Impressions?  Great sound, great beverages. (ZD, have to get that punch recipe.) Great food,and great company! I'm too fried  (as in tired) for further audio acoustic analysis at this time.

zerodeefex:
yggy was ridiculous. it was ridiculous with the Klone, it was ridiculous with the 727 > SR-009, it was ridiculouiculous with the BA. I could literally pick out details of the mastering and recording process on tracks I've heard a thousand times that I've never heard before

Tari:
So is the Yggy better within the DAC world than the Rag is in the amp world?  Because the Rag was not a keeper for me.

zerodeefex:
its a good pairing with both. what amp/amps are you going to run? I was really impressed with the Rag. for a no effort SS amp, it runs with the EC gear. I loved CEE TEEs BA, but I was crazy impressed with the pretty much effortless control and resolution of the Rag.

MuppetFace:
I plan to use the Yggy with my Abyss and Code-X.

zerodeefex:
haha, I don't think I've heard anything like the Yggy before. Marv's not just shilling for the sake of shilling. this thing is it.

MuppetFace:
*009

zerodeefex:
the deltas in resolution between the Abyss and HD800 are very very stark out of the Yggy/Rag combo. It's a little bonkers.

MuppetFace:
Also whaddya mean "damn Abyss?" It's the headphone that made me give my SR-009 away.

zerodeefex:
I'll jump into that thread later. For HD800, it's MKIV > Rag > Klone > balanced dynahi > SE dynahi > B22 for me in my setup. today we had KGSSHV and 727 to prove how much less detailed the 009 was than the HD800 (or even the damn Abyss in some cases)

Thanks to Zerodeefex for hosting the meet! And thanks to Marv and CEE TEE for the tasty food!

Yggy is the Schiit! Too bad I couldn't hear it with the 727 and SR-009. I can only imagine the combo to be very satisfying.

I thought Rag worked well with Orthos, but may not be a good match with HD800. Maybe it was just me, but the mid sounded a bit shouty.

LCD-3F sounded a bit soft and mellow on my amp. Bass also not that heavy or visceral. Jeff's power amp didn't fare any better, either. Geek Pulse was able to tighten it, but it sounded a bit "off" to me, like there was some tizzy sound in the midrange. Grain?

Modded Abyss sounded a bit too polite IMO, but I kinda like that. Easier to listen to. Clamp and fit are still killer though. No way can I stand that. I always had to take off my glasses whenever I put it on.

Geek Pulse Xfi sounded good. Really uptight throughout the whole frequency. I guess I could nitpick its very slight tendency to become sibilant, and that it's lacking a bit of body compared to the R2R we had at the meet, but then I'm just being silly. For delta-sigma, it was not bad at all.

Thanks to Marv for pointing out the bass bloat in my chain. It was hard to hear at first, but after listening to the Code-X, and learning exactly how "tight bass" should sound like, I was able to identify it. IMO, it sounds like R2R is doing better than delta-sigma here. The difference is not even that subtle.

AKG K7XX was really surprising to hear. I never thought I'd see the day when I consider an AKG headphone "good".

SR-009 was my favorite at this meet. I think partially due to KGSSHV. 727 wasn't wowing me, but KGSSHV totally got me. Informal comparison against HE-6 on the power amp showed 009 to be brighter, and yet less fatiguing, and also much more effortless. Kinda weird considering I heard 009 with KGSSHV before at one meet and wasn't entirely wowed. Probably the DAC.

Yggdrasil is a game changer. Best match for me was the Yggdrasil into the Solderdude's Ember set on hi-gain and 120 ohm Z output (thanks Marv) with the HD-800. I had back up on this, and they were sober.  No names. I respect privacy.  Thanks ZD, and your understanding wife. Crazy good fun.

My quick and dirty impressions:

• Yggy > 727 > 009 - Best stat chain I've heard in person. Beat out the MSB stack > WES > 009 that was pretty awesome that I've heard before. Jazzfan will be picking the Yggdrasil up, I'm sure! I'd be satisfied with this combo forever if I was still a stat fanatic.

• If Bill-P doesn't want to get thrown overboard - he MUST make an HE-560 modding guide. Best HE-560 I've heard.

• I still like my Geek Out SE > Triad L3 Lion stack for HD800 use. CEE TEE does too but Marvey expects better. Still, everyone agreed that it stomps the Hugo.

• Yggy > everything else - Preview of my mega review: absofuckinglutely fantastic. Biggest improvement in every chain. Pick your transducer, pick up this DAC, and get a good enough amp until you can get your amp of choice.

• Pulse XFi SE - had enough headroom to drive even the bonkers planars. Bill REALLY liked this pairing with his modded HE-560. I didn't get a listen, but I wish I did!

• People - you guys are great! I had a great time .

• Shah restaurant - Delicious, but unfortunately my house still smells like indian/pakistani food. Tried to air it out and use some box fans to no avail.

• Beer - Thank you, CEE TEE, for leaving me a bottle of Pliny the Elder! I'm very excited to crack it open.

• My modded Abyss - I still love them

• Half modded HD800s (creatology only) - not as good as rug linered HD800s

• AKG K7XX - Why did I buy these when I have so many flagships on hand?

• CEE TEE's hair - super tame. I was disappointed

• Casey's beard - only a little scraggly. B-

• Larry's shoes - nice!

• Elysian's new gf - nicer than his old one

• Gavin's dislike of Bach - Boo. No longer allowed in my house.

• Ringingear's cat - What a trooper! Glad he's doing okay.

• My dog - no longer allowed to fart up my house during meets. People were looking at me suspiciously whenever she was out