[AFRIED]

I have worked endlessly on the issue of settings. Mind you that is really important in getting most out of the Vega.
I have a custom built Desktop that uses 2 Samsung SSD in raid 0, the best ASUS motherboard, great memory and processor. 
I also optimized the computer settings to give the Auralic Asio driver priority and reduce Latency.
​I have tested many and ended up buying the Wireworld Platinum 7 starlight USB.
I have 2 sets of speakers I use the Focal CMS50 and Focal Solo6. I connect them balanced with MIT matrix 23 interconnect.
I also have the the powered speakers and Vega connect to the PS audio power plant P5 on a dedicated 20amp line.
My computer is connected via wired CAT6 and CAT7 to 120mb/s internet service.
 
I gave you all this background just so you get some of the idea of the lengths I went to isolate noise and get maximum performance. There is more but we will leave that for another time.
The best settings I got for listening streaming music is to use the following:
AURALIC
Clock = "EXACT" OR "FINE" 
FILTERS= "1" OR "4"
COMPUTER 
16 bit 44.1K
 
In auralic driver setting
buffer
128
low latency
IF your computer cannot take the above setting well try
buffer 256
Standard Latency
 
Of course there are more adjustments that need to be made in the computer to assure the ASIO driver is given priority. I provided a list in a previous post.
Note that the standard latency SAFE mode with  2056 buffer is provided to make sure it covers all situations. However, such high latency will smear the sound and fine detail is lost.
Another thing to note is that my computer can even perform in clock "exact" mode. However, in streaming music some of the time the timbre beauty is lost. 
And hence then "FINE" will work to retain all the rich harmonics. In regard to the hour wait, The Auralic has a sleep mode so that after the first hour you do not have to wait again for an hour. Most owners put it in sleep mode and never shut  the power completely off. It uses minimum power. Once its out of sleep mode after 5 to 10 minutes or so it works perfect. 
Going to the lower clock speeds or Auto compromises the sound significantly. You get way to much smearing and lost of timbre and detail.

 

[dnlee480]

Hi guys, I'm still trying to decide among Auralic Vega, Berkeley Alpha Dac2 w/ Alpha USB, or Schiit Yggdrasil.  I obviously like the price of the Yggdrasil.  I'm looking in the used market for the Berkeley and Auralic.  Is there really a major differences among these dacs?  Which measures best?  Which sound do you prefer?  I'm looking to use mostly for 2 channel stereo listening with my home system.  I realize this is a Auralic thread; so some of you might have some biased 

 

[XVampireX]

  Hi guys, I'm still trying to decide among Auralic Vega, Berkeley Alpha Dac2 w/ Alpha USB, or Schiit Yggdrasil.  I obviously like the price of the Yggdrasil.  I'm looking in the used market for the Berkeley and Auralic.  Is there really a major differences among these dacs?  Which measures best?  Which sound do you prefer?  I'm looking to use mostly for 2 channel stereo listening with my home system.  I realize this is a Auralic thread; so some of you might have some biased 

 
 
Auralic thread sure
 
Auralic Vega is an excellent DAC, I am going to get Yggdrasil in a while but Auralic Vega does not disappoint.

 

[Sonic Guild]

  Hi guys, I'm still trying to decide among Auralic Vega, Berkeley Alpha Dac2 w/ Alpha USB, or Schiit Yggdrasil.  I obviously like the price of the Yggdrasil.  I'm looking in the used market for the Berkeley and Auralic.  Is there really a major differences among these dacs?  Which measures best?  Which sound do you prefer?  I'm looking to use mostly for 2 channel stereo listening with my home system.  I realize this is a Auralic thread; so some of you might have some biased 

Go with the cheaper option.

 

[dnlee480]

Thanks. I think I will go with the Yggy. My fiancé is going to kill me. I have spent so much in my current system and building a second system for my office. Lol

 

[Lavakugel]

Anybody tried auralic vega with woo wa6?

 

[vnmslsrbms]

I just got this yesterday but I really like it.  I find that the clock and filter settings are very flexible and adjustable to my different headphones.  However, I do wish that there were customized profiles that I can choose.  Like Speaker, HD800, LCD2.2 etc.  That way I can save my selections and load them quick.  Perhaps I can send them an email.  But it's wonderful in that when the HD800 treble is too piercing, I can switch to mode 2 (what I find that keeps the treble down a little) and make it much more less fatiguing.  Meanwhile the other modes sound great with the LCD2.2s.  I find the clock mode to be fun in that for older songs I can set it to coarse. Exact is just too killer.  It's great for modern recordings but for older recordings it just is too clean.  The coarse and auto modes seem to give an analog type of feel (that I'll have to listen more on).  
 
I'm loving the Vega+Taurus MKii stack.  It is annoying that there is no bypass mode and that I have to keep it at 100 volume, and let the Taurus control the volume.  I kinda miss the remote volume in that setup at it's also my main 2 channel HT setup, but it doesn't hurt to exercise and walk a few feet.  

 

[theppd]

You actually can use your remote still if you chose in the settings of the Vega to use for the volume an UP/DWN remote buttons. So that the Taurus will use remote's Volume buttons and the Vega will ignore that since.

 

[vnmslsrbms]

But the Taurus doesn't have remote sensors?  I'm using the Taurus with the headphone out btw, which is different from the preamp version.  It's ok.  When I'm lazy I just use the digital volume control on the Vega which is pretty good anyway.  

 
You actually can use your remote still if you chose in the settings of the Vega to use for the volume an UP/DWN remote buttons. So that the Taurus will use remote's Volume buttons and the Vega will ignore that since.

 
And for anyone who has occasional audio drop out issues, I've found that I needed to adjust the latency settings.  I set both the buffer size and latency to the lowest, specifically 32 and minimum latency.  No more occasional dropouts.  

 

[Super Pang]

Am I right in thinking that you can connect the Vega to any pre-amp but there's no "fixed output" and the volume adjusts the voltage up to 4V? Ie. 3/4 volume would be around the level of Chord's DACs.

 

[vnmslsrbms]

Yes there is no fixed output unfortunately, but setting it to 100 means no degradation.  I think for their implementation basically anything about 75 or 80 (don't quote me on this I'm too lazy to look it up) sounds pretty good.  They don't think it's as good as the best analog ones of course, but it's very close.  It's better to set the volume to 100, and adjust the volume on your pre-amp.  I do that sometimes with my Taurus mkii, but sometimes I also just use the remote function on the Vega since my Taurus is for headphones and doesn't have remote.  Still sounds pretty good I say.  

  Am I right in thinking that you can connect the Vega to any pre-amp but there's no "fixed output" and the volume adjusts the voltage up to 4V? Ie. 3/4 volume would be around the level of Chord's DACs.

 

[Super Pang]

  Yes there is no fixed output unfortunately, but setting it to 100 means no degradation.  I think for their implementation basically anything about 75 or 80 (don't quote me on this I'm too lazy to look it up) sounds pretty good.  They don't think it's as good as the best analog ones of course, but it's very close.  It's better to set the volume to 100, and adjust the volume on your pre-amp.  I do that sometimes with my Taurus mkii, but sometimes I also just use the remote function on the Vega since my Taurus is for headphones and doesn't have remote.  Still sounds pretty good I say.  

Thanks. 

 

[atomicbob]

  Am I right in thinking that you can connect the Vega to any pre-amp but there's no "fixed output" and the volume adjusts the voltage up to 4V? Ie. 3/4 volume would be around the level of Chord's DACs.

I run my Vega at 85 to level match with Schiit Ygg and GuMB DACs. It sounds pretty good at that level.

 

[P4UL]

I run my Vega at 85 to level match with Schiit Ygg and GuMB DACs. It sounds pretty good at that level.

Which DAC do you find sounds the best of the three?

 

[atomicbob]

Which DAC do you find sounds the best of the three?

My opinion (FWIW) the Yggdrasil, Gungnir MB and Vega are all very fine DACs. Best is in the ear of the beholder. The Vega has multiple filter modes, which can tailor the sound. It is a very clean, clear sounding DAC, an exemplary delta-sigma implementation. Schiit’s MultiBit DACs give a dimension and depth to the reproduction sound that I have not experienced with any delta-sigma DAC. 
 
Yggdrasil and Vega are really good tools for studios and mastering facilities, to hear the most neutral representation on both MB and D-S DACs. Those who have the similar goals to hear as closely as possible to the studio experience might also find both DACs useful. I appreciate the exceptional neutrality for production work. However the very slight euphonic sound and ever so slight lost of resolution of the Gungnir MB from the Yggdrasil actually serves recreational listeners better, in my opinion.
 
Then there is the Bifrost MB. I've spent a lot of my disposable time listening to the BiMB and asking myself, do I really need the extra resolution of GuMB for most of my recreational listening enjoyment? Plenty to enjoy about this relatively inexpensive DAC.