Schiit Yggdrasil Impressions thread
Feb 27, 2016 at 6:55 AM Post #1,966 of 12,398
 
Finally, quick question that I probably know the answer to but I have to ask anyway:  does Yggy have any way of telling the user whether it is receiving a 16 or 24 bit signal?  Or is it just the sampling rate?  I see more and more 44.1khz files that are 24bit and it would be nice to be able to tell which are which.

No, it does not indicate anything other than sampling rates - it is an interesting request.  It would require a program in the background monitoring the input bus and periodically checking how far down the bus bits are toggling.  It would also require the development of an algorithm tested against a variety of different musical types to ensure correct reporting and updating of bit depth. It would falsely report bit depth if the entire dynamic range of the bus is not used.  Tough to do meaningfully.
 
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Feb 28, 2016 at 4:05 PM Post #1,967 of 12,398
  No, it does not indicate anything other than sampling rates - it is an interesting request.  It would require a program in the background monitoring the input bus and periodically checking how far down the bus bits are toggling.  It would also require the development of an algorithm tested against a variety of different musical types to ensure correct reporting and updating of bit depth. It would falsely report bit depth if the entire dynamic range of the bus is not used.  Tough to do meaningfully.

 
I always love it when you chime in Mike, it's great to see the insight into what seem like simple functions to the end user.  Thanks for answering my question, and my thanks to you and everybody else at Schiit who put so much work into making this product.  I think Yggy is going to deepen my connection with music a lot in the coming days and that means the world to me.
 
Feb 28, 2016 at 5:12 PM Post #1,968 of 12,398
  No, it does not indicate anything other than sampling rates - it is an interesting request.  It would require a program in the background monitoring the input bus and periodically checking how far down the bus bits are toggling. 

How about just a meter with 24 LEDs?  The highest illuminated one can "stick" for a second.
 
It would be very strobatastic!
 
Feb 28, 2016 at 11:43 PM Post #1,970 of 12,398
I don’t see to much about how headphones match with the yggy on this thread.
 
I am using my LCD-3.   Interesting that the positives of the LCD-3 are the creamy smooth thick sound.  The negatives usually are that some say they are slow or muddy and to polite- obviously a consequence of the creaminess.
 
I agreed until I got this yggy dac.  The changes in my headphones are stunning.  The LCD3F now have a good amount of bite to them- not polite in the least.  They are super transparent and not muddy in the least either.  They sound like a totally different headphone than with my old dac.
 
What I am wondering is how naturally more neutral headphones like a HE6 would sound.  Would it just be to aggressive a result to enjoy the music?  How about a HD800- I can’t imagine how the transparency would not blow my ears off.
 
Feb 29, 2016 at 1:42 AM Post #1,971 of 12,398
I hope very much to acquire the Yggy such that I could speculate—though I don't see much reason for myself to buy Audeze except perhaps for solo piano, and even then the justification is slim. Their reputation is just the antithesis of classical music.
 
Feb 29, 2016 at 5:55 AM Post #1,972 of 12,398
I just went back and compared the Gen 3 USB against the other options I have here (Soundaware, Audiophilleo and Audio-gd). No contest. With the Alexis Cole binaural album just released through HD-800s, the subtle nuances in voices and instruments just aren't there with the USB. The downside to this discovery is that the cost for a good transport looks to be a few hundred (Audio-gd and Soundaware) up to over the cost of the Yggy itself.
 
Feb 29, 2016 at 8:25 AM Post #1,975 of 12,398
  I just went back and compared the Gen 3 USB against the other options I have here (Soundaware, Audiophilleo and Audio-gd). No contest. With the Alexis Cole binaural album just released through HD-800s, the subtle nuances in voices and instruments just aren't there with the USB. The downside to this discovery is that the cost for a good transport looks to be a few hundred (Audio-gd and Soundaware) up to over the cost of the Yggy itself.


Could be that if you had a ultra low noise linear power supply on your computer that the usb would catch up or surpass the other options but that is costly as well because mine cost $1,000.
 
Feb 29, 2016 at 8:29 AM Post #1,976 of 12,398
 
  I just went back and compared the Gen 3 USB against the other options I have here (Soundaware, Audiophilleo and Audio-gd). No contest. With the Alexis Cole binaural album just released through HD-800s, the subtle nuances in voices and instruments just aren't there with the USB. The downside to this discovery is that the cost for a good transport looks to be a few hundred (Audio-gd and Soundaware) up to over the cost of the Yggy itself.


Could be that if you had a ultra low noise linear power supply on your computer that the usb would catch up or surpass the other options but that is costly as well because mine cost $1,000.


Good question. I tried the iUSB 3.0 and it still couldn't get the input to match adding the Audiophilleo between it and the Yggy.  I was thinking of trying streaming through my iPad Mini later.
 
The Audio-gd DI8 sounds a bit better than I felt it did when I first plugged it in. However, the sound is a bit more distant and the dynamics are lacking in comparison. It's still a heck of a lot cheaper than what I assembled around the AP1 though!
 
Feb 29, 2016 at 8:45 AM Post #1,977 of 12,398
 
Good question. I tried the iUSB 3.0 and it still couldn't get the input to match adding the Audiophilleo between it and the Yggy.  I was thinking of trying streaming through my iPad Mini later.
 
The Audio-gd DI8 sounds a bit better than I felt it did when I first plugged it in. However, the sound is a bit more distant and the dynamics are lacking in comparison. It's still a heck of a lot cheaper than what I assembled around the AP1 though!


Remember, these usb to coax transformers are cleaning the power- not just transferring usb to spdif.  So maybe if you had clean power  in your computer the usb would be just as good.  Don’t judge the inputs unless the power sources of the source feeding the inputs is the same.  I plan to try to compare usb to usb on my yggy later this evening comparing from my mac mini with a external linear power supply as source one to a macbook pro as source two.
 
Feb 29, 2016 at 8:54 AM Post #1,978 of 12,398
 
 
Good question. I tried the iUSB 3.0 and it still couldn't get the input to match adding the Audiophilleo between it and the Yggy.  I was thinking of trying streaming through my iPad Mini later.
 
The Audio-gd DI8 sounds a bit better than I felt it did when I first plugged it in. However, the sound is a bit more distant and the dynamics are lacking in comparison. It's still a heck of a lot cheaper than what I assembled around the AP1 though!


Remember, these usb to coax transformers are cleaning the power- not just transferring usb to spdif.  So maybe if you had clean power  in your computer the usb would be just as good.  Don’t judge the inputs unless the power sources of the source feeding the inputs is the same.  I plan to try to compare usb to usb on my yggy later this evening comparing from my mac mini with a external linear power supply as source one to a macbook pro as source two.


The DI8 has three power supply groups for the different parts of the USB board. The AP1 has a battery power supply (the Pure Power) for the S/PDIF and the USB power comes from the iUSB 3.0. The latter set-up is as close as I could get to the Soundaware streamer, which is a computer of sorts itself. Maybe I could use a modified Mac Mini with one of those special power supplies, but I think I've gone far enough already. My main point is that more can be had from the Yggy than the built-in USB provides, if one wants to take it further. 
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Feb 29, 2016 at 11:50 AM Post #1,979 of 12,398
The Yggy doesn't like the BNC output of the DI8, so if anyone does order one, getting BNC on both outputs is probably a good idea, as the RCA output doesn't use the current technology.

I own the DI-2014, was yesterday testing it, and found something out. I couldn't get the BNC to work with the Yggy either, because Audio-GD lists it as "Applied Current Conveyor Technology" instead of the normal RCA "Transmit insulate".
 
Although, I was toggling it to option 1/2, never tried 3 (because that would be the I2S out).
I have a Matrix DAC with BNC input, and it wasn't working either (with option 1/2). I accidentally swapped the DI-2014 to option3, and it started outputting....
In option 3, it outputted I2S to my M7 + BNC(And RCA) to my Matrix in tandem. I went R-SE from my M7, and L-SE from my Matrix, to my amp. It was an interesting A/B having them both on left/right cups in my HD800.
 
I'll try tonight to see if the DI-2014 BNC works to the Ygg, in option 3.
 
Not sure if you got these results too, but depending on if I had the DI-2014 running off USB vs Toslink, it would change the way the 3 outputs worked
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Feb 29, 2016 at 12:32 PM Post #1,980 of 12,398
Another thing to try if you use USB input.
 
I have this little filter I bought from “ultra-fi” called an “abisque”.  It goes on the tip of the USB cable right before going into the dac.  I did back and forth comparisons with and without this little filter and the difference is quite noticeable.  The sound softens a drop and much more significant there is clearly much more micro detail.   I tried a second filter and the improvements increased in the same areas although not by as much as the difference using the first filter.  I believe other companies make these usb filters as well.  I am not making a sales pitch for ultra-fi, just sharing my experience.
 
The difference these filters made was certainly noticably more significant to my ears than the more subtle difference made by the wyrd.  Of course- to my ears the difference in the sonics with the wyrd was greater focus by a touch and not increased micro-detail like I got from these filters.  All of this is in my system and IMHO.
 

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