Dedicated Schiit Yggdrasil thread

Do you feel things are improving as it warms up?

 

The early digital mastering efforts are to be commended. Those guys did what they could with the tech as it was. CD players back then were absolutely crap, so if mastering was good, then no consumer back then would know it. We get the spoils! That said, and notwithstanding the pleasure you'll get from old CDs, newer mastering work can elevate the enjoyment to another level. I'll wager that your DAC will present these sometimes more complicated mastering efforts exceedingly well.

Only suggesting that if the Yggy proves to be leaps and bounds better than your amplification and speakers, then you'll enjoy another great ride in a couple years if upgrades are in the picture. Meantime, who cares. The fun has just begun.

Haha. Well, I won't tell anyone. Got so many faulty "BS meters" on this forum.

 

Yes. Best improvement so far was between hours 1 and 50.

 

Thanks for your reports so far, I appreciate hearing your thoughts.

 

To chime in on the THD debate:

I've gone through about 10 sub-$3k DACs in the past year, finally keeping an Audio GD NOS1704 and an Audio GD Master 7 (though I might have to try the Yggy!).

At one point, I had the NOS1704 and a Yulong DA8 in my possession at the same time, and I A/B-ed them. The Yulong is significantly more expensive and, as a Sabre-based Delta Sigma DAC, had way, way better THD measurements than the R2R NOS1704. Yet, in my repeated A/B listening (short passages, volume matched, same equipment, back-t0-back), the NOS1704 -- despite being a cheaper R2R DAC with worse THD measurements -- trounced the Yulong.

So, in short, I'm not skeptical that people on Head-Fi and elsewhere are saying the Yggy surpasses other DACs with better THD measurements.

 

I hope that we are able to come up with an explanation though.

 

I don't know the answer, but I think I know what Schiit would say--that maintaining the original samples is more important than a slightly worse THD rate.

 

Hope we get some measurements and commentary in Stereophile along with manufacturer feedback.

 

Hopefully I get a chance to hear it. Can't begin to explain how much I don't care what numbers on a page are.

 

That Changstar thread and then the site as I browsed it makes me feel good about my 90s focus on my Genesis Digital Lens and Theta Gen Va.

The (R2R and custom filters) dream of the 90s is alive in DACs (and Portland)!

 

Well, either the numbers are misunderstood or otherwise misleading OR there is a shortcoming which a listener may be blissfully unaware of. I'd like for us all to be as informed as possible.

 

I can also confirm that the DAC gets noticeably better with time. After a few hours, it was somewhat harsh and sibilant. After a day or so, that was mostly gone and continues to improve somewhat with more time. I'm at about 75 hours right now. Supposedly magic really kicks in at 165.

 

If there are flaws in an audio product that the listener is able to be unaware of, then they aren't flaws, they're engineering footnotes. Right? All I care about is how something sounds. Not what the numbers are, what the price tag is, how prestigious the manufacturer is or isn't, etc.

 

Sticking with the flaws, as you put it. There aren't any listeners who can know everything that they might be missing. Many buyers of the original DirectStream were falling all over themselves until its flaw was fixed and then the result was even better. A tired example and perhaps not relevant here, but it happened recently for all to hear about. I, for one, hope that the Yggi is exceedingly well received. The sooner DACs get better and cheaper then the sooner I'll be able to plunge all over again.

 

Going out of town this weekend, but I'll post more impressions next week. I'm at 170 hours right now.

 

To the member that upgraded from Gungnir to Yggy... How would you characterize the sonic improvements that you heard? I have the Gungnir and am thinking about the same upgrade path. Thx!

 

I'd be upgrading from BiFrost. By the way, BiFrost isn't an always on DAC is it? Any one know? the Schiit Q&A seemed non-descriptive about it.

 

Does Yggdrasil have volume control?

 

Buddy of mine just got his in. He's pretty stoked! He had said he though Schist was overrated and positive reviews were driven by clever marketing. Guess the Yggy changed hi mind!

 

Also interested in this. The Gungnir was a substantial step up from my Loki, but that could be for a number of reasons (costing 5x as much, notwithstanding) but I am loving what I'm hearing about Yggy. I will put myself in the camp of not caring about THD numbers.

 

I didn't leave mine on all the time when I had it.

 

I was told it hasn't, so I was planning to use the gain controls when connecting it to my SDS 470C amplifier until I decided to use a TC Electronic Level Pilot ( http://www.tcelectronic.com/level-pilot/ ).

 

The manual says it's fine to leave on, but I generally turn it off if I'm not going to be using it for most of the day.

 

Thanks! I was about to pull the trigger on a Yggdrasil but I would need a pre-amp.
Almost every DAC and CDP I've owned has had volume control.
Aesthetix has an option to add volume control to their DACs and CDPs which is great.
IMO: This is the way to go.

 

Yeaaaaaaaah, don't do that. Seriously, leave it on 24/7. You'll be glad you did.