[471724]

ok thanks and I guess I shouldn't have said the vice versa part as all I need is xlr to rca. but I'm still on the fence about just getting the freya+ and another aegir to have the full balance with no transforming of the signal. obviously a lot more expensive route. but that way there would be less chance of any loss in the signal path, right?

Yes. But be aware that audiophiles don't all agree that balanced is better. My personal view is that single ended tube circuits sound better.

 

[Mikem53]

would the freya+ replace the need for such a transformer? I will be running a single aegir from my yggy a2 thus needing to use rca. Later on down the line will be getting a freya+ and then potentially another aegir but not too sure I really need a second one (but I could then run the whole thing in balanced xlr and not worry about the "transformer" aspect).

anyway just thinking that the money spent on the transformer could instead go toward the freya+ if it converts Balanced xlr to SE rca and vise versa. Any thoughts?

yes.. The Freya is all you would need. It also converts single ended to balanced .. best of all is sounds great.. its one of the best sounding preamps I’ve owned and the least expensive.. I was running two Aegir amps in mono.. but found that one aegir in stereo amp sounded better and was enough power as well..

 

[Mikem53]

Yes. But be aware that audiophiles don't all agree that balanced is better. My personal view is that single ended tube circuits sound better.

Single ended is simpler by design so less mucking with the signal.. balanced is great for long cable runs if that needed.. but i found that single ended
sounds better.. in most cases... My experience with the Aegir amps in balanced mono mode was not As good sounding as single ended in stereo mode..
IME.. bridging doesn’t help either..

 

[prosnowboarder]

Awesome and much thanks. So to be clear, would it be better to go from the yggy to the freya+ via xlr or rca? I was under the impression that the yggy sounds better out of the balanced out but now you are making me second guess everything.

As far as long cable runs, what is considered long? And are the speaker wires part of that?

My aegir, yggy, and preamp are all using very short interconnects(less that a foot) but one of my speaker wires is about 20 ft. The other is less that 10ft. Too long?

I'm not 100% on this yet but when using the mj2 as a preamp it seems like using the balanced input from yggys balanced output is more clear sounding compared to yggy se output. Still testing that but there could be way more at play here than I understand given the mj2 preamp shortcomings. I'm damn near positive that the yggy and mj2 sound best in balanced mode when using headphones especially the auteur. Please enlighten me if I am just lieing to myself

 

[gefski]

P

Awesome and much thanks. So to be clear, would it be better to go from the yggy to the freya+ via xlr or rca? I was under the impression that the yggy sounds better out of the balanced out but now you are making me second guess everything.

As far as long cable runs, what is considered long? And are the speaker wires part of that?

My aegir, yggy, and preamp are all using very short interconnects(less that a foot) but one of my speaker wires is about 20 ft. The other is less that 10ft. Too long?

I'm not 100% on this yet but when using the mj2 as a preamp it seems like using the balanced input from yggys balanced output is more clear sounding compared to yggy se output. Still testing that but there could be way more at play here than I understand given the mj2 preamp shortcomings. I'm damn near positive that the yggy and mj2 sound best in balanced mode when using headphones especially the auteur. Please enlighten me if I am just lieing to myself

I wasn’t part of this discussion, but will throw in my 2 cents. Short interconnects are great. As long as the speaker wires are good quality, heavy enough gauge, and the connections on each end are clean and make good, tight contact, 20’ should be OK. However, the cable to each speaker should be identical length. So if one must be 20’, the other should be 20’ as well.

 

[Mikem53]

Awesome and much thanks. So to be clear, would it be better to go from the yggy to the freya+ via xlr or rca? I was under the impression that the yggy sounds better out of the balanced out but now you are making me second guess everything.

As far as long cable runs, what is considered long? And are the speaker wires part of that?

My aegir, yggy, and preamp are all using very short interconnects(less that a foot) but one of my speaker wires is about 20 ft. The other is less that 10ft. Too long?

I'm not 100% on this yet but when using the mj2 as a preamp it seems like using the balanced input from yggys balanced output is more clear sounding compared to yggy se output. Still testing that but there could be way more at play here than I understand given the mj2 preamp shortcomings. I'm damn near positive that the yggy and mj2 sound best in balanced mode when using headphones especially the auteur. Please enlighten me if I am just lieing to myself

i had it wired both ways, from the yggy to the pre, both balanced and SE.. other than the gain from balanced, I didn’t notice a difference in SQ.
it depends on your equipment and how they go about doing balanced.. the Aegir sounded better in SE mode than bridged, IME.
I purposely bought an amp that only has single ended inputs to keep it simple.. but had balanced components for years previous, All BAT tube amps and pre.. then went Bel Canto and they all push balanced as better.. Short interconnects are best, especially RCA type.. balanced is good for long runs due to CMR.. just be sure to use proper gauge And you should be fine for spr wire.. but shorter is always better..
Better with longer XLR interconnects than speaker wire... but not longer RCA interconnects..
you can compare for yourself with Freya.. I had Both balanced and SE from my yggy To my Freya+ Connected up doing AB listening.. couldn’t tell diff.. but using Aegir non bridged, in SE was MUCH better sounding.. being Bridged adds more power which I needed at first... but took away the finesse and overall refinement of the sound... at least in my experience with the Aegir amps..

 

[Mikem53]

So I brought my Modi Multibit DAC over to my friends house of analog... Mr. Vinyl himself... VPI TT, BAT mono REXX amps, Manley steelhead, etc.. not a 1 or a 0 anywhere to be found.. So I bought an old dell laptop i had laying around Along with my Modi Multibit.. I hooked it up
and logged into amazon HD.. even b4 it had time to warm up, I played a bob dylan tune for him as the digital bits weaved it’s way thru his System.. He was amazed.. we listened to all kinds of tunes for a couple of hours... before I left, I gave him the laptop, he ordered a Bifrost DAC.. I should have brought over the yggy.. but was too lazy.. the Modi is truly amazing.. I use it in my headphone system.. playing Dylan’s tune showed just how good That little dac can be... he also signed up for amazon HD which by the way is quite impressive.. I paid for a years worth.. haven’t used my Jrivers much anymore... great rare finds.. like the Beatles mono, stones acoustic... great classical selections and rare finds too..
I played this old song by Doris day and heard the needle drop and clicks and pops.. a vinyl recording to digital.. was quite nice actually..

 

[ToTo Man]

Any other Yggy owners using the Nobsound Little Bear MC3 XLR-RCA converter? If so, does it work without damaging the Yggy, and does it sound better than Yggy's single-ended outputs? I'm currently using my Yamaha A-S3000 amplifier as an XLR-RCA converter (Yggy XLR out > Yamaha A-S3000 XLR in > Yamaha RCA out > another single-ended amplifier) and the result is excellent, better than Yggy's RCA outs, but it's a PITA needing to have my Yamaha on anytime I want to use my other amp.

 

[Mikem53]

Any other Yggy owners using the Nobsound Little Bear MC3 XLR-RCA converter? If so, does it work without damaging the Yggy, and does it sound better than Yggy's single-ended outputs? I'm currently using my Yamaha A-S3000 amplifier as an XLR-RCA converter (Yggy XLR out > Yamaha A-S3000 XLR in > Yamaha RCA out > another single-ended amplifier) and the result is excellent, better than Yggy's RCA outs, but it's a PITA needing to have my Yamaha on anytime I want to use my other amp.

maybe a silly question... but did you try using an adapter or an xlr to rca cable directly to your se amp ? you should see more gain from the xlr output, but se should sound just fine.. the yggy se Outputs should sound the same except for gain.. the balanced amps will sound better with xlr if that’s what they’re designed around.. but the yggy se out should be fine to a se amp..

 

[ToTo Man]

maybe a silly question... but did you try using an adapter or an xlr to rca cable directly to your se amp ? you should see more gain from the xlr output, but se should sound just fine.. the yggy se Outputs should sound the same except for gain.. the balanced amps will sound better with xlr if that’s what they’re designed around.. but the yggy se out should be fine to a se amp..

No I haven't tried an XLR-RCA adapter cable. I already have the XLR outs of the Yggy split to two different balanced input amplifiers with a 1-to-2 XLR splitter cable so I didn't want to complicate things or put additional electrical load on Yggy's balanced outputs by splitting it three ways. A device like the MC3 would kill two birds with the one stone and allow me to switch Yggy's balanced output to two balanced amplifiers and one single ended amplifier, so potentially ideal for my situation if indeed it works as promised.

Regarding Yggy's balanced vs single-ended outputs, I appreciate lots of folk say they sound the same but in my system/s the balanced output outperforms the single-ended. Even when level-matched at 1kHz, the balanced output sounds slightly fuller, harder hitting and more resolving. The single-ended output sounds slightly leaner in the bottom end and less impactful overall by comparison. This applies to Yggy into Mjolnir2, Jotunheim, or the Yamaha A-S3000, the balanced output always comes out on top IMO. To be fair, there's not a huge difference in it and if Yggy's single-ended was the only output I'd heard I'd be perfectly happy with it, but knowing there's a few extra % performance gain to be had from the balanced outs means this is the route I am compelled to take!

 

[exdmd]

Any other Yggy owners using the Nobsound Little Bear MC3 XLR-RCA converter? If so, does it work without damaging the Yggy, and does it sound better than Yggy's single-ended outputs? I'm currently using my Yamaha A-S3000 amplifier as an XLR-RCA converter (Yggy XLR out > Yamaha A-S3000 XLR in > Yamaha RCA out > another single-ended amplifier) and the result is excellent, better than Yggy's RCA outs, but it's a PITA needing to have my Yamaha on anytime I want to use my other amp.

I think the consensus has been if you just want to convert the Yggdrasil's balanced outs to single ended you will get best sound quality using a transformer based device like the Radial J-Iso or Jensen Iso-Max PC-2XR.

 

[Bhk1004]

Anyone know the specifics of the xlr output for the ygg? Planning on having bjc make me some xlr to rca cables but they are mentioning there are more than 1 standard for the xlr wiring? Appreciate any info.

 

[KoshNaranek]

Anyone know the specifics of the xlr output for the ygg? Planning on having bjc make me some xlr to rca cables but they are mentioning there are more than 1 standard for the xlr wiring? Appreciate any info.

The standard drop down for connectors on Blue Jeans Cable is correct. The nonstandard drop downs are for the specialty cable types.


Edit:
Whoops! That is what I get for reading quickly! I thought that you wanted XLR to XLR cables, which have multiple types. Please ignore my advice. It is not valid.

 

[Mikem53]

Anyone know the specifics of the xlr output for the ygg? Planning on having bjc make me some xlr to rca cables but they are mentioning there are more than 1 standard for the xlr wiring? Appreciate any info.

just std xlr. Pin 2 is hot

 

[ralong]

Hi. Most of You compare unison to gen5 usb.
I have a question for those who use Unison USB and compared it to the AES input.

I have Ygg A2 with gen5 usb. I use mostly AES, to me it sounds more relaxed and has less harshness. But the USB input has better transients and sounds faster.

How does the Unison compare to the AES input. Is it worth the upgrade?

E: I am using Digigram VX222e AES output