[filthy mechanical]

Exactly, the suggestion was to add a remote to Yggdrasil so you can switch between multiple sources, when @Ableza seems to think that the Yggdrasil basically only has one input, but in five different formats, so you connect your single digital source to it and select the right input once and then never touch it again.

Because otherwise... if it's meant to be used with multiple sources... you'd need regularly switch between them somehow... but apparently that would make it a preamp. Or does it only make it a preamp if it's switched with a remote control? If I use a long rod from the couch to push the button, am I still avoiding the sneaky metamorphosis from DAC to preamp?

Schiit really ought to put the selector in the back to drive the point home that this is not a preamp. Nay, make it so that you have to pick its single input format when you order it! That's it.

What a silly comment that was.

Okay, rant over.

I view it not a huge deal - "streamer" (Volumio on a Pi with Pi2AES hat with local SSD) on the AES input, and if I get an Urd/CD player later rather than running just rips of the CDs I will be standing next to it to swap over to USB. Leave on AES at the end and be covered - but I am weird and I know it, heck I leave the house without any cell phone from time to time.

 

[Ableza]

That was sensible when most sources were analog, but it's 2021, lots of folks need input switching for various digital sources, and multiple inputs with the same format (say, more than one TOSLINK in), not just one of each. It's time. Doesn't mean preamps have to stop doing the same for analog, but what made sense for analog then makes sense for digital now.

That said, an actual digital preamp might indeed be more appropriate than putting that responsibility on the DAC.

I agree. So you need a digital preamp or switcher to select the signal for your DAC. Perhaps as is being built into the upcoming Urd.

 

[sp33ls]

Did folks have a TV for each channel back in the day before remote controls? Idk, I'm a millennial and was born after remotes They just got up, changed the channel, and enjoyed.

Sure, using my remote for my BF2 to swap between my TV and PC is handy, but since I don't swap that often, I could just as easily hit the button when I turn my Xbox on, and hit it again when I go back to PC.

I guess I've not felt the pain as much with Yggy since it's my dedicated 2 channel & headamp DAC.

I do know that this remote debate has been a hot topic for years with Schiit & @Baldr. I'm sure they could've just as easily added the BF2 remote with the new Yggy's, but then you have a bunch of previous users who would want a way to upgrade it, but it's not something that's easily upgradeable. And they would have to likely alter the chassis design to fit an IR sensor (or drill a hole for each one), which then increases costs. I think that's how Schiit gets around high costs with their products in the USA... design and buy the metalwork in bulk for economies of scale.

Makes sense to wait until an actual Yggy 2 replacement.

 

[Seret]

The October issue of Stereophile has a review of the RAAL-Requisite HSA1b headphone and speaker amplifier for the RAAL SR1a Earfield Monitors. There is also a comparison of the RAAL amp to the Jotunheim R, which is designed for the same RAAL headphones.

The positive news for Schiit fans is: The Jotunheim R is slightly leaner, drier, crisper, and more energized than the RAAL amp, but the reviewer preferred the "weightier" RAAL. (And priced at $799 for the Jotunheim and $4500 for the RAAL, I would expect that!)

The review stated that the RAAL headphones WITH the optional Silver headphone cable represents the cutting edge of current technology. Okay, that's cool, but the 7 foot cable sells for $1050! Is that price bizarre, or am I just being cheap?

 

[Alcophone]

I view it not a huge deal - "streamer" (Volumio on a Pi with Pi2AES hat with local SSD) on the AES input, and if I get an Urd/CD player later rather than running just rips of the CDs I will be standing next to it to swap over to USB. Leave on AES at the end and be covered - but I am weird and I know it, heck I leave the house without any cell phone from time to time.

That's fine, it works as is for many people, and that's great. I'm not saying it's unusable or that the physical switches should be removed, at all. I never use the remote with the Bifrost 2 because it's in a headphone rig and yeah, if anything I'd need it to have two USB inputs for two computers, so instead I use a USB switch there.

And in the speaker rig I use TOSLINK for everything, with a TOSLINK switch with remote that costs a whopping $33 new. Feeding a reclocker which feeds the Yggdrasil because nervosa.

I don't need to get up to make the streamer or my TV useful, though.

I'm curious what difference the reclocker makes, and the TOSLINK switch has two outputs, so I could connect it to the Yggdrasil directly, and indirectly via the reclocker (using BNC in this case).

Or I could connect the reclocker using all four inputs except for USB and compare those.

But not if I have to get up for it, too lazy for that. It just seems that if $33 devices with remote control exist, and a $700 DAC with remote control by the same company exists, it wouldn't be a stretch to see that in their $2200+ DAC.

And Jason has said on SBAF that a remote control would be neat, so it's not even like he needs any convincing, that's done. Though he wasn't fond of the idea of giving each input a dedicated button, so I could use some support for that idea! Hah!

 

[sp33ls]

But not if I have to get up for it, too lazy for that. It just seems that if $33 devices with remote control exist, and a $700 DAC by the same company exists, it wouldn't be a stretch to see that in there $2200+ DAC.

Adding it to the existing Yggy motherboard and chassis would've drove costs up (by more than $33).
Tho, you could make the argument that there are many folks out there who would pay an extra sum of money for a remote if they're already buying a $2k+ DAC.
Then you can have 6 options! 3 flavors, each with an option of a remote control or not.

I'm sure you'd have people going "but wait, why is the remote option an extra $250!?"

 

[Alcophone]

Did folks have a TV for each channel back in the day before remote controls? Idk, I'm a millennial and was born after remotes They just got up, changed the channel, and enjoyed.

I grew up with everything being remote controllable. Even a button on the remote to open/close the disk tray of a CD/DVD/Blu Ray player can be convenient so that it's already open by the time you walked over to it. Or to start rewinding the cassette before you swap it with a different one. Not only did the devices have a front switch for power, they had one on the remote as well!

Decades later, and manually powering stuff on and off with a switch located in the back of a 12" deep device is as far as I'm willing to compromise.

So weird, we're on the verge of having self driving cars, I can turn the light on by talking to a $40 gadget, my Fire TV Stick's remote accepts speech input and works without requiring line of sight, and the idea of an infrared remote control to switch inputs on a $$$$ DAC needs defending. Fascinating!

 

[Rensek]

I can readily admit i was a skeptic to the Bifrost 2 remote function when it was first announced. I thought it was a un-needed feature that probably added 100 bucks to the retail price of Bifrost 2.

I was very very wrong.

The remote function is a wonderful extra and gets used every day. I have my TV going to the toslink, my laptop going to Unison, and a chromecast audio going into the coaxial via toslink to coax conversion.

It is essentially a digital hub.

Ive been dreaming of another DAC, a yggy or gumby. It would replace Bifrost in my main system.

All of a sudden the loss of remote becomes a factor to consider.

 

[sp33ls]

So weird, we're on the verge of having self driving cars, I can turn the light on by talking to a $40 gadget, my Fire TV Stick's remote accepts speech input and works without requiring line of sight, and the idea of an infrared remote control to switch inputs on a $$$$ DAC needs defending. Fascinating!

Hehe. I'm a techie in Silicon Valley, and I would agree. Tho, I'm also someone who is using vintage 70's Pioneer gear with a modern Yggy DAC, and looking to build a vinyl setup. I guess I find some of these quirks a bit more romantic and part of the audio ritual.

Doesn't bother me as much, but I can certainly see your point.

 

[turtlerod]

Hehe. I'm a techie in Silicon Valley, and I would agree. Tho, I'm also someone who is using vintage 70's Pioneer gear with a modern Yggy DAC, and looking to build a vinyl setup. I guess I find some of these quirks a bit more romantic and part of the audio ritual.

Doesn't bother me as much, but I can certainly see your point.

Buy a URD when they come out it has multiple usb inputs and can be selected by a remote. The output then goes into the DAC.

 

[Alcophone]

Adding it to the existing Yggy motherboard and chassis would've drove costs up (by more than $33).

I'm not sure that's true, it's an extra hole to drill (or you replace the x8 LED, which Jason would kind of like to do anyway), the parts can't be all that expensive, and it's some firmware to write with some minor board changes.

The most expensive part is likely the remote itself, especially if it needs to be aluminum, and Schiit sells those for $18 including extra packaging.

Now if we're talking upgrading existing Yggdrasils, sure, that's unlikely to be cost effective.

Tho, you could make the argument that there are many folks out there who would pay an extra sum of money for a remote if they're already buying a $2k+ DAC.
Then you can have 6 options! 3 flavors, each with an option of a remote control or not.

I'm sure you'd have people going "but wait, why is the remote option an extra $250!?"

Heh, for $250 I'd certainly skip it myself because as admitted, I typically would need more than one of certain inputs anyway.

I would spend $1000 on a digital input switch with modules, though, i.e. one that has five or more input module slots, and I could pick between USB/RCA Coax/BNC Coax/TOSLINK/AES for each of the modules (especially if they are easily user swappable). And if it has one output for each format (maybe also modularized) that are either all active at the same time or that I can switch between, and a remote control. I wouldn't need it to support volume control, so calling it a "preamp" is questionable. But it would need to be low latency so that it doesn't ruin it for TV use.

The closest I have found to this is the cocktail Audio X35, which actually has USB audio out. But the lag it introduced made it not suitable for use with anything involving video.

 

[filthy mechanical]

I grew up with everything being remote controllable.

So did I, and whenever possible it is wired connections, hard power off switches to avoid standby mode, manual input selection (ideally with a physical switch not a button and software), and so on. When you can say "Hey Alexa" and the device responds, it means it is always on and always listening - screw that. Same with why I hate my current ISP - I can't provide my own router, switch, and wireless AP - it has to be their 3-in-one which I have limited access to and can't control as much as my own device. IR remotes seem harmless enough, but that is how they get you - next thing the toaster laughs along (joking about IR remotes).

 

[Randolf711]

Are you using it in a speaker system with more than one source?

Yes.

 

[Alcophone]

So did I, and whenever possible it is wired connections, hard power off switches to avoid standby mode, manual input selection (ideally with a physical switch not a button and software), and so on. When you can say "Hey Alexa" and the device responds, it means it is always on and always listening - screw that. Same with why I hate my current ISP - I can't provide my own router, switch, and wireless AP - it has to be their 3-in-one which I have limited access to and can't control as much as my own device. IR remotes seem harmless enough, but that is how they get you - next thing the toaster laughs along (joking about IR remotes).

I'm sympathetic to that, but convenience/usability plays a major role as well for me. I would have liked to prevent my TV from having internet access, but its built-in apps are the only way to play 24p video without judder, so I caved. I would prefer to keep the streamer on the guest network, but the Spotify/BluOS app on my phone (with stickers covering the front cameras) can't find it then, same for the Chromecast Audio. It's nice that both the Echo Dot and TP-Link smart plugs work fine on the guest network without access to other devices on the same network, just internet. Adds some latency, but if someone hacks those devices, they still aren't "inside" my network so long as the router security holds up. Yes, a device that understands me without sending my voice recordings to the cloud would be preferable. It's inconsistent to give Amazon lots of training data in the form of voice samples while deliberately only saying "Hello" when an unknown number calls, I know.

Taking these things hyper seriously is about as fun as being vegan. "Hello, could you kindly tell me if the glue on the beer bottle's label contains any lactose, by chance?"

We should all watch the Battlestar Galactica remake and start identifying the Cylons of our time.

Though I will maintain that infrared remotes are not that.

 

[Randolf711]

I guess I just get up and manually change it when I go between my CD player and the streamer. It isn’t a big deal for me probably because it’s only two inputs. I was only curious because I didn’t think the vast majority of people were using 3 or more sources and constantly switching back and forth. But I guess if you’re using it with a TV then I understand that desire.