A compliment to the designers of the Freya Plus. Running one with KenRad JAN VT231 NOS Tubes & Melz 1578 in front of a Bryston 4B3 with Magnepan 1.7. Completely black quiet with no hiss, even when my ears are 4" from the panels. All the adjectives I can think of seem cliché these days so I will pass along the best compliment one can receive. A new friend came over and saw my system and asked if I minded if he could listen. He then explained that he has a few albums of his own on Qobuz and I had no idea he even enjoyed music. I replied, "Sure, have a seat in the chair". He was so blown away by the sound of his own music that he asked if he could come over the next day with the demo tracks from his sound engineer to approve versions for three new songs. His comment: "My home stereo system is better than 98% of what is found in most households but yours is Other Worldly." Since I know no other Audiophiles in my area, this outside review was greatly appreciated from a man who creates and plays music. Combining the right tubes with the Freya Plus in a neutral and resolving system will make the magic happen. I was reluctant to purchase the Freya Plus but the ability to leave everything on and put tubes in stand by mode carried the day. Now, after listening for 10 months, I will not part with it. Coupled with the right components and given the right set of tubes it will outshine preamps costing multiples of the price.
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