Schiit Freya plus. Is this an upgrade?

from what I have read, all the new production tubes come from just two locations - one in China and one in Russia. Only the brand name changes....

Current info shows JJ (Jan Jorgo) as being made in Slovakia purportedly with previously owned Tesla equipment.
Tungsol made be New Sensor (Mike Matthews) owned by an American and produced in Saratov, Russia. Sovtek made there as well. Not up to researching more at the moment but there are possibly other smaller companies that are making tubes. TJ  Full Music  If info currently applies has their own factory which is  a separate entity from the big players in China.

IMHO, if you’re going to warn people away from a specific brand tube based on your experience, 4+ years ago is not recent enough to go on.

Placed an order for a Freya S a couple of days ago and looking forward to receiving it

The amp in our main system died and I will be using my trusty old NAD 320BEE with the Freya S. I can’t wait to try the volume control; From the pics out there it looks sweet.

I would appreciate any more listening impressions/observations from Freya S owners. TIA

Cheers,

Scott

Sorry samac, I can’t offer any Freya S impressions, but I’ve been trying to find the specs of the old Freya and compare them with the Freya +. I found them, and a few specs stood out for me, while others were pretty much the same.

With jfet buffer stage:

OG Freya vs +: SNR 110db A weighted vs 120db A weighted


With tube stage:

OG vs +: SNR 100db A weighted vs 115 A weighted


Also, the crosstalk spec is really notable:

OG vs +: >75db vs 85 db, both from 20 - 20kHz

IMHO, 10 to 15db differences are going to be REALLY detectable by ear. The crosstalk numbers are more of an indication of better isolation from channel to channel, perhaps an indication that the Freya + is built to a higher standard or spec than the OG. Which would kind of make sense since it’s $200 more, or around a 28% price increase.

I never had the OG Freya, but the old Saga as mentioned above. The Freya+ has been a revelation. It’s so far above my old mid fi gear(Nad C375BEE, Parasound P5 and Adcom 555SE), and substantially cheaper!  They have probably really shaken up the industry.