[Delirious Lab]

So My Wife- I told her I found a buyer, and showed her the Double Impact as a replacement \
She freaks the frack out and says no way!

Consider yourself lucky. You deserve three nights on the couch for suggesting such a thing.

 

[US Blues]

The new John Coltrane release "Both Directions At Once" is excellent. Great music, great sound, a miraculous find.

 

[Ripper2860]

^^^ Just found that on Tidal as a new release. Thanks!!

 

[ThorCorps]

For sure one tube vs. four is much easier to manage. I actually need to convert from balanced (the only Yggy output I'm not currently using), to unbalanced (for the amp downstream) so I was locked into Freya.

I'm not the type to fire off "where's my stuff" emails....... years of working customer service informs me all too well what that is like on the other side of the fence. But, I think maybe it's time to fire off a polite email to Schiit asking what the status is on Freya shipments. The current status of "backordered to 6-6" that the website shows seems optimistic at this point since I ordered one three weeks ago and haven't heard a peep. I certainly don't mind waiting, but at this point I guess I need to find out for how long that wait is going to be.

I don't think Schiit has been shipping Freyas for a while now actually. Prior to the current backordered status on the website it was showing as backordered through May and April too. Maybe they are doing revisions to the chassis or something and ran into an issue?

I can confirm for you, that they ARE shipping.

I ordered a Freya on 5/19, then on 6/18 got an email from Schiit saying they were about ready to ship, but couldn't bill against the original authorization (due to time), so they were going to send a new invoice through Paypal. I paid the new invoice on 6/19, they shipped Freya the same day, and I received it cross country (California to Georgia) last Saturday.

So, keep the faith!

 

[RCBinTN]

So, I admitted earlier that I really have no idea what's recorded "well" or even what that means. So, I decided to take some action and got a copy of the Blu-Ray - Soundbreaking.

Anyway - to the point. I never knew anything about "how the sausage is made". I still don't know "how" they do it, but I have a whole new appreciation for producers and engineers. I had NO idea.

Soundbreaking
- Watch it When - you want to learn a bit about (or simply marvel at) the incredible creativity involved in making music and recording it, in addition to playing it.
You want to see some of your idols in a whole new light and see a bit inside their creative process.
You don't mind moving from the highest highs directly to be being a bit verklempt seeing some of those we've lost years ago and some more recently.
You've got an uninterrupted 8ish hour period. You won't want to stop watching and listening.
- Why I love it - I learned so much about the process and the people behind the scenes.
I got to witness some of the creative process of my idols and legends - it humanized them and made them seem superhuman all at once. It was a glimpse "inside".
As you might imagine, the music is excellent and ranges from NWA to the Beach Boys. From Johnny Cash to Run DMC. From Pink Floyd to... well, you get the picture.
Highlights - George Martin - Wow, just Wow!! Listening to Roger Waters talk about the Beatles. The creation of The Man Comes Around and the role of Rick Rubin.

It's ALL good, and I'll probably watch it again several times.

Shameless plug - support PBS. I've now been exposed to two of my Epic-List videos (Soundbreaking and A Black and White Night) through PBS.

That sounds like a fascinating project and very informative...thanks for the tip!
I fully agree with PBS (and NPR) as objective, in-depth news sources.

 

[Ripper2860]

Just out of curiosity -- what is your tube burn-in process? I'd love to hear from others as to their process and what works or doesn't work for them. I think it'd be 'cool' (pun intended) to see what process others use to burn-in and get the most out of their tubes. Here's my general process (typically run over 5-7 days)...

1. I play a headphone burn-in-playlist from Spotify when I go to bed (includes music, pink noise, white noise, and digital black)
2. I power down the amp in the morning before going to work to let the tube cool off and thermal cycle **
3. When I get home (and on weekends) I listen for a couple of hours to see what differences I may hear. If it sounds good I keep listening and start back at #1. when bedtime arrives.
4. If it sounds crappy, I roll it out and roll in a nice already burned-in tube to enjoy my music until bedtime and then roll the tube needing burn-in back in and go back to #1.

** Thermal cycling is a step I was not doing previously and after it was suggested, I found it really helps speed up and nail the burn-in process.

 

[Paladin79]

Generally I just forget to turn off my amps and they run all night every once in a while or I turn them on early on a weekend and let them run all day Saturday. I like to keep things simple, I hit one switch and everything is up and going including some Class A amps. This applies to all of my headphone amps, speaker amps I turn on as needed and they are solid state. I do not change tubes out very often, and some tubes I have purchased were used and had tube test results posted on them, so I consider them burnt in. I do go through phases where I might tube roll and I am more cognizant of new tubes then.

I should also say I have some playlists that border on infinite but I know that is not accurate so I will just describe them as very, very long.

I did see an interesting video by Paul McGowan of PS Audio stating that tubes should be replaced after one year but if you are tube rolling and using multiple sets, that would really take a while to track. Every now and then I will try other tubes I like and see if there is an audible difference. I keep original tubes as a reference point, once they have burned in for a couple days.

 

[Delirious Lab]

I don't do anything special for burn-in - I just listen out of the box, and turn things off when I'm done to save component life. And then maybe 2 months after purchase, I will be listening to something and my brain will be blown by how good the gear sounds.

 

[FLTWS]

I like 3 x 16hr days using P.A.D. system enhancer CD, with 8 hours off / cool down, at night.
I give it a roughly 1 to 2 hour listen each day.
On the 4th day if I don't like what I hear I may go another 3 x 16 if I've read that "Something wonderful is about to happen", "What HAL?" at 100 hours.
If I don't like what I hear at that point it goes to my bottom of barrel box(?).
Any tube that "requires" over 100 hours is out of the question, life's too short.

Generally 50 hours tells me all I need to know.

 

[Paladin79]

Something I like to listen to on Tidal (it may be exclusive to them) is Tom Waits: Originals and Covers. His music as well as others doing it including Springsteen doing Jersey Girl. You may or may not like Waits voice, especially as he got older so the covers are a bit refreshing. There are some people I listen to because of the lyrics, regardless of genre. Tom Waits, John Prine, Guy Clark, Bob Dylan et alia.

Wagon Wheel as performed by Darius Rucker had some lyrics originating with Dylan.
I Want to Dance with You was performed by George Strait but written by John Prine

I liked both songs when I heard them without knowing the origin but it turns out they went back to great song writers.

 

[Xcalibur255]

So, I admitted earlier that I really have no idea what's recorded "well" or even what that means.

One of the more interesting parts of my audio journey has been how my concept of "well recorded" has changed as I upgrade gear. I used to think that whenever a recording sounded harsh or shouty it must be because the levels are too hot or because it wasn't mastered well. When I came to own the gear I have today I came to realize that almost every recording I thought was "bad" was actually just fine and it was my own system that had been causing the problems.

Being able to get a sense of what the artist's intention was, how a track was meant to feel, through the environment and equipment that was used in that recording was also a revelation.

I kind of envy people who can enjoy just about any rig. My battle to listen to music free of harshness has been a life long one and I still haven't completely won it despite all the time and money.

 

[Xcalibur255]

I can confirm for you, that they ARE shipping.

I ordered a Freya on 5/19, then on 6/18 got an email from Schiit saying they were about ready to ship, but couldn't bill against the original authorization (due to time), so they were going to send a new invoice through Paypal. I paid the new invoice on 6/19, they shipped Freya the same day, and I received it cross country (California to Georgia) last Saturday.

So, keep the faith!

Thanks for that info. I know Schiit has been super busy for a while now. Maybe they are just behind due to demand.

 

[Xcalibur255]

Just out of curiosity -- what is your tube burn-in process? I'd love to hear from others as to their process and what works or doesn't work for them. I think it'd be 'cool' (pun intended) to see what process others use to burn-in and get the most out of their tubes. Here's my general process (typically run over 5-7 days)...

1. I play a headphone burn-in-playlist from Spotify when I go to bed (includes music, pink noise, white noise, and digital black)
2. I power down the amp in the morning before going to work to let the tube cool off and thermal cycle **
3. When I get home (and on weekends) I listen for a couple of hours to see what differences I may hear. If it sounds good I keep listening and start back at #1. when bedtime arrives.
4. If it sounds crappy, I roll it out and roll in a nice already burned-in tube to enjoy my music until bedtime and then roll the tube needing burn-in back in and go back to #1.

** Thermal cycling is a step I was not doing previously and after it was suggested, I found it really helps speed up and nail the burn-in process.

I haven't specifically paid attention to the number of thermal cycles, but I have found over time that I cannot accurately judge how a tube sounds until I've put 40-50 run hours on it. Usually this involves at least a dozen thermal cycles along the way. I have also found that if a tube has been sitting for a while (maybe a year or more) in the drawer that it needs a good 20 hours of use to settle back into its "broken in" sound as well. Every time I roll a tube that has been sitting around it always has an edginess and bite to the sound until it has had a few days of use again.

This is why I don't put any faith in those big tube sound review articles people write where they shotgun different tubes in and out of their amps a bunch of times. It introduces uncontrolled variables. The only listening impressions I trust now are the ones that have been "normalized" over a long period of time and many listening sessions. At that point your brain has a strong baseline of what sounds "right" and when you change or deviate from that sound the differences are better contrasted.

 

[FLTWS]

I find setting my volume level right for each recording can mean the difference between sounding good or not so good.
Sometimes I find myself turning volume up to compete with ambient noise and I end up pushing some part of the chain, especially the drivers, into a less than linear state.
I find it's fairly easy to overdrive a recording of a 100 piece orchestra, small groups of any genre I can listen to at more realistic levels.
I don't believe there's ant standardization for recording / playback other than to keep the needles out of the red.
Not sure why but that's my experience.

 

[FLTWS]

One of the more interesting parts of my audio journey has been how my concept of "well recorded" has changed as I upgrade gear. I used to think that whenever a recording sounded harsh or shouty it must be because the levels are too hot or because it wasn't mastered well. When I came to own the gear I have today I came to realize that almost every recording I thought was "bad" was actually just fine and it was my own system that had been causing the problems.

Being able to get a sense of what the artist's intention was, how a track was meant to feel, through the environment and equipment that was used in that recording was also a revelation.

I kind of envy people who can enjoy just about any rig. My battle to listen to music free of harshness has been a life long one and I still haven't completely won it despite all the time and money.

I find setting my volume level right for each recording can mean the difference between sounding good or not so good.
Sometimes I find myself turning volume up to compete with ambient noise and I end up pushing some part of the chain, especially the drivers, into a less than linear state.
I find it's fairly easy to overdrive a recording of a 100 piece orchestra, small groups of any genre I can listen to at more realistic levels.
I don't believe there's any standardization for recording / playback other than to keep the needles out of the red.
Not sure why but that's my experience.