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    Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Multibit DAC Review

    Late last night I was about to conduct a final listening session with the Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DAC. I planned to finish writing this review after listening to one, maybe two albums. After all, I really didn't need to listen to the DAC for another minute, let alone another couple of hours. I already spent quite a bit of time with the Yggdrasil, but I just had to give it one more listen. I turned out the lights and turned up the volume on a Constellation Audio preamplifier. A track or two into the first album and I knew my plan for the evening was moot. I was not going to be able to stop listening and start writing. The sound was so good and the experience so enveloping, that I couldn't stop listening until the cause of my head bobbing switched from incredible music to incredible sleepiness. Hours after the listening session began, I had to call it a night and get some rest. I was eager to write, but I was in no condition to concentrate and collect coherent thoughts. This is the kind of component the Yggdrasil is, one that can suck the listener in and alter one's plans for the evening. I've enjoyed the Yggdrasil so much since I took delivery of the unit that I can say it's unequivocally one of the best DACs at reproducing acoustic music I've ever heard. Of course this DAC is fabulous at amplified / electric music as well, but there is something about its ability to convey realism when reproducing acoustic instruments that is remarkably alluring. In my experience, sound quality of this caliber comes at a price that most of us simply can't afford. We read the reviews of ultra high-end products as aspirational buyers who may one day get lucky enough to find a gem on the used market for well below the original price. Many audio enthusiasts know what I'm about to say, but those who are unfamiliar with the Yggdrasil, and Schiit Audio in general, should stop skimming this review and pay close attention. The aforementioned sound quality of the Yggdrasil, Schiit Audio's top-of-the-line digital to analog converter, can be had for $2,299 USD. That's a new-in-box component with a fifteen day return policy and a five year warranty, for less than the cost of sales tax on many items in this wonderful yet sometimes crazy world of high end audio. Come along as I share my extraordinary experience with the Schiit Audio Yggdrasil digital to analog converter.

     

     

     

    Schiit Audio and DAC Topology

     

     

    Two audio industry veterans walk into a bar… No, two audio industry veterans get together to start a new company in June 2010. Just what every business analyst recommended, start an audio company focusing on sound quality and do it during the worst economic crisis since the great depression. What could go wrong? That's obviously a rhetorical question, but the facts are the facts. Schiit Audio was founded by Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat in 2010. These guys created some terrific and groundbreaking products in their previous lives, and wanted to shake things up a bit in the HiFi industry. There's really no such thing as an overnight success, but it sure seemed like Schiit Audio hit the ground running with accolades from everywhere and a huge fanbase immediately, especially with the Head-Fi crowd. Propelling this success was the founders' willingness to speak their minds and do so in a lighthearted manner, yet still get the point across that their products were as serious as a heart attack. Good rapport between a manufacturer and potential customers only goes so far, the physical products are where the rubber meets the road. Release high quality and high value products, and enthusiastic customers will be the best marketing team for which a company could ever hope. That's exactly what Schiit Audio did, and people sang its praises in audio forums the world over.

     

    I was late to the Schiit Audio party compared to most audio enthusiasts. I heard about the company and saw its products, but for some reason I simply moved on to other things. That is, until the Yggdrasil DAC was announced, then the ball started rolling. I researched the Yggdrasil DAC and immediately emailed Jason at Schiit to obtain a review sample. Like most good companies, Jason told me to wait until the customers who'd pre-ordered the DAC received their units. I had no problem with that, other than my short patience. In August 2015 the opportunity arose for me to attend the inaugural Schiit Show in southern California. This was my first real opportunity to spend time listening to Schiit's products and equally as important to spend time talking with Schiit's digital wizard Mike Moffat. I spent a large amount of time, the evening before the show started, talking to Mike. The conversation started with a technical discussion of many concepts from USB audio to DAC topology. By the end of the night we were talking about everything with the exception of audio. Prior to the end of the Schiit Show I gently reminded the Schiit team that I was still waiting for a Yggdrasil review unit. To my surprise the company had delivered DACs to all its customers who pre-ordered and there was a unit available for review. The Yggdrasil arrived a week later and was immediately placed into my audio system.

     

    Before getting into the details of how the Yggdrasil converts digital into analog audio, I want to make sure readers understand that this review is neither a referendum on DAC topology, nor a treatise on multibit versus Sigma-Delta designs. Thus, I am purposely leaving out some of the minute details that only serve to move the review comment section further into the weeds. Trying to find the best sounding component by debating multibit versus Sigma-Delta topologies based on specifications only is preposterous. Let me be a bit more blunt, it's stupid. The final product of a DAC, the analog audio output quality, depends much more on the intellect of its designer than the physical hardware and the test measurements. When both great internal components and a great engineer are combined, the outcome can be fabulous no matter which road one takes to Rome (or sonic heaven).

     

    The "Yggdrasil is the world’s only closed-form multibit DAC, delivering 21 bits of resolution with no guessing anywhere in the digital or analog path." According to Schiit Audio. Let's dive into that statement a bit. Many audio enthusiasts will immediately see the 21 bit number assume this DAC is inferior to other DACs that claim 24 or even 32 bits of resolution. Several manufacturers today advertise the fact that their DACs feature multiple 32 bit DAC chips per channel. Making a judgement on a DAC's superiority or inferiority based on the number of bits advertised is foolish. For example, a 24 bit DAC has a theoretical maximum SNR of 144 dB, but the best current DACs can only obtain an SNR of 124 dB or 21 bits due to the noise floor of the components. In addition, human hearing has a dynamic range of about 120-130 dB. What's more, DACs have what's called Equivalent Number of Bits (ENOB) to signify the actual resolution of the DAC. A closer look at many 32 bit DACs reveals they actually have an ENOB of 19.5. Can you see why making judgements about DACs based on specifications is ridiculous?

     

    Readers may be asking themselves, what happens when I play a 24 bit recording on the Yggdrasil if it only supports 21 bits? The reality is that 24 bit recordings don't have 24 bits of resolution / information. It's possible to select 24 or even 32 bits as the output resolution for the Yggdrasil in Audio Midi. The truth is that it doesn't matter on any DAC. Note 1: Vinyl playback has about 12 bits of resolution, CD has 16 bits. Note 2: The Yggdrasil doesn't support DSD.

     

    Two more items I want to touch on are the filtering and hardware components inside the Yggdrasil. Again, these items individually don't mean a thing (if the designer ain't got that swing). Schiit Audio uses its own closed-form filter that's hallmark is using the original samples, not throwing the original samples away while upsampling like most DACs. Good, bad, or indifferent, this is Schiit's way of filtering. Schiit says it doesn't do guess work because it keeps the original samples. On the CA forum, Mike Moffat elaborated further by saying,

     

    "It is a digital filter/sample rate converter designed to convert all audio to 352.8 or 384KHz sample rates so that it may drive our DACs. You get it uniquely from us; it is our filter. It took five people many years to design and perfect at the dawn of digital playback, way back in the early eighties. It keeps all original samples; those samples contain frequency and phase information which can be optimized not only in the time domain but in the frequency domain. We do precisely this; the mechanic is we add 7 new optimized samples between the original ones. All digital filters multiply the original audio signal by a series of coefficients which are calculated by a digital filter generator. Over the years, before Theta Digital was born (my original company), we developed this filter design/generator. The common digital filter method is a Parks-McClellan algorithm, which has been used in all of the older oversampling chipsets, and persists to this day as the input filter in most Delta-Sigma DACs. Why? I assume it is because it is royalty-free, and the algorithm is widely available as are digital filter software design packages to aid in a cookbook approach to the design. Now Parks McClellan an open form math solution, which means that the coefficient calculation is a series of approximations which always get halfway there. This of course, means it never completely solves. The worse news is that all original sample are lost, replaced by 8 new approximated ones. Further, the Parks McClellan optimization is based on the frequency domain only – flat frequency response, with the time (read spatial) domain ignored. Our filter is based upon closed form math – the coefficients are not approximations, the equations solve; the matrices invert and the math is done. The filter also optimizes the time domain."

     

    In addition to Schiit's unique filter, the company uses unique hardware (at least in the audio world) in the Yggdrasil. Schiit uses four of the Analog Devices AD5791BRUZ DACs that are typically used in MRI imaging and military weapons. These DACs aren't trivial to implement in a digital to analog converter. I've heard many engineers in the industry suggest that the newest Sigma-Delta chips can be implemented much easier than a multibit design and that it doesn't take much to get a Sigma-Delta DAC up and running. It certainly takes quite a bit to get a Sigma-Delta to sound as good as possible, but nonetheless Schiit's selection of the AD5791 DAC has made its job significantly more difficult. In other words, not every engineer is capable of implementing the AD5791 in a great sounding audio component.

     

     

    yggy-pcb-900.jpg

     

     

    Listening Impressions

     

     

    The Yggdrasil DAC is built on a very solid technical foundation that translates terrifically into pure sonic enjoyment. This is what it all comes down to, enjoying the sound that comes out of one's audio system. My system for this review consisted of the Aurender N10 music server -> Yggdrasil DAC -> Constellation Audio PreAmp 1.0 -> Constellation Audio Mono 1.0 amplifiers -> TAD CR1 loudspeakers, all cabled with Wire World Series 7 Platinum. As I said in the opening paragraph, the Yggdrasil is unequivocally one of the best DACs at reproducing acoustic music I've ever heard. The overall sound signature of this DAC is a bit thicker in the midrange than I am used to hearing in some of the other DACs I've had through my listening room. One other quality that is very noticeable through the Yggdrasil is the amount air around the instruments. This DAC doesn't have the most air I've ever heard, in fact it seems to reproduce less air around instruments than most DACs. However, the more I listened the more I thought it's entirely plausible that the Yggdrasil could be on the right side of history, if you know what I mean. The multibit topology in the Yggdrasil eliminates the Sigma-Delta problem is pre and post ringing. I may be incorrect here, but I believe the post ringing in Sigma-Delta DACs may be responsible for memorializing transient events and creating more air around instruments than is actually present in the recording. Thus, the Yggdrasil may be reproducing just the transient event, nothing before or after, more accurately. Another impression I received when comparing the Yggdrasil to the sound of other DACs, is that the other DACs reminded me of an old boombox I had in the 1980s that had a setting called ST-WIDE. The Toshiba boombox had a setting for Mono, Stereo, and ST-WIDE (Link). When using the ST-WIDE setting the sound grew much larger in an inauthentic manner that was pleasing for a little while and would have been really neat had I never heard what the normal Stereo setting sounded like. I'm not suggesting the other DACs in my comparison sounded anything like the old Toshiba boombox, rather these DACs may have an unnaturally large soundstage or be memorializing transients to sound bigger than the recording.

     

    Let's go a bit deeper into the Yggdrasil reproducing unamplified acoustic instruments, specifically Gary Karr's double bass. His instrument is commonly known as the 1611 Amati double bass, given to him by the widow of Serge Koussevitzky. However, further research into this bass reveals that it has a history all its own. In 2005 the Tree Ring Society released a paper detailing its investigation into the instrument. The Society found that the bass was not made by the Amati brothers, Antonio and Girolamo, in Italy in 1611. According to the Tree Ring Society, "We used four reference tree-ring chronologies developed from treeline species in the European Alpine region to anchor the dates for the tree rings from the double bass absolutely in time. The bass yielded a 317-year long sequence, the longest sequence yet developed from a single musical instrument. Statistical and graphical comparisons revealed that the bass has tree rings that date from 1445 to 1761. Based on the strength of these correlations, the spruce tree harvested to eventually construct the double bass likely came from the treeline Alpine area of western Austria, not too far from Obergurgl at the Italian border. Our results demonstrate that the double bass was not made by the Amati Brothers, but likely by French luthiers in the late 18th Century." What does this dendromusicology have to do with the Yggdrasil? It's where my mind went when listening to Gary Karr's album Bass Virtuoso. The sound was so natural and so good I wanted to know more about the actual double bass used in the recording. The first track on the album, Henry Eccles: Sonata, has such a realistic and organic sound one can get the illusion of smelling the rosin on the black hair of Gary Karr's bow. Rumor has it that black haired bows produce a rougher sound as opposed to smooth sounding white haired bows. The coarseness and the beautiful vibrations off the Spruce wood of the bass were almost palpable. Track seventeen o the same album, Alec Wilder: Sonata for String Bass & Piano Part I, starts with Gary plucking the double bass strings (pizzicato) followed by returning to the bow and accompanied by a piano in the right channel. The whole track had a beautiful, lush, and sweet sound through the Yggdrasil that can't be denied. I felt like I had a front row seat to this concert right in my listening room. The only thing that could have made this experience more realistic is if the Yggdrasil had a scratch-n-sniff option. Emanating the scent of freshly cut Spruce would have sent me over the edge.

     

    Readers actually interested in the Tree Ring Society's research can find it here -> PDF Link

     

    I briefly want to touch on a Classical piece of music that totally sucked me into listening to the entire one hour performance. Usually when I write about Classical, my lack of knowledge shines brighter than anything else I write, and I expect this to be no different. I put on Passacaglia, the sixth track on the Reference Recording album of Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony playing Britten's Orchestra. I usually don't get that enthusiastic about this track until it gets loud (crescendo) near the finish. However, the time I was thrown for a loop twenty seconds into the track. The sound of the cello as the cellist gently pushes and pulls the bow across the strings is incredible. Not only could I hear spacial queues and the surrounding environment, but I could figuratively see and feel the wood of the instrument and the texture of the strings. The sound just resonated from the body of the cello and into the entire concert space. My usual favorite parts of Passacaglia, the eerie sounds of the string section at 4:25 and the huge booms of the drums at 5:10 followed by a massive collection of deep horns (tuba?) at 5:46, all sounded spectacular. After listening to Passacaglia, I started the album from track one and listened to the entire thing start to finish. That's very unusual for me when listening to a Classical piece of music.

     

    The 2011 remaster of Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales contains great music that sounds great, and also provides great material for evaluating audio components. Specifically, the second track titled Middle Man. At 0:11 into the track the percussionist Adam Topol hits a snare that sounds different through every DAC I've heard in my system. Some DACs produce an incredible amount of air around this snare while others make the snare sound completely dead. The Yggdrasil is the first DAC that has made me reconsider what this snare "should" sound like and question the large amount of air I previously thought was correct. Without being present at the recording, I admit that I have no reference for what is the correct sound of this snare. I can only use my judgement and my taste. Listening through my current reference DAC the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC RS, there is a tremendous amount of air and space surrounding the snare in Middle Man. The drum head is hit and the sound seems to rise into the air and hang, reverberating around the recording space, before decaying. This is a wonderful sound that can really place the listener in the recording studio. Listening to this through the Schiit Audio Yggdrasil gave me a different perspective. The sound of the snare doesn't rise as high or hang in the air as long or give one the sense of a recording space quite as large. Perhaps the Yggdrasil isn't memorializing the transient event because it doesn't "feature" pre/post ringing. I'm not sure the cause, but I am sure of my listening impression. There is a difference in reproduced sound that may not even be correct in either DAC, but both are definitely capable of sound quality superior to that of much of the competition at all prices.

     

    One of my go-to albums for listening enjoyment and feeling a bit on the dark side, is Leonard Cohen's Old Ideas. The second track Amen is full of juxtaposition that's a delight for the ears. Of course Leonard's vocal performance is that of a dusty, coarse, baritone with a microphone seemingly placed behind his front teeth. The vocal is supported by a deep electric bass throughout the track. Through the Yggdrasil each bass note is clearly delineated as if the listener can visualize Roscoe Beck plucking the strings for each note. Many listeners may like this track for the bass and gravely vocal performance, but what really makes it special for me is the backing vocal and the violin performance from Bela Santelli and Robert "OBM" Koda. The saying that opposites attract is right on within this track. About one minute into the track the violin starts weeping in the background followed by a subtle backing vocal abut ten seconds later. Throughout the rest of the track the violin can be heard coming in and out as well as the soothing background vocalists taking a more prominent role. The Yggdrasil's ability to reproduce each instrument as a distinctly different entity, to separate each bass note, to let the violin weep and hang in the air, and to recreate a smooth backing vocal in the face of a coarse lead vocal, is absolutely wonderful.

     

    I could go on all day writing about the wonderfully organic and natural sound of Peter, Paul and Mary's In The Wind album, how great the harmonizing vocals of the trio sounded, the palpability of the acoustic guitar on the title track to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, and how seductive Van's vocal on Into the Mystic through the Yggdrasil, but it's time to shake things up a bit. On August 25, 1993 Calvin Broadus was in a Jeep with his bodyguard McKinley Lee, when the men were threatened with a gun by Philip Woldemariam. McKinley Lee pulled out his own gun and shot Woldemariam, killing him. Lee and Broadus spent the next week on the lam, turning themselves in only after the MTV Music Video Awards. The two men were later acquitted of several crimes including murder. After the shooting Calvin Broadus created a song called Murder Was The Case and released it on his debut solo album called Doggystyle. The album was the first debut CD to enter the Billboard Pop charts at number 1. Astute Computer Audiophile readers may recognize the name Calvin Broadus as the rapper who goes by the name Snoop Dogg, or Snoop Lion, or Snoopadelic. Listening to Murder Was The Case through an audio system worth nearly $100,000, and specifically through the Schiit Audio Yggdrasil was a blast (no pun intended). The version of this track available on the soundtrack of the same name is actually better than the version on Doggystyle, thus that's the one to which I listen. The opening sound of the blades of a helicopter rotating followed by a booming drum echo should be experienced at higher volumes than normal listening. The high pitched synthesizer heard throughout much of the track is an essential yet annoying piece of the track. Nonetheless, Snoop gets my head bobbing with the infectious beat and his lyrical genius repeating "Murder, murder was the case that they gave me" with a bevy of backing vocalists. As Snoop raps, "My little homey Baby Boo took a pencil in his neck, And he probably won't make it to see twenty-two, I put that on my Momma; I'ma ride for you Baby Boo" the listener can't help but empathize with life in the LBC back in the mid-nineties. The Yggdrasil really bring out the emotion in the line, "No more indo, gin and juice, I'm on my way to Chino, rolling on the grey goose." Overall the sophisticated sound of the Yggdrasil's multibit architecture and its proprietary closed-forum filter really help Snoop's ode to a real life killing come through in a way many DACs simply can't manage. Note 1: The previous few sentences are to be read with an eye toward the humorous, keeping in mind that taking oneself too seriously can be detrimental to one's health. Note 2: Snoop's Doggystyle album was released three days after my eighteenth birthday in 1993. To say this album kept a few parties jumping in the ensuing years of my life would be an understatement.

     

     

     

     

    Conclusion

     

     

     

    cash@2x.pngWhen a pair of industry veterans get together to create excellent products for incredibly reasonable prices, consumers win. Schiit Audio's products range in price from $79 for the Fulla USB DAC / headphone amp to its flagship $2,299 Yggdrasil DAC. Based on my experience with countless DACs and after spending a couple months with the Yggdrasil, I can say without a doubt that this DAC is very special. It's one of my favorite DACs available today. In fact, I will happily mention the Yggdrasil in the same sentence as some of my other favorites, the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC RS ($16,000) and the EMM Labs DAC2X ($15,500), when talking to fellow audio enthusiasts. The Yggdrasil is one of those products that subtly grabs hold of the listener, yet the listener is the one who can't let go. I couldn't stop listening through the Yggdrasil enough to write this review on time. The Yggdrasil is a musically addictive drug without the expense and potential repercussions. When something is this enjoyable and the consequences of continuing its use aren't dire, the result is a foregone conclusion. More listening. The Yggdrasil has a rare ability to reproduce acoustic music on a level with some of the best DACs I've heard. Resonating Spruce wood from a double bass sounding so realistic as to breathe new life into old music, is a characteristic of the Yggdrasil. The juxtaposition of a coarse bowed bass with a silky smooth violin playing out in front of the listener as the sound simply hangs in mid-air until it appropriately decays, is part of an experience readily available through this DAC. The Yggdrasil has a really solid yet simplistic build quality on the outside and very selective component use on the inside. However, I believe the Yggdrasil's performance has much more to do with intellectual property than any other factor. Any manufacturer can use identical hardware in a competing product, but only Schiit Audio has its closed-form filter. In addition, the amount of engineering expertise required to implement the Analog Devices AD5791BRUZ DACs in an audio product is more than many companies have or costs more time and money than they can afford. To say the Yggdrasil is a unique product that's equal to much more than the sum of its parts is an understatement. Great technology and engineering coming together to reproduce fantastic sound quality at prices unheard-of in this industry is characteristically Schiit Audio. The Yggdrasil is a disruptive product that I can't recommend enough to both new and experienced music aficionados. Add to cart and enjoy.

     

     

     

     

     

    Product Information:

     

    • Product - Schist Audio Yggdrasil DAC
    • Price - $2,299
    • Product Page - Link
    • User Manual - PDF Link
    • USB Drivers - Link

     

     

     

    Where To Buy: Schiit Audio

     

     

     

    Associated Music:

     

     

     

     

    Associated Equipment:

     

     

     




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    It would be nice if Schiit would sell an upgrade or something for that would turn it into a pre-amp of sorts. Maybe a extra board with an analogue input and a proper analogue volume control.

     

    I am not sure but there are not many, if any DACS that can also work as a good pre amp.

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    +1.

    One partial solution might be a good quality passive. There are some very good ones that do not cost much. It's still another box, but at least the cost isn't $thousands.

     

    It would be nice if Schiit would sell an upgrade or something for that would turn it into a pre-amp of sorts. Maybe a extra board with an analogue input and a proper analogue volume control.

     

    I am not sure but there are not many, if any DACS that can also work as a good pre amp.

     

    Unfortunately not remote controlled (Schiit-folk reading this thread, take note), but the Schiit SYS for $49 US (yeah, you read that right) works a treat in my desktop system as a simple passive attenuator (volume control). Better sound than a couple of preamps I've tried there from NAD and Audioengine. So for anyone who doesn't mind walking over to the system to change volume, there's a good inexpensive solution.

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    Chris,

    Well written review and I'm sure the Yggdrasil sounds every bit as good as you say it does but I do have a few comments to make.

    In the very first paragraph you state that $2,300 is inexpensive for a stand alone DAC? In a world where reasonably good sounding DAC's are on chips costing peanuts and included inside any number of well reviewed components I find it hard to call $2,300 an inexpensive DAC.

     

    That comes to my second criticism from the same sentence.

    "That's a new-in-box component with a fifteen day return policy and a five year warranty"

    I would say that the industry standard for direct sales components today is a 30 day return policy,

    Emotiva and Hsu come off the top of my head. For such an expensive product I would think that they could afford a longer preview, total satisfaction guaranteed, return period than 15 days.

     

    If you're unhappy with the 15 day return policy, don't buy one. It really is that simple.

     

    And in the days of $10,000 - $15,000 dacs, yes $2300 is inexpensive for a state of the art dac. In fact, it 's a downright bargain; I've ordered one.

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    Tall praise! Thanks for an excellent write up Chris.

    The legend of the Yggy keeps on growing.

     

    Note: I learned a new audio term - "memorializing"

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    I am not sure but there are not many, if any DACS that can also work as a good pre amp.

     

    Wouldn't the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha 2 DAC work well as a pre-amp?

     

    Note that the unit's manual says:

    "Directly connecting to power amplifiers avoids any potential loss of fidelity from going through a preamplifier."

     

    Also, the Berkeley has an amazing -- to me at least -- 600-step volume control -- 00.0dB to 60.0dB in 0.1dB steps.

     

    Wouldn't such fine-tune volume control help make it a better pre-amp?

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    ChrisG - I think it is fair to assume that people checking this thread are looking for comparisons... I also have the QB9-DSD and I am very interested in your experience. Thanks

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    Not fair, Lampi is much more expensive.

     

    Nah, the DSD-Euphoria is actually cheaper and the Amber is about the same price.

     

    The other Lampis are more expensive.

     

    Now you can gget the ToTL GG with R2R multibit PCM and discrete "chipless" DSD.

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    Tall praise! Thanks for an excellent write up Chris.

    The legend of the Yggy keeps on growing.

     

    Note: I learned a new audio term - "memorializing"

     

    Chris seems to like a brighter/clinical type of sound. Hence the TAD speakers which also have the same rep.

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    Chris.

     

    Any chance of linking/porting this discussion over to the DAC Equipment forum?

     

    Looks like it might have some long legs.

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    Chris seems to like a brighter/clinical type of sound. Hence the TAD speakers which also have the same rep.

     

    He must have had a change of heart because the Yggy is anything but clinical. I have one and it is the most natural sounding DAC I have heard and yet has wonderful detail. I have owned 3 Saber based DACs and while I loved their detail retrieval they all eventually sounded too dry and a bit edgy for me.

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    He must have had a change of heart because the Yggy is anything but clinical. [...]

     

    Yes, a rather serious change of heart at that. Below is from the recent Simaudio Neo 380D DSD Review:

     

    The first thing I heard was a great sense of air around the hi-hat that virtually placed me in the room with the musicians. This sense of air or space really separates the men from the boys when it comes to music reproduction. DACs without the ability to convey this sense of space immediately cause me to lose interest in even my favorite music.

     

    And in this review he said:

     

    One other quality that is very noticeable through the Yggdrasil is the amount air around the instruments. This DAC doesn't have the most air I've ever heard, in fact it seems to reproduce less air around instruments than most DACs. However, the most I listened the more I thought it's entirely plausible that the Yggdrasil could be on the right side of history, if you know what I mean.

     

    Just wait till he tries out a real NOS R2R DAC... :)

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    He must have had a change of heart because the Yggy is anything but clinical. [...]

     

    And a rather serious change of heart actually. Below is from the Simaudio Neo 380D DSD Review:

     

    The first thing I heard was a great sense of air around the hi-hat that virtually placed me in the room with the musicians. This sense of air or space really separates the men from the boys when it comes to music reproduction. DACs without the ability to convey this sense of space immediately cause me to lose interest in even my favorite music.

     

    And in this review he said:

     

    One other quality that is very noticeable through the Yggdrasil is the amount air around the instruments. This DAC doesn't have the most air I've ever heard, in fact it seems to reproduce less air around instruments than most DACs. However, the most I listened the more I thought it's entirely plausible that the Yggdrasil could be on the right side of history, if you know what I mean.

     

    Just wait till he tries out a real NOS R2R DAC... :)

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    Mourip, I definitely don't want a Sabre DAC. But how is Yggy's air and sound staging? Chris seems to find it wanting in these qualities which are important to me.

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    Unfortunately not remote controlled (Schiit-folk reading this thread, take note), but the Schiit SYS for $49 US (yeah, you read that right) works a treat in my desktop system as a simple passive attenuator (volume control). Better sound than a couple of preamps I've tried there from NAD and Audioengine. So for anyone who doesn't mind walking over to the system to change volume, there's a good inexpensive solution.

     

    Sorry, Jud, I cannot give up my DAC's handheld remote, which controls power on/off, input source, polarity, volume and mute, to get up off the couch and walk across the room to my gear rack every time I want to adjust the volume. Some folks use "replay gain" a.k.a. "normalization" to make all their music the same peak volume, but I would never do that, either.

     

    If Schiit can put a volume control on its $89 Fulla DAC, I don't see why they didn't incorporate one into their $2,700 unit.

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    If you're unhappy with the 15 day return policy, don't buy one. It really is that simple.

     

    And in the days of $10,000 - $15,000 dacs, yes $2300 is inexpensive for a state of the art dac. In fact, it 's a downright bargain; I've ordered one.

     

    Ya buy your ticket and ya take your ride.

    I just hope your happy with your purchase within the 2 week cutoff period.

     

    I guess the price position is relative, $2,300 is a LOT of dough to me.

    Besides $2,000 will get you a Benchmark DAC2 HGC that will include the PreAmp/Remote functions others here are asking for, along with a SOTA headphone amp. All with a 30 DAY return policy-5 year warranty. Plus a Class A+ sound rating in Stereophiles Recommended Components as reviewed by John Atkinson, Erick Lichte, and Jon Iverson.

    If I had $2k+ to put on a DAC I know which one I'd give a listen to first. I believe in getting the best bang for my buck.

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    Hello,

    I've had the Yggy for a couple of months now and absolutely love it!

     

    Here's how I solved the 'remote control' issue.

     

    My Yggy is fed off an RPI running JRMC21 and controlled via Jremote on the iPhone. My amp is a 300W ATI 6002 which goes very very loud so I got attenuators (Rothwell attenuators from the UK) I got a custom made one with a -30dB attenuation so now I can play my Yggy at between 80-100 software volume (using the new TPDF dither mode of Jriver) - and it all works very well.

     

    I only have one source and don't believe in preamps - the Yggy is fully balanced so is the ATI 'true balanced' all the way to the speakers (B&W CM10s) so it sound glorious. Personally I'm very happy with his set up and really doubt I can better the Yggy - if I had £10k more - I'd invest it in speakers...

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    If I had $2k+ to put on a DAC I know which one I'd give a listen to first. I believe in getting the best bang for my buck.

     

    This is the core of the matter. It all comes down to how you define 'getting the best bang for your buck.'

     

    Some might agree with your valuation, some not.

     

    Having heard the Bifrost Multibit (but not the Yggdrasil yet), I lean decidedly toward Yggdrasil being the best bang for my buck in this case--even without remote capability. I'd love to have one and, given the fact that they designed the DAC to do one thing really, really well without adding on features that would have raised the cost even further (but did design it so the DAC can be readily and cheaply upgraded in the future), I'm very happy with their design decisions.

     

    Full disclosure, though, I won't have enough money for one for some time to come. But perhaps I will be able to afford the 3rd or 4th generation Yggy someday (children are even more expensive than DACs...)

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    (children are even more expensive than DACs...)

     

    Not if you put 'em to work...

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    If Schiit can put a volume control on its $89 Fulla DAC, I don't see why they didn't incorporate one into their $2,700 unit.

     

    Prolly because they didn't want to!

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    Not if you put 'em to work...

     

     

    Unfortunately, all of the mills and coal mines in our area have closed...

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    Ya buy your ticket and ya take your ride.

    I just hope your happy with your purchase within the 2 week cutoff period.

     

    I guess the price position is relative, $2,300 is a LOT of dough to me.

    Besides $2,000 will get you a Benchmark DAC2 HGC that will include the PreAmp/Remote functions others here are asking for, along with a SOTA headphone amp. All with a 30 DAY return policy-5 year warranty. Plus a Class A+ sound rating in Stereophiles Recommended Components as reviewed by John Atkinson, Erick Lichte, and Jon Iverson.

    If I had $2k+ to put on a DAC I know which one I'd give a listen to first. I believe in getting the best bang for my buck.

     

    I forgot, I also had a DAC2 HGC for a while in my desktop system. Sure, it has all of the bells & whistles, but I didn't like it. Sounded thin to me. The Ayre QB-9 DSD sounded better (IMO, YMMV, etc.) so I sold the Benchmark (which, BTW, replaced a Teac UD-501).

     

    I've had a few of the highly rated Stereophile products cycle through my house, but I think they missed the boat calling the Benchmark DACs (1 & 2) Class A (IMO, YMMV, BYOB, etc)

     

    Regarding the 30 day vs 15 day trial, in my experience, if I need 30 days to determine if something new sounds better than something I already have, it's not (better). 15 days with Yggy is more than enough time to hear what it can do (even with the out-of-the-box warm-up time required -- and that's not audiophool talk, it does change a lot the first 7 days powered up). In fact, when I switched back to my Audio Research REF DAC, in less than 5 minutes I knew Yggy was staying where it was.

     

    Sal, I've seen you around the Schiit boards on Head-fi (in fact, the one I link to below), so you know their philosophy. They like to keep things simple in terms of bells & whistles. They will also be the first to tell you that their products aren't for everyone and it's ok to like something else better.

     

    To quote Mike Moffat

     

    "Make sure what you have is for your pleasure and is not what you imagine pleases others.

     

    Take care of yourself and what you like; no one else will.

     

    Never spend money you do not have to impress people you do not like"

     

    Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up - Page 538

     

    It's a fact -- Yggy doesn't have a volume control, remote control, door locks, etc., and if people need that stuff they'll have to look elsewhere.

     

    That said, it sounds great. So if you've been thinking something is missing in your digital chain, then give Yggy a test drive anyway. You might find that picking up a used preamp on the GON makes sense so you can keep Yggy in your system.

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    Mourip, I definitely don't want a Sabre DAC. But how is Yggy's air and sound staging? Chris seems to find it wanting in these qualities which are important to me.

     

    Will let you know in a bit. Right now it is cooking in my headphone rig but I can already tell that it is a keeper. I listened to some choral music last night and the sense of air, ambiance and space got me to the Happy Place. I would rather wait until I can move it to my main system before making more comments as sound stage is pretty elusive with headphones:-)

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    Sorry, Jud, I cannot give up my DAC's handheld remote, which controls power on/off, input source, polarity, volume and mute, to get up off the couch and walk across the room to my gear rack every time I want to adjust the volume. Some folks use "replay gain" a.k.a. "normalization" to make all their music the same peak volume, but I would never do that, either.

     

    I am looking into a Tortuga LDR3.V2 Passive Preamp as a kit. Remote with volume, balance, inputs, digital level display. They have an SE and a balanced version.

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    Ya buy your ticket and ya take your ride.

    I just hope your happy with your purchase within the 2 week cutoff period.

     

    I guess the price position is relative, $2,300 is a LOT of dough to me.

    Besides $2,000 will get you a Benchmark DAC2 HGC that will include the PreAmp/Remote functions others here are asking for, along with a SOTA headphone amp. All with a 30 DAY return policy-5 year warranty. Plus a Class A+ sound rating in Stereophiles Recommended Components as reviewed by John Atkinson, Erick Lichte, and Jon Iverson.

    If I had $2k+ to put on a DAC I know which one I'd give a listen to first. I believe in getting the best bang for my buck.

     

    It isn't humanly possible for me to care less what Stereophile recommends or doesn't; it's probably been (well) over a decade since I've even looked at one. I suspect their 'recommendations' have more to do with (related) ad revenue than actual LISTENING.

     

    And I believe in getting the best bang for my buck too: I want the best DAC I can get for the buck; not the best dac with a bunch of other stuff thrown on top of it.

     

    But hey -- different strokes for different folks: that's why there are so many dac's in the world.

     

    Something is puzzling though . . . since you are so negative on this particular dac, why are you even bothering to post in this discussion? And it seems most of the posts I read from you are negative; why are you such a negative person?

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