2. amps-preamps
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Schiit Freya+ or Saga+? Vidar or Aegir?

I listen at moderate volumes in a smallish room, 15x15 with a 10’ ceiling. My single driver speakers are 95db efficient. I’m a bit confused about which amp/preamp pairing to run with. 

The Saga+ preamp has 0 gain. The Freya+ preamp has 12db in tube active mode. The Vidar amp has 100W per channel into 8ohms (which my speakers are) and 27db of gain while the Aegir has 20W per channel into 8 ohms and 22db of gain. 

I’m a bit dense as regards the necessity of gain in the preamp relative to the amp and speaker efficiency so I’m not sure which pairing suits my needs. I’ll never need all 100W of the Vidar but I wonder if that and a pre with 0 gain is a better pairing than the Freya/Aegir. 

Any input? 
larshepping
cat_doorman
237 posts
 
From the comparisons I’ve read I got the impression that the Aegir is hands down better if you don’t need more power. I’ve also heard they sound even better run as monoblocks. (In which case you can’t use the Saga because you need XLR to run in mono) I never even considered the Vidar for my setup. 

Most digital sources - anything with a DAC - run 2V peak out. Typical phono pre out is 300mV peak (I’m not a turntable person, so I could be wrong)
Look up the specs on your sources. Saga works for me because I’m only running digital. 
bithloman
6 posts
 
what did you pick? i found my Saga + to really add something to the music even when not in tube mode. very strange you can barely tell the difference between tube mode but the sound change without the SAGA at all is quite big . not to mention its extremely well made for the price. solit aluminum remote , stepped volume, many outputs, quality internals just great measurements as far as distortion , im buying another one for 250 bucks used. freya is just too much at 600 but im sure its great
mesch
3,529 posts
 
If I were to purchase a Saga I would do so to use the tube stage. To me there would be no other reason to own one. The mentioned high output impedance of the passive stage would also bother me. 

With a room of your size I would think the Aegir would work fine providing the lowest impedance isn't below 4 ohms. I would prefer the class A amplifier.

I believe Schiit offers 15 days return. 
fredcdobbs
128 posts
 
I have a Schiit Raganock 2 integrated and I recently asked Schiit what kind of improvement I could expect with a Freya Vidar or Aegir combo. It surprised me that the person I talked to didn’t think it would justify the change. Interesting as I like tubes and only bought the Raggy because the others were backordered at the time. I've been on the Rag for about a year now with no complaints. Actually, I bought a Muzishare X7 tube amp and while I like the tube sound, the similarity of tonality and smoothness of the two amps is remarkable. I expected dramatic differences. The Raggy has a good headphone amp and two precuts for subwoofers so high marks for functionality. 
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