Comments on Profile Post by rlow

Inserting Freya+ into the chain however (in buffer mode, with the Rag turned all the way up in low gain) takes a significant step forward. Unfortunately it also means another box. Now postulating whether Rag 2 would be better suited…

Freya the goodifier. Sure buffered mode is technically superior but dem tubes are pulling on the strings.

What aspects aren’t to your liking?

OG Rag isn't rich warm organic or anything like that which the dry sounding Elex can use some of. Rag 2 is microdynamically worse than Rag 1, but has deeper stage.

@Riotvan i tried tube mode with a few different tubes. Didn’t really like what it did with Rag and Elex compared to the buffer mode (and I prefer tube mode way more for my speakers with Vidar, so that was a surprise to me)

@Merrick mainly thin midrange with a bit of etchiness and somewhat grainy highs. Like Marv said, probably not a great pairing with Elex due to dryness and somewhat metallically timbre. Freya kills most of the etch and grain almost entirely and plumps up the mids just a touch. It’s really quite good actually, really digging it.

@purr1n should have said Rag 1.5. So Rag 2 loses microdynamics? Hmm that’s not great - already losing some going from Lyr 3 to Rag 1.5, not sure I can handle less. I missed that when I tried Jot 2 as well.

I couldn't handle the microdynamic losses on Rag 2 even vs. MJ2. Eventually felt lifeless to me, which is why I returned it.

Thanks @roshambo123, good to know. Unfortunately leaves me rethinking my approach of one unit for speakers and headphones…

My DAC at the time was Gungnir A1 which wasn't ideal either. With Yggdrasil A2 injecting some organic texture and detail the situation probably would have been better.