I'd agree that Yggdrasil is a great option at the price, but I'm personally happy with the Pulse Infinity at the early backer price I paid. As mentioned recently on this thread though... burn in is real on the Pulse Infinity IMHO. Let it run for a week and then see what you think.
Geek Pulse: Geek desktop DAC/AMP by Light Harmonics
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Well, after 4 moths travelling abroad yesterday I was back home and finally could unbox my Pulse Infinity, Yay!
I must confess, after all those LH delays the new product excitement was gone.
Left pulse connected on LPS overnight and tried it this morning with my picky 9 year old fellow K701, I must confess as well it just put an big smile on my face. This is one of the best pairings of K701 Ive heard. The pulse drives the K701 effortless even in low volumes lots of details, space, the bass hits hard! Thumbs up!
Moved to the TH900, would it put an double smile on my face? To my surprise, not.. TH900 and pulse did not get well, TH900 lost its beautiful details that I have when plugged directly into ZX2, It was kind muffled.. maybe I need to test with another gain+digital filter combo.
Is it worth the wait + the price paid? I think not, As a R2R freak I would probably go with Yggy/Rag combo.
Lets back to the music!
That's interesting. I am an R2R freak too and the one brief time I heard the Pulse Infinity awhile back I actually enjoyed it more than any other delta-sigma that was at CanJam. It's a bit pricey though and I would put my money out there that a vintage R2R DAC from the 90s could give it a run for its money. I'm talking about qualitative enjoyment. Still though, if you are an early backer and got a solid price less than the $3000 MSRP then it is probably the best D-S implementation of the Sabre 32 at it's price range (consider the Kalliope, Ayre QB-9, Wyred4Sound DAC2 etc.)
Well, after 4 moths travelling abroad yesterday I was back home and finally could unbox my Pulse Infinity, Yay!
I must confess, after all those LH delays the new product excitement was gone.
Left pulse connected on LPS overnight and tried it this morning with my picky 9 year old fellow K701, I must confess as well it just put an big smile on my face. This is one of the best pairings of K701 Ive heard. The pulse drives the K701 effortless even in low volumes lots of details, space, the bass hits hard! Thumbs up!
Moved to the TH900, would it put an double smile on my face? To my surprise, not.. TH900 and pulse did not get well, TH900 lost its beautiful details that I have when plugged directly into ZX2, It was kind muffled.. maybe I need to test with another gain+digital filter combo.
Is it worth the wait + the price paid? I think not, As a R2R freak I would probably go with Yggy/Rag combo.
Lets back to the music!
About the pairing with the TH900..... trust me after some burn in you'll definitely feel it. At least I did!
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Multibit Gungnir vs Yggdrasil vs X Infinity comparisons later today. This ought to be interesting.
+1 
what's the amp?
what's the amp?
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Probably the Ragnarok for normal headphones, SRM-252S for my SR-207.
Excellent, cheers. Looking forward to your impressions.
NinjaHamster
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Can't wait! 
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Okay no Multibit Gungnir today, but 2 Yggys instead: one hot, one cold.
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Cool (or hot...)
Ultimate Mango
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Okay no Multibit Gungnir today, but 2 Yggys instead: one hot, one cold.
Nnnoooooo the laws of thermodynamics clearly state that these devices will eventually reach equilibrium. You need some sort of cooling unit cooling one and piping the waste heat to the other to keep the temps different.
But seriously, post impressions please.
I was excited to get my Xfi for a second, but am probably just going to send it back unopened.
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That...was very interesting to do.
MacBook + Audirvana Plus (no upsampling, hog mode, integer mode) + CD rips
LightSpeed 1G cable
Pulse X Infinity (powered by LPS4; warmed up for at least 4 hours; Femto Time Mode) or Yggdrasil (not sure what the power cable was; already warmed up and hot-transported to the meet via uninterruptible power supply)
KabelDirekt Pro Series RCA cable
STAX SRS-2170 (powered by LPS4)
For me, (warmed up) Yggdrasil > X Infinity with the 1G cable, but only slightly. I still hold my opinion that the X Infinity is one of the finest Delta-Sigma DAC implementations I've ever heard. My MacBook wasn't recognising the Yggy with the 10G Split cable, so I ditched that and used a single 1G cable instead1, in which the Yggy was instantly recognised.
From what I heard, the Yggy has a narrower soundstage, but a soundstage that's deeper and offers better instrument separation and layering than the X Infinity. In terms of dynamics, the Yggy also sounds slightly more dynamic, offering a deeper, more pronounced bass with some warmth, and treble that sounds smoother and not as grainy. Switching from the Yggy to the X Infinity, the soundstage and layering seems to get flattened in terms of depth, but seems wider and slightly taller. The bass also becomes slightly less present and the highs have a kind of etchy sound that many describe for Delta-Sigma DACs.
Still, after these tests, I'm not complaining about the X Infinity's sound at all and I'm quite happy with it. Comparing the two side-by-side was a fortuitous experience for me since not everyone gets to compare a, in my opinion, very high-quality Delta-Sigma DAC to an equally, in my opinion, high-quality R-2R DAC. Both DACs are excellent. It will be interesting to put the Multibit Gungnir in the mix for future comparisons.
Another member in the meet today has an X Infinity but with the older ESS 9018K2M chips I believe and he thought that DAC chip sounded slightly more warm compared to the more analytical AQ2M chip that my X Infinity has. I didn't do the comparisons myself though so take that with a grain of salt.
Another member thought the 9018K2M X Infinity sounded similar to the Benchmark DAC2 HGC/LightSpeed 10G/cryogenic-treated power cable/vibration-resistant feet.
1 I did a 10-trial blind test between the 10G Split cable and a $50 Supra cable and failed it pretty bad (5/10 I think), but hopefully I can do another test later under more ideal listening conditions, and with more time.
http://www.custom-cable.co.uk/supra-usb-cable-usb-a-usb-b.html
iPad Mini + Neutron music player
Lightning Apple Camera Connection Kit
LightSpeed 10G Split (power coming from LPS4) or Supra
Pulse X Infinity
HE-560 with 4-PIN XLR balanced cable
When doing A/B tests between the 1G and Supra cable, I thought the 1G sounded pretty similar to the Supra, which I later tested and failed to distinguish between the 10G Split.
MacBook + Audirvana Plus (no upsampling, hog mode, integer mode) + CD rips
LightSpeed 1G cable
Pulse X Infinity (powered by LPS4; warmed up for at least 4 hours; Femto Time Mode) or Yggdrasil (not sure what the power cable was; already warmed up and hot-transported to the meet via uninterruptible power supply)
KabelDirekt Pro Series RCA cable
STAX SRS-2170 (powered by LPS4)
For me, (warmed up) Yggdrasil > X Infinity with the 1G cable, but only slightly. I still hold my opinion that the X Infinity is one of the finest Delta-Sigma DAC implementations I've ever heard. My MacBook wasn't recognising the Yggy with the 10G Split cable, so I ditched that and used a single 1G cable instead1, in which the Yggy was instantly recognised.
From what I heard, the Yggy has a narrower soundstage, but a soundstage that's deeper and offers better instrument separation and layering than the X Infinity. In terms of dynamics, the Yggy also sounds slightly more dynamic, offering a deeper, more pronounced bass with some warmth, and treble that sounds smoother and not as grainy. Switching from the Yggy to the X Infinity, the soundstage and layering seems to get flattened in terms of depth, but seems wider and slightly taller. The bass also becomes slightly less present and the highs have a kind of etchy sound that many describe for Delta-Sigma DACs.
Still, after these tests, I'm not complaining about the X Infinity's sound at all and I'm quite happy with it. Comparing the two side-by-side was a fortuitous experience for me since not everyone gets to compare a, in my opinion, very high-quality Delta-Sigma DAC to an equally, in my opinion, high-quality R-2R DAC. Both DACs are excellent. It will be interesting to put the Multibit Gungnir in the mix for future comparisons.
Another member in the meet today has an X Infinity but with the older ESS 9018K2M chips I believe and he thought that DAC chip sounded slightly more warm compared to the more analytical AQ2M chip that my X Infinity has. I didn't do the comparisons myself though so take that with a grain of salt.
Another member thought the 9018K2M X Infinity sounded similar to the Benchmark DAC2 HGC/LightSpeed 10G/cryogenic-treated power cable/vibration-resistant feet.
1 I did a 10-trial blind test between the 10G Split cable and a $50 Supra cable and failed it pretty bad (5/10 I think), but hopefully I can do another test later under more ideal listening conditions, and with more time.
http://www.custom-cable.co.uk/supra-usb-cable-usb-a-usb-b.html
iPad Mini + Neutron music player
Lightning Apple Camera Connection Kit
LightSpeed 10G Split (power coming from LPS4) or Supra
Pulse X Infinity
HE-560 with 4-PIN XLR balanced cable
When doing A/B tests between the 1G and Supra cable, I thought the 1G sounded pretty similar to the Supra, which I later tested and failed to distinguish between the 10G Split.
m-i-c-k-e-y
Headphoneus Supremus
I don't know how can I fit Ygg + Rag on my desktop.... It is as large as my printer.
For the size(old chassis) + price (IGG) + performance + features, Xfinity is way on top.
For the size(old chassis) + price (IGG) + performance + features, Xfinity is way on top.
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Yeah, the Yggdrasil is massive (more than twice the length and a little longer than the LPS's original chassis). I don't know where I'd put it with my current space.
And yeah, it is nice to have a DAC that can play basically any music file thrown at it, while still sounding great.
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