iuan said:

Maybe rockna wavedream.
http://www.rockna-audio.com/products/wavedream-dac

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For some reason I read that in Arnold's voice lol

Updated the first post with the list of DACs I'm auditioning (or have, for one of many possible reasons, removed from my audition list) to make it easier to follow.

Chord's DACs are about to drop off the list.
 
That'd be a shame since I've generally been impressed with how they sound, but I'm not spending $4,500, let alone $13,000 on a product that has issues working as claimed on platforms that are supposed to be supported.
 
And getting support for them has been a farce, which is really a major turn-off.
 
The dealers are clueless about the issues.  Indirect contact with Chord engineering through my dealer shows that they're either not comprehending the issue properly (and don't care to), or don't have a solution and don't want to come out and say so.  Direct contact with Chord has not yielded anything other than an initial "Sure, we want to help, what's the issue?" (i.e. no follow-up, despite contacting them to do so myself).
 
For those interested, the issue at hand relates to being unable to play DSD above single-rate without drop-outs.  It works for some, not for others, even in the Windows world, and I can find no one on a current version of OS X that has this working properly, nor can I make it work reliably with any of several dedicated streamers/network interfaces.  While I may not "need" or even "want" DSD right now, I'll be damned if I'll buy a product that is supposed to support it but where it cannot be made to work at the time of purchase.
 
While I suspect the issue is partly on Apple's side of things, two local customers are having issues with the native driver in Windows, and I have had several other DACs in my system for which this is not an issue at all.

What Chord issues? My TT works just fine with a Windows PC, and so did my Hugo before this (over 2 years now with Chord).
I need to reboot my PC sometimes if it has been sleeping a while, but that's it as far as usability goes.
I don't have dropouts from the hundreds of CDs I ripped (and play via Jriver) or from Tidal.
And it sounds great and I have zero buyers remorse and would buy it again today if I had to.
 
I just prefer an external amp though, but that's another story I talked about in the TT thread.
(I use an EMM player for SACD for full disclosure. I think I might go crazy trying to find a single solution for DSD and Redbook,
and besides, I don't think most of my SACDs are available as DSD files.)

rgs9200m said:

  What Chord issues? My TT works just fine with a Windows PC, and so did my Hugo before this (over 2 years now with Chord).
I need to reboot my PC sometimes if it has been sleeping a while, but that's it as far as usability goes.
I don't have dropouts from the hundreds of CDs I ripped (and play via Jriver) or from Tidal.
And it sounds great and I have zero buyers remorse and would buy it again today if I had to.
 
I just prefer an external amp though, but that's another story I talked about in the TT thread.
(I use an EMM player for SACD for full disclosure. I think I might go crazy trying to find a single solution for DSD and Redbook,
and besides, I don't think most of my SACDs are available as DSD files.)

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Well, as I said in my post, the drop-out problem affects playback with double-rate (DSD128) or quad-rate (DSD256) files via OS X based machines on the newest revisions (10.11.4 and 10.11.5) of OS X, as well as a couple of Windows machines (according to my dealer).
 
I don't think it's a wide-spread issue with Windows at all, but I don't run Windows so it's hard to say - just going on what my dealer has told me there.  I know at least one of the affected customers is running a maxxed-out Surface 3 Pro and the Chord ASIO 1.05 driver and has drop-outs with DSD at double and quad rate.
 
For PCM content (i.e. CD rips, high-resolution masters, TIDAL streaming) everything is fine all the way up to the maximum sampling rate and bit depth.  Single rate DSD (which is what you'll get from your SACDs) is also perfectly fine.  It's just double and quad-rate that the issue shows up on.
 
I know at least one person in the DAVE thread has had issues with this and had to switch to using Windows to drive his unit to get around it (something I am simply not willing to do).
 
If you're not running OS X and/or you're not running DSD128 or DSD256 files then I don't think there is an issue.
 
Part of the problem seems to be a change in OS X since 10.11.4, since I can find no one, in person or online, that isn't experiencing the issue.  Part of the problem seems to be in how Chord handles/determines DoP faults.  It's definitely a two-part problem though, since various other DACs work just fine with OS X and quad-rate DSD (and, of course, there are some that don't).
 
It's also NOT limited to OS X as a source, as it happens using an Auralic Aries as the source as well.
 
Whatever the issue, until it's resolved (which probably means Chord will have to provided a kernel extension or driver for OS X to support DSD128 and DSD256), the fact that I love the sound of the Chord products is immaterial - I'm just not spending money on something that doesn't work 100% in an environment it is supposed to support.
 
That getting support for this has been a three-ringed circus so far is not encouraging.

what a shoot out! cant wait to hear your conclusions!!!!

Random thought here: have you considered getting a good vinyl rig instead of a second DAC? I realize it would be a substantial shift in the way you listen to music, but it might be very satisfying for a second system. I think you can put together a great system that surpasses the Yggy for under $3k. I mean, even Mike Moffat has said he listens to vinyl at home...

auvgeek said:

  Random thought here: have you considered getting a good vinyl rig instead of a second DAC? I realize it would be a substantial shift in the way you listen to music, but it might be very satisfying for a second system. I think you can put together a great system that surpasses the Yggy for under $3k. I mean, even Mike Moffat has said he listens to vinyl at home...

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I already have one! 
 
It gets used for very special recordings and when I'm in a nostalgic mood, and that's about it.  Beyond that, I don't want to deal with storing vinyl (at peak, I had ~12,000 albums), as I buy enough music that it'd take up a LOT of space very quickly.  I also want to be able to play anything I buy anywhere - and I simply lack the time or inclination to digitize my own LPs.  I could buy them from Amazon, and get the included "Autorip" MP3 copy, but my experience with those so far is that they don't sound very good at all.  And I've no desire to buy two copies of everything.  Streaming would help there, but isn't always an option when I'm traveling (even when not on the plane).
 
Even then, I still need a DAC for that system, as I'm not about to give up my existing music collection, nor am I going to segregate what music I can listen to into different rooms.

torq said:

 
I already have one! 
 
It gets used for very special recordings and when I'm in a nostalgic mood, and that's about it.  Beyond that, I don't want to deal with storing vinyl (at peak, I had ~12,000 albums), as I buy enough music that it'd take up a LOT of space very quickly.  I also want to be able to play anything I buy anywhere - and I simply lack the time or inclination to digitize my own LPs.  I could buy them from Amazon, and get the included "Autorip" MP3 copy, but my experience with those so far is that they don't sound very good at all.  And I've no desire to buy two copies of everything.  Streaming would help there, but isn't always an option when I'm traveling (even when not on the plane).
 
Even then, I still need a DAC for that system, as I'm not about to give up my existing music collection, nor am I going to segregate what music I can listen to into different rooms.

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Cool! I'm curious how you think it compares to the Yggy.

All good points, and my thinking is currently along the same lines...although it sounds like I don't buy nearly much music as you, and I'll probably end up with a vinyl rig for a 2 channel system when I finish up with grad school.

no berkeley Alpha DAC Reference?

12,000 LPs? That's great. I'm trying to picture this. Good luck.
My only thought on the Hugo TT is that it's one of those rare components that are rarely available used so if you got one there would be little risk of much depreciation or getting stuck with it.
Just rambling, but I have been listening lately to The Beatles Anthology CD set (my own rip) from 1995-6 that I have not listened to for a long time and I can't get over how compelling it sounds through my TT and Rudistor RP010B...
It's a real joy so I need to thank Mr. Watts for this.
(Just another 2-cents from me.)

auvgeek said:

  Cool! I'm curious how you think it compares to the Yggy.

All good points, and my thinking is currently along the same lines...although it sounds like I don't buy nearly much music as you, and I'll probably end up with a vinyl rig for a 2 channel system when I finish up with grad school.

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I  think the Yggdrasil outdoes my turntable on several levels.
 
I'm not sure I'd say that if I was comparing to my prior vinyl setup, before I moved to the U.S., but what I have now is not at the same level simply because I don't keep enough vinyl around to justify spending tens of thousands on a turntable (etc.).  Don't see that changing either ... what I have is good enough to service the nostalgia factor, looks decent, and sounds very good indeed and is as far back into that side of listening to music that I wish to go today.

rgs9200m said:

  12,000 LPs? That's great. I'm trying to picture this. Good luck.
My only thought on the Hugo TT is that it's one of those rare components that are rarely available used so if you got one there would be little risk of much depreciation or getting stuck with it.
Just rambling, but I have been listening lately to The Beatles Anthology CD set (my own rip) from 1995-6 that I have not listened to for a long time and I can't get over how compelling it sounds through my TT and Rudistor RP010B...
It's a real joy so I need to thank Mr. Watts for this.
(Just another 2-cents from me.)

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Yep, 12,000.
 
About half were acquired from various bulk-sales, estate sales, and so on.  More than half were classical and jazz.  And they were a complete pain in the arse to store.  To give you an idea, 5,000 LPs, stored properly (vertically), requires a spot on the wall about 6.5 feet tall and 15 feet wide.  Looks very impressive, but keeping them ordered and organized adds to the pain, and in the end I succumbed to the lure of having all my music at my finger tips.
 
I miss some of the recordings, but I don't miss the actual physical LPs.
 
As for the Hugo TT ... if Chord (or Apple or Auralic) can get it so it'll play to its full capability in my system, then I'll give it an audition.  I'm not going to buy something for which some of the features are unavailable to me though (especially where other units do not seem to have the same problem).  Also, while I have it "hanging on" on the audition list, I'm not sure the TT will work, physically, in my setup anyway ... but I'll have to play with one to know (I want to be able to slot it into my rack and not have to have touch it once it's there .... and to leave it on permanently).
 
We'll see I guess ... I have no doubt it'll sound good, but first it has to work fully and integrated seamless in my environment.

listen4joy said:

  no berkeley Alpha DAC Reference?

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As mentioned earlier, I'll add it to the list if I can secure an easy audition.
 
I have to say that, so far, the stuff built around CoTS converter chips is not really doing it for me when put next to Yggdrasil (yes, I know it's using CoTS DAC chips as well).  Yggdrasil isn't perfect, and there are a couple of units that are giving it a serious challenge - but they're more expensive and so far they're just challenging and not definitively beating Yggdrasil across the board.  More listening will be required of those particular units however - which will happen once I get down to a "Top 5".
 
At $16,000 the Alpha DAC Reference (or any other DAC at that price level) is going to have to be definitively, consistently, obviously, unambiguously, unequivocally better, across the board, than what I have.  That's a tall order, given how good Yggdrasil is.  More than one, significantly more expensive, unit has already failed to live up to it.

torq said:

  More than one, significantly more expensive, unit has already failed to live up to it.

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Tease!