[Torq]

  Ribald would be fun but I hope you're not too terse.  Things like "it was *****" isn't very helpful while "it sounded like a swarm of flies on a pile of schite" at least implies that it buzzed like a sonavagun.
 
thanks again for documenting your experiences!

 
There's at least one unit I've heard, that seems to get a lot of praise in certain quarters, that I might be tempted to describe that way (okay, I'm exaggerating ... but it's a ~$1000 unit that I would say is probably overpriced by about $800) ... and I can absolutely see why it gets bought with the intent of being modded immediately.
 
For some reason that reminds of the kids that buy very pedestrian, but perfectly serviceable, cars ... then add on a couple of hundred pounds of stick-on-plastic-tat, extremely wide wheels, very low profile tires, and give it a completely custom primer-job (there's never any actual paint involved, it seems) ... instead of just spending the same net amount of money on an used, actual, sports car.
 
But hey, it's their time and money - and I'm not the one that has to be seen riding in such sheds.
 
Being serious for a moment, no, it won't be quite that terse.  The stuff that winds up being seriously competitive or impressive I'll likely write quite a bit.  For the stuff that doesn't "make the grade" (for me, I shall emphasize once again), I'll write up what I find, probably a solid paragraph at minimum, more as necessary, but it won't include track-by-track listening notes or lots of prose about how it renders a clarinet in a way that makes me think the artist actually picked up a duck by mistake, and was blowing into the wrong end.
 
(Yes, I know, that prompts the question "What is the correct end of a duck to blow into?" ... determining that is left as an exercise for the reader).

 

[ButchP]

Benchmark DAC2 HGC D/A processor

 

[landroni]

 

Benchmark DAC2 HGC D/A processor

At least the Benchmark DAC1 got butchered by Yggdrasil according to this review:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/schiit-audio-yggdrasil/reviews/13419

 

[hornytoad]

I had the Benchmark dac 2 -IMO it was far inferior to the Yggy. 
 
I sold it after listening to the Yggy. 
 
While it was better than the dac-1 , the treble harshness was still killing me. 

 

[Maxx134]

Has anyone tried tried using the "F1" spdif converter on the yggy?

I have found it to be superior in Soundstage over the yggy USB input.
Giving a more effortless presentation with more space between instruments and more overall realism.
Stock USB was more aggressive and a bit less resolving.

It was hard to imagine more sonic gains were possible, but there was.
Yet is is system dependant whether your coming from a computer or a streamer which is much cleaner USB.

 

[mulveling]

I remember when the Benchmark DAC-1 was first being hyped some 12+ years ago -- heard one then, and basically it sucked (i.e. it didn't come close to living up to the hype -- also thought the same of the Bel Canto DAC 2 from around that time). I went into vinyl a couple years later because most DACs and spinners of that era were so disappointing. Generally, DACs sound a lot better these days, but I still wouldn't touch a DAC-2 no matter how great they say it is.
 
The Yggy gets hyped like crazy around here, and probably too much in some cases. But that said, this DAC is totally legit. For a very reasonable price, it makes digital sound highly enjoyable. It sounds awesome. Though like other posters, I have found the Yggy USB input to be not to my liking. Find a way to get spdif into it (converters, etc).

 

[rgs9200m]

Here ya' go :
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-msb-technology-diamond-dac-iv-plus-w-diamond-power-base-and-umt-plus-transport-2016-05-12-digital-21117-owings-mills-md
 
With free shipping!

 

[Torq]

  Here ya' go :
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-msb-technology-diamond-dac-iv-plus-w-diamond-power-base-and-umt-plus-transport-2016-05-12-digital-21117-owings-mills-md
 
With free shipping!

 

 
I'm sure your post is tongue-in-cheek, but assuming the MSB Diamond DAC is what I ultimately go with, I'll just go straight for the latest version (V).

 

[jfrocke]

I find my Hiface-2 is superior sounding to the Yggy USB input as well. Hoping there are XP drivers available for the F-1 so I can upgrade to that now.

 

[Torq]

Has anyone tried tried using the "F1" spdif converter on the yggy?

I have found it to be superior in Soundstage over the yggy USB input.
Giving a more effortless presentation with more space between instruments and more overall realism.
Stock USB was more aggressive and a bit less resolving.

It was hard to imagine more sonic gains were possible, but there was.
Yet is is system dependant whether your coming from a computer or a streamer which is much cleaner USB.

 
 

I find my Hiface-2 is superior sounding to the Yggy USB input as well. Hoping there are XP drivers available for the F-1 so I can upgrade to that now.

 
As good as the Yggdrasil's native USB input appears to be compared to the bulk of the competition, it sounds consistently worse to me than any of the other input options.  In order I've found I like the AES/EBU XLR input (via an Auralic Aries) the best, followed by the TOSLINK connection (Lifatec glass cable from a new Mac Pro) and finally the COAX input.
 
I still can't get my head around the idea of using a USB output, and one or more often quite expensive devices to fix up it's issues, rather than just skipping USB all together.  I get it when it's the only option, but I've yet to hear a DAC driven by USB, no matter what reclockers, power isolation or whatever is involved, that sounded better than when driven by it's other inputs (assuming good quality interconnects all around).

 

[mhamel]

   
 
 
As good as the Yggdrasil's native USB input appears to be compared to the bulk of the competition, it sounds consistently worse to me than any of the other input options.  In order I've found I like the AES/EBU XLR input (via an Auralic Aries) the best, followed by the TOSLINK connection (Lifatec glass cable from a new Mac Pro) and finally the COAX input.
 
I still can't get my head around the idea of using a USB output, and one or more often quite expensive devices to fix up it's issues, rather than just skipping USB all together.  I get it when it's the only option, but I've yet to hear a DAC driven by USB, no matter what reclockers, power isolation or whatever is involved, that sounded better than when driven by it's other inputs (assuming good quality interconnects all around).

 
So far, the best I've heard my DAC sound in my system has been since dropping USB and going with a Focusrite Rednet / Dante audio over IP solution, using the DAC as the master clock for the whole chain. I'm using this box as the Dante->AES interface: https://us.focusrite.com/ethernet-audio-interfaces/rednet-d16-aes and Dante Virtual Sound Card on the PC side (https://www.audinate.com/products/software/dante-virtual-soundcard). 

 

[Torq]

   
So far, the best I've heard my DAC sound in my system has been since dropping USB and going with a Focusrite Rednet / Dante audio over IP solution, using the DAC as the master clock for the whole chain. I'm using this box as the Dante->AES interface: https://us.focusrite.com/ethernet-audio-interfaces/rednet-d16-aes and Dante Virtual Sound Card on the PC side (https://www.audinate.com/products/software/dante-virtual-soundcard). 

 
That looks very interesting - I may have to check it out to see how it compares to the Aries, since it's doing much the same thing (how it does it will differ of course, but both use audio over IP/ethernet and have AES outputs).  The Aries is nice since it supports Roon; with the RedNet I'd need to slave it off another computer as my Roon end-point (entirely doable, just more moving parts).
 
Thanks!

 

[Torq]

Interesting issue this week ...
 
In preparation for auditioning a rash of DSD-capable DACs, I figured I'd get my system setup ahead of time so I could evaluate them both for PCM replay and for native DSD playback.  This has involved buying DSD copies of a number of albums that I also have in PCM format as well as getting my only, current, DSD-capable DAC working in DSD mode.
 
So far it all seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth.
 
With very high-end computing hardware (think 12 cores, 64 to 128 GB of RAM, SSD etc.) such that there is no way the computer is a bottleneck), playing native DSD via DoP I get frequent, random, dropouts in replay.  Switch playback to 32/384 KHz PCM and everything is entirely fine.  Anything involving DoP ... I get dropouts.  Happens regardless of the player (Audirvana, JRiver, Roon), no matter which cable or port I use, and it's consistent across three different machines (one of which has only the raw OS and the music player on it)
 
Not sure if this is an issue specific to the DAC I am using to get setup with (my Chord Mojo), or if this is a broader issue with DoP and some other configuration issue.
 
I'm going to grab another Mojo, as well as another DSD-capable DAC, to trouble shoot with, as the DAC is the only thing left that can be an issue (and other people are reporting they have no issues with the same configuration and a lot less powerful computing hardware).
 
Three takeaways so far though: 1. USB for audio is still more trouble than its worth.  2. When DSD is playing without dropouts, it doesn't sound any different in native DSD vs. converted to PCM format, on the very same DAC, to me.  3. Some of the native DSD masters are really very good ... even when converted/played as PCM.

 

[rgs9200m]

To my ears, nothing sounds as fine and analogy-y with simultaneous detail, speed, and lack of fatigue and plain truth as a physical SACD disc. Since there is a good deal of my favorite music on SACD, I put up with the inconvenience of spinning discs. It's a necessary evil.
(I use a Hugo TT for computer audio.) I would consider any high end system incomplete without this capability.
I've heard all the arguments about how it's all in the mastering, but to my ears it's not true. Although some SACDs are mastered better than others, the bulk of my SACDs much more refined and natural than any other music source.
I tried many of the same recordings on HDTracks and the like, and still the SACD disc is the only one that sounds magical. I wish it weren't so, but that's the way it is.

 

[murphythecat]

  To my ears, nothing sounds as fine and analogy-y with simultaneous detail, speed, and lack of fatigue and plain truth as a physical SACD disc. Since there is a good deal of my favorite music on SACD, I put up with the inconvenience of spinning discs. It's a necessary evil.
(I use a Hugo TT for computer audio.) I would consider any high end system incomplete without this capability.
I've heard all the arguments about how it's all in the mastering, but to my ears it's not true. Although some SACDs are mastered better than others, the bulk of my SACDs much more refined and natural than any other music source.
I tried many of the same recordings on HDTracks and the like, and still the SACD disc is the only one that sounds magical. I wish it weren't so, but that's the way it is.

isnt that caused by the sacd cd transport vs how you play the hd tracks?