To expand on some comments I made in the main Yggdrasil thread (and in the shoutbox), I believe we all may need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and ask ourselves, "Does the music make me feel good?"

If the answer is, "Yes," then you're probably fine with the DAC you have, whether it costs $100 or $10,000.

Why do I bother posting this? Because we're all susceptible to audiophilia nervosa, and it's easy to stoke this condition to seriously paranoiac levels. And because I know how you feel. I used to be all about finding that last 0.0035% of performance. It got bad enough I had to step out of audio for a while, because I lost perspective...I was spending silly amounts of money on audio gear, having less fun listening...and I had forgot how rich and varied life could be.

So, as an antidote to the audiophila nervosa, here are some things to help you relax:

1. When you read posts like, "Yeah, the Arglebargle XYZ was great and wonderful, but the Scintillant Megacomplex can transport you to even higher levels of enjoyment (for 5X to 20X more)," ask yourself: "Do I really want to spend car-like money on a component? Wouldn't it be better to buy an engagement ring for the one I love? Or learn to fly a plane...in Tahiti...while taking a month off? Or go to cooking school in France and tour wine country on the side? Or fly all over the world and go to a dozen amazing, once-in-a-lifetime concerts? There are many more things to do.

2. When you read posts like, "Hey, I heard one guy said his current Gammanator 12 beats the Arglebargle XYZ he's borrowing," be sure to remind yourself that humanity is not a rational animal, but a rationalizing animal. If he owns one and is borrowing another, especially if the borrowed product cost less, the expected result is that the borrowed product is inferior. The natural reaction is to justify the investment that's already been sunk.

3. When you hear someone say, "Well, I love this product, it's the most amazing thing I've heard," and then, a few weeks later, say, "Well, except it needs an audiophile fuse and some quantum damping on the chips," or "Well, I think the power supply topology isn't the best, and if that was just fixed, it would be perfect," remind yourself, "This is just one person, and where are they getting their information from anyway? Did they really A/B the results? Or is it even possible to A/B the results? Or is this just speculation to cause more audiophile nervosa?

So what's the bottom line? It's simple. How does the music make you feel? If you're good, then the component's good. And that's something that nobody can argue with. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some great music!

To expand on some comments I made in the main Yggdrasil thread (and in the shoutbox), I believe we all may need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and ask ourselves, "Does the music make me feel good?"

If the answer is, "Yes," then you're probably fine with the DAC you have, whether it costs $100 or $10,000.

Why do I bother posting this? Because we're all susceptible to audiophilia nervosa, and it's easy to stoke this condition to seriously paranoiac levels. And because I know how you feel. I used to be all about finding that last 0.0035% of performance. It got bad enough I had to step out of audio for a while, because I lost perspective...I was spending silly amounts of money on audio gear, having less fun listening...and I had forgot how rich and varied life could be.

So, as an antidote to the audiophila nervosa, here are some things to help you relax:

1. When you read posts like, "Yeah, the Arglebargle XYZ was great and wonderful, but the Scintillant Megacomplex can transport you to even higher levels of enjoyment (for 5X to 20X more)," ask yourself: "Do I really want to spend car-like money on a component? Wouldn't it be better to buy an engagement ring for the one I love? Or learn to fly a plane...in Tahiti...while taking a month off? Or go to cooking school in France and tour wine country on the side? Or fly all over the world and go to a dozen amazing, once-in-a-lifetime concerts? There are many more things to do.

2. When you read posts like, "Hey, I heard one guy said his current Gammanator 12 beats the Arglebargle XYZ he's borrowing," be sure to remind yourself that humanity is not a rational animal, but a rationalizing animal. If he owns one and is borrowing another, especially if the borrowed product cost less, the expected result is that the borrowed product is inferior. The natural reaction is to justify the investment that's already been sunk.

3. When you hear someone say, "Well, I love this product, it's the most amazing thing I've heard," and then, a few weeks later, say, "Well, except it needs an audiophile fuse and some quantum damping on the chips," or "Well, I think the power supply topology isn't the best, and if that was just fixed, it would be perfect," remind yourself, "This is just one person, and where are they getting their information from anyway? Did they really A/B the results? Or is it even possible to A/B the results? Or is this just speculation to cause more audiophile nervosa?

So what's the bottom line? It's simple. How does the music make you feel? If you're good, then the component's good. And that's something that nobody can argue with. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some great music!

Great post! Now get on your next idea - The RUNS: Rubidium Ultra Numerical oScillator. Clearly Yggdrasil would be 500X better with an external atomic master clock. I don't care what it costs.

Anyone else find that the Yggdrasil's gen3 usb to be too "digital"? i.e. lacking smoothness, lacking midrange warmth, overly bright in the treble?

You're trolling, right?

To expand on some comments I made in the main Yggdrasil thread (and in the shoutbox), I believe we all may need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and ask ourselves, "Does the music make me feel good?"

So basically you're asking for a sanity check, right?  What are you, nuts?

Sure. Compared to the latest MSB Analog w/Quad here: http://headmania.org/2015/08/18/schiit-yggdrasil-dac-review
Or look-up my review of the MSB Analog on Head-Fi. Not the same level, but that doesn't make Yggy a less nice DAC for the money.

On this topic: Has anyone compared the Yggdrasil properly and directly with the Auralic Vega? A friend owning the Vega (I recommended him to purchase Yggy), recently received the Yggdrasil and completed warm-up. Listening for the first few hours comparatively, saying he's not impressed with the Yggdrasil would be understating it. Yes, both using USB. Unless he is doing something wrong, I am very surprised if Yggy is not matching up to the Vega. I personally have not heard Vega properly at home, so I can't really comment.

Sorry, I realize I partially misread your comment. Still a bit shocked with the comments from the Vega owner giving me a blow-by-blow report.

Some comments here: http://www.msbtech.com/reviews/reviewsHome.php?Return=msb

PWD>Vega here: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1364.msg35788.html#msg35788

Ergo, Yggy>PWD>Vega. I'm not sure wtf you guys are doing with your USB upstreams. How many of you guys are using Macs? I'm curious because that's the worst I've heard Yggy USB unless you guys are jamming peanut butter in the cables.

Vega>Yggy is a bunch of BS. Vega exact mode is a joke and clearly tells you they don't know femtos like Lh Labs.