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Calling all Schiit Freya owners: question about amplifier pairing and heat problems.

Hi everyone,

After significant deliberation earlier this month, I decided to purchase a Schiit Freya/Gumby stack to handle preamp and DAC duty. Right away I replaced the stock tubes with a matched quad of Tung Sols. which was a clear improvement. For amplification, I'm currently running a recapped Adcom GFA555 but will be looking to replace this in the coming months. What have you successfully paired with your Freyas? My speakers are fairly easy to drive (88 db efficient, 6 ohm) so any high quality solid state amp will do the job. I have been looking into the Odyssey Stratos as a possibility and would like to keep the price under $2000. Also balanced inputs are a must.

My second question has to do with the heat output from the Freya/Gumby stack. These two components produce an alarming amount of heat. Maybe I'm just not used to how tubes operate yet, but the source of the heat seems to be emanating from the power supplies at the back-left of the unit. After several hours of operation, the Freya is actually too hot to touch. I separated the units with 1" thick sorbothane spacers and this helped a bit, but it is still extremely hot. Does anyone else experience this? Should I be alarmed?

Thanks for the answers, cheers!
primarist
phastm3's avatar
phastm3
88 posts
 
I’m really happy with the Freya and consider it a step up from the 6H30/EZ80 tube preamp I used previously. I’ve used (am using) the Freya with a Merrill Audio Taranis Class D power amp as well as Hegel H200 operated as power amp in HT bypass mode.


I’m glad to hear that the Freya is working out with the Taranis. I have the Taranis and i have the Freya ordered. I am using the Mytek Booklyn DAC also. Hope it isn’t too much gain for my Klipsch Forte III’s (99db efficiency)
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,296 posts
 

phastm3 -
Gosh the Taranis is some serious horsepower for 99db efficient speakers!  You might choose to use the Freya in something other than tube mode.  14 db of gain from tubes paired w/highly efficient speakers might give you a bit of tube noise unless you get some really quiet ones.
The HeadFi Freya thread is pretty informative.  Good luck.  
tomcarr
1,473 posts
 
My Freya does get very warm but not too hot to touch. Oppo 103/Vincent SP-331/Vandersteen 2Cs. To me the sound is wonderful.
gochurchgo
894 posts
 
I had a very early production Freya and it did get hot. Many reported using tube risers to get the glass above the top plate. 


wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
The tubes in my "original series" Freya aren’t especially hotter than they should be (4 preamp tubes should seemingly be hottish, but...meh...), and note that the top vents are around the tubes...there’s plenty of side venting making for good air flow, and I think the 2 transformers are simply close to the lid so it’s relatively toasty above them but not excessively so. I give tube gear plenty of air space and it hasn’t melted yet, a good sign. I think people bought tube risers mostly to not fatigue the stock tube sockets with excessive-compulsive tube rolling, but mine have been fine and hey...I roll tubes man...uh huh...I use a Dennis Had 12wpc single ended tube amp and the Freya has plenty of output to drive the thing, especially the tube gain that I always use except when utilizing the passive or FET setting to keep the tubes honest, a cool instant gratification feature. High efficiency Klipsch Heresy IIIs make it all work swimmingly.
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