New Schiit / Preamps and Power Amp (was Putting the Schiit Signal Up)

Discussion in 'Preamps' started by purr1n, Oct 6, 2016.

  1. Azteca

    Azteca Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,581
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Yep, moar power can be the difference between an amp straining or thriving at "hell yeah" concert/action movie levels but I think for most folks (myself included) the speakers start straining before the amp. Or the room or my ears distort.
     
  2. Scott Kramer

    Scott Kramer Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    May 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,446
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Alternate setup they were using:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  3. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,495
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    42°S
    Was Saga actually up and running?
     
  4. JWahl

    JWahl Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2015
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    18
    I've been secretly wishing for a Hybrid 6SN7 Rag for awhile now. Looks like one step closer maybe. Still amazed at how they're pulling off those prices with those feature sets. Very impressive.

    On a side note, it's only a matter of time before someone tries to run their HE-6 with Monoblock Schiit, just wait.
     
  5. Comzee

    Comzee Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2016
    Likes Received:
    106
    Trophy Points:
    33
    I wonder how the Freya deals with noisy tubes. The 6SN7 is historically a noisy tube.
    I have around 20, a good mix of new production and NOS. Doesn't matter if new/NOS, some are just noisy, some are not.

    Unfortunately 90% of tube sellers out there don't test for noise, AKA plugging them into an amp and listening to it.
    A typical 6SN7 can test 100% and still be noisy.

    I'm also thinking if better 6SN7 make a difference in the Freya? In my current amp that takes 6SN7, the circuit is a direct path to and from the 6SN7.
    The difference between good and bad 6SN7 tubes is night and day for me.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  6. zonto

    zonto Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,975
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  7. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,569
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Interesting that Jason mentions the Saga is cleaner than the Freya. Sounds like the Saga may be the better buy unless you really need balanced operation or need more fine volume control.
     
  8. Azteca

    Azteca Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,581
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Thanks for pointing this out.

    Those distortion figures are genuinely surprising. I'll be excited to see the final specs and eventually measurements from someone knowledgeable.

    Using this calculator, I converted 0.00099 (highest value Jason could have meant) to dB.
    http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-thd.htm

    -100.0873 dB.

    What?!
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  9. Azteca

    Azteca Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,581
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    For comparison, Emotiva's XSP-1, which is the only other preamp I really considered in the past.

    Unbalanced in to unbalanced out
    THD + N (harmonic distortion plus noise, @ 1 kHz): < 0.0006%

    Balanced in to balanced out
    THD + N (harmonic distortion plus noise, @ 1 kHz): < 0.0004%

    Schiit is certainly treading on the same ground.
     
  10. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    14,134
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    India
    I don't know why Jason needs to waffle on about 78RPM records (the ten-inch ones played for a little longer than 3 minutes, but listening to a symphony was still painful, even with autochangers) and I'm sure that the 33RPM records you people were buying back in the sixties said "stereo" on them, just like they did in UK, which is how it was born, named and... oh, wait, you Americans have some funny names for things.

    Nor do I understand why a guy who started his audio business life making speakers is now talking as if they were were some kind of new alien thing that headphone users have probably never heard. But hey, I'm just an even older, crotchety cane waver! |\/|

    And eventually, he gets to the point. Occasionally, I do too... My 2nd-hand McCormack Line Drive TLC-1 was described by Stereophile as "astonishing value for money" at $1,000. Twenty years ago! o_O

    John Atkinson hadn't seen Schiit! And wasn't going to for a couple of decades.

    And, curiously, moving on to xkcd Record Scratch, I find that "The 78RPM era was closer to the civil war than it is to today!"
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  11. Azteca

    Azteca Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,581
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio


    I think a huge chunk of Head-fi (and headphone-enthusiast audiences in general) have never owned or listened to a hi-fi speaker setup. I am excluding cheap surround sound theater-in-a-box setups, soundbars and bluetooth speakers. Many haven't heard small active desktop monitors either.
     
  12. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    14,134
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    India
    OK. That's the thing that I find it so hard to get my head around. Or around my head, in the case of phones. :confused:

    It just amazes me. But I believe you...

    That one's easier. Active monitors are traditionally ignored and more recently viewed with suspicion by many a true-blue speaker-based audiophile.
     
  13. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,200
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northwest France
    Saga is a hybrid tube output while Freya is all tube output. I am sure the JFET output is cleaner than both.
     
  14. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,569
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    According to that post, it's all tube only if using the balanced outs. I realize there are power amps with balanced inputs but IME they are more rare than in the headphone world and much more expensive than the SE options. Unless of course you want a Vidar when it comes out.
     
  15. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,200
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northwest France
    He doesn't say that. The tube output is the only one that does SE -> BAL. You can still get SE from the tube output as well as balanced out from passive and JFET if it's balanced in.
     
  16. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,569
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Perhaps I didn't correctly understand it. This is what I was referring to:

     
  17. uncola

    uncola Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    596
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Oahu, Hawaii
    Jason just posted on the h-f thread..
    6. You get XLR and RCA output on Freya from all inputs and in all output modes, but SE input in passive mode and in buffer mode will result in SE output on the XLRs.
     
  18. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,569
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Ah, okay. I'm still debating on which one to get. Right now all my components are SE but I do plan on upgrading my DAC in the future to one with XLR outs. Is it worth that extra money to use the XLR outs on a future DAC when I'll still be connecting the preamp to my power amp via RCA?

    Of all the SET amps I've looked at, only one even offers balanced XLR inputs as an option, and it's a very expensive addition.

    And then of course there are the additional modes the Freya can run in. Ahh, I'm just not sure.
     
  19. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,200
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northwest France
    @Merrick - What he meant was that it isn't a 'fake' balanced preamp. In other word it doesn't take your balanced signal to single-ended, amplify the single-ended signal and then convert that back to balanced. It's balanced from end to end.

    Also XLR is not more rare with speaker amps then with headphones. In the hifi world maybe, but in the pro world it's standard. Active monitors and pro amps almost universally have XLR. Many engineers advise to use XLR whenever possible even if you are using a SE amp because of the gains you get with differential signaling, they just have a BAL -> SE convertor at the input. If you are going to have a stereo amp that is right beside the preamp then using RCA is probably not a big deal. However if you are using monoblocs positioned far from the preamp then XLR is highly encouraged.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  20. Madaboutaudio

    Madaboutaudio Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    545
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Singapore

Share This Page