Hello folks,

Lon's post of a Sophia Electric Integrated for sale (now sold alas) nudged me into remembering the huge amount of knowledge scattered around the forum that's there for the asking... so I'm asking

I am slowly building out a second system. My primary rig is as follows:

Raspberry Pi -> iFi Zen Dac 2 -> Decware CSP2+ -> Rachael -> F-15 Baffles from Randy. Cable is all Chord Clearway.

As you can imagine, it sounds pretty darn good. However, it's not in my work room, so I'm slowly in the process of building something different for the space I work in. Currently that's like this:

Dragonfly Cobalt -> TubeCube 7 -> B&W 785's

Not great, woefully underpowered for the speakers, but not bad for near field.

Schiit has discontinued its Freya N pre, and is discounting them from time to time as B-stock. As I have a bunch of nine-pin 6N1P tubes (or equivalent) sitting around, I couldn't resist. I swapped it out for the CSP just to let it burn in, and it's been interesting.

First, the CSP is glorious by comparison, but who's surprised by that? The Decware preamp has this kind of golden glow in the sound that has to be felt (heard is to simple a word!) to be believed. The Freya N is pretty low gain (unity for the buffer and I think small for the tube stage) so is a terrible partner for Rachael. With that said, the Freya still allows the system to sound good - and will allow me to send the CSP to Steve for an update at some point. Compared to the shimmer of the CSP, the Freya tends to roll off the top end a bit, and gives a meaty dense sound that I think will pair well with a SS amp. It doesn't collapse the sound stage, but is beaten by the CSP in every dimension. Again, not a surprise, I didn't buy it for that purpose...

I did buy it to begin to replace my 2nd system. Step 1, as it were. Next is a power amp, and then speakers. That's where I feel foolish for not reaching out to all of you. I've been torn between Zu Audio Union 6's, Klipsch Cornwalls, or even a pair of Lintons. I want to stick with high (ish) sensitivity speakers so I can swap the system components between System 1 and 2 for a bit for fun when I want a change.

I've been thinking about a Schiit Aegir, as I know it'll pair well. At some point my upgrade path is to buy a new DAC for system one (Holo or Denafrips, most likely), send the CSP back to Steve for upgrades, and move the Zen DAC to System 2 (for the price, the Zen DAC 2 is a great buy, as is the Cobalt, but I know it's not as good as it could be).

Any words of wisdom from folks who have been there and done that? I'm not an audiophile. I can't hear the subtle differences that some people claim to when they swap a _good_ cable for a _great_ cable, for instance (but I certainly heard the different the Clearways made when I put them in!). But I do love listening to music in high fidelity, and I'd love a second system that's a contrast to the first. Words of advice?

Richard

PS: Of course I want a 300B Sarah and more Decware kit. It really is better in every way. But what I'm trying to do is build a second system that is just very different. Hence the thinking around SS.

Thanks, Lon. Given the kind of stuff I listen to (mostly 50s-60s instrumental jazz) that description sounds interesting. I have never heard of them, but hold your recommendation is really high regard. I'll see what I can find out about 'em.

Aegir is a $800 amp in Stereophiles Class A recommended list along with $50k to $200k amplifiers. That alone provides a high resale value if you decide to move on from it. I plan on picking one up sooner or later just to have that fire power in my tool chest of test gear.

I’ll second Kamran’s experience. I also had a Freya+ and Aegir combo (single Aegir). The combo sounded fantastic, but I was on the Decware path, with an amp on order and found a used CSP3 to replace the Freya+. Similar to your experience, the CSP3 was a noticeable improvement over the Freya+. I had the CSP3 upgraded with anniversary mods and the difference got even wider. The combo at that point, with the Aegir, was pretty great.

Then I found a used TubeCube7 and decided to get it to test out a low powered amp in my system and room. The Aegir went to my buddy who also has my Freya+. The TubeCube 7 has a pleasing and clean sound. I find at normal to louder listening levels it works great, but loses steam when I try to push it too much. The one difference that I found is that the soundstage depth shrunk a little with the TubeCube in comparison to the Aegir. Everything was pushed back a little and I lost a little of that dimensional, wrap around sense from the soundstage. It's still there, but not as prominent. I’m sure the Decware amp (that should be on the bench in a month or two) will surpass both amps, but I did find the Aegir to be a better sounding amp to the TubeCube, based on my own experience. Also, as you said, you will have excellent synergy with your Freya-N, so I think you’ll be happy with the Aegir. Of course, YMMV in your room and system.

I can’t say whether to upgrade your speakers first. The Aegir may play fine. I can’t say. I tried to look up specs, but couldn’t find the B&W 785. I was fine at my listening levels with speakers of about 93db efficiently, 8 ohm. When I pushed it hard, like over 90db, it would harden up a little on my speakers. Could also have been room issues. My friend who now has the amp uses 88db, 4ohm speakers and they work together well at decent volumes. Again, I don’t know the specs of your speaker, but keep in mind the Aegir is still a fairly low powered amp and likes higher sensitivity speakers. You can always try it with the B&Ws and if it doesn’t work, you were thinking of upgrading them anyway.

Anniversary upgrades were definitely worth it. Recommend it!

I found your post to be interesting. I want to read more of your shares like this in the future. Thanks.