Auralic
[size=17.03px]
Vega [/size][size=17.03px]
(-)[/size]
I’ve auditioned the Auralic Vega in the past, prior to buying my current Yggdrasil in fact, and while it was a nice sounding product, it wasn’t persuasive enough at the time to warrant pursuing. Re-auditioning it, this time directly against my Yggdrasil in my current system, it still fails to rise above what Schiit’s product can do, and does routinely, at least for me.
The first impression I get with the Vega is one of hyper-detail. This gives way to simply being a brighter, perhaps somewhat grainier, rendering than I get with Yggdrasil – rather than being any actual increase in realized detail or resolution. In fact, in general, I find Yggdrasil to be more transparent and resolving, without winding up sounding analytical (which would also be a slightly over the top characterization of the Vega's presentation).
While I wouldn’t actually call the Vega bright, it did get fatiguing after a few hours, which is something I’ve not experienced with Yggdrasil
ever, no matter how long I listen for. As a specific example, I am pressed to think of a time where, outside interruptions notwithstanding, I’ve ever started listening to the
“Jessye Norman” version of Bizet’s “Carmen” and not finished it. It’s usually a “settle in for the evening and forget the world exists” kind of an affair.
On the Vega I turned it off before the mid-point of the second act. It just wasn’t stirring in me, emotionally, what that piece usually does and I kept wanting to lower the volume from half an hour in.
Using different filters did not make any useful difference here – audible yes, but not to the point where it made me want to spend more time listening to it.
Tonally I find I prefer Yggdrasil, particularly with piano and woodwind instruments and, even more so, I find the Schiit unit to treat female vocals in a manner that, even when they’re getting up into the upper octaves avoid any semblance of sibilance or harshness. It also projects a much more convincing soundstage than Vega, and yields better layering and spatiality.
For me, Schiit's offering bests the Vega across the board, and at about 2/3rds the price.
I can’t think of anything the Vega does better than Yggdrasil except, of course, for being able to play DSD – which isn’t useful to me now that I’ve decided to pass on DSD completely. In terms of enjoyment and musicality the Schiit DAC draws me in, bathes me in music, and holds my attention and stirs my emotions. The Auralic unit never quite managed that – or only did so fleetingly. This excepted, the actual low-level, individual, technical assessments, while all still favoring Yggdrasil for me, are
not miles apart - but taken all together it makes for an easy choice.
Yggdrasil wins, consistently and comfortably, for me.
