Schiit KARA Preamp and Headphone Amp Review

[gvl]

Well... there is plenty of room inside. Saves you from buying an extra headphone amp.
Schiit states the following about it:


The amp inside seems to be the familiar low feedback 'continuity' design which Schiit (and their followers) seem to prefer over 'lowest SINAD' amps for some reason and explains the higher distortion in low impedances.
The design of the headphone section is in line with their 'philosophy' but seems to be a bit like the Magni+ amp section in performance and is not the most important aspect of this amp. The pre-amp (and volume control) is. It is not a headphone amp with pre-amp out function but a pre-amp with an additional (but not as high quality) headphone out section as a bonus.
It seems to have DC output protection which might be a good idea ...

Sure a headphone amp can't hurt. But do I need to pay $100 extra compared to the Freya S for the feature that I don't need? Looks like the Freya S is gone again btw, probly for good this time around.

 

[JeremyFife]

Lovely dog

Feeling slightly churlish for voting 'fine' - for the headphone performance. Great pre-amp but at this price, no longer inexpensive, all components should pull their weight.

 

[franknorris12]

So does this have hiss? Or any hint of audible hiss in either passive or active modes?

 

[solderdude]

Sure a headphone amp can't hurt. But do I need to pay $100 extra compared to the Freya S for the feature that I don't need? Looks like the Freya S is gone again btw, probly for good this time around.

Yep this replaces it. It costs around $ 10.- in extra parts (the headphone section) and figure there were requests for headphone outs or they needed to increase prices anyway (everything gets more expensive) and thought adding the HA section could be a good reason to increase the price a bit.

You do seem to get a good pre-amp though with a Magni+ integrated into it.

Downside is that you need to use the same volume control (so likely different position) and cannot use them as the same time.
Freya S + Magni+ would not look the same but would be equally expensive.

 

[solderdude]

So does this have hiss? Or any hint of audible hiss in either passive or active modes?

Amir says: Very low noise and distortion

 

[franknorris12]

Amir says: Very low noise and distortion

In practice is that very low noise noticeable? (i.e. during listening)

 

[Sokel]

The only missing measurement is RCA in > XLR out and the opposite,company has specs about it and it's interesting as no additional boxes needed for all the folks that ask for such a feature.
(if I remember well from Gustard and another one that can do it there was some penalty in performance but not much)

Thanks Amir!

 

[solderdude]

In practice is that very low noise noticeable? (i.e. during listening)

You would need a power amp with high gain AND very efficient speakers AND be very close to the tweeter to hear those noise levels.

Noise you hear during listening will certainly come from the recording.

 

[DSJR]

Well done Schiit - we're too spoiled by cheap far eastern dacs of spectacular performance to realise just how good this product is I feel.

Some of us do still have a selection of analogue sources and a desire for a wider slimmer product. This one's definitely on the bucket list (add 75% to the price if sold in a conventional retail dealer chain) if not too silly price increase in getting it to Europe/UK. Plenty of output for low sensitivity power amps as well, so perhaps something to bear in mind (I come from an old school which suggested high signal levels down the pre-power interconnects (balanced or otherwise) and perhaps a lower gain power amp rather than the 500mV or so legacy types which may still be around...

I appreciate there's a whole different headphone market internationally, so maybe Jason could do some tweaking here in due course to satisfy the owners of decent low impedance headphones. Since one is supposed NOT to play headphones loudly to prevent ear damage (yeah right), any distortion rise would be academic really. I appreciate the socket being there though and would use it occasionally as my very vintage preamp doesn't have one.

 

[LiviuTM]

@amirm, you might have to create a thread dedicated to Kara. She's a sweetheart and that is a fact.

 

[flipflop]

On bass heavy test tracks, distortion set it very early, matching the measurements.

Considering its worst-case distortion level is at -80 dBFS before clipping sets in, it's a bit of a stretch to claim the measurements show an audible problem.

 

[JohnnyNG]

Very nice! And way more inputs than my Topping Pre90, not that I need them presently. Would like to see RCA in/XLR out.

I'd miss the per-input volume memory of my Pre90, which I now find indispensable.

• Input Impedance: 10K ohms
• Output Impedance: 75 ohms SE, 600 ohms balanced
• Crosstalk: >110dB typical all modes
• Inputs: 2 XLR pairs plus 3 RCA pairs, selectable via front switch or remote
• Outputs: 1 XLR pair plus 2 RCA pairs, selectable via front switch or remote
• Headphone Output: Front panel plug-in (
• Volume Control: Relay-switched stepped attenuator with discrete thin-film resistors, 128 0.625dB steps
• Operational Control: In addition to onboard controls, the Kara also comes with a wireless remote.
• Power Supply: One 48VA transformer with dual series regulated +/-32V rails with Quietude topology; plus regulated 5VDC for microprocessor
• Power Consumption: 22W typical
• Dimensions (WDH): 16 x 8 x 2 – inches
• Weight: 11 lbs

​

Why is the balanced output impedance so much higher?

 

[Rick Sykora]

Maybe my expectations are high, but despite nice execution of pretty staid tech, cannot get very excited over a preamp these days...

Without Amir's Kara adding some color to the review, I may have just gone back to sleep! No disrespect intended to Schiit for a solid offering, but am not much of a headphone listener, and so that portion is not worth much to me. Replace the HP portion with a DAC and would have much more appeal to me.

My best takeaway here is to see how my dog will react given a whole carrot. He already loves the mini ones. Thanks Amir!

 

[fpitas]

I suppose if you want your preamp to serve double duty as a piece of post modern metal sculpture, you might want to look into something like this:

Otherwise, you should probably just buy this piece of Schiit.

That looks like it's wearing a diaper.

 

[JayGilb]

The specs are great and it has visual appeal, but without DAC functionality, I consider this unit priced slightly too high.

Amir, thanks for another great review.

 

[AaronJ]

Part of the reason I got rid of the Freya S and went to an integrated is because of headphone implementation. Want to be able to listen to headphones at night from the listening position from time to time but there was no good way to implement it. I’d absolutely consider getting a Kara if I needed it.

Really wish Jason would drop the crazy-uncle act and they would put the power switch on the front ffs.

 

[ocinn]

Nice unit, I like the separate outputs for subs and stuff. Price is very reasonable.

Full-band subwoofer&main outputs (which btw, this doesn’t even have, it simply has a balanced and unbalanced output) were something to get excited about in 1980. It’s 2023.

These days it is unacceptable, IMO, for dedicated analog preamplifiers to not include at MINIMUM, a fixed 80hz hi pass switch for the main outputs. And ideally, a variable hi-pass knob.

The analog circuit to do this is cheap, simple, and well known and there is really no excuse anymore to not include a hi-pass especially as the consumer market has shifted towards small bookshelf/stand mount speakers and external subs, and a hi-pass is required for proper integration, period.

 

[DavidK442]

Beautiful Samoyed. Rare these days. We had two as show dogs growing up. Wonderful personality, but the shedding, especially in spring!

 

[JohnnyNG]

Full-band subwoofer&main outputs (which btw, this doesn’t even have, it simply has a balanced and unbalanced output) were something to get excited about in 1980. It’s 2023.

These days it is unacceptable, IMO, for dedicated analog preamplifiers to not include at MINIMUM, a fixed 80hz hi pass switch for the main outputs. And ideally, a variable hi-pass knob.

The analog circuit to do this is cheap, simple, and well known and there is really no excuse anymore to not include a hi-pass especially as the consumer market has shifted towards small bookshelf/stand mount speakers and external subs, and a hi-pass is required for proper integration, period.

No disagreement here. And it should be easy to include a very high quality fixed 80Hz, 24dB/oct LR high-pass. I don't even think it needs to be adjustable, 80Hz will almost always work. Low Pass would be nice too.

 

[raif71]

That looks like it's wearing a diaper.

Maybe Schiit should learn from them