| Model: | Saga | | Category: | Preamplifier (Tube) | | Suggested Retail Price: | $350 | | Description: | Active/Passive Preamp | | Manufacturer URL: | Schiit Audio |
This review presents a challenge. The Schiit Saga is a new product and there is little information on the Internet to reflect upon other than a strange video on YouTube of the preamplifier continuously clicking. (Yes, the Saga does make a light clicking sound. It features a relay stepped volume control that makes a small sound when the volume is raised or lowered.)
The first impression upon opening the shipping box is that this is a quality product with some heft. It is clearly is not a simplistic volume control unit. A great deal of thought and engineering went into the product. It looks and sounds very nice. The physical size is in keeping with the Schiit tradition of compact, low profile audio equipment.
The preamplifier technically is a relay stepped attenuator passive preamplifier that offers a tube buffer circuit and a remote control. So, you have a choice - either passive or active preamplifier. In real use there is not a great deal of difference. The tube buffer offers a bit of tube bloom. Not the traditional "tubey" bloom, but a bit of more musical fullness in the midrange and lower midrange. I found it quite pleasing.
How does it sound? Here is where the real challenge begins. Failing as audio reviewer, I don't have access to those $5k to $50K preamplifiers to compare. It is an improvement over my trusty $2k Musical Fidelity preamplifier in several ways. A tad more open on the high end, a bit more dynamic and more musical. And, I fail again because I can't put more musical very well into words.
I have an older recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings." This powerful piece is built upon the interplay of the violins and cellos. I never had the opportunity to perceive clear separation between those sections of the orchestra in this recording. It was a cohesive sound wave, until played through the Saga. It then became the build of emotion, detailed intertwining of these two orchestra sections - profoundly wonderful.
How good is the preamp in relations to many other fine preamplifiers? I don't know, but the Saga is staying in my system as an audio treasure. At $350 it is an amazing value and awfully good Schiit.
| Product Weakness: | None perceived | | Product Strengths: | Musical and dynamic |
Associated Equipment for this Review:| Amplifier: | Musical Fidelity | | Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | Schiit Saga/Musical Fidelity | | Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Computer/Schiit Bifrost DAC | | Speakers: | Magnepan MG12/Powered Subwoofer | | Cables/Interconnects: | Home brew silver | | Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Popular & Classical | | Time Period/Length of Audition: | 100 hours | | Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
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