I find myself pretty much in agreement with this chart. Nicely done Purrin! To note, I have used a good diy power cable on the Benchmark to push it to the left one notch. The Audinst is truly awful and it is funny to think the ifi dsd nano is so close .I am perplexed by the PS Audio PWD 2 new, since I thought it was a bit more left side and lower but I am not sure if I hard an in between change or the latest. The Matrix was moved one notch left by adding a good no powered usb cable in my system. And yes, the Yggy really is just about that spot.
This is an awesome resource, thanks for sharing.I was wondering if you auditioned, or plan on auditioning the Aurender Flow? I'm looking for a small transportable DAC to go with the Liquid Carbon and Black Widow. I was a bit underwhelmed with Ifi stuff, and a Hugo is a no go for me. I would love your opinion, no holds barred...
The PWD2-new-prod. unit is a tricky one. I've heard of other owners having good experiences with theirs and don't doubt them. It's possible ours could be an oddball unit. Anaxilus tried to contact PSA, there was some talk about the boards, but we never resolved it with them. PWD2-new-prod. has similar tone to the PWD1->2 units (three of them!), but very lean in bass. Recall comparison using the Eagles Hotel CA live (regular CD version), the sub with PWD2 new didn't "pressurize" the room anywhere near the upgraded PWD1->2s. Therefore this is why PWD2-new-prod straddles two blocks extending toward the right. Also should mention congestion in difficult passages - micro stuff of PWD2-new-prod. is good but still a notch below the upgraded units, but the congestion shifts stuff down significantly. Similar congestion thing with Invicta. The congestion with Invicta kills it despite other good qualities the Invicta possesses. Just explaining this so other people can understand how the DACs were slotted and why PWD2-new-prod and Invicta were punished so much in terms of the technicalities on the vertical scale. There should be little to no reason why DACs, at the small power levels they are putting out, should get congested sounding with complex passages, regardless of price. (We used the refrain section from Tracy Chapman Fast Car to gauge this).
Hahaha. I'll tell you a story. At CanJam, Alex had his Carbons hooked up to the Hugo and CyberLabs brick. Anaxilus was like get this grap outta there because these DACs are POS and won't help you sell anything.
The one I heard was somewhat better than what you describe in the bass, yet a bit congested in the mids, and actually constrained or rolled sounding in the highs.That is funny. It is all about synergy. I tried listening to one of Alex's amps at RMAF (2014, I think) And some guy was grooving on a nice pair of cans. I tried and said, What? You actually like this? All I know, is it was a PS Audio perfect something fronting his amp and it was doing no favors to the amp or the cans. I did not mention to the amp maker.
Don't be too shocked if this person let's you keep it a few days. People here are very generous.
Well it happened today The owner brought over the Schiit Yggdrasil dac and we switched it out very very carefully into the audio rack.First off, I have to give the owner some well deserved respect. Completely down to earth, humble, calm and collected personality. Very knowledgeable and just a down right first rate pirate. So SO pleased to have met him, thanks to this forum. The dac has replaced an EAR Dacute in the audio rack and we both agreed that it needs some time to settle into the system and come into the proper temperature range for a truer understanding of what it sounds like.First impressions, I am just super happy that the Yggdrasil doesn't "sound" like the super cool and fantastic quality casework. It is a full bodied, harmonically complete and full range sound. I really like what I'm hearing...a few "issues" I am having should get addressed with a nice run in.Yes, the owner completely on his OWN, offered to leave the dac for a few days. In fact, he agreed to revisit in a few days to come for another listening session once it has settled in AND leave it for another few days for me to listen and decide with. I mean...I don't have words...only sometimes you come across people like this in your life. I'm so grateful to Changstar for bringing people like this onboard. I'm beginning to understand what true "pirates" can be....thank you.
