[acguitar84]

Has anyone compared A1 to LIM? I'm really enjoying my A1 USB3 Yggdrasil on the headphone rig these days. I got a new USB cable - I ordered one from The Cable Company, a Straight Wire USB cable. I saw Schiit recommended them, so I decided to try one. Great experience so far. I have some excellent cables now, maybe that's what's making the difference. Maybe a year ago or so, I preferred the RME Adi 2 Dac to the Yggdrasil, but not anymore lol. This hobby can be so crazy.

Right now, as my headphone rig is, Yggdrasil, to gsx mini to Utopia, it's been fabulous. I've never heard my Utopia's sound better. I was listening to a track from the 70s last night, and there was three part harmony going on, and I was like damn, it's like all three singers are standing in a line right next to each other on the left/center of the mix. Stuff like that. Slide guitar sound like someone is actually playing right there in the room. It's been a great listening experience this last week, like that USB cable was the "final" step to "audio nirvana"

BUT!

As all of you know and love, this hobby does make you want to chase things a bit. I do want to to try the Unison USB upgrade, and at the same time I could also do the firmware upgrade. I've seen both You tube videos showing how it's done, plus there's an excellent tutorial with pictures on another audio site.

Anyway, this post is getting TL;DR

So.. anyone that's heard the A1 vs LIM please let me know your impressions. Also, it sounds like I could self install all three items if I want. Firmware update (making the A1 a GS), Unison USB and even the LIM board without sending the Yggy off to Schiit. Thanks!

 

[czupet]

I'm getting my LIM burned in. I'll write more comments about comparison to A2 and maybe also MIL shortly

 

[czupet]

the family picture

 

[thefitz]

the family picture

Amazing! So you just ordered the cards and are swapping them yourself?

 

[czupet]

"just ordered" is a bit of simplification. I waited for LIM 8 months. MIL was rother fast on the other hand. It's so hard to compare them when you need to swap them inside a single Yggy, because A2 starts sounding well after 1 day being under power. And my room was tuned to the system with A2. I see LIM is showing its potential, but I'd like to see more spark (could be that my room is too much damped for LIM). Bas in LIM is superior to A2 - so nicely defined and natural.

 

[thefitz]

When I said "just ordered" I mean you only ordered the cards and didn't send in the unit, so you can swap them yourself. For a second I thought you bought three full-sized Yggies!

 

[acguitar84]

Decisions - which one? lim or A2 lol.

 

[Benno1988]

I wish they stuck a preamp inside the Yggy.

 

[czupet]

so far my heart is with A2. I'll switch back to LIM in a while and see. Switching to A2 is pain, because straight power on it doesn't impress. you need to leave it on over night. I'm also curious about MIL again. You need to bear in mind I have full ceiling covered with Nida Sonic perforated gypsum panels with 10 cm of rockwool. This gives a lot of dumping (probably next time I'd go with 5cm). This may not be favorite environment for LIM. This is the thing - if you tune your room to one set of gear, a new gear will have hard job to beat it unless it is very much alike.

 

[maxh22]

Has anyone directly compared Dave with Yggy LIM? Curious how well it holds up or what things some may find it does better…

 

[czupet]

Has anyone directly compared Dave with Yggy LIM? Curious how well it holds up or what things some may find it does better…

Yggy A2 really holds the ground vs Dave + Mscaler. One condition - it has to be warm (at least 2-3 days on). A2 is also quite similar sound signature, seams to have a bit more details but it could be also some kind of haze (hard to judge). Anyway after a week with Dave Mscaler, conclusion was to stay with Yggy. Important: if you compare Yggy which is on for less than a day Dave will win.

 

[czupet]

When I said "just ordered" I mean you only ordered the cards and didn't send in the unit, so you can swap them yourself. For a second I thought you bought three full-sized Yggies!

for someone who regularly holds a screwdriver in their hands it is rother easy job. There are 3 tricky moments however. 1. Disconnecting front panel. 2 Fitting back the modules - there are a lot of long pins underneath, which may miss their respective sockets. 3. Replacing ROM - this is a small 8 pin, op-amp size chip, stuck in uncomfortable place. Not easy to pull it out from the socket. All the rest is pretty much screws

 

[acguitar84]

I just received my Yggy today. I sent it in to change from A1 Usb3 to A2 (OG) and Unison USB. It sounds great out of the box, nice to have the big guy back!! I know from experience and from lots of other people's experiences it will just keep improving from here as it warms up. Fun!

I was initially going to get the LIM, but chickened out and went with OG instead. Listening right now, and everything sounds great on the Utopias. Lots of fun ahead!

 

[thefitz]

I just received my Yggy today. I sent it in to change from A1 Usb3 to A2 (OG) and Unison USB. It sounds great out of the box, nice to have the big guy back!! I know from experience and from lots of other people's experiences it will just keep improving from here as it warms up. Fun!

I was initially going to get the LIM, but chickened out and went with OG instead. Listening right now, and everything sounds great on the Utopias. Lots of fun ahead!

Do you think they're essential upgrades? I have the same Yggy as your old setup.

 

[acguitar84]

Do you think they're essential upgrades? I have the same Yggy as your old setup.

I’m not sure which component has made the bigger difference, the Unison USB or the OG board.

All I can say now, is I’m really enjoying this Yggy tonight. I can’t stop listening. Everything is nice and clear and I’m feeling like I’m hearing things I haven’t heard before in recordings.

Before I sent the Yggy in a couple of weeks ago, I had just started using it again. It was sitting in the corner while I used an RME DAC. But the RME died one day, and it’s gone for repairs, so I plugged the Yggy back in and it sounded great.

Then I decided, what the heck, I’ll send it in for the upgrades. So far so good. I should be sleeping now, I have work tomorrow, but I can’t stop listening.

I wanted to be sure it wasn't just me and new gear syndrome, so I asked my son to come in and listen to a tune and let me know what he thought. His favorite band is Dance Gavin Dance. He listened to one of their songs and loved it, he told me he never heard the song sound so good. He commented on how he could hear the vocal effects so well, and the guitars, basses, everything really.

But as always ymmv. It wasn’t like the old A1 USB3 setup was a slouch either. But the new setup seems cleaner - clearer maybe? More transparent. Maybe it’s the Unison USB, the background seems quieter, a more inky black background as I’ve seen others describe it. It lets more detail come through.

It probably doesn’t hurt that I have expensive XLR audio art cables connecting the Yggy to my gsx mini either, who knows? A new USB cable (straight wire) I ordered from the cable company helped too! I wish I was better at describing sound, but I hope this helps! I’m enjoying it. And I am excited about how the sound will keep opening up and keep improving over the next few weeks - as Yggy’s generally do.

Is it essential? It is to me so far. It's been a very fun night of listening!