Another review comparing the updated Analog DAC versus the Yggy mostly via USB.

http://headmania.org/2015/08/18/schiit-yggdrasil-dac-review/

My response to a discussion copied from the shoutbox:

"I don't necessarily think his review is wrong if you read between the lines.

One, he used USB for most of the review. Yggy's Achilles heal. He mentioned it's much closer to the old Analog DAC usb. Sure, I can buy that with certain technicalities of a gimped Yggy versus the old analog sound which wasn't that super special. Then he says this Hydra thing brings it closer to the updated Analog with all the g-wiz stuff. So to me, that's saying the spdif is clearly better than the old analog without gwiz stuff which is eaxctly what we've been saying all along. So a better SPDIF transport should do better still and myself and others have heard and said as much wrt the Yggy. So where does that put the newer Analog with quad usb and new firmware? Don't know till we hear it. I do know from talking with Larry Ho and the LH boys, fw makes a huuuuge difference and it's one of the main reasons their sabre implementations dont suck like others. Firmware matters. So I'm open to it.

Two, this warmth, smokiness and most of the technical deficiencies mentioned relative to the Analog comparisons are the result of two things adding greyness and haze/veil to the Yggy. FET analog output, and using it's USB. If you can eliminate one or both of those, I think some people will hear clearly more of the magic that the chips and filter are providing. Some people seem to be missing the added hyper clarity and accuracy through the smoke and greyness. Makes me wonder about other parts of their chain because i can clearly hear it versus the every other DAC. Sure, the greyness and smoky flavor persist to a lesser degree, but the digital implementation is just haunting"

I can also say that I was one of the people along with Marv and maybe Greed that found the older MSBs like the old Analog and Platinum not that super resolving. I have some of the same EXACT tracks used by MSB to demo their Platinum rig which sounded really nice during various demos and using those same EXACT tracks on my old PWD mk1>2 revealed a number of recording and mastering flaws the MSBs never picked up. Now the Yggy is on another level still in ultimate resolution versus the PWD even if it is still more organic and smoother sounding. So the conclusion was obvious to me.

It sure is funny how each of us can hear things a bit differently.  When a group of us heard the Yggy with the Hydra Z, we all came away with the opposite consensus of Mr. Headphonia.  Not that I am trying to say he did not hear it as he wrote it, but our little group all preferred native Yggy USB over the Hydra Z with souped up power. 

That could have been due to a lot of factors and may have been really system dependent.  To my ears the native USB of the Yggy beat the Yggy CORRECTED (Hydra Z with the Hydra ZPM Power Supply going coax spdif into the Yggy)...........in terms of spatial depth and width, openness, stage size and high end extension.  We all heard the Hydra Z character (from other dac pairings) of very black background, tight, well controlled bass, and slightly set back mids, but in the case of the Yggy no one preferred the Hydra and they did with several other dacs.

You would certainly want to listen for yourself as to whether a Hydra Z would be a good move if you own a Yggy.

Maybe time for schiit to design a Yggdrasil analog board V2?

There are solid reasons why Schiit did what they did. It's an engineering issue and one that is better understood if you look at the AD5791 datasheets. (I'm not going to spell it out).

Craig and I have looked at the Yggy boards and yes, we can do something interesting. However, interesting doesn't necessarily mean better. And then it's a matter of how interesting. The best way would involve custom made transformers and the Yggy would end up the size of a mini-fridge.

It is what it is. For $10K, you can have EC Studio with an Yggy, or an MSB Analog and a CMOY. Of course you can always spend $20K.

Nah, I think it's fair since we explicitly stated our experiences. It's just comparing our experiences and methodologies in absolute terms to the newer version of the DAC in question using their methodologies just offers an apple to oranges comparison.

I have no problem comparing an ODAC to a Bricasti. In fact, we did that as it's on the chart. Performance is performance and that's what ultimately matters. Price is up to the consumer to put into context.