My original plan was to look at the yggdrasil as an upgrade option over the hugo. Im not sure how many hours the yggdrasil had on it (it was the instore demo unit). I preferred the sound signature of the yggdrasil to the hugo but to me there didnt seem to be a lot of difference in terms of each dacs ability to provide detail and handle complexities. My reference tracks for the audition were from Talk Talks Spirit of Eden album and Colour of Spring album, all lossless and uncompressed flacs on the ak240.
The sound signature differences to me were a slightly less clinical sound in the yggy, I know terms like warmer and harsher etc are overused and mean different things to different people, what I mean by warmer is that there is more body to the sound, the details that are heard are the same but the depth is greater, and by harsh I mean lacking in depth and bright, not necessarily unpleasantly so but you sense that something is not quite right. Not a great explanation I know but hopefully that assists.
Anyway, to my ears the yggdrasil had a slight edge on the hugo, I think it had a little more depth, and listening to the two I was more drawn in to the music on the yggy than the hugo. This was in direct comparison. I did feel however that there was so little in it that an upgrade to the yggy was not really a big enough leap to justify the cost to me (given Id have to sell the hugo at less than retail, but pay new for the yggy.)
I then tried the pavane, and compared it back and forth with the yggy. Switching between them, the pavane felt more relaxed, blacker background and yet extreme detail, instruments are located quite precisely spatially, and some small details seemed to come from out of nowhere quite effortlessly. The Yggy was not as relaxed, the key difference though was how hard the pavane kicked, for example drum strikes and percussive sections, it offered a more visceral sensation than the yggy or the hugo. My impression of the pavane overall was it was less compressed sounding than the yggy or hugo,but more effortlessly powerful. Its like it is mainly idling along and has power when needed, while the hugo and yggy operate closer to their limit a lot of the time.
Given the expense of the pavane I was offered to try the hex. Ill admit I didnt spend a lot of time listening to it, its priced around the same as the yggy, my impressions were it didnt have the refinement of the pavane, and that was immediately obvious to me. Its a very good dac but I found it perhaps a bit "smeared" in its presentation, it didnt handle complex passages as precisely and I felt that instruments in the mix were more blended than separate. For example, on the pavane I hear each instrument separately along with its individual reverbs, however on the hex its like the instruments shared the reverb. Theres one particular percussive passage on Spirit of Eden where on the pavane I hear the percussive instruments separately and placed in their physical locations in the soundstage (ie you can follow a drum roll around the kit), on the hex I hear the elements but with a much narrower soundstage, like you hear the kit but not the placement of the toms etc relative to each other.
I had a second audition of the pavane and hugo a few days later, and I left the shop with the pavane and a crater in my wallet.To me the upgrade is worth it, and in my system I think theres no question that the pavane plays more nicely than the hugo, but that does not mean the hugo is not a fantastic sounding dac. Ive loved it and think its a fantastic value, however I also think that the yggy has closed the gap considerably since the hugo came out.
