[johndean]

Just got my Yggy today..as a former owner of Wadia 921/931 I'm impressed. Not cold or analytical IMHO.

Wait till it's been on for about a week . I have ended my pursuit of finding great sound with the Yggy and MB Gungnir .

Interesting enough , Schiit thought that the MB Gungnir might take a bite out if Yggy sales but once I heard the MB Gungnir ,I had to try to Yggy .

These two Schiit Dacs are better than the Chord, Audiolab , Marantz,Arcam,Benchmark,etc . Way better in some instances .

Here's an example : The MB Gungnir vs the highly touted Audiolab Mdac . The price is close , the Gungnir is maybe 300 bucks more but the Gungnir destroys the MDac which I think is a pretty decent dac . It's not close .

 

[LFC_SL]

The mdac is ok and at a ok price point but it is not hard to find a superior dac. I would not consider that comparison to be 1:1. Bifrost (multibit) + amp would make more sense as it is closer on price

 

[Jamiee]

I owned the M-DAC prior to picking up an April Music DP1 and subsequently the Yggdrasil.
 
I agree the M-DAC is good for it's price - has a wonderful feature set, but there are better DAC's to be had in terms of ultimate sound quality. 

 

[DACLadder]

I've been on a 5-month roller coaster ride with my Yggy experience.  I'll be brief but there is a happy ending....  I am an early adopter of the Yggy - ordered on day 1  and received in early May 2015.   Out of the box sound quality was thinner than the AGD Master 7 DAC and a little better as time rolled on.  But something happened on the way to sonic nirvana as after a month I preferred the Master 7 DAC.  Better bass authority and more pleasing tonal structure with the M7 DAC.   So in July 2015 I tried sell to a forum member but Yggy #1 was returned to me as "not sounding right".  I sent Yggy #1 to Schiit and they kept it for about two weeks and said they found no problem.  Fine... at least I have something in writing from Schiit stating it sounded normal and I could sell it with that premise.   Schiit shipped back Yggy #1 but upon return I could hear something large and heavy rattling around inside.  I did not open the chassis but could only imagine the destruction as it was what I presume was a large transformer or choke had broken loose and wreaking havoc inside the chassis.  So back it goes to Schiit....  I understand early Yggy's may not have the transformer bolts for extra security of these large, heavy pieces but later production Yggy's do have. 
 
Schiit could not fix the damage caused by the transformer wrecking ball so they replaced Yggy #1 with a fresh unit.   Yggy #2 sounds great out of the box and only 12 hours warm up.   Nothing like the thinner sounding Yggy #1.  Audio memory is not that reliable but compared to the same M7 Yggy #2 has good bass authority, crisp vocals, and clear highs.  Soundstage is spooky good with speakers.  Night and day difference as far as I'm concerned.  I won't split hairs but I would like to thank Schiit for being very patient with me.   Believe I will be a very satisfied customer with Yggy #2.   Funny how things work out sometimes.  But I am excited again to own an Yggy!

 

[hifimckinney]

I would like to caption my impression as 'Tainted Ears' and this started when I shifted from cassette deck to a CDs. The sharpness produced by CD sound created and excitement. The fluidity was gone. But I started enjoying the sharpness and clarity not knowing what I lost. Every tone was played with same speed (that is what probably people call as loss of timbre). Going back to cassettes, everything was good all around except for the noise.
 
Yggy has brought back that feeling and this and with no noise unless noise has been recorded. Every instrument, sound and vocals have their own space in the sound stage and no tone/sound appears to be stepping on each other. Alternatively, it is a joy to listen to complex passages. Every tone/sound is played with their own natural speed (this is what I perceive as timbre). To present an analogy, imagine multiple videos played on an HD screen and with different speed,
 
Not sure about others but with cassettes and LPs, there is always a psychological feeling that something is spinning and that adds to the joy and with Yggy that too has come back. I have several recordings that I have listened to on all media and with some recordings that I am familiar with that recording companies produced CDs by playing vinyl version of it and I can hear that effect with Yggy.

 

[comzee]

 
 
Schiit could not fix the damage caused by the transformer wrecking ball so they replaced Ygg #1 with a fresh unit.  

 
Hypothetically if that transformer wasn't wrecked, which in most scenarios it shouldn't have been, you'd be stuck with a Yggdrasil you'd be forced to sell. This is the only take away I saw, very disconcerting. 
 
I mean, there's only three logical scenarios.
 
#1 Schiit lied about it being OK
#2 Schiit doesn't have the technical equipment to test bad units
#3 Your ears are deceiving you
 
I'd hope it was #3, because the first two are.. hmmm... idk.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

   
Hypothetically if that transformer wasn't wrecked, which in most scenarios it shouldn't have been, you'd be stuck with a Yggdrasil you'd be forced to sell. This is the only take away I saw, very disconcerting. 
 
I mean, there's only three logical scenarios.
 
#1 Schiit lied about it being OK
#2 Schiit doesn't have the technical equipment to test bad units
#3 Your ears are deceiving you
 
I'd hope it was #3, because the first two are.. hmmm... idk.

I personally tested that one myself on one of our Stanfords, so #1 and #2 are out. It checked out 100% and sounded fine to multiple people (not just me) at the office.

 

[DACLadder]

   
Hypothetically if that transformer wasn't wrecked, which in most scenarios it shouldn't have been, you'd be stuck with a Yggdrasil you'd be forced to sell. This is the only take away I saw, very disconcerting. 
 
I mean, there's only three logical scenarios.
 
#1 Schiit lied about it being OK
#2 Schiit doesn't have the technical equipment to test bad units
#3 Your ears are deceiving you
 
I'd hope it was #3, because the first two are.. hmmm... idk.

I think Schiit honestly evaluated Yggy #1 in the time allocated.  They let it warm up for a week before any sound quality checks.  At the time I had no frame of reference for comparison other than my ears and someone returning the unit after selling.  I just wanted to sell and move on.  Happens all the time in this business.  I offered to pay Schiit for the evaluation service with the chance there could be something amiss.   They kindly returned it on their dime.  No harm, no foul.
 
It worked out for me as I have another Yggy that I really like.  Hopefully it works out for Schiit claiming Fedex shipping damage.  But I am keeping Yggy #2.  It grabs me unlike the first one for whatever reasons.

 

[johndean]

 
I personally tested that one myself on one of our Stanfords, so #1 and #2 are out. It checked out 100% and sounded fine to multiple people (not just me) at the office.

Could this be the same customer you talked about in your book? LOL.

 

[johndean]

I can tell you I am done buying dacs after upgrading my D/S Gungnir to the MB and buying a Yggy. 
 
For the money there are no dacs that sound this good . No, Im not paying 10-30 k for a freaking dac. 
 
I spent the last 1 1/2 years buying and selling dacs to get the best sound I could . 
 
Im very happy I can quit searching now. My wife was ready to kill me with all the moving of equipment. 

 

[jfoxvol]

So I just did something crazy and hooked up a Wyrd to the Yggy USB.  Probably immense overkill.  Heck, it was just laying around.  I was using it with my Gungnir previously.  I don't know if anyone else has bothered.  It's hard to tell if there's any difference or if my ears played tricks on me but it did sound better.  Too many variables and not enough time over the weekend to really do a full A/B but I'm leaving it.  Signal conditioning is never a bad thing.  Any thoughts?  Anybody else tried this way?  The BDP I use as a source is pretty good I would imagine with USB.  It's basically a linux machine with a customized board and power supply with no moving parts and only minimal operations running.  So, I doubt it did much at all but hey why not huh?  It was just sitting there not being used.  

 

[jfoxvol]

  I can tell you I am done buying dacs after upgrading my D/S Gungnir to the MB and buying a Yggy. 
 
For the money there are no dacs that sound this good . No, Im not paying 10-30 k for a freaking dac. 
 
I spent the last 1 1/2 years buying and selling dacs to get the best sound I could . 
 
Im very happy I can quit searching now. My wife was ready to kill me with all the moving of equipment. 

Same.  I went from D/S Gungnir and switched over to Yggy.  Wowza.  Gungir might now get the MB upgrade for the living room system.  Just wow.

 

[comzee]

  So I just did something crazy and hooked up a Wyrd to the Yggy USB.

 
When a DAC is powered from USB, is where the Wyrd comes in. It filters the power. The Yggy has it's own power supply.
Like most high end DACs, they cut the 5v pin on the USB input. The Wyrd factually should make zero difference.
 
I'm not 100% sure the Yggy 5V usb pin is cut, but I'd say 95% sure it is.
 
EDIT:
I found this from another thread posted by Negura.

1) Does the build in USB board use any of the 5v of the usb line or would it still work if there is no 5v?
 
Yes it uses it and will not work without. Hence I suspect it will also be sensitive to 5V power line quality.

 
I'm not sure how Negura would know this about the Yggy? Maybe Jason can give a definitive answer. 

 

[johndean]

  Same.  I went from D/S Gungnir and switched over to Yggy.  Wowza.  Gungir might now get the MB upgrade for the living room system.  Just wow.

The 500 buck upgrade is the best money spent on a Audio upgrade Ive ever done . Not kidding. 

 

[johndean]

   
When a DAC is powered from USB, is where the Wyrd comes in. It filters the power. The Yggy has it's own power supply.
Like most high end DACs, they cut the 5v pin on the USB input. The Wyrd factually should make zero difference.
 
I'm not 100% sure the Yggy 5V usb pin is cut, but I'd say 95% sure it is.
 
EDIT:
I found this from another thread posted by Negura.
 
I'm not sure how Negura would know this about the Yggy? Maybe Jason can give a definitive answer. 

I can tell you I attached an Uptone Audio Regen to my Yggy and found no benefit. I dont have a Wyrd so dont know about that one.