CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

  • December 31, 2015, 11:18:09 AM
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9 ... 37

Author Topic: Schiit Yggdrasil DAC Review (pre-production): a short preview of your next DAC  (Read 80228 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

kothganesh

  • Rebelious Stax Zealot
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +39/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 734
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #30 on: January 08, 2015, 07:57:59 AM »
Now you guys are talking. Thanks. Just shudder at the thought of paying customs duty in India for the Yggy. I am taking delivery of an Odyssey Stratos amp today. Paid $800. Duty $270.
Logged

Thad E Ginathom

  • Politically Incorrect Ex-Hippie
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +25/-5
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 648
  • In the end... cats.
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #31 on: January 08, 2015, 08:20:04 AM »
Quote from: kothganesh on January 08, 2015, 07:09:22 AM
Thanks ZD, I have to recast my budget.

Call me if that results in the availability of a used Gungnir! I will be seriously interested.
Logged
Cats are nice

magiccabbage

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Swabbie
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +0/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #32 on: January 08, 2015, 10:53:21 AM »
Great write up. Very enjoyable read - especially the comments. I should get to hear the new Hugo TT soon and I will be buying the Yggy so I can post some impressions if anyone is interested.
Logged

Sorrodje

  • excusez-moi, je suis français
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +68/-8
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 617
  • Olivier Le Vasseur - "La Buse" - French Pirate.
    • Tips & tricks for Ubuntu or Debian administration (French)
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #33 on: January 08, 2015, 11:26:09 AM »
Very interesting and insightful review. Thks for taking the time.

Yggy is definitely on my radar but I'm still not convinced so much resolution is what I look for.  It will depend of what I plan for my HD800 Sytem.  If I decide to make the HD800 my headphone of choice for critical listening, maybe I'll consider more seriously the Iggy. After all, I listen mostly to good recorded/mastered music. Ok it's not that expensive but it's still a lot of money to save so, it will let me enough time to read impressions from other trustable ears here or there and take my own decision in a few month.

One question but it's maybe a bit soon to have answer : I saw Yggy has Three outputs ? 2 X RCA and 1X XLR ?  Do SE outputs use the full potential of the dac ?  many amps I consider ( My DNA Sonett for now but I'm considering currently the Stratus or the EC 2A3 mkIV as my current favorite candidate for a  end-game rig for my HD800) don't provide Balanced inputs ;)

Second question : Do you think the Iggy needs an absolute stellar amps to shine ? Does something like my Sonett can allow me to benefit from most of what the Iggy is capable of ?

Last question (for now) :  Can we use more than one amp simultaneously from the Iggy ?

Logged

Azteca X

  • Audio Tlatoani
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +27/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 232
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #34 on: January 08, 2015, 03:26:25 PM »
Hey Zero, great writeup! Really enjoyed it. This line in particular: "Forget high res files, I don’t think I’ve ever truly heard 16 perfect bits before." This is the feeling I've had as I've obtained new headphones, heard better gear...you realize there is tons of nuance hidden away in the mediocre 1990 classical CD because it is (thankfully) pretty much a straight tape transfer.

Greatly looking forward to hearing one of these. I have my Pulse Xfi coming relatively soon and my plan is to stick with it until I can afford a Yggy.
Logged

Marvey

  • The Man For His Time And Place
  • Master
  • Pirate
  • *****
  • Brownie Points: +555/-33
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6698
  • Captain Plankton and MOT: Eddie Current
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #35 on: January 08, 2015, 06:03:29 PM »
Quote from: Sorrodje on January 08, 2015, 11:26:09 AM
One question but it's maybe a bit soon to have answer : I saw Yggy has Three outputs ? 2 X RCA and 1X XLR ?  Do SE outputs use the full potential of the dac ?  many amps I consider ( My DNA Sonett for now but I'm considering currently the Stratus or the EC 2A3 mkIV as my current favorite candidate for a  end-game rig for my HD800) don't provide Balanced inputs ;)
 
Second question : Do you think the Iggy needs an absolute stellar amps to shine ? Does something like my Sonett can allow me to benefit from most of what the Iggy is capable of ?
 
Last question (for now) :  Can we use more than one amp simultaneously from the Iggy ?

  • I asked Jason about the SE outputs. He said they are summed from the balanced signal. They didn't cheat by just taking one leg of the balanced like on some other DACs.
  • Normally, the adage that DAC don't make a huge difference is true, especially at the low-end. At the meet, Ringingears heard the Rag/Yggy stack and pointed to the Rag "I gotta get me one of those". I told him that it was 70% the Yggy and 30% the Rag; and that he should try his "modest" Project Ember amp with the Yggy's SE outs to confirm. Turns out I was right. Yggy stands head and shoulders above many other DACs. Keep in mind that Ringingears brought his Wadia CDP/DAC to the meet, which is no slouch either.
  • Sonett should be just good enough. Stratus is better of course - it adds intangibles which are hard to describe.
Logged

zerodeefex

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +123/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1060
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #36 on: January 08, 2015, 06:04:40 PM »
SE output is fucking phenomenal. Used it with my Klone :P . Switched back and forth on the BA, I might be deaf, but I didn't notice a clear difference.

Quote from: marvey on January 08, 2015, 06:03:29 PM
  • Normally, the adage that DAC don't make a huge difference is true, especially at the low-end. At the meet, Ringingears heard the Rag/Yggy stack and pointed to the Rag "I gotta get me one of those". I told him that it was 70% the Yggy and 30% the Rag; and that he should try his "modest" Project Ember amp with the Yggy's SE outs to confirm. Turns out I was right. Yggy stands head and shoulders above many other DACs. Keep in mind that Ringingears brought his Wadia CDP/DAC to the meet, which is no slouch either.

You're putting this lightly. It blew his fucking mind. Did you see? He had the crazy eyes aferwards.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2015, 06:32:19 PM by zerodeefex »
Logged

shipsupt

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +160/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1687
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #37 on: January 08, 2015, 07:05:28 PM »
It's a non-starter... no DSD! What?  I deleted all my non-DSD files early last year. Life with 6 albums is so much easier.  Would be better with DSD.

Logged
Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

zerodeefex

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +123/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1060
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #38 on: January 08, 2015, 07:19:02 PM »
Quote from: shipsupt on January 08, 2015, 07:05:28 PM
It's a non-starter... no DSD! What?  I deleted all my non-DSD files early last year. Life with 6 albums is so much easier.  Would be better with DSD.

All jokes aside, one thing I should have added to my review, I have more DSD content than probably 99% of DSD advocates. I own several hundred SACDs, all of them are ripped to ISOs on my server. It's still just a fraction of my music collection.

DSD converted to PCM on the fly in JRiver sounded better on the Yggy than it has on any DAC that I've heard that supported DSD natively.
Logged

Marvey

  • The Man For His Time And Place
  • Master
  • Pirate
  • *****
  • Brownie Points: +555/-33
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6698
  • Captain Plankton and MOT: Eddie Current
Re: Yggdrasil: a short (p)review of your next DAC
« Reply #39 on: January 08, 2015, 07:38:16 PM »
Just a note on the JRiver DSD noise filter options (yes, DSD is mostly noise past 24kHz). The filter settings may sound different. YMMV. The default settings are different from MC17 to MC20.
Logged
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9 ... 37
« previous next »