Schiit Freya S or Freya +?

So , I wanted to wait until I was a week in with the Freya S before I added more impressions. It has just shy of 200 hours playing time. There was a couple of challenging days of break-in over the weekend. But by Monday night I was really enjoying the stereo with the Freya S. 

I haven’t enjoyed a piece of equipment this much in a long time. As far as musically satisfying I’d put it up there with the deHavilland UtraVerve pre-amp and Art Audio Carissa 845 SET I had at one time. Two pieces of gear I should have never let go.

Don’t think I’ll let go of the Freya S. It has me seriously considering adding a Gumby and a Vidar or two to the system. Wait, I thought I wanted an integrated.

I may still go that route but the integrated Amps I am considering go for between $4k and $7k. A Schiit combination might make me happy for whole lot less. We’ll see after I live with Freya S a few more weeks.

Cheers,

Scott

I totally agree with your assessment, though I recently picked up the Freya +.  "I haven't enjoyed a piece of equipment this much in a long time".   I too found that it needed to burn in a bit, somewhere after the 50 hr mark depth to the soundstage showed up, and along the way the highs have become so articulate.  It reached a point early on when the sound was a little shrill as it burned in, but that was just one listening session.

One point on Wolf's comment about the tubes in turned off mode.  With the Freya +, if you're in tube mode, you can cycle through the other 2 modes and then toggle back to tube mode with no interruptions, but you've only got 10 or 15 seconds allowed out of tube mode.  Upon which time the Freya will warm up the circuit again.  It's a fair trade off and allows the tubes to be saved.

I've got the Vidar and can assure Samac that it's head and shoulders above the mid-fi amps I've owned from Adcom and Nad.  If you're thinking about a Gumby, I'd suggest waiting until the new year when it's to be updated with their latest version of USB, Unison.  Or check out the Bimby, which with its new version apparently comes within a hair of the current Gumby for hundreds less.

Thanks for the heads-up on the Gumby and Bimby, 213running.

The Bluesound Node 2 and NAD C320BEE I’m using have a full lower mid sound which I really appreciate. The Freya S seems pretty neutral to me and really lets that through. 

From what I’ve read the Vidar has excellent low bass. How would you describe the lower mids of the Vidar. Thanks 

Cheers,

Scott

213...thanks for the clarification regarding the Freya + tube mode.

I purchased the Freya S, it will be arriving this Monday. It will be replacing my old Acurus LS11.  The amp is a ARC Classic 60, that’s why I didn’t get the + version. I’ve had good success mixing Tube and SS, in this case a Tube amp with a solid state pre.

I hope my expectations are met.