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The new Schiit Kara seems much better than Freya S, any info on it?

aaronsarkissian

aaronsarkissian

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Yesterday I was researching about Schiit Freya S and Freya+ and today saw that Freya S is no longer available and there is this new Kara.
It includes headphone AMP and many more performance boosts.
Can we expect major changes or is it better to get Freya+?
 
Interesting: I have the Freya S, purchased only a month ago. The Kara looks identical to the Freya S and the performance and features appear the same, except with the addition of the headphone amp/jack. Unless you have a tube fetish, get the Kara; apparently an upgraded, re-badged Freya S. They say performance is improved over Freya S. I'll wait for a report from Amir on that.
 
Last edited:
HoweSound said:
Interesting: I have the Freya S, purchased only a month ago. The Kara looks identical to the Freya S and the performance and features appear the same, except with the addition of the headphone amp/jack. Unless you have a tube fetish, get the Kara; apparently an upgraded, re-badged Freya S. They say performance is improved over Freya S. I'll wait for a report from Amir on that.
Click to expand...
At first, I thought it was the same with headphone out (and a +$100 base price tag), but it seems that it is tuned a bit based on this info:
  • Much higher performance: Kara kills Freya S from all outputs, in all modes.
  • Much higher rails: Freya S was +/-17V, Kara is +/-32V. More volts more linear.
  • Now with headphone jack: none on Freya S, yes on Kara.
  • 2x bigger power supply: 48VA transformer in Kara, 24VA on Freya S.
  • Better controls: More rational front panel layout on Kara.
The higher rails and bigger power supply seems interesting tho.
And yes I'll wait for Amir's review before buying it.
 
www.audiosciencereview.com

Schiit Freya S Preamplifier Review 2

Exactly. An attenuator is configured as a voltage divider (I'm excluding special cases like L-pads which are pretty much loudspeaker-only), with the source impedance being at a maximum at 50% (-6dB). The two halves in parallel make a source resistance of 1/4 the potentiometer value. OK I...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com
 
aaronsarkissian said:
At first, I thought it was the same with headphone out (and a +$100 base price tag), but it seems that it is tuned a bit based on this info:
  • Much higher performance: Kara kills Freya S from all outputs, in all modes.
  • Much higher rails: Freya S was +/-17V, Kara is +/-32V. More volts more linear.
  • Now with headphone jack: none on Freya S, yes on Kara.
  • 2x bigger power supply: 48VA transformer in Kara, 24VA on Freya S.
  • Better controls: More rational front panel layout on Kara.
The higher rails and bigger power supply seems interesting tho.
And yes I'll wait for Amir's review before buying it.
Click to expand...
"More Volta more linear" Is that straight from the EE textbook?
 
aaronsarkissian said:
At first, I thought it was the same with headphone out (and a +$100 base price tag), but it seems that it is tuned a bit based on this info:
  • Much higher performance: Kara kills Freya S from all outputs, in all modes.
  • Much higher rails: Freya S was +/-17V, Kara is +/-32V. More volts more linear.
  • Now with headphone jack: none on Freya S, yes on Kara.
  • 2x bigger power supply: 48VA transformer in Kara, 24VA on Freya S.
  • Better controls: More rational front panel layout on Kara.
The higher rails and bigger power supply seems interesting tho.
And yes I'll wait for Amir's review before buying it.
Click to expand...
The list of stated benefits aside from improved performance and headphone output are a bit absurd... I will still pick it up as it fits my needs perfectly.
 
aaronsarkissian said:
Yeah, will wait for it.
In the meantime, how reliable is this info from them? https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/APx555 Measurements--Schiit Kara.pdf
Click to expand...

I'd expect it to be fairly accurate as they know it's going to get scrutinised by people here, also it's obviously going to be measured by at least some third parties in the future (hopefully Amir). Had a quick flick through but didn't check how similar the measurement parameters are to those that Amir uses so not sure how comparable the results are. As you mentioned, I'm in the camp now where I won't buy an audio product (aside from the very simple/cheap) unless it has been measured by at least one third party (90% of the time Amir).
 
Yes, I'm waiting for a test - looking for a precise measurement of my disappointment index (if any) for buying the Freya S a month too soon.
 
HoweSound said:
Yes, I'm waiting for a test - looking for a precise measurement of my disappointment index (if any) for buying the Freya S a month too soon.
Click to expand...
Maybe not so bad; you paid $100 less (no one is talking about this price creep and new price-point from here on out), and you know the Freya S doesn't have any major known defects. There are a few products I've missed out on in the past that I'm very glad I missed out on...
 
dweekie said:
Maybe not so bad; you paid $100 less (no one is talking about this price creep and new price-point from here on out), and you know the Freya S doesn't have any major known defects. There are a few products I've missed out on in the past that I'm very glad I missed out on...
Click to expand...
Also I wanted silver and the Kara only comes in black at the moment...:)
 
Much more sensible to add a headphone output. Seems like a good proposition. Any info on functionality? How does it switch output from headphone to xlr or rca? Can xlr and rca output at the same time?
 
RosalieTheDog said:
Much more sensible to add a headphone output. Seems like a good proposition. Any info on functionality? How does it switch output from headphone to xlr or rca? Can xlr and rca output at the same time?
Click to expand...
The manual in the downloads section of the product addresses your questions.
 
I have done sighted comparisons between my new kara and the a90 discrete through balanced input. node 2i into modius, modius balanced into the 2 pre amps. Volume leveled by cell phone using a tone from a chesky test album.
Impressions of these two preamps were similar to when I compared to a90d to freya s. Bias may also be rearing its ugly head as well. The a90D seemed to have more low end emphasis, while the schiit had more high frequency. Smaller but more defined "image" from a90d. Kara has a larger image but more diffuse. The Kara seemed to find more detail, breaths and fingers on strings seemed easier to hear. We did do a couple "close your eyes and guess which one is playing" trials. Just like with the freya s and topping a90d, it was hard to discern the two beyond chance.
the schiit looks better than topping in rack and is easier to use in terms of space on back and input selection. I dont really like either remote. These things are basically the same money if you include the input extender for the topping. the Kara makes me feel like I got more for my money. Im not sure i want to sell my topping anymore though. Listening to both gave us enjoyment.
 
bigLP said:
I have done sighted comparisons between my new kara and the a90 discrete through balanced input. node 2i into modius, modius balanced into the 2 pre amps. Volume leveled by cell phone using a tone from a chesky test album.
Impressions of these two preamps were similar to when I compared to a90d to freya s. Bias may also be rearing its ugly head as well. The a90D seemed to have more low end emphasis, while the schiit had more high frequency. Smaller but more defined "image" from a90d. Kara has a larger image but more diffuse. The Kara seemed to find more detail, breaths and fingers on strings seemed easier to hear. We did do a couple "close your eyes and guess which one is playing" trials. Just like with the freya s and topping a90d, it was hard to discern the two beyond chance.
the schiit looks better than topping in rack and is easier to use in terms of space on back and input selection. I dont really like either remote. These things are basically the same money if you include the input extender for the topping. the Kara makes me feel like I got more for my money. Im not sure i want to sell my topping anymore though. Listening to both gave us enjoyment.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing your results.
 
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