I've owned a few Adcom preamps over the years and enjoyed them immensely, but although nobody has perfect Audio Experience Memory (or AEM, a classic term I just made up), my Freya doesn't require remembering what it sounds like because it's in my rig right now. Since I bought the thing in late 2017 I've marveled at how good it is, and have noted (ad nauseam maybe) that there's still simply nothing out there like it. An excellent tube (or not) preamp. |
Freya is OK for the price. My Candela is a whole ‘nother level as they say. |
I've owned some Adcom pieces, and one of their pre's from about 2007. I've read a lot of owner's comments on Adcom pre's as a result. Most pan the later Adcom stuff. I know that I had issues with mine.
These days I'm running a Schiit Saga and after comparing it to the Parasound Halo P5, sold the P5. It's simply an amazing component. The sound stage is holographic and live sounding, it's the best my system has sounded.
I've also experimented with other Schiit gear and have become very confident that they know very well what they are doing. I'd say the Freya would be a significant improvement over your old Adcom pre, no question. |
Yes, got in my saga a couple days ago and right off the bat the build quality is very very good for the price, bigger and heavier than you think. You can tell the thing is quality stuff. Gonna have to wait until next week to plug it in though! :( |
Another big + for the over-achieving Freya. Definitely the best my system has ever sounded. |
Thanks to all who responded. I know the GFP-710 is not a very common preamp so I didn’t even hope someone would have it and upgraded to Freya.
The Adcom is one of those pieces that you cannot really fault for doing anything wrong. I just know I can get more out of my gear. |
I went from an Adcom GFP something or other (had balanced outputs, remote, and I can't remember the model) to a balanced Kavent (Vincent) monster that sounds FABULOUS, but tube preamp curiosity got to me to a Schiit Freya...along with Atmasphere shaming me with a comment somewhere which was something like, "A tube preamp generally supplies more detail." So it's all his fault really. |
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Wolf...so was Freya an improvement over adcom and vincent?
Stringreen...That’s my fear. Can you elaborate
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To clarify, I use it because it's a better sounding thing than any preamp I've used in my system (tube rolling is also more fun than otherwise since with a solid state preamp the tubes just roll off onto the floor) including the Kavent and any of the Adcoms I've used...extremely low noise floor, low noise ceiling, and low noise edges and corners, and a reticent yet florid essence of tubishness with an old oak finish of profound musicality and tonal accuracy, and it gets hot so I assume it's enjoying itself. I have no desire to replace it which for an audio freak is a good sign. The LEDs are too bright but I fixed that. |
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I use a GFP-750 and tried a Freya and found the Freya notably inferior. Veiled and poor imaging. I ended up returning the Freya with a note that I thought it might be defective, but Schiit never notified me of a problem with it. That said, I am still not convinced that I didn’t get a defective unit, as the sound quality difference was quiet large, far more than a preamp should ever be.
For the record, I like Schiit products and use their dacs, headphone amp, and phono pre. |
Mcreyn, I'm guessing that you posted that with a straight face. The Adcom GFP 750 is the best pre that Adcom ever released, and is legendary. It goes used for about what the Freya sells for new.
That said, you provided none of the details around your demo of the Freya, so it's hard to say whether you managed to hear the Freya at its best or not. Either way, nothing wrong with not liking the Freya. |
The GFP-710 (along with every other standard Adcom preamp) uses op amps for tone controls (bass/treble) as well as the audio output stages. I used to have a GFP-565 a long time ago. It was okay and nice, but nothing special.
The GFP-750 is a completely different beast. It was designed by Nelson Pass and uses all fully discrete analog circuits (no bass/treble tone controls). I would suspect that it's significantly better than Freya with stock tubes, but we are also talking about colored/textured tube sonics vs. solid state. Now Freya with upgraded tubes could be a different story (such as PSVANE or some true NOS Amperex, depending on your desired taste).
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fwiw, i used a gfp710 for years before "upgrading" to rotel and subsequently to arcam--i always regretted selling the adcom, which had much less coloration and was detailed without being fatiguing. haven't heard the schiit.
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Totally straight faced. The veiling I heard was in every mode, passive, jfet and tube. I want to try another Freya as I think there was something wrong with the one I had. |
If my Freya was presenting anything other than a crisp and accurate tonal spectrum (I can and have compared it to my extremely overbuilt Kavent/Vincent dual mono balanced preamp which is still around...as a backup or something) I'd have sent it back immediately after some sort of break-in period...I recently bought headphones I really like (Grado SR325e...aluminum...who knew?), and when hooked up to the main system (a Schiit Magni 3 does the headphone labor with the Freya signal) you can really see what's what in terms of micro resolution and coherency from another angle. If you didn't get great sound from the Freya I agree it likely wasn't working properly. |
@mcreyn - it could very well be that the GFP-750 is adding some "magic" to the sound of the source that the Freya cannot possibly do "stock", even with passive mode. I have seen other preamps have this affect as well - the source DAC/CD can sound somewhat flat/dry/veiled, but when going through an awsome preamp, it can sound radically different. That’s why I suggested the idea of Freya with upgraded tubes.
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Wolf what’s the rest of your gear? Speakers, source, etc. Thanks! |
Marantz CD player (used as a transport only), Squeezebox Touch streamer (background music), Linn table, Cambridge DAC and phono amp both utilizing the Pangea power supplies (no longer available, but Peter Madnick designs...extreme low noise monsters), Freya Preamp, Schiit Loki EQ (rarely used but it's there), Schiit Magni 3 headphone amp, PS Audio Humbuster III, PS Audio Power Ports, Morrow RCA and balanced cables, AQ Silver digital cables, PS Audio power cables, AQ Type 8 speaker wire, Klipsch Heresy III speakers, REL Q150e and Q108MKII subs. |
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Thanks wolf! Nice system! |
I left out the best part...a hand made little Dennis Had Inspire "Firebottle HO" single ended 12wpc tube amp. |
Update on my preamp situation...
So after all the research, I pulled a trigger on a used Rogue RP-1.
It’s been in my system since yesterday. Need to do some more listening prior to concluding whether or not it’s a good fit. |
