[negura]

 
Final Question
 
How come, even after 8 days, my Yggy's case temperature never got higher than lukewarm? Even Schiit's website describes it as getting "hot".

 
It's never "hot" at all no. That would be hyperbole.
 
Great impressions. Like anything I imagine the pieces of the puzzle should all lock in for the "magic". That may include a little tuning around the Yggdrasil or some luck I guess. I am still getting wow moments, particularly on speakers, but on headphones too.

 

[US Blues]

  To buy or not to buy?
 
I'm going ahead with my Yggy order, presumably to arrive sometime in July. Had it cost 4 times as much, I may have thought harder about it. But it doesn't, so I won't. When my actual Yggy arrives, I'll make use of my posh Power Conditioner, fuses, etc, so it should get better still ) 
 

 
Congratulations! When you're Yggy arrives you'll find the magic, if you can give those nice balanced IC's so more playing time beforehand that will help. Let us know when it arrives, and wait a full fortnight for the magic.

 

[jimmypowder]

I think I'm gonna drink the koolaid . Schiit Audio ,here I come

 

[skeptic]

Spoiler: Click to Show Text!

Thanks, skeptic. I think that's a perfectly fair point. Hopefully it was easy to see that I was attempting to 'gently goad' more experienced listeners who own the Yggdrasil to address a wider audience! The Yggdrasil is very interesting for lots of reasons: R2R DACs, implementation of a different type of filter when many R2R designers are abandoning both digital and analogue filters, and so on. 
 
In the past, DACs offering greater resolution have seemingly done so at the expense of other musical traits. The interest here, for me at least, is whether this design manages to keep it all. Really good DACs, no matter the design, simply sound like music and the performance, the sound so well-put together that realism and verisimilitude shines through. Examples of the Yggdrasil aren't readily available here in New Zealand to hear (unless there is someone in Auckland who has one and wants to invite guests around?). Probably not anywhere but the US and EU yet.
 
Music lovers know who they are! They don't need me to identify them. For my part, while not attempting to start my musical career at 2, I did start violin (Emanuel Hurvitz, Adrian Levine, Diana Cummings, Derek Collier being teachers) and piano at 4, finished all my grades appropriately by 12 (violin), led every youth orchestra I played in, studied at the Royal Academy of music, was a chorister at Westminster Cathedral under Stephen Cleobury, recorded on Decca, played at all the major concert halls of London (Albert Hall, St John's Smith's Sq, all the South Bank auditoria, etc) as well as at the Proms. But none of this is terribly relevant, unless it means that - like you - I may have a well-trained ear and some ability.
 
For more involved listening sessions, I don't use headphones at all - so your point on our headphone rig is taken. We use our Audio Innovations L2 (CIFTE 12AU7s, Brimar EZ80), Beam Echo DL7 35 (with KT77s, NOS Mullard GZ34s, Valvo EF86s and Tesla frame-grid 12AX7s, Gresham iron) into stacked Quads (57s). I think we do just fine for resolution so we'd be eager to hear the Yggdrasil, should it prove compelling enough to try. 

 

 

 
Thanks for the gracious and humbling reply jusbe!  I thought I had enjoyed a pretty privileged musical upbringing (starting out of an Episcopal church no less), but I can only imagine what life must have been like singing in a space and choir like Westminster's, on a daily basis, among your other musical accolades.  I never had an opportunity to perform there while touring, but I did attend at least a couple of memorable evensongs at Westminster on various trips, so depending on your "vintage," relative to my own, I imagine it is possible that I may have even heard you sing a hymn or two as part of the choir. 
 
In any event, I will selfishly hope that you do decide to pick up a yggy at some point because I would love to hear/read your impressions.  At the end of the day, natural timbre is what matters most to me in any piece of audio equipment, so there is no substitute for comments from music lovers with well-trained ears like yours.   

  (Far preferable to reading audio reviews published by listeners whose real world experience with live music amounts to having once attended a Paul Oakenfold show on Ibiza - in which he may or may not have included 7 seconds of Barber's adagio into the mix at some point.)  As an aside, if you happen to have any recommendations for me for great Anglican choral recordings, I would welcome the suggestions for new material to try with the yggy.   

 

[DACLadder]

Patience young Grasshopper!   1-week for warm-up and then an extra 1 to 2-weeks burn-in on the new components.   I'm almost at the end of week 4 and my Yggy is still sounding better as time rolls on.

 

[reddog]

Patience young Grasshopper!   1-week for warm-up and then an extra 1 to 2-weeks burn-in on the new components.   I'm almost at the end of week 4 and my Yggy is still sounding better as time rolls on.

+1 Well said, my Yggdrasil seems to sound better the longer it is on. I find the HE1K and the Alpha Primes really sing when paired to my Yggy and Rag stack.

 

[evillamer]

It's going to be a while before we will be able to see Yggdrasil review on audio magazines/online publications. Wonder who will be the first professional reviewer to pen a Ygg review.

 

[jusbe]

   
Thanks for the gracious and humbling reply jusbe!  I thought I had enjoyed a pretty privileged musical upbringing (starting out of an Episcopal church no less), but I can only imagine what life must have been like singing in a space and choir like Westminster's, on a daily basis, among your other musical accolades.  I never had an opportunity to perform there while touring, but I did attend at least a couple of memorable evensongs at Westminster on various trips, so depending on your "vintage," relative to my own, I imagine it is possible that I may have even heard you sing a hymn or two as part of the choir. 
 
In any event, I will selfishly hope that you do decide to pick up a yggy at some point because I would love to hear/read your impressions.  At the end of the day, natural timbre is what matters most to me in any piece of audio equipment, so there is no substitute for comments from music lovers with well-trained ears like yours.   

  (Far preferable to reading audio reviews published by listeners whose real world experience with live music amounts to having once attended a Paul Oakenfold show on Ibiza - in which he may or may not have included 7 seconds of Barber's adagio into the mix at some point.)  As an aside, if you happen to have any recommendations for me for great Anglican choral recordings, I would welcome the suggestions for new material to try with the yggy.   

 
Want to know something crazy? Opinions such as yours, cipher, The Attorney carry quite a lot of weight for me. Yours in particular, since you've declared a musical upbringing similar to my own. You have experience music-making, in groups and ensembles - a supreme activity in all sorts of ways. When I look back on my history, and consider how hard it is these days to fit music in for our children, I realise I had an amazing time.
 
Westminster Cathedral is Catholic, as opposed to the Abbey down the road - with whom we competed musically (and won in bare musical terms), if not socially! We sang some of the most amazing masses, motets and sacred music I am ever likely to hear. Palestrina, Poulenc, Bruckner, Allegri, music from Graduals - esoteric and exotic in equal measure. Vespers on a Sunday in London, Victoria, with summer sunshine pouring through the windows into the nave is a sight/experience that is forever burned into my mind. We also recorded in the same space in the middle of the night to capture the astonishingly long decays possible when the surrounding streets were quiet.
 
I am leaning toward buying an Yggdrasil. I think I will need to try it for myself, if for no other reason than curiosity. Interesting to hear of it mentioned in the same breath as DACs such as the Total DAC and similar items. My only disappointment is that it doesn't offer I2S as an input. We use that exclusively with our Lite system. It's likely we would test the BNC or AES/EBU input instead (more likely the latter).

 

[jusbe]

[sorry - off-topic for a moment] And for recordings, recently I've been listening to Victoria's Magnificat of 1605, on Linn records. The Linn recording is not of us. But we sang this in the Cathedral many a time and it is transcendent. I challenge you to listen to the opening phrases and not be moved. Lassus and Byrd were also featured with great frequency.
 
Here it is on Youtube (for completion's sake) but NOT as well sung nor recorded as the Linn version - which is sumptuous, recorded in London in Hampstead, I think. We sang from the back of this picture, in the Apse. Like a giant horn. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, I now realise. The Linn recording, however, comes close to how we experienced the sound - in the body as well as the ears. The material on Decca (and Hyperion, IIRC) was 'voiced' a little differently.
 

 

[evillamer]

Given that Yggdrasil USB input has one of the best(if not the best) jitter rejection ever measured. I don't think I2S, Fancy FPGA or expensive femto clocks matters as much.

 

[dwest1023]

I received my Yggdrasil today! I am a long time lurker and I have enjoyed reading the impressions in this thread .Like a lot of you, I was on the fence about spending 2300 for a dac. I have been into high-end audio since I was 12 years old and I love listening to music. The best digital I have owned up to this point was a Meridian 508.24 cd player. It took me 25 different players before I decided on the Meridian. I regret That I sold the player, but after a divorce, I got out of high end. Anyway, had to move back home to take care of my 92 year old mom, so I decided to buy a little bed room system, since I need to be near my mom. I bought a nice little modified Jolida tube amp, a mac air, and decided on a Meridian director dac. I also purchased a gungnir  as a second dac, in the same system. I use a Cardas clear usb cable and all other connections are with Harmonic tech cables. I did not have a lot of space for speaker, and they needed to be mounted on the wall, so I went with NHT super zeros and a small NHT sub. I was SURPRISED how good this system sounded. This is coming form NHT 3.3's and a Krell amp. As good as that system was, I enjoy my little bedroom system much more.
 
Now the Yggdrasil. Out of the box this dac bought my system to a whole new level. I have heard people say, out of the box the Yaggi, is then, bright and harsh. I heard none of this on MY system. It was CLEARLY better the the gungnir right out of the box. I was stunned, I expected to hear grunge when I first turned it on, but it was smooth in my system out the box.   In fact it will be hard for me to believe the Yggdrasil will get better after burn in. I can't imaging how that will sound, because it sounds so good now! Atleast I don't have to worry If I turn my Yaggy off, because I like the start up sound. If you are on the fence about buying this dac, get off, it is a really good dac and the hype is real. I have never heard my system have this kind of bass before. Its like I bought a new high end sub. All I can say is wow. My music seems to float in the room instead of coming from speakers.

 

[jimmypowder]

I received my Yggdrasil today! I am a long time lurker and I have enjoyed reading the impressions in this thread .Like a lot of you, I was on the fence about spending 2300 for a dac. I have been into high-end audio since I was 12 years old and I love listening to music. The best digital I have owned up to this point was a Meridian 508.24 cd player. It took me 25 different players before I decided on the Meridian. I regret That I sold the player, but after a divorce, I got out of high end. Anyway, had to move back home to take care of my 92 year old mom, so I decided to buy a little bed room system, since I need to be near my mom. I bought a nice little modified Jolida tube amp, a mac air, and decided on a Meridian director dac. I also purchased a gungnir  as a second dac, in the same system. I use a Cardas clear usb cable and all other connections are with Harmonic tech cables. I did not have a lot of space for speaker, and they needed to be mounted on the wall, so I went with NHT super zeros and a small NHT sub. I was SURPRISED how good this system sounded. This is coming form NHT 3.3's and a Krell amp. As good as that system was, I enjoy my little bedroom system much more.

Now the Yggdrasil. Out of the box this dac bought my system to a whole new level. I have heard people say, out of the box the Yaggi, is then, bright and harsh. I heard none of this on MY system. It was CLEARLY better the the gungnir right out of the box. I was stunned, I expected to hear grunge when I first turned it on, but it was smooth in my system out the box.   In fact it will be hard for me to believe the Yggdrasil will get better after burn in. I can't imaging how that will sound, because it sounds so good now! Atleast I don't have to worry If I turn my Yaggy off, because I like the start up sound. If you are on the fence about buying this dac, get off, it is a really good dac and the hype is real. I have never heard my system have this kind of bass before. Its like I bought a new high end sub. All I can say is wow. My music seems to float in the room instead of coming from speakers.

I have a Gungnir and like it a lot . A very natural and dynamic sound .
I have placed an order for the Yggy because I really don't like the sound of the Sabre chip and want another Sabre free dac . Even their best chips seem to get a little treble coarseness .

Another budget dac I like that uses a Texas Instrument chip is the Arcam Irdac .Its similar to the Gungnir and for the money , 700 or less bucks , is a damn good dac .

 

[dwest1023]

I have a Gungnir and like it a lot . A very natural and dynamic sound .
I have placed an order for the Yggy because I really don't like the sound of the Sabre chip and want another Sabre free dac . Even their best chips seem to get a little treble coarseness .

Another budget dac I like that uses a Texas Instrument chip is the Arcam Irdac .Its similar to the Gungnir and for the money , 700 or less bucks , is a damn good dac .

The Meridian is a very underrated dac. It has more detail tjhen the Gungnir, but I can't say its better. I will be selling my Gungnir and keeping my Meridain. You will love the Yggy. It is said the Yggy is brighter than the gungnit, but I don't find that to be the case. Take everything good the gungnir does and take to a higher level, then add detail. When I say detail I don't mean brighter. The Yggy is more resolving with  sophistication and grace.
 
I did not want to like the Yggy, because I did not want to spend 2300. I had sent the wryd back, because it made MY system sound too thin, other than that, it made some nice improvements to my sound stage. Even though I only listen to the Yggy 15 min while I was at home for lunch, it aint going back,.Its that good.

 

[jimmypowder]

 
The Meridian is a very underrated dac. It has more detail tjhen the Gungnir, but I can't say its better. I will be selling my Gungnir and keeping my Meridain. You will love the Yggy. It is said the Yggy is brighter than the gungnit, but I don't find that to be the case. Take everything good the gungnir does and take to a higher level, then add detail. When I say detail I don't mean brighter. The Yggy is more resolving with  sophistication and grace.
 
I did not want to like the Yggy, because I did not want to spend 2300. I had sent the wryd back, because it made MY system sound too thin, other than that, it made some nice improvements to my sound stage. Even though I only listen to the Yggy 15 min while I was at home for lunch, it aint going back,.Its that good.

Thanks for the reply. I don't want bright so that's good.The Gungnir does lack some resolution capability so I cant wait to get my hands on the Yggy!

 

[dwest1023]

I have now had the Yggy on for 9 hrs and this thing just sounds so incredible. It sounds so good I am going to sell my gunguir and my Meridan dac. What really shocked me was when I switch my Meriian director in place of the Yaggy using the same song. The Meridian was unlistable after the switch. I could ot believe the difference. Other than speakers, I don't think I have ever heard any audio gear make that much difference. The instuments sound so much more real with the Yggy. It is very hard to stop listten to this thing. Really hard to believe the Yggy is suppose to sound even better after a few days of being left on. Oh well.. on with more listening.