Love your track recommendations and your enthusiasm, Steve! You're the man!

I LOVE the dynamic range of things you talk about on your show, I always learn so much. Don’t ever stop. ❤

Just listened to Jazz Party on my Grados...Wow! Thanks for the recommendation and all the others in the past!

Thanks for bringing up XLR Vs RCA. Balanced can sound better in terms of clarity but, depending on the source and input circuitry can loose some 'body'. I have compared both outputs from my Ares 2 over 2 years using multiple different cables. I have made three different balanced input modules for my preamp. The first two sounded all round worse than unbalanced. The last one cost €60 in parts and did the trick. Keep in mind balanced circuitry has over twice the components so it can have more of an effect on the sound. At the end of the day, never mind the technology or other people's opinions, trust your ears. P.S. I used to watch Steve for the gear, now I come for the album tips! What great taste in music

Great video Steve! Thank you for reviewing such a highly anticipated product! Thanks also for including the brief shout-out for the Elac Reference Uni-Fi DBR62's. I'm a big fan of those speakers (having them, as well as the original UB5's), and it was nice to see them in your test rig.

One cool feature that people sometimes forget, is that the Kara and Freya line will convert single ended to balanced, and vice versa. So it's somewhat of a connection wizard for your system as well :)

Steve you're the most enjoyable hifi guy on KZfaq. Thanks!

Steve thank you thank you for what you bring to your fans .

I love Schiit's schiit! I have a Freya+ PreAmp and a Loki Max Equalizer powering my McIntosh MC152 Solid State Power Amp. I took my Freya+ apart and removed the capacitors and resistors in the tube stage circuit and replaced them with $800 worth of audiophile components. I am running NOS tubes and I even put some cool vents on the top left side of the chassis to ventilate this relatively hot device…..I am really thrilled with the sound quality of these components and thanks to the internet I had fun supercharging mine! 😀

Thanks Steve

That Electric Flag song that starts off with a Lyndon Johnson speech overdub is hilarious and a favorite.

Nice review, Steve! Re: balanced - I’ve heard that if you have a long cable run balanced is the way to go (reduced noise). I’m a single-ended guy, with short cables from my source to my integrated. Thanks for the shoutout to Michael Bloomfield - he had slipped under my radar.

Thanks for another great video. Your channel is the only one I have the notification bell turned on. 💯

I love this review and it is honest. This is a guy you can trust.

One of our early homes ... August heat-wave, I leaned back as I could reach the window unit over and behind my head as I reclined ... I reached it to bump up the A/C a notch or so ... boom! As soon as I did, it took out a 60a main fuse! Still had the other leg so we still had some power. Its midnight or so, I drove to a local Meijer superstore and bought four fuses. Fun times ... Too bad youth is wasted on the young.

whoa... hadn't heard Michael Bloomfield until your review and... wow... thanks for the recommendation

Great video and review! I am waiting for silver Kara. You must listen to Al Kooper as well! Bloomfield is awesome and the two do recordings together. Al Kooper has played with many artists and is one of my favorites. Kinda like George Harrison in that most never remember him. Glad you mentioned them both.

Love my Schiit!

Great shirt.

those elacs look nice!

Wow, Steve. I always liked you but now---Mike Bloomfield---my guitar hero! I never heard you mention him before. I have everything he ever recorded. In fact, I bought new copies of the Butterfield albums because my originals are well worn. Very cool to hear you recommend him.

Good review, Steve! Haven't seen much about the Kara yet so this is nice to hear. Thinking I'm locking into a Kara with an Aegir driving Zu Audio DW6. Should be a good system!

On ballanced vs single ended, it's not going to really affect the signal as such, it more affects the noise on the signal. A balnced cable will have significantly lower noise than single ended. As far as anything else, neglibible performance increase if any. On good quality cables, the signal is the signal, regardless of the connection type. Noise is a different thing, but very few would really hear a difference other than placebo effect. That said, I don't judge anyone on what they feel is better for them. It's their system, they can set it up how they feel happiest.

In the Deep South during this recent Heat Wave it’s the absence of the AC hum you have to worry about 😮🤔😉

Hey Steve, love your stuff! Allow me to mention, like so much of music, having admiring a specific guitarist is subjective. So allow me to mention, one reason "Clapton is God" graffiti was prevalent throughout London in the late 60's is because Eric played with great passion, at least until the Derek and the Dominoes album where Duane Allman pushed Eric to be his best. Don't get me wrong, Michael Bloomfield was an outstanding guitarist, and like you said Steve, the tuning and tone of hist guitar is second to none. It comes down to the goose bumps, doesn't it? The best thing about Eric Clapton, Michael Bloomfield, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Duane Allman, et al is we get to listen to all of them. Awesome sauce!

Schiit is always coming out with new stuff. Super cool. Steve, is there any particular piece of gear you'd like to see Schiit try their hand at? I'd love to see them try to make a tube phono stage.

Steve. Nice review but curious how the Kara sounds versus the original Freya S and the Freya Plus as I own both. Thanks

Michael Bloomfield👍👍 Thanks for pointing him out on that box set!

I think the annoying part about it is if you don’t use the XLR inputs, you only have 3 RCA inputs, making for a pretty small group of devices to preamp. I guess you can convert maybe. The other annoying thing is it doesn’t have a tape loop. Tape loop can be any recording device, a CD recorder for instance. Although for me, I’d like to have a cassette deck hooked into it…just not sure how. In contrast, the Denon integrated amp has a “recorder loop” and 6-7 rca inputs with also Bluetooth support. I wish the Kara or Schiit had at least a tape loop

HATTOR AUDIO has very good passive pre amps

Two thumbs up for Duke Ellington's Jazz Party.

I still have to giggle when i see the caption "knob feel'. I know i am immature, but i like that.

Thank you for recognizing Michael Bloomfield.

I recently did a lengthy comparison between quite a good SE headphone cable and a low end balanced cable. The source was a Bifrost 2/64 + Jotunheim 2 stack, and the headphone was the Arya v3, and I felt that the good SE cable through the Jot's SE jack sounded noticeably better than the not-so-good balanced cable through the XLR. Better separation, greater detail, wider stage... So, at least in the case of this system, cable quality more than offset balanced vs SE considerations.

Have you tried a Luminous Audio Axiom II passive preamp? It is really good with the First Watt J2

Love the fact that the Kara is black. Maybe I' ll try it.

Cool math shirt.

Thanks for the review. This is the first review I found on you tube about Kara! .... Could you please share, How much you advise to look for Kara $699 in comparing with Saga+ $399 purely as preamp, headphone part separated..... if we exclude balanced options (as advised RCA is also fine with better connectivity and sources) also considering Saga+ gives the tube option as well and all passive + active portions.... Can Kara definitely make us fell Overwhelmed in comparison or Saga+ is good enough? Please advise.

Herb knows power!

I always like your chanel, Steve. Does it run hot like Freya+? Is this class A or class AB preamp?

Can’t beat a good Schiit 🤣👍

I'd really like to see an External Effects or RecOut/MonitorIn loop and a simple Mute button instead of the mute function being tied to the headphone jack. Other than that this is on my short list.

I wish Schiit would make a simple modi sized FM tuner module.

Hi Steve. Thanks again for the reviews. I am really interested in your feedback on the emotiva xda 3 vs the schiit Kara as a stand alone preamp. Which you prefer

Balanced cables are in general louder, if I'm not mistaken about 6db louder. It's geometry rejects noise , and that could count for more clarity in my perspective. I'm not so sure in circuitr, unless the same principles are used, ->noise rejection. Better quality persee, nope. That is all about quality wire, and quality cable design.

Tekton DI speakers with Ribbon Tweeters! Very interesting. Also a set of drums in the room. Sound familiar Steve?

Gettin’ a little thin up top, so I’ll be using the Rogaine setting.

"The feel of his sound..."

Great review. Thanks for comparison against Pass Lab as a headphone amp. It makes sense since Pass Lab is headphone first with added preamp but Kara is a preamp first with headphone. How did Kara perform against Pass Lab as a preamp?

thankyou Mr. Guttenberg

I wish you guys would heal yourself rambling😊

Interesting to hear about your experience with the protection mode. I have a Freya that does the same thing from time-to-time, and it always happens when turning down the volume. I have been wondering if perhaps something was wrong with my preamp, but from what you describe with the Kara, this sounds like designed-in behavior.

But Steve, how does it sound? What kind of system would benefit from the Kara's sonic signature?

Hi Steve, I am looking for a preamp that drives my Linn Selekt with Organik DAC (Line Card) and my LP12 to my Geithain active speakers. Can the Shiit manage that or do I need to go some more steps above in the shelf to do not slow down the streamer and the player? Thanks for your thoughts. Cheers Andi

Sir.. suggest preamplifier with separate sub out except parasound.. already using.. thanks

I got a Kara last month, the week it was released. It replaced ... no preamp. I had been using my AD/DA as a preamp with a digital volume control, my phono preamp going through the AD/DA at 24/192. I now have the option of staying all-analog for LP playback. I have not had the mute problem you described, but I haven't rotated the volume control very fast. Two things I wanted to mention. The active settings (1:1 or 4x high gain) allow the conversion of balanced or single-ended inputs to balanced and/or single-ended outputs. I have the balanced out going to the amp for my main speakers, and the single-ended out going to my SVS subs. That won't work in passive mode. The other thing I noticed is that the stepped volume control reacts differently than I'm used to. I guess it's log, and I'm used to linear with digital volume controls. Or do I have that backwards? Dunno. I can adjust the gain of my phono preamp, my DAC and my amp, and I like to set them so that I can't accidentally turn the volume up where it would cause clipping in the amp or distortion in the speakers. With the Schiit, the first half of the volume pot is useless - almost no sound comes out - while the last 25% is where it ends up most of the time. Because of that, the level control is kind of coarse. One step of the volume control produces too big a change for my taste. With a digital control, when I turn it up .5dB, that's exactly what I get. It's hardly a deal breaker. It's perfectly fine, but not what I'm used to.

Hi Steve, sound signature-wise, if compared with a passive transformer-based preamp of about max 2K price range, is there anything worth mentioning? I.e. like of dynamic, less lively sound, anything like that?

Excellent review ... any thoughts on the headphone amp with lower impedance headphones (say 32 ohm)? I note that Amir at ASR tested Kara recently and got somewhat poorer results in testing and listening with lower impedance headphones. I think the ones you used in your review were 150ohm and higher.

My old eyes prefer equipment with sliver faces and dark text. The black background is just too difficult to read in reduced lighting. Also, it seems that the black background equipment uses more often than not use grey text which makes reading even more difficult.

The Electric Flag brought back memories..

I don't want any tubes in my hifi system, but I want tube like three dimensional sound stage but with the solidified low end of purpose wound output transformers.

will check k out bloomfield

Hello Steve, Are you going to make it to the Capital Audio fest this year?

I wonder how different the Kara is from Jotunheim 2? Both are balanced. I use Jot 2 both as a preamp and a headphone amp with LCD2 classic

Yes freya plus phew

Power switch needs to be on the front, or at least be able to power on preamp with remote.

Mike Bloomfield! His tone reminds me of Roy Buchanan the greatest guitarist that never lived …

I very happy with my Schiit Freya S. It sounds good from your review but I think I’ll stay where I am. Mine is also with a Vidar II and tekton lores.

I’m with you when it comes to comparisons with the pass labs. From the other hand I can’t get my head around why the Pass Labs’ measurements look like a broken device when compared to the Schiit preamp.

What I have learned from having multiple electrostatic headphones is that if they have any more detail than your speakers then you need to upgrade your speaker and/or room. There are other good reasons to own headphones but detail is not one of them.

I have the West Side story album.

Schiit are doing some good shit!😃

With a new Freya I find annoying audible speaker pops, when switching output between passive, differential buffer, and differential tube, and mute. Steve did you get audible popping on the Kara while switching between passive, gain stages and mute? I'd think that'd be rough with headphones. In my case, no remote use, no mute, just on and off back switch in tube mode only. Schiit says the pops I get are normal for the relay switch.

Personally, I'm interested in ballanced preamps as a substitute for in-home wireless streaming. They can allow you to run longer cables between devices without worrying for sound degradation. I'd love to hear reviews about other products such as the Kara.

WBCables are wonderful for the money.

Schitt has prime time at Steve’s. Thank you for Mike Bloomfiled - it sounds natural compare to the others. I always appreciate musical guide from Steve.

Do prefer the Freya + or the Kara?

How does this compare to the Freys+

have the debut reference ....so i want the unifi reference

I was just wondering if how or can Kara improved an intergraded like a Sony amp 444esx? Thank you for sharing. Great video!

Just wondering. On the picture, the volume control seems to me to be a Alps Blue Velvet, not an attenuator. I own a couple of these… Are you certain about what you mentioned? Thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.

👍

If it locks up in protection mode I believe owner's manual says to slowly pour a cup of cold water into ventilation grill.

@SteveGuttenbergAudiophilliac You say theres little point to balanced operation? Isnt the point that it can drive long cables to the power amp? Also one could use long cables from a balanced source with much less signal degradation? Using s balanced preamp in unbalanced mode only, makes HALF of all the extra components redundant, no?😮 Lastly: With such an accurate volume management relay system, WHY CANT SCH**T OFFER A "BALANCE" CONTROL????! (I feel a balance control would help those of us with asymmetrical room layouts;-) Always appreciate your enthusiasm 🎵🎶😊👍🎶🎵

I'm a balanced kind of guy

If you removed the kara and just used the xda as the preamp- would there be any sonic loss? Or is there any benefit having the kara in there? Sonically speaking.

Having issues with Schiit warranty repair....ensure you investigate AI and service concerns

Steve so crazy that you mentioned Warren Zevon's first album because it's sitting on the platter of my Garrard 401 right now! Crazy!

How would it compare to the Freya plus with LISST tubes?

Ok, but still true...

Steve, don't you think there is a bit too much base, too loose? Otherwise it is excelling Freya + in all other aspects. But if you pair it with full range speakers, it becomes a bit too much

Agree with your pick as best guitarist. But I gotta say, Garcia played the sweetest, dreamiest guitar sounds ever.

If non audiophiles hear us talking about knob feel out of context they probably think we’re weird.

Just think of Balanced cables as the better quality cable. Most reliable, also like insurance that you aren't going to get any interference. Especially if using Mogami (or Canare, Belden..) Star Quad cable. Set and forget

For us, old farts, but exact same price the Kara sells for the same as the Audio Research SP-3 LOL

Why do you not review rega amplifier or any other British stuff

They're still rolling with a scratchy volume control? I've seen on forums at a decent amount of people are skipping this series be all because of that. Including me. That would drive me nuts. It did my friend Eric and he returned one.

Why use a preamp if you don't need the switching functions? As for instance me who has all my inputs to my Node streamer, and of course a volume control.

Balanced is definitely better at driving an amplifier tho.

Any ht bypass?