Here’s my listening impression of Mimby at 13h:
I love my Yggy. I read all the online reviews and audition it before buying. One of my favourite online reviews is on Headphone Guru by Paddy Carroll. It is also partially quoted on Schiit’s Yggy Review page. I am going to quote from Headphone Guru site so you see what Paddy wrote:
"The Yggdrasil has an amazing way of reproducing the sound of three dimensional space. This quality is most evident in acoustic recordings such as the Belcea Quartets 2013 recording of Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets. This recording that is exceptionally well made and a perfect test for the Yggdrasil. Naturalness in tone is incredibly important for chamber music like this. The cello and violin were presented by the Yggdrasil in ways that I had never heard before. The speed and attack of Corina Belcea’s bowing on these pieces was astonishing! Every minute detail is displayed wonderfully – the contact of each bow on the string and the reverberations through the sound hole are perfectly captured. There are other elements to the recording that become far more apparent with the Yggdrasil. Breaths taking by the four musicians and movements of the arms and feet are all amplified creating a much more intimate listening experience.
My set up for listening tonight - Macbook > Schiit PYST USB cable > Mimby, Yggy > DH Lab RCA > Ragnarok > HD800S and HE1000.
I must have gone over ten/twenty albums, skipping tracks and moving to favourite segments. I will just share my impression from listening to the Belcea Quartets
2013: The Complete String Quartets Track and Amber Rubarth 2012 Album: Sessions From the 17th Ward, especially Track 3 Strive.
Since Mimby only has 4X Closed-Form Filter, single AD5547CRUZ processor compared to Yggy's 8X Closed-Form Filter, 4x AD5791BRUZ processors, it is not surprising that the Mimby delivers the multibit essence but not every minute detail as perfectly as the Yggy. Through the Mimby, the cello and violin were still pleasing and natural sounding with speed and attack of bowing, contact of each bow on the string and the reverberations perfectly captured much like on the Yggy. The string timbre and decay were comparable although the Yggy had more juicy texture/detail especially for cello. Soundstage wise, the Mimby width and 3 dimensionality are matching to the Yggy and I can still get a sense of the size of the concert hall and positioning of the instruments.
After 10-15 minutes of serious A/B switching, I lost my interest to compare Mimby vs. Yggy. The Mimby’s less detailed presentation is equally captivating and I continued with the Mimby for song after song. It is relaxing and addictive DAC, perhaps a good choice for prolonged listening and also for relaxing and winding down on a Friday night.
More listening impression to be continued as my Mimby warm up continues.
