In Reply to: Just how sensitve is our hearing? posted by PaulF70 on March 7, 2025 at 09:31:13:
I dunno.... in my setup I preferred 12 dB Gain mode over 0 dB Buffered Unity Gain or 0dB Passive. That was with two Schiit preamps that I have owned including the Freya + tube preamp and the Kara solid-state preamp.I thought the Freya+ was excellent but not up there with some better tube preamps. I was hoping that the bargain priced Freya+ with 6SN7 tubes would sound similar to my old Cary SLP-05 with 6SN7 tubes but that wasn't to be. The Cary was far more robust with deep rich lower mids and excellent bass grunt. The Cary was noticeably more dynamic too. The Freya+ was 'light' in comparison..... not bad but not what I was hoping for.
Still, I preferred the Freya+ in 12dB Gain active mode over Passive. Maybe I can't hear 0.0002% THD & 0.0002% IMD
I'm driving the NAD C298 Purifi Class D amp and Tannoy Definition D500 speakers.
"Oh, by the way, Schiit's tubed version of this preamp is *Stereophile Class A,* among a sea of $30,000 wonders - and the non-tube version sounds better IMO. For $800."
But I would take my pricey old Cary SLP-05 over the Freya+ any day - but I would take the Freya+ over the ARC preamps I had. I agree 100% on the Schiit Kara. It sounds better to me than the Freya+ when comparing each in 12 dB Active vs 12 dB Active mode. I sold the Freya+ a couple years ago but I still have the Kara even though it is not in my system right now.
I guess we all hear differently.
![]()
Edits: 03/07/25
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - AbeCollins 10:07:01 03/07/25 (11)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - Sibelius 11:06:49 03/07/25 (2)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - AbeCollins 23:07:33 03/07/25 (1)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - Sibelius 11:20:48 03/08/25 (0)
- Or 0.02% THD for that matter. Nt - Geoffkait 11:04:36 03/07/25 (0)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - PaulF70 10:13:55 03/07/25 (6)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - AbeCollins 10:32:31 03/07/25 (5)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - PaulF70 12:31:00 03/07/25 (4)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - AbeCollins 23:11:18 03/07/25 (3)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - PaulF70 17:33:05 03/10/25 (2)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - PaulF70 19:35:32 03/12/25 (0)
- RE: Probably not good enough to notice 0.0002% THD and IMD ;-) - Inmate51 06:28:50 03/11/25 (0)