I use the old Freya, currently with mix of 2 Full Music and 2 old GE tubes. It does the job well, both in tube and solid state modes. Rest of my system: Schiit Ygdrasil, and ATC SCM 100 ALS speakers. Recently I added MiniDSP SHD Studio sitting between source and DAC (I really recommend for room correction in base, which can’t really be done otherwise in rooms below 50m2).
I compared Freya to Macintosh C52, ATC SCA2. I also tried out DCS Bartok as combined PRE & DAC. All very expensive gear. I have to make disclimer, that I did some of these comparisons before any room treatment also before applying speaker feet from Isoacoustic (Gaia). Yet Freya was not shy in these comparisons. Macintosh provided better imaging and details. ATC gave very energetic sound. Yet when I changed the tubes to 4 Full Music’s the gap was too small to trigger the change, and the sound was more to my taste.
As to the noise - it depends on the tubes applied and also environment. The stock tubes were very noisy. If you use them replace ASAP. You'll be amazed.
Now I’m thinking of replacing Freya with Freya +. Any thoughts on this topic?
I compared Freya to Macintosh C52, ATC SCA2. I also tried out DCS Bartok as combined PRE & DAC. All very expensive gear. I have to make disclimer, that I did some of these comparisons before any room treatment also before applying speaker feet from Isoacoustic (Gaia). Yet Freya was not shy in these comparisons. Macintosh provided better imaging and details. ATC gave very energetic sound. Yet when I changed the tubes to 4 Full Music’s the gap was too small to trigger the change, and the sound was more to my taste.
As to the noise - it depends on the tubes applied and also environment. The stock tubes were very noisy. If you use them replace ASAP. You'll be amazed.
Now I’m thinking of replacing Freya with Freya +. Any thoughts on this topic?