+, which in turn drove Topping A90 Discrete as a headphone amp. I used my Dan Clark Stealth for listening tests. I set the volume to max when comparing passive mode to active solid state. There, I could not detect much of any difference. Sound was very good and essentially reflected the fidelity of my source.
Tube mode was not so situated. I could easily hear the grungy distortion that it was adding. Low level detail was hidden and impact in some notes gone. Mind you, these are clearly audible to me in AB test. In the absolute, it may be harder to hear the impairments. I ran through a number of clips and in no case did I like the tube mode. If I let it have much higher volume, then preference for it was much easier. But not when levels were matched.
Conclusions
The Schiit Freya+ is a disappointment. It seems to be a product mostly from Schiit's past where even solid state buffer mode has a lot of distortion. Likely it is a low feedback mode thought to make better sound. Thankfully the distortion that it adds is low enough as to not be audible to most people. And the good dynamic range will be a relief as far as background hiss.
The tube mode is just bad. Only in audio folks sell muddy water as a better substitute for clean and clear water.
Copious amount of distortion combined with power supply noise that modulates the same (causing jitter like sidebands), both objective and subjectively (to my ears) only reduced the fidelity of music. No spatial qualities changed other than muddy background that took away some sense of space for music. You have to have drank the "tube sound" Kool-Aid undiluted to think this means better fidelity.
Overall, I see no reason to purchase this pre-amp. A much better bet and far better product is the Schiit Freya S. It is half the price and performs so much better.
I can't recommend the Schiit Freya+. Company can do better and is simply choosing to not do so. Disappointing.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I am a fan of the wide aspect ratio Schiit audio products. They look a lot more classy than their compact versions. What I am not a fan of is rear power switch (especially for a tube amp), and controls with cryptic symbols. Luckily there are not too many of them and you can memorize them. Stepped relay volume control means chatter when you change volume with some static in the output but probably worth it for the channel match.
Unusual for a tube product is balanced input and outputs:
The included tubes are "matched" JJ 6SN7.
Given the three operational modes and many inputs and output variations, I chose to only test balanced input and outputs.
Gain settings are odd. While I can appreciate the pass-through mode being at 0 dB, the active solid state is also 0 dB while the tube mode is much more at 12 dB.
Schiit Freya+ Balanced Measurements
Let's start with passive mode with unity gain which required max volume (best case scenario for passive mode):
Naturally we more or less get the analyzer response. I am not going to show you the degraded performance as you decrease volume with this or other passive pre-amps. See my other reviews on this.
Switching to active SS mode produced surprisingly high penalty:
Look at the very large third harmonic. I expected the Freya S performance which is far, far better SINAD of 111 dB. Disappointing.
Switching to tube mode takes performance many more steps lower:
Power supply noise interferes and modulates the high harmonic spikes. The amplifier is quiet for a tube product:
And gets much better in the other two modes:
The active tube mode is capable of very high output:
Notice however how fast distortion sets in using active solid state mode. You can see the same in IMD test:
Crosstalk is extremely good:
Frequency response has a low frequency roll off even in solid state mode:
I wonder if it is capacitor coupled?
There is little frequency dependence in distortion profile which is nice:
Schiit Freya+ Listening Tests
Performing proper AB tests is made challenging due to much higher output level/gain of tube amp. Likely this is the reason for positive remarks for tube mode. And the fact that selecting the tube mode can cause a 45 second mute. I managed to still do a half-decent test by cycling from tube to the other two modes which is instant. And even in reverse by switching back to tube mode quickly before it decided to time out for 45 seconds.
Testing consisted of RME ADI-2 Pro as the source, driving the Freya+, which in turn drove Topping A90 Discrete as a headphone amp. I used my Dan Clark Stealth for listening tests. I set the volume to max when comparing passive mode to active solid state. There, I could not detect much of any difference. Sound was very good and essentially reflected the fidelity of my source.
Tube mode was not so situated. I could easily hear the grungy distortion that it was adding. Low level detail was hidden and impact in some notes gone. Mind you, these are clearly audible to me in AB test. In the absolute, it may be harder to hear the impairments. I ran through a number of clips and in no case did I like the tube mode. If I let it have much higher volume, then preference for it was much easier. But not when levels were matched.
Conclusions
The Schiit Freya+ is a disappointment. It seems to be a product mostly from Schiit's past where even solid state buffer mode has a lot of distortion. Likely it is a low feedback mode thought to make better sound. Thankfully the distortion that it adds is low enough as to not be audible to most people. And the good dynamic range will be a relief as far as background hiss.
The tube mode is just bad. Only in audio folks sell muddy water as a better substitute for clean and clear water.
Copious amount of distortion combined with power supply noise that modulates the same (causing jitter like sidebands), both objective and subjectively (to my ears) only reduced the fidelity of music. No spatial qualities changed other than muddy background that took away some sense of space for music. You have to have drank the "tube sound" Kool-Aid undiluted to think this means better fidelity.Overall, I see no reason to purchase this pre-amp. A much better bet and far better product is the Schiit Freya S. It is half the price and performs so much better.
I can't recommend the Schiit Freya+. Company can do better and is simply choosing to not do so. Disappointing.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
