Ayre Acoustics
Codex (-)
This is quite a dull looking thing. Plain, simple and elegantly functional … but still dull. And it has a less-than-convenient configuration for connecting balanced headphones. Though happily it’s other balanced-outputs are quite conventional XLR sockets, which makes them easy to use.
And you’ll want to use it in balanced mode as it performs significantly better that way than it does in single-ended configuration. I call that out because the difference between balanced and single-ended with most components isn’t that big, but it’s quite noticeable with the Codex.
Detail levels are similar to Auralic’s Vega, without the apparent hyper-detail effect I found there, but don’t quite approach what I get out of Yggdrasil. The general presentation is quite neutral, maybe a shade over enthusiastic up top, but not to the point I’d describe it as bright, and maybe a little dry at a times. It certainly doesn’t do much for poor recordings and didn’t make mellow of anything harsh or strident, but then it didn't add harshness or stridency that wasn't already there.
The Codex does give a quite musical rendering though it somehow manages to lack a little in stirring emotion – and that with pieces that usually have a quite profound effect on me. I did make it all the way through my favorite version of “Carmen” here, unlike with the Vega, and Jessye’s voice projected well and with good tone and life.
Schiit’s DAC was more believable with instrumental timbre, delivered a more expansive and solid soundstage, has better neutrality, exhibits more presence and remains entirely musical and engrossing. Lower registers are plumbed more thoroughly while maintaining a treble that’s capable of air and space and sweetness, without ever seeming artificial.
So, while this is not really for me, and I don’t think this competes that closely with Yggdrasil, particularly with price taken into consideration (even allowing for the built-in headphone amplifier), it’s a rather nice listen.
Another convincing win for Yggdrasil, as far as I’m concerned.
QB-9 DSD (-)
This was auditioned via a USB connection, on account of that being the only input it has.
I played around with it in single-ended and balanced mode, but it was rapidly apparent, much like the Codex, that you want to use this in a balanced configuration if you can. The difference is larger than with most components I’ve tried.
This did a really nice job with female vocals, be they deep and mellow or bright and more soaring. The sense of energy and life in those portrayals was really rather delightful.
Detail is good without seeming exaggerated or artificial, with a smooth and balanced presentation that, while not particularly exciting, is musical and even-handed. I liked it more with acoustic pieces, small chamber ensembles and bigger classical productions, where it had very good layering, than I did with more driving and complex contemporary music.
When doing harder evaluations (when things aren’t immediately clear) I use an approach called “
Tune Dem” to help sort things out. Here the Yggdrasil was definitely ahead, with it being much easier to follow the music overall and to hear individual elements within it, which is sometimes described as “instrumental separation”.
I think Yggdrasil is still extracting a little more detail than the Ayre, and it’s rendering it in a more lifelike manner, something that I found more evident with lightly plucked strings, brushes on cymbals and pianissimo passages/notes on a real piano. With Yggdrasil you can, if the recording has it, hear individual wires on a brush dragging after the main bundle, whereas I was not able to discern that as frequently on the QB-9 DSD.
Soundstage easily goes to the Yggdrasil. It was bigger, three dimensional and very solidly projected, whereas with the Ayre it was shallower and shorter, and somehow left feeling wider than it should be.
The Ayre didn’t engross me and leave me wanting to play “just one more song” the way Yggdrasil, and some other DACs, managed, but it was still entirely enjoyable.
I think the QB-9 DSD is very good, excellent even - if you ignore the price. I’d take it over the Auralic Vega without any hesitation. If I only had the ability to use USB DACs then it’d float up near the top of what I’ve heard over USB without the need for expensive fixes in the chain …
But … when put next to Yggdrasil, the QB-D DSD is too expensive for what it does without actually reaching quite the same level that the Schiit product achieves.
--
Since I was using a USB connection anyway, I did run some DSD files through the Ayre. This did nothing to convince me that DSD is worth bothering with and, when I could tell the difference between DSD and PCM I almost invariably chose the PCM playback.
