I just bought the new Saga 2 for my desk. This Kara looks like something I would absolutely upgrade to for my TV setup. Thanks for the overview/review.
Any chance you’ve heard the Mission 778x? I’m in the market for a small system, and the Mission has had some good reviews. But I have enough space for an Aegir 2 and a small pre amp. I’m wondering if there would be a noticeable step up in quality between the two. Speakers are PSB and the room is about 12 x 15.
I am slightly interested in this Kara due to its differential/balanced topology. A couple of their products I've tried seemed to emphasize or bump the upper mid frequencies. It may seem unnoticeable to some but I was able to measure it. My question is do you notice any emphasis in any areas of the KARA?
Sounds like. The Aegir2 character shown through more than the Kara? Did you try the different gain settings on the Kara? If so which did you like, and why? As a viewer, might be good if just one component changes at a time? In the Freya + video, you seemed to really be impressed right away. Did you try the passive stage on that pre-amp too? I’ve got the og Saga, and hoping to get more impressions of the benefits of what moving up may offer.
I believe so. Obviously every component has a different sound signature and will either add or subtract from the sound, but I think the Kara does a really good job of being mostly transparent. The Aegir2 seems to steal the show in terms of power and definition, but it couldn’t do that without a very good preamp. I’ve had more time to play with it now. I recently used it to test a Galion amp in another video. The Kara sounds just a little bright, maybe tinny to a small degree, but is super clear. Very detailed. Did you try the different gain settings on the Kara? Yes, I did. If so which did you like, and why? The Kara has three gain settings, passive, low, and high. I didn’t notice any difference in any setting other than the intensity and power that gain itself provides. Same clarity and transparentness, same very minor brightness. I found with the Schiit Vidar and Aegir, I preferred low. They simply don’t need that much power. with the Galion, I preferred high gain mode. Passive mode was ok too, but I found myself cranking up the volume a bit too much on all three amps. I will note that the Fosi phono preamp I use requires a bit more boost than if I was using a Schiit phono preamp. It is the only one I have right now though. Plus passive gain mode cannot convert between SE and Balanced. The other modes can. As a viewer, might be good if just one component changes at a time? I agree. I am working towards that. Unfortunately most of the higher end stuff I get are only loaners. Some I can keep for two weeks, some for 90 days. Once I get bigger they may let me keep them. I don’t make any money from this, maybe one day I will. I try to pick out the stuff that I buy very carefully because I would end up buying everything and getting divorced. In the Freya + video, you seemed to really be impressed right away. Have you ever just gotten your setup dialed in perfectly? It almost gives you chills. That’s what happened to me. Obviously, it’s all subjective. I use a tube phono preamp because I prefer the warmth and openness of tubes. When I paired that with the preamp, Freya+, it was awesome. I really wish Schiit made a tube power amp and tube phono preamp. Did you try the passive stage on that preamp too? Yes, I did. Mostly the same reactions that I had to the Kara. The passive setting was a little light on power for my phono preamp. Instead of low and high it has Differential Buffer and Differential Tube gain settings. Differential Buffer also has no gain. I much prefer the Differential Tube Gain setting because I prefer the warmth of tube amps and it has 12-13.5db of gain. I've got the og Saga, and hoping to get more impressions of the benefits of what moving up may offer. Hopefully that cleared some things up a bit. If you have any more questions just let me know!
@@NoFrillsHi-Fi I believe Jason Stoddard said in Schiits video in the last 2days that they are working on a tubed phono pre? Also Lounge Audio makes a killer mm phono pre, that far exceeded my old Project tube box phono pre. You can get it with a headphone output that is like a magnifying glass for your turntable. Or stethoscope :) It sounds pretty great for a solid state. LCR Gold with silver.
That Kara would be great for my usage. I'm not sure if I could tolerate that noise every time I adjust the volume, though. Does that noise sound as bad in person as it does over TH-cam? Nice job on the quick review.👍🏻
I own both of these and I think the video is accurate, the volume noise is significant. However, you get used to it and all the positives of these Schiit products FAR outweigh this negative.
It is balanced. I would say it’s incredibly transparent. It really seems to do exactly what it should. It amplifies the source without really adding much to it. I will say that I is crystal clear, very detailed. If anything I would say it accentuates in all the right places. Good highs and lows and excellent mids. A very neutral preamp.
It has a 128-step relay-switched attenuator, rather than a traditional potentiometer, which does make a clicking sound. It’s far more reliable and accurate, but it does take a bit of getting used to.
@@toai2 there's new DACs with volume control built in so there's no need for a preamp, but the tradeoff is resolution loss in your high bitrate music. This is the response I got from schiit when I emailed them the same question. A preamp takes a full signal from the DAC, controls it and conditions it. A DAC will be engineered to output a certain signal such as 2 Vrms, 1Vrms, 800mVrms, 500 or 200 all affecting or coloring your digital music. This gets you into a never ending rabbit hole with gain matching, bitrate loss audio stack issues from your digital source such as windows etc. So just get a nice preamp like the Kara and enjoy what the engineers from schiit created for us 18:24 .
I just bought the new Saga 2 for my desk. This Kara looks like something I would absolutely upgrade to for my TV setup. Thanks for the overview/review.
Thanks so much! You might check out the Freya too.
Great video. Super helpful to see how you hook all of this up.
Thanks so much!
Any chance you’ve heard the Mission 778x? I’m in the market for a small system, and the Mission has had some good reviews. But I have enough space for an Aegir 2 and a small pre amp. I’m wondering if there would be a noticeable step up in quality between the two. Speakers are PSB and the room is about 12 x 15.
Unfortunately I have not. Like you said, the reviews do look good though.
I am slightly interested in this Kara due to its differential/balanced topology.
A couple of their products I've tried seemed to emphasize or bump the upper mid frequencies. It may seem unnoticeable to some but I was able to measure it.
My question is do you notice any emphasis in any areas of the KARA?
Just a little bit, but I do think the trade off is that it seems to keep the highs from being too bright. Maybe it’s just my imagination.
@@NoFrillsHi-Fi thank you 👍
Anytime!
Sounds like. The Aegir2 character shown through more than the Kara?
Did you try the different gain settings on the Kara?
If so which did you like, and why?
As a viewer, might be good if just one component changes at a time?
In the Freya + video, you seemed to really be impressed right away.
Did you try the passive stage on that pre-amp too?
I’ve got the og Saga, and hoping to get more impressions of the benefits of what moving up may offer.
I believe so. Obviously every component has a different sound signature and will either add or subtract from the sound, but I think the Kara does a really good job of being mostly transparent. The Aegir2 seems to steal the show in terms of power and definition, but it couldn’t do that without a very good preamp. I’ve had more time to play with it now. I recently used it to test a Galion amp in another video. The Kara sounds just a little bright, maybe tinny to a small degree, but is super clear. Very detailed.
Did you try the different gain settings on the Kara?
Yes, I did.
If so which did you like, and why?
The Kara has three gain settings, passive, low, and high. I didn’t notice any difference in any setting other than the intensity and power that gain itself provides. Same clarity and transparentness, same very minor brightness. I found with the Schiit Vidar and Aegir, I preferred low. They simply don’t need that much power. with the Galion, I preferred high gain mode. Passive mode was ok too, but I found myself cranking up the volume a bit too much on all three amps. I will note that the Fosi phono preamp I use requires a bit more boost than if I was using a Schiit phono preamp. It is the only one I have right now though. Plus passive gain mode cannot convert between SE and Balanced. The other modes can.
As a viewer, might be good if just one component changes at a time?
I agree. I am working towards that. Unfortunately most of the higher end stuff I get are only loaners. Some I can keep for two weeks, some for 90 days. Once I get bigger they may let me keep them. I don’t make any money from this, maybe one day I will. I try to pick out the stuff that I buy very carefully because I would end up buying everything and getting divorced.
In the Freya + video, you seemed to really be impressed right away.
Have you ever just gotten your setup dialed in perfectly? It almost gives you chills. That’s what happened to me. Obviously, it’s all subjective. I use a tube phono preamp because I prefer the warmth and openness of tubes. When I paired that with the preamp, Freya+, it was awesome. I really wish Schiit made a tube power amp and tube phono preamp.
Did you try the passive stage on that preamp too?
Yes, I did. Mostly the same reactions that I had to the Kara. The passive setting was a little light on power for my phono preamp. Instead of low and high it has Differential Buffer and Differential Tube gain settings. Differential Buffer also has no gain. I much prefer the Differential Tube Gain setting because I prefer the warmth of tube amps and it has 12-13.5db of gain.
I've got the og Saga, and hoping to get more impressions of the benefits of what moving up may offer.
Hopefully that cleared some things up a bit. If you have any more questions just let me know!
@@NoFrillsHi-Fi
Thanks for kindly answering all my questions!
That is very helpful!
Good luck with your promising channel!
Thank you so much! Anytime!
@@NoFrillsHi-Fi
I believe Jason Stoddard said in Schiits video in the last 2days that they are working on a tubed phono pre?
Also Lounge Audio makes a killer mm phono pre, that far exceeded my old Project tube box phono pre. You can get it with a headphone output that is like a magnifying glass for your turntable. Or stethoscope :)
It sounds pretty great for a solid state. LCR Gold with silver.
Thanks, I'll look into those!
Question about the Kara, if you hold the mute button on the remote while there's headphones plugged in, does it still force the preamp outputs on?
It sure does. You can just leave the headphones plugged in permanently if you want to. Then use the button on the device or the remote.
A little DeOxit 5 on that volume knob would fix that noise.
That knob is fine. It uses a 128-step relay-switched stepped attenuator instead of a potentiometer. It’s supposed to make that noise.
😂😂😂
Honestly, I’ve gotten that question a lot!
No it wouldn’t. It’s supposed to sound like that. It’s a r2r ladder pot.
I even explained it in the video. Crazy that we are still talking about it.
Is there a benefit to using the balanced outputs into the rca inputs?
Not that I can think of. I always use dlr if it’s available, but the rca would be the weak link in that scenario.
That Kara would be great for my usage. I'm not sure if I could tolerate that noise every time I adjust the volume, though. Does that noise sound as bad in person as it does over TH-cam?
Nice job on the quick review.👍🏻
I feel like it is a bit worse on TH-cam than in person. To be honest, I hated it at first and completely forgot about it after I used it a few times.
Is the kara a fully balanced design, What kind of sound signature does it have
I own both of these and I think the video is accurate, the volume noise is significant. However, you get used to it and all the positives of these Schiit products FAR outweigh this negative.
It is balanced. I would say it’s incredibly transparent. It really seems to do exactly what it should. It amplifies the source without really adding much to it. I will say that I is crystal clear, very detailed. If anything I would say it accentuates in all the right places. Good highs and lows and excellent mids. A very neutral preamp.
Yeah, it bothered me for about 30 seconds. I will say I sit pretty far from the amp when actually listening so it’s not a big deal at all for me.
I thought Aegir was pronounced "Aay-jeer"?
It’s very possible. I looked it up and found about 8 different ways to pronounce it. I live in Tennessee, US so you’re lucky I got that close. 😂
Rimes with Kegger 😂
That I might be able to remember!
that volume knob sounds noisy
It has a 128-step relay-switched attenuator, rather than a traditional potentiometer, which does make a clicking sound. It’s far more reliable and accurate, but it does take a bit of getting used to.
DAC Direct no preamp 😊
So no need to pair with a preamp?
@@toai2 you need it for volume control, otherwise it will use the full power of the amp.
@@toai2 there's new DACs with volume control built in so there's no need for a preamp, but the tradeoff is resolution loss in your high bitrate music. This is the response I got from schiit when I emailed them the same question.
A preamp takes a full signal from the DAC, controls it and conditions it.
A DAC will be engineered to output a certain signal such as 2 Vrms, 1Vrms, 800mVrms, 500 or 200 all affecting or coloring your digital music.
This gets you into a never ending rabbit hole with gain matching, bitrate loss audio stack issues from your digital source such as windows etc.
So just get a nice preamp like the Kara and enjoy what the engineers from schiit created for us 18:24 .