Tube preamp: Cary SLP-03 vs Schiit Freya+

Thank you to @wturkey, @ditusa and ​​​​@bjw54 for the ringing endorsements of the Schiit Freya+! Much appreciated.

I understand the need for tube rolling, which confirms what I have been reading, and I have no doubt I would revel in scouring marketplaces for the best NOS tubes (and I read new productions like Shuguang/PSVane CV181 can give good results too). Clearly tubes are getting increasingly expensive and I wouldn’t mind investing in that considering the base price of the unit vs my budget.
Could you maybe tell me where you saw the greatest improvements when adding the Freya in your chain? Does it help with sound stage and imaging? Is it more in refinement? Or mids? Does it tame and round out the sound? Many thanks!

You could also check out Quicksilver’s preamps. They’re tube based and are around $1,500 with excellent build quality. Good luck!

The Cary SLP 03 is not balanced but will give you a stunning tube based sound including eerily realistic tones, superb transparency and a wall to wall floor to ceiling soundstage. it will be difficult to find that in a balanced preamp unless you spend more. A Modwright LS 100 is good and has 1 balanced input but not as transparent as the Cary.

I just looked at my post and saw that I said to use tube buffers on the tubes. Obviously I meant to say tube dampers LOL. If you are looking for the pure honey sound that you get from some all tube preamps the Freya is not for you.It retains the focus of a high end ss preamp, but injects a lot of that sound that tube guys love. I have used a few different ss power amps with the Freya and have had the same overall experience with all of them. It tames the high end if you are using a hot speaker and provides a very open life like mid especially with female vocals.The bass is very solid and well controlled. The sound stage and imaging are not the best I have heard, but is top notch.This is of course with the Ken rads.With  the JJ’s I was not impressed by the sound. I am now burning in my new Voyager GAN 350 amp and after 200 hours I will pair it with the Freya. I believe that this combo on my Legacy Focus speakers will be a match made in heaven.

I can’t help you on any comparisons as the Freya + is my first and only venture into tubes. I was attracted the the versatility that it brought to the table. Tubes if I want, all the inputs I needed, remote control, and tube rolling. I have rolled in nos Sylvania tubes (right side only) and the difference was large very happy. I also like that all outputs are live all the time. I still run my Nakamichi dragon cassette player and have reordered music from radio streaming stations. Like others have said to it is dead quiet between tracks and in standby. I am very happy and not looking to anything else for my preamp.