But why not? As I wrote in reviewing a tube preamp back in 1997, "if the results are worthwhile, why should I care if the designer builds an amp…
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What am I doing with a vacuum tube preamplifier? I haven't owned a tubed preamp since I bought a Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamplifier at the turn of the century. I set that aside within a few years as I moved into multichannel because multichannel tube-based electronics were, and still are, rare. My last home experience with a vacuum tube was with a PS Audio Stellar M1200 monoblock power amp, which is a hybrid with a 12AX7-based input stage.
Scenes from the Kalevala, a spectacular new recording from Dima Slobodeniouk and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra (24/96 FLAC download, BIS BIS2371), offers musical views of the Kalevala legend by composers Uuno Klami, Leevi Madetoja, Tauno Pylkkänen, and Jean Sibelius. These vigorous performances benefited greatly from the enhanced soundstage depth afforded by the SS buffer; in passive mode, the music was marginally drier and smaller. The Freya's sound in solid state buffer mode is what I expect from a good preamp in a good system.
Comparing tube mode was a bit more involved, due…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Stereo, line-level preamplifier with passive, solid state, and vacuum tube output modes and relay-selected resistor arrays for volume control. Inputs: 3 stereo pair RCA (unbalanced), 2 pair XLR (balanced). Input impedance: 10k ohms. Outputs: 2 pair RCA (unbalanced), 1 pair XLR (balanced). Output impedance: 75 ohms single-ended, 600 ohms balanced. Gain: 0dB (passive, solid state), 12dB (tubed). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, –0.2dB, 3Hz–500kHz, –3dB. Channel separation: >85dB, 20Hz–20kHz. Total harmonic distortion: <0.004%, 20Hz–20kHz at 1V…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Oppo Digital UDP-105 universal disc player; custom Baetis Prodigy-X4i music server running JRiver Media Center v28 and Roon 1.8; exaSound s88 streaming DAC and Okto DAC8 PRO D/A processors; QNAP TVS-873 NAS.
Preamplifiers: Topping Pre90, Coleman Audio 7.1SW.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, NAD C 298.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima2 Studio with IsoAcoustics Gaia I isolation feet. Revel Performa3 f206 for surrounds. Two SVS SB-3000 & one SVS SB-2000Pro subwoofers.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee (USB). Interconnects:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the performance of the Schiit Freya + with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system, checking some of the results with the magazine's top-line APx500. The preamplifier preserved absolute polarity (ie, was noninverting) with both balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs and in all three output modes. Its XLR jacks are wired with pin 2 hot, the AES convention. The maximum gain depended on whether the tube stage was operating and whether I was using the unbalanced inputs and outputs or the balanced inputs and outputs. In passive mode or with the solid state…
Oh, là, là! It’s back!: the North American audio show with the Euro flair, the Montréal Audiofest—or as I like to call it, the sexy audio show. It’s at its usual illustrious spot, the Hotel Bonaventure. Boy, did I miss it—and miss covering it for Stereophile. It’s always a fun event to visit, and it’s my hometown show, the one I’ve been going to for thirty years—until the Big Bug stopped it. The show runs from March 25 to March 27.
I parked my car on Friday, seven floors below the Earth’s surface, inside the Bonaventure’s parking garage, then emerged from the elevator on the…
(All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.)
Without further ado, let's jump right in, starting with the system in the Hegel room, which was bright, clean, and crisp—and that was just the room. Among the vertical cue of Hegel integrated amps you see in the following photo, only the third from the top was in operation: the 250Wpc, class-AB, dual-mono Hegel H390 with DNLA streaming DAC ($7500), which was being fed Tidal tracks streamed via Apple Airplay. Analysis Plus Silver Apex speaker cables ($3500/8ft pair) connected the Hegel to a pair of French-made, 89db-…
(All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.)
The Moon by Simaudio room was playing music streamed from the company's Roon-ready, DSD- and MQA-decoding Moon 680D streamer DAC ($13,000), connected to a 740P balanced preamp ($11,500), both connected to a two-output 820S optional external power supply ($10,000). Speakers were the tall, slender, Denmark-made, ribbon-tweeter–equipped Raidho TD 4.2's ($180,000/pair), each powered by a dual-mono, 225Wpc 860A v2 power amplifier ($25,000 each). Nordost Valhalla 2 cables connected everything together.
Not cheap…
(All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.)
The room occupied by Canadian distributor Apple Tree was a revelation, and probably not in the way you might imagine. Its system used the same integrated amp that I bought and use—the Italian 37Wpc, class-A Grandinote Shinai. I know that amp well, so I was curious to hear it at the heart of another system, this one featuring a Transrotor Fat Bob S turntable ($7520) fitted with a Tru-glider Pendulum tonearm ($5900) from Canada's Integrity Hi-Fi, a Benz Micro Glider SH Cartridge ($1380), and a Grandinote Cell lV phono…
(All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.)
Quebec-based DR Acoustics is a relative newcomer to the audiophile scene, but the company been making headway lately with its line of cables and AC conditioners. Many exhibitors at this year's show were exhibiting with the company's products, and Classé Audio chose DR Acoustics cabling to use inside their amplifiers.
In a demonstration presented to a cluster of seated onlookers that included me, a representative of the company plugged a run-of-the-mill orange power cord into a Monster Entech Power Line…