@kalali. Put about 25 more hours into the Freya. It’s been steadily opening up and it responded to changes in equipment. The passive is really great, particularly after swapping in a Cary DMC600. It’s better than the built in volume control. It seems to let a greater difference between the Cary’s tube v. solid state output show through, especially at lower volume. That’s really what I got the Freya for. If that’s all there was, I’d be happy.
The JFET has calmed down some, but is still my least favorite of the three.
On the tubes, I got impatient waiting for the stock tubes to break in and swapped in a quad of RCA vintage 6sn7gt and then pairs of Sylvania GTA chrome tops and GE GTB side getters. They made a huge difference, and seems the Freya is very responsive to tube-rolling. Not as tubelicious or as responsive as my Cary pres, but there was indeed an appreciable amount.
I suspect I’ll probably be listening to the passive, most often. So, while I might try them, I probably won’t be leaving TS BGRPs or Ws in there to burn up. Hell, I think they cost nearly as much as the Freya.
Between the two outputs and upsampling options on the DMC600 and the three outputs on the Freya...plus tube-rolling, it could be a tweaker’s dream (or nightmare).
Anyway, just thought I’d report back that, even though it’s still early, I think the Freya is a good buy at $699, new. Worth a try, even at risk of losing the shipping and restocking. Lots of options.
**There is also a fairly new set of Omega speakers in this setup, so some small part, except for the tube-swap, which was immediate, could be attributable to them breaking in, as well.
The JFET has calmed down some, but is still my least favorite of the three.
On the tubes, I got impatient waiting for the stock tubes to break in and swapped in a quad of RCA vintage 6sn7gt and then pairs of Sylvania GTA chrome tops and GE GTB side getters. They made a huge difference, and seems the Freya is very responsive to tube-rolling. Not as tubelicious or as responsive as my Cary pres, but there was indeed an appreciable amount.
I suspect I’ll probably be listening to the passive, most often. So, while I might try them, I probably won’t be leaving TS BGRPs or Ws in there to burn up. Hell, I think they cost nearly as much as the Freya.
Between the two outputs and upsampling options on the DMC600 and the three outputs on the Freya...plus tube-rolling, it could be a tweaker’s dream (or nightmare).
Anyway, just thought I’d report back that, even though it’s still early, I think the Freya is a good buy at $699, new. Worth a try, even at risk of losing the shipping and restocking. Lots of options.
**There is also a fairly new set of Omega speakers in this setup, so some small part, except for the tube-swap, which was immediate, could be attributable to them breaking in, as well.