Purrin's Chart doesn't list the DACs according to price, rather according to absolute performance.
    Hence price ranges are irrelevant ….


Quote from: joeexp on Today at 02:46:48 AM

    Colour Coding at the bottom of the chart:
    RED = Float it down the LA river   
    ORANGE = Poor value, poor performance, or combination of both 
    BLUE = Good value 


Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but you appear to be contradicting yourself.

For each DAC
- chart position ignores price and reflects absolute performance only
- color pays attention to both price and absolute performance

I used to have Sonicweld Diverter (with Linear power supply). I prefer using it to ygg bnc to usb when in burning-in process till about 300hrs. After that, prefer usb and sell Diverter after.

I have yet to find a DAC that doesn't in some way benefit from an Offramp. When I owned the Audeophilleo, I felt similarly. The PWD +Bridge, as I remember it, was the least to benefit. In most cases, the advantages are considerable and palpable. I would be surprised if the Yggy or any DAC for that matter had surpassing USB quality. It would certainly be welcome.

So the GMB is better than Theta V/Va and Master 7? I'll be saving for the GMB now instead of the Yggy! 

Oh, boy, questions like that are pungent. Better is not a word that belongs. It's a silly superlative that punctures through any efforts at discerning nuance and probing inquiry. What's "better" for you, is the only relevant question. What type of presentation are you going for? Is your gear capable of bringing the "x" factor out of a DAC? What's of greater importance: probing detail or pinpoint ambient cues? A colored sound or flat as a pancake? I mean, damn, there are dozens of important questions to ask, and seldom do the answers to those questions definitively lead to an answer of what's "better". Sorry friend, don't mean to bite your head off, but take it from someone who has owned nearly a dozen high end DAC's in the past two years...you're asking the wrong question.

*Just to qualify the above remarks, here's a real world scenario:

Marv and Anax foam at the mouth for resolution. They love gear that digs deep and can disentomb the details from a recording. That is a priority FOR THEM. My priorities lay elsewhere. I don't need to know if Miles Davis had gas in Tokyo circa 1975. Me, I'm a nitwit for tonality. I love what I perceive to be a perfect timbrel imprint. For this reason, I preferred the Spectral to the Theta. It is MY preference and BETTER for me (therefore I own the Spectral and not the Theta).

 I also own a Lampizator, which Marv doesn't like. I sold a Meitner MA1 in favor of it. It's "better" for me, because I'm a sucker for rock-stable images. I also like big, bold and clear. He hears treble hash (which I had on a previous unit). He also hears a strident, digital signature, which I DON'T. This may be do to a variance in units (Mine is 5th Gen, LV 5, custom outfitted with i2s and used with an Offramp). I know he didn't use an Offramp, nor i2s, nor a Gen. 5. Still, it wouldn't matter, because it just so happens that I don't hear what he does. It all leads to one thing; forget "better". Figure out what you like and then get the unit which most encapsulates those qualities.

Harangue over...

So the GMB is better than Theta V/Va and Master 7? I'll be saving for the GMB now instead of the Yggy! 

In my opinion yes. The old Theta has nothing on the GMB except slightly more impact. I got rid of my Gen V for this reason.

As an aside, I know a few Gen V owners have commented that the Gen V does certain things better than Yggy like bass slam and heft, but I tend to disagree. The Theta Gen V is simply bassier (and more distorted), hence the greater bass slam (and warmth). My situation is quite different in that I don't run only headphones. I also run DIY speakers where the woofers are EQ'd and amped separately. I find bass impact and slam of Yggy to equal but not exceed Gen V. The bass is much cleaner on Yggy, so maybe the extra mush of the Gen V adds a heft effect.

ADD: Master 7 even via USB to i2s gizmos is not competitive. I know the Yggy has been criticized for "greyness" - the Master 7 is even worse in this regard.

Like on the M7.

Hooked up the GMB to my desktop setup (Focal Solo6Be, Ikea Desk, Primacoustic stabilizers) using the Proceed AVP as anolog preamp. And suddenly I heard music  .

If I'm not too lazy/busy, I could actually compare the Gen V to the GMB.