Well you asked, I answered. You can sell everything and keep the Bifrost or heck, I have an ODAC for sale for only $85 if you're 'skeptical'. I think you might have some other questions you need to answer first completely unrelated to whether the Yggy is a noticeable improvement or whatever. Many of us have already written our impressions or made notes comparing to other DACs. You or anyone else is free to do your own tests under the same conditions and point out where they are flawed, inaccurate, or imaginary.

Till then, best of luck and happy trails on your journey wherever it takes you.


Btw, if you use the search function or browse the topics, you can find many answers and resources to help you answer your question.

I know, I'm having conflicting thoughts! I'm over complicating this for myself.

Thanks for your pointers though… to me, I'm still at that discovery stage of a new hobby; trying to figure out "where is the end game? what is good? what is not good?". So, I think I'll have to try the Yggy and make that as my point of reference for TOTL DACs.

Then compare it with a lesser DAC to point out the different characteristics.

If there's anything I've learned from fiddling with the Soekris R2R board, it's that filters make or break a dac.

I know, I'm having conflicting thoughts! I'm over complicating this for myself.

I sympathize with you and so here's my 2 cents:

• It’s widely acknowledged here (and pretty much everywhere I’ve looked) that DAC differences < amp differences < headphone differences.
• Guys around here know what they like and zero in on it.  Some of them have pretty darn good hearing- I'm guessing a combo of physiology, technique, and experience.  IMO that can magnify differences to a reader.  Metaphor: A winemaker in Burgundy will probably be able to nitpick Pinot Noir to a higher degree than a sommelier, food critic, or winemaker from another region.
• If you stick to one brand, it’s likely their stuff will sound pretty similar on a superficial level to begin with.  It sort of makes sense if you think about it.  I personally find my Asgard2, Vali, and Lyr1 very similar sounding.  The Valhalla is the only one that seems to stick out; and even then, not by much.  Again, it’s all relative.

I'm sort of treating this hobby like a journey- pretty much like any other hobby of mine.  I'm not really in any particular hurry... it's not like needing a car to get to work.  It sounds like you're taking the best approach though: Buy/try the stuff and see for yourself.  Fortunately it sounds like you have the means.

And oh yeah- don't worry about admitting what you can and can't hear around here.  You won't get beat up... much.   

I always have trouble understanding these < > signs ;P; is it that DAC is at the bottom of the chain to make sound difference in a complete setup? [/list]

< is less than, > is greater than

Anyway, I think mkubota1 is just saying that the differences between different DACs are usually smaller than the differences between different amps, which are both smaller than the differences between different headphones.

As to your original  question, anetode has already pretty much summed up my opinion on the matter.

(click to show/hide)

If your asking about what's most important, there are two ways to approach it, from a theoretical perspective, and from a practical perspective.  From a theoretical perspective, all aspects of the signal chain are equally important.  Garbage in, garbage out.  From a practical perspective, most amps and DACs exceed the performance of any headphone by such a large margin that they're not usually worth worrying about beyond a basic level.  At least not until you've already picked your favorite TOTL headphone and want to do everything you can for it.