Dedicated Schiit Yggdrasil thread

The Hugo is not exempt from reality, right? If one were to couple the Hugo's digital section with a power supply and output stage from a physically larger player, such as the Yggi, then is there any doubt that the sound quality would leap to another level? There is no pocket sized DAC in the hi-end for a reason. Any claim that a pocket size DAC offers the best possible fidelity under $2,500 should be called out and summarily dismissed. Now then, it is awesome that tiny DACs have become so good for those who go mobile. We can celebrate that and at the same time not lose our grasp on reality.

 

I'm not claiming the Hugo is the "best" DAC under $2500 whatever that means. All I was wondering is how you know what he has or hasn't heard. That's all.

 

I will make the epic leap that this quote alone is enough to satisfy a rational, informed audiophile that this member has let his heart get a little too far ahead of his head. We are in a golden era so let's celebrate it without losing our grip.

 

The reason why I love Schiit is because they allow casual listening and critical listening to be one-in-the-same. (But it swings both ways in that they make lo-fi recordings sounds so thin though. No sweetening, no coloring. Perhaps I'll keep a Sabre in the mix just for those.)

 

From the measurement thread you linked to the original poster says this:

The THD+N graph measures artificially high due to a driver / OS interaction on my computer. An update will be forthcoming.

IMHO Schiit are one of the more honest operations, they wouldn't claim true 20 bit (they might as well say 24 bit if they were going to lie?) if it were 13 bit.

Also look at the TotalDAC Dual (which sounds fantastic) measurement, it's multibit and has noise floor around -150 dB.

 

Have you even heard the Chord Hugo? It's been critically lauded by just about every Hifi critic that's heard it, not to mention the thousands of people who've bought it and been stunned by its level of performance. Many people are using it within their main systems, not just as a portable DAC/Headphone Amp. I, myself, have compared it with Naim's full size DAC (which is nearly double the price, £2395 from new) and it was a significant upgrade.

 

Is there anyone in socal who owns this Yggdrasil dac? I'd love to get together and listen to it. We can also compare with the EAR Dacute and Chord QBD76HDSD Dac's. Please PM if this interests you as I am curious about it.

 

Curious as to thoughts about the Yggi only being capable of 13 bit THD+N? A lot of owners are reporting that it sounds very good (and who am I to argue wth that) ... however I'm more interested on an engineering performance level and what the 13 bits means.

I realize that even files that are listed as high res 24/192 music doesn't really get to 24 bits and it may be closer to 19-21 bits, but 13 bits seems a bit stunted. Does this mean it can't do anything higher than CD bit rate playback?

Thanks!

 

The person who measured that has updated his post, saying his measurement was off for reasons not owing to the Yggdrasil. He has promised to make a new measurement and update his post further.

 

I thought he took a second set of measurments (after warm up) and both came out the same. I'll be sure to check back on that and I imagine they will be posted over here as well. Thanks for the update!

 

Curious to what this piece sounds like, even if for just CD playback. I have a second system in which I am looking for a DAC that can play, at minimum, fantastic CD quality playback. I use an airport express in that system and that is limited to 16/44.1. I am fine with that and wanted to see what the dac can do there.

 

Hey, just found this thread and I just want to add a couple of cents about the Yggy: Let it warm up for a month, and then enjoy the music. Forget the specs, forget the technology- Yggy reproduces the sound of musical instruments in a room. It doesn't sound like vinyl, it sounds like sitting in the control room next to the producer as the final mix is being reviewed one last time. Right now, John Coltrane is standing 10 feet in front of me in my LR playing the saxophone.

PS- Redbook sounds amazing.

 

Is anyone here using Schiit amp/DACs with a receiver?

 

How is the Yggi working out?

totaldac d1-twelve

^Hoping that there are comparisons of the Yggi to totaldac's flagship. Both are R2R, but I wondered what the other significant design differences are?

 

So the DAC you're interested in for comparison has an MSRP of around €30,000?

 

Figure it isn't cheap, but yeah, was hoping to get some feedback.

Anyhow, is your new DAC broken in and continuing to impress?

 

I don't know anyone in L.A. that has one of those DACs, sorry.

And yes, the Yggy continues to impress. I'm now driving it with Roon Labs software and Tidal. The combination of the excellent sound quality and the depth of available lossless material makes for the ultimate jukebox.

I'm still quite satisfied with the cost to sound quality ratio of the Yggy.

 

Excellent. I don't recall your speakers and amplification, but with the Yggy and Roon, etc I wonder if you'll be motivated to test the waters upmarket just a bit? Also, what is your listening space like as far as speaker positioning and acoustic treatment?

I'm going on 10 months with no system changes, so you can help me live vicariously!

 

I'm trying to figure out how to have a rockin' two channel rig side-by-side the home theater. I don't have enough room in the house for a dedicated listening room, so compromises must be made. Add to that the small size of the house (900 sq ft), and things like room treatments and optimal speaker placements become more of a dream than reality.

In the meantime, it's headphones mostly for critical listening.

 

I felt I achieved this goal admirably right before I lost interest in home theater (or rather decided stereo is fine for it). It's really about the compromises you're willing to make on the HT side.

 

I've been having some success with a side-by-side model using active studio monitors driven directly from the Yggy with a passive attenuator. Moving to passive speakers will require a new amp. I'm not quite ready to start listening to 5.1 or 7.1 folded down to stereo. But that's another topic for another thread.

 

Well, the compromises I was suggesting wasn't necessarily my route of giving it up all together. I think the biggest questions are if you need HDMI switching in a preamp, and if you need Audessey/etc. If you can live without either, you can go the route of a premium grade A/V preamp from the mid-2000's. I had a McIntosh MX-119 I ran 7.1 analog outs into, and it gave me flawless stereo performance - the heavy hitters all have completely distinct 2 channel sections in the same box.

Of course, the Marantz AV7005 I had previous to that DID have hdmi switching and all the modern features, and probably would have been good enough for a sane person.

 

I have my 3.1 HT in the same room as my two channel. DIY cylinder bass traps are arranged for best two channel under the compromise. I won't upgrade components until I move and get separate rooms.

 

Oh Schiit - Mods!

Very few will be willing to get crazy with gear as the price point rises. The Yggy seems to be right on the knife's edge.

 

I appreciate your observations on the two different DAC's from Schiit. I am looking forward to receiving the Yggy end of July or early August. It's been on order for several weeks now.. Thanks, Al