Dedicated Schiit Yggdrasil thread

To a point. Brickwalling will always suck on all DACs.

 

Is the Bimby playing a little bit more spatial than the Oppo? I've noticed that some DACs and amps that are more spatial (doing a more set-back or 3D style soundstage) can sometimes have problems with the bass. Bass is often mixed for gear that has a flatter and forward soundstage. With gear that is forward the bass will be as it was intended with punch. On gear that is more spatial the bass gets set back a bit and loses the punch and some energy. The degree to which that happens depends on the mixing.

One interesting test for this is "Plainsong" from The Cure's Disintegration album. There is a bass energy flow going on in that song. With some gear that goes too spatial, or goes spatial in the wrong way, that bass energy flow gets lost. The Schiit Gumby plays Plainsong well. The sound is spacious yet the bass energy flow is there. Gear that is flatter in soundstage usually gets the bass in Plainsong right. Gear that is spatial sometimes doesn't.

 

Bimby is more spatial for sure. I remember listening to the opening track on First Aid Kit's album Stay Gold. It's a song with a lot going on. Sounded congested. When I got the original BiFrost and put that track on there was suddenly space between everything going on and I could hear separation and isolation.

 

The Gumby has arrived! Only had time for a brief listen but extremely impressed and that's with no burn in time. Definitely hearing more detail and the sense of being in the studio. Everything just sounds more musical. No way to do anA/B but I listened to the Gungnir a lot so not hard to hear the improvement. Trumpets are more liquid sounding. More sustain on piano keys. Great stuff!

 

With this and the Luxman I picked up recently I've officially "maxed out" my $2000 Monitor Audio R8s so next upgrade will be speakers.

 

I just heard the new Hi res David Bowie "Ziggy Stardust" jump out of my system in a way I've never heard before. The song took on this three dimensional thing that was incredible. Felt like listening though headphones but better because the whole thing happened in my living room and not my head.

 

Enjoy. I found myself listening to the Gumby every night for two weeks before stopping to play an LP as an alternative. It really is musical.
I also noticed a good change after about 24 hours. Out of the box it was cold. I left it play on random for a day before returning and it was much better. After that I left it running non-stop for a week and enjoyed listening each night.

I used to have a Denon 3910 to play SACDs but its drive became finicky a few years ago so it went to a friend's garage system. Since then I was searching for a replacement to the musicality of the Denon and the Gumby has it. I can't do a direct comparison either but from my fallible memory the Gumby plays redbook better than the Denon played SACD.

 

Is the Regen beneficial if you use a Mac as your source, or are the USB supplies from Macs generally cleaner than those from PCs?

 

interesting impressions from one Yggdrasil owner :
http://www.head-fi.org/t/766347/schiit-yggdrasil-impressions-thread/1875#post_12350613

 

this sounds terrible. the better the dac, the closer it will be to a really good vinyl playback.

 

"Interesting" is an interesting way of introducing that post.

I wouldn't worry about it. It's just one head-fi'er lost in the euphoria of trying to hear burn-in with a DAC that he's read reviews that have told him that there will be burn-in changes to the sound. I have no idea what music and recordings he's listening to. His profile and recent posts give no clues. His profile does not list his gear so I have no idea what sort of gear he has experience with and what sort of gear he may be pairing with the DAC. He did have a recent post about the Audio GD Master 9 headphone amp. I can only assume that he is using that amp. The Yggy is a transparent DAC that will let you hear more of the amp than you will be used to hearing. It's quite possible that what he's noting in his "interesting" impressions is more to do with the sound of the amp than the sound of the DAC. It's also quite possible that the recordings he's listening to have that sort of sound. The Yggy and Gumby have a remarkable ability to not only hear more of your amp but also hear more of the ADC that was used in making the recording you are listening to. I have no idea if he is listening to the same recordings throughout his burn-in listening impressions. If he's listening to different recordings then his impressions are more about the different recordings and their recording quality than about the actual burn-in changes of the DAC. So many unknowns. Which is typical of head-fi.

One thing I really like about the Gumby DAC is that it allows me to hear more of my amp. I happen to really like the sound qualities of my amp (Cavalli Liquid Fire). The more I hear of my amp and the less of the DAC the better. There are some recordings where the Gumby seems to almost disappear which is a crazy thing to hear. MFSL CDs done with the original GAIN system are one example where that can happen. It's really neat when that happens. But you'd also better like the sound of your amp when that happens because you're going to be hearing more of your amp sound when that happens. If your amp has some sonic faults you're going to notice. Fortunately for me my amp is awesome and I want to hear even more of it. Which is one reason I've been wanting to upgrade my Gumby to a Yggy. The Yggy being more transparent and letting you hear more of the amp and the recording compared to the Gumby.

 

That is exactly what my Gungnir sounded like after the multibit upgrade. Tinny, cold, irritating. Thing sounds horrible when cold so I just leave it on all of the time. After warmed up and broken in for a while the magic happens. I love the sound of that thing.

 

Yep, like my comment a few up this page. The GMB out of the box was cold and sterile, exactly as the review noted. It needs warm up and burn-in of at least 24 hours, 48 hours would be better. I would expect the same or more from a Yggy.

 

Ordered a Yggdrasil yesterday. Looking forward to joining the Schiit cult in a few weeks.

 

Congrats! Bummer about the current backorder status. It's no fun to wait for something like this.

 

I know. I was reading on another site that some people who ordered in Nov 2015 received their Yggy's in a few short days. Oh, well. Good things come to those who wait.

Seriously can't wait to get my hands on this DAC!

 

Can't afford an Yggy, but I'm very, very satisfied with my Gumby. And I had a very different experience out of the box. Compared to my Oppo HA-1 the Gungnir Multibit was much more "fleshy" sounding, with far more realistic sounding treble sans the dry, slightly metallic sound of the oppo. And it only got better from there.

 

They mass produce Schiit, Test Schiit, Burn Schiit, and ship Schiit!

 

If the majority of your listening habits is 16 bit CDs is there much of a reason to upgrade to Gumby or Yggy? Are those two for needledrops and hi-rez?

 

It is the cheapest R2R DAC on the market. Does not do Delta Sigma conversion. Sound quality is overall superior and to be believed when you hear it. Even with 44.1/16.

 

Bump.

 

There seems to be a general consensus that R2R DACs sound better than ones using Delta Sigma conversion. The Yggy is one of the first at a low cost to be a R2R design and from what I understand it makes redbook sound so good that High Resolution audio is not necessary to have with this Schiit DAC.

 

I've read multiple posts at various forums, in which the sound of cd rips was said to be very good with the Yggdrasil, maybe even surprisingly so.

 

Yes, the Yggy does a wonderful job with good old redbook. The Schiit "combo burrito" filter is darn good. I prefer the Yggy and it's internal filter to using my 128 capable DSD DAC - particularly for acoustic music. One interesting tidbit - Jason Stoddard (one of Schiit's co-founders) mentioned on Head-Fi that he actually uses a Gumby in his personal system. He mentioned he preferred the Gumby's slightly euphonic presentation to the Yggy's uber clarity/ resolution. That's good news for those who want a more affordable entry point to R2R.

 

I should've clarified: I meant is there a reason to upgrade from Bimby to Gumby or Yggy if most of your listening habits are 16 bit CDs (Bimby = 16 bits, Gumby = 18 bits, Yggy = 21 bits)