What do you think about the noise readings on the Wyrd? Seems like it is pushing noise into the high frequencies from audible range.

Do you think it's artifact or by design?

Inconclusive at this point. I need to test it out with a better DAC than the Dragonfly.

I just figured out what was killing my Schiit Wyrd at work.

The second I plug in my external USB 3 jump drive, it stops working. Completely different USB location and I'm not even playing music from it, but it stops working.

If I unplug that USB stick, it works fine.

Wish I could figure out how to fix that issue, but at least I have a workaround. I prefer to listen to music from that drive without transferring it to my work hard drive, but apparently that is not an option.

Edit: Spoke too soon. My work computer is balls. Broke again after a while.

Could still be on the same USB bus. I can't get the highest speed measurements on the QA400 with my home PC because I have too much crap attached to the USB lines. USB can't do DMA, i.e. access to memory or subsystems cannot be done independent of CPU. Finally, most USB controllers (on either end) tend to suck.

Best approach is to get a decent USB PCI card to run audio applications. Faster computer also helps.

better than most work computers out there.

Umm... that is an understatement. I withdraw my prior mobo insult. wtf job do you have that deemed 32 jiggabytes of ram necessary??

Do I need any fancy USB cables for this thing? Pyst cable?

The PYST USB cable from Schiit is the least expensive audiophile USB cable you can buy.  It is made by Straight Wire, a budget audiophile cable company.  (In fact, most places have the same cable for more than schiit.com - ssshh don't tell anyone.)   The PYST runs only a little more than generic cables, so you are getting a cable that is certified by both schiit and Straight Wire to perform properly to specs, AND a cable that is designed by someone who listens to their prototypes before going to production.

Anyway, based on positive reviews in the thread on the Wyrd+Gungnir, I went ahead and bought a Wyrd (and another PYST) to try with my Bifrost Uber.  The first one I received, worked fine with my HRT MS2+ DAC that does not require drivers (USB 1.0 only), but when I tried it with Bifrost, the Wyrd was not "hot swabble" - Windows would not reinstall Bifrost successfully if I turned Wyrd off and on.  (Wyrd huh ?)

Schiit immediately sent out a replacement, which works fine - I can switch off the Wyrd, Bifrost disappears from Windows devices, and then when I switch on, it reappears - as is normal for USB devices.

My impression of the sound quality difference was similar to thegunner100's in this post:

http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1652.msg44112.html#msg44112

except that my impression was that it was less subtle than what thegunner100 described.  It is subtle in the sense that it takes some listening skill to notice, but then when you notice it, it seems a clear improvement.

I found that someone's description that it was most easily noticed by removing it, was exactly true for me.