Schiit Freya+ or Saga+? Vidar or Aegir?
I have a Saga+ with an Aegir. If your source outputs at least 1.2V then unity gain with the pre will get full power out of the Aegir which should be fine with your speakers. The Freya+ may be better (I haven’t heard it), but for the price the Saga+ is surprisingly good. As an added bonus with the single 6SN7 it can be a lot less expensive to experiment with tube rolling. |
Interesting. I really struggled to find someone with the Saga/Aegir pairing but lo and behold, here you are. I hope you don’t mind a few questions! —What is the sensitivity rating of your speakers? —What have you noticed about tube mode in Saga+? I’ve read things ranging from “Saga tube mode is indistinguishable from passive mode” to “it’s great with the right tube”. People talk about the Freya+ as having a more robust tube mode that has more of an effect on sound than the Saga+ but I’m not sure that I’d even want that. |
I’m using Zu Omen DW rated 97dB I’m have an NOS tube in now and there is more of a difference, but with the stock tube the passive really was pretty close. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I have issues with any kind of increased noise floor and am still new to tubes so I was worried about that initially. The major difference would be the output impedance. In the passive mode output impedance can be up to 4.8kohm. The tube mode is only 180 ohms. So it depends on your amp. The Aegir and Vidar are both only 22kohm input impedance, so a passive probably wouldn’t be a good match, especially at low volumes. I had the Saga+ first to use with a new tube power amp instead of using the pre out of my old SS integrated. Playing around with it I actually preferred the sound of the Saga+ both into the tube amp as well as into the integrated. I just left the volume on the integrated to be close to the same gain as the tube amp so I didn’t get any surprises when switching. There is just a subtle sparkle that I enjoy more with the Saga+ in the circuit. I bought the Aegir to get an idea of what a Class A SS might sound like without spending big bucks yet. I’m in an accumulate equipment and experiment phase, exploring what is there with the intention of eventually having a main and secondary system. I have no doubt I’ll eventually upgrade from the Saga+, but I can’t point to anything it’s doing wrong. It was supposed to be a short term solution, but I’m in no rush to pick a replacement without learning a lot more about what I’m looking for. |
larshepping OP
If you have 95db efficient speaker, then probably all you need is the Class-A Aegir. If you have under 90db then the Vidar. But if you have the money and speakers that have two sets of speaker terminals (highs/lows), then an Aegir on the highs and a Vidar on the lows. And because they won't be the same gain a $49 Schiit Sys passive on the louder amp to equalize it down to the quieter amp. Then a Schiit Freya as the preamp volume control for all of it. Cheers George |
