Schiit Yggdrasil Impressions thread

[mtruong34]

Thanks DACLadder for your insights!

 

[skeptic]

  My Yg is not finished voicing out especially since running music 24/7 lately.  Seems to be smoothing out, getting a touch more bass, and less hyper focused in the upper mids and trebles.  So I am probably past warm up and could be in the middle of a break in phase.  
 

 
I agree.  As I hear it, the voicing has continued to move in that direction during week two, although I note I am only running signal through the dac for a few hours each day on average.
 
Does Yggy have any caps in the signal path?  I know Rag doesn't, but I can't recall seeing a clear statement one way or the other about Yggy on this point.  If it does, that would offer some explanation for perceived continuing changes.  ARC claims some of its signal path caps take 500 hours of run time (signal passing through them) to fully settle.  Evidently, cap dissipation factor also varies with temperature, so this may also be playing into improvements from reaching thermal equilibrium.

 

[DACLadder]

 
Does Yggy have any caps in the signal path?

I would think no and be surprised if it did have signal caps directly in the audio signal path.  That would be fertile ground for experimentation if so.

 

[juanitox]

i will say all caps are on the signal path..  but i have read somewhere that there is a Dc servo for the output  or am i wrong ?

 

[purrin]

  It is on the same order as my wolfson sources in bass quantity, and definitely has more deep bass than an odac, but I think comments about thunderous Moffat bass may be read the wrong way.  

 
Moffat Bass^TM isn't really a matter of volume of heft, although that does have something to do with it. It's matter of how the bass sort of punches and propagates toward you (especially with speakers) and how it stops on a dime, and how textures and pitch differentiation can be heard. It appears the staging aspects have quite a bit to do with this. Moffat Bass is in opposition to PCM1704 or to a lesser extent UltraAnalog bass, which tends to be syrupy and ill-defined; or Sabre bass which is thin, limp-[redacted], and lacking pitch differentiation.
 
 

Any Yggy owners using USB converters in lieu of straight into USB? Have you tested with and without? If USB input of Yggy is good enough, thinking of ditching my Audiophilleo when I finally get the Yggy.

 

 
Also venturing outside the sand box and trying other inputs besides USB like S/PDIF coax and AES/EBU with the Off Ramp 5.  They all sound very much alike at first blush and will spend more time evaluating.  It is not night and day differences like with the Master 7.

 
My OR5 was not fully upgraded, but I used it with the Wyrd (I did not like the full turboclock effect and the Wyrd provided a partial turboclock effect for dirt cheap), and a external Sigma11 power supply. USB sounded blacker and less grey than from either the SPDIF or AES from the OR5. YMMV. USB tends to vary quite a bit from PC to PC.
 
The best sounding transport by far I have was the Theta Data III, a 50+ lbs monstrosity based on a LaserDisc player. I used AES via a short 6" cable. The Data III easily has the best blackground, imaging accuracy, focus, resolution, and overall refinement. I have reverted back to spinners instead of computer audio because of this. Also, spinners are easier for my wife to handle. The user interface for CDs is superior, and you use up more calories trying to find that fricking CD you want.
 

  Does Yggy have any caps in the signal path? 

 
It's my understanding there are no caps in the signal path.

 

[DACLadder]

I'm at day 9.5 (228 hrs) and my Yggy's sound is still maturing.  More/ better bass - tight and way down low.  Definitely not as much bass quantity as the Master 7 but the M7  puts up a wall of bass where the Yggy has more agility and finesse.   One of my test tracks is Sheryl Crow's "Everyday Is a Winding Road" which mainly is used for vocals but Sheryl's bass on the chorus slides between two deep bass notes which are clearly defined with the Yggy and just a wall of bass energy with the M7 and is vague in comparison.  Also my speakers are noted for not having much below 60Hz so clearly something extraordinary going on down there in the Yggy bass.
 
The Yggy also puts out more energy in the upper mid-range/ trebles than the Master 7.  First thing I picked up on and sounds like glare city in the young Yggy especially coming off the Master 7 which is recessed in comparison.   It was hard for me to take in and drove me up a wall during the first 3 days of power on until it smoothed out and disappeared.  But even at 228 hrs. the Yggy is still .smoothing out and its initial grain and hyper detail are more natural.  So onward and continue the 24/7 music up the USB tailpipe.
 
I ordered a proper 110 ohm AES/EBU cable as I want to further explore the Off Ramp 5.  I read on the main thread where Mike Moffat prefers the AES/EBU input.  The OR5 S/PDIF coax sounds good but not as much extension on top and perhaps a touch less hyper detail (as with Yggy USB) but is refreshing coming off of two years of exclusive Master7 use.  So I want to explore AES/EBU in detail.
 
I also played with Foobar2000 output modes into the Yggy USB interface.   Between kernel streaming, event, or push the best sound seems to be 'event'.  No surprise as it was more open and extended in comparison.

 

[StefanJK]

   
I ordered a proper 110 ohm AES/EBU cable as I want to further explore the Off Ramp 5.  I read on the main thread where Mike Moffat prefers the AES/EBU input.  The OR5 S/PDIF coax sounds good but not as much extension on top and perhaps a touch less hyper detail (as with Yggy USB) but is refreshing coming off of two years of exclusive Master7 use.  So I want to explore AES/EBU in detail.
 

I have a AES/EBU cable shipping, shows up on W.  Currently using my wife's MBP since I can't get the USB driver installed on my PC.  Hoping this will have the good final state of finding that AES/EBU is better than USB.

 

[baj55]

Today I ordered the Yggdrasil. Now all I need to do is wait until the end of june to early july for delivery. Im going from a bryston bda-1 dac  to the Yggy. Hoping of course for a huge improvement.
 
BAJ55

 

[evillamer]

Does Yggdrasil support 32bit and 64bit ASIO?

 

[joeexp]

Why has this thread become so quiet?

 

[DACLadder]

I dunno... The main thread is all over the place so I moved over here.  But would like to here other impression besides my own.  With Yggy in place I've had to re-evaluate all my system components including wires and speakers.   Good time to do it.   I'm about 250 hrs and the Yggy is getting smoother but not laid back at all.   

 

[bearFNF]

Part of it has to do with the mod argument...err...discussion going on.

 
I am in the process of looking for some speakers. The Snell speakers I have now are not suitable.  Need something that would work off my Taboo MKIII.

 

[DACLadder]

  Part of it has to do with the mod argument...err...discussion going on.

 
I am in the process of looking for some speakers. The Snell speakers I have now are not suitable.  Need something that would work off my Taboo MKIII.

The NOLA Contender speakers sounded radically different with the Yggy in the chain versus the Master 7.  Very shouty and prominent upper mid-range/ trebles and leaner bass.  It was hard to take during warm up.  A few days ago moved in the Axiom M60s from the entertainment room and the deep bass almost knock me over in comparison.  Now I understand the Moffat bass.  I'm back on the NOLAs today with different speaker cables and sounds better but would like some more bass.  Plus the Yggy is getting smoother as time rolls on.  So I understand your speaker issue to some extent.
 
Perhaps the modders will discover something that really works.  But to take new gear and mod it immediately seems silly to me.  I would wait until the Yggy matures and then perhaps you will notice a difference.  I am guilty of using a hi-fi fuse in the tube amp but I really don't hear any difference.   

 

[ciphercomplete]

I decided to move some of my earlier impressions to this thread so here we go:
 

This thing is freaking amazing. I'm only five hours in.

 
 

I'm 36 hours in and I am hearing liquid smooth sound yet the highs are extended and the bass is extremely detailed and deep. I cant believe this thing is supposed to get even better.

 

   
I am around the 120 mark and the Yggy is starting to get some of that bass grunt that it lacks in comparison to the Master 7 except that it is a little bit cleaner and tighter.  Its losing tiny bit of of its politeness in the upper midrange and treble but there is still no sibilance or edge to the vocals or treble.  Its just a hair bit more dynamic.  A day ago the Master 7 was kicking its but in the dynamics department but now I think the Yggy is superior since it does the quiet passages better.  This warm up stuff is crazy, I wouldn't have believed it if I had not been comparing the Yggy to the M7 each day.  

 

  I think my Yggdrasil took around 180 hours to warm up because what I am hearing now is completely different than what I was hearing yesterday which was day 7 for me.  Super smooth yet no lack of detail or focus.  The bass is other worldy, fully present,deep but never bloated or boomy.  Treble seems to stretch forever but never fatiguing or glary.  The biggest thing is top to bottom cohesion.  No frequency range sticks out, and there is no sonic signature.  I haven't heard anything remotely like this.  I have been in the hobby for about 9 years first with headphones and now with speakers and I have owned close to 20 dacs and cd players over those years. Quite frankly I have never experienced a leap this large in sound quality from any upgrade I have ever made.  I won't add much other than to co-sign what others who have reached the "magic hour" have said already.
 
The only negative is the warm up time.  I do leave my gear on all the time but I like to take gear on the road to friends and the Yggy simply won't travel well.  I hope the suspicions about the warmup time shortening with age are true.  The Master 7 used to take a full day to warm up but after leaving it on 24/7 for about 2 months it now warms up in about 3 hours.  Power outages are going to piss me off. 

 

 

[DACLadder]

After the dreaded warm up period the NOLA speakers are sounding better thanks to a speaker cable swap and a tube change in the amp.  Now everything is falling into place - more bass, grainless vocals, and smoother highs.  I can relax and enjoy the music for a change.
 
I purchased Jriver Media Center.  It has a feature when selecting a different track to add specified amounts of delay to the track start.   This seems to help avoiding the Yggy mute relay chopping the intro when the sampling rates of tracks change.  I set the delay to 1 sec. and works OK.  Very annoying with Foobar.
 
So if its not sounding right you may need to adjust or try something different.  I swapped everything out of my setup just to test the changes.  Found a couple of good ones.