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https://preview.redd.it/crgxivmr3fma1.png?width=1496&format=png&auto=webp&s=1475626db4556e1873139c72ad22bf7bfc04b0fc

I wanted to add some tube sound to my system and most cheap amp/preamps use only one tube and have terrible reviews. Some use two, like the Liquid Platinum, but reviews tend to call them too analytical and solid state-like. A 25kg tube amp was, and will always be, out of the question. So I settled for the Freya since almost everyone out there agrees that has a noticeable effect on sound and is also very revealing of the tubes used.

I connected my RME ADI-2 to the Freya and to the amp with xlr cables. In parallel to the Freya, the dac is connected to the amp with rca cables. So by switching the source in the amp between xlr and rca I can easily A/B compare the Freya with the sound that comes straight from the dac. The tubes mode has a gain so I have to set the volume at around 80% in order to match it with the rca input.

Result: both sources sound 100% undistinguishable. Switching back and forth was like listening to music while playing with a random switch that has nothing to do with the audio system. I can only tell which is which because I'm the one moving the switch. First try was with new production Tung-Sols in the buffer stage and Sylvania GTAs in the gain side. Then tried moving the GTAs to the buffer side and placing RCA 5692s for the gain: same as before, indistinguishable. Finally tried four Sylvania RCAs with same result.

I tried lowering the dac's volume to the lowest setting to make it work in the low end of the working range, as well as turning the dac to the maximum to take the tubes as near to saturation as possible. Nothing, always the same as the solid state sound.

I even kept thinking that there was something wrong with the setup and that I was listening to the same source due to some mistake but no, I can modify the volume and confirm that I'm listening to two different sources.

How to explain the difference with other users? My guess is that they never did a direct A/B test with a solid state equivalent. They might do some rewiring between devices that take some time and volume matching so they rely on what they heard some minutes before, without switching immediately between sources.

So I'm returning it, sadly. It makes me want to keep it just for how fucking cool the setup looks but I'm not wealthy enough to afford €1k desktop decorations.

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(This is my second attempt at posting this, the first time was removed because there's already a thread dedicated to purchase advice, how is this purchase advice??)