Schiit Yggdrasil Impressions thread
May 12, 2015 at 10:34 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 12,119

IndieGradoFan

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Got my Yggy today and I'm happy to report that there are no USB issues with the 5K iMac, waking from sleep or otherwise.
 

 
I repurposed my Gungnir too -- ended up with a Raspberry PI 2 + Hifiberry Digi+ > SPDIF RCA to BNC > Gungnir > WA6 > TH-900. I shouldn't be at this point, but nonetheless, I was shocked at the improvement of the Gungnir over the built-in DACs in my Marantz SR6007. It's been a very good sounding day!
 
May 13, 2015 at 2:32 AM Post #2 of 12,119
http://www.head-fi.org/t/667711/new-schiit-ragnarok-and-yggdrasil/7110#post_11587169

After 140 hours of baking, the Yggdrasil arrived.

Daft Punk - Random access memories
Give Life back to music - the drums are controlled, precise, and powerful. It is like you have Don Henley performing in front of you. (oh, and go ahead and try Hell Freezes Over CD, if you still have it)
Get Lucky - the opening claps with the drums struck so hard and precise together it is like I never heard this song before. My play count on this song is 100+. Wow, just wow.

Eric Clapton - Unplugged
Old Love - His picks were done in my face. So precise, so real, so powerful. I can hear every single one of the tones out from his guitar in front of me, and how he controlled the wire using his left hand. His chords, when he picks them, are so powerful. His individual notes are so fast, and I never missed a bit. Every one of them, in my head.

Dave Burbeck - Time out
Take five - I have been to alto live performances - The texture is for reals from Yggy. I now have Dave's band with their equipment here. The each hit in the drum solo by Eugene - I can make out each one of those hits now. Each one. like, ba-ba-ba-bam in 0.1 second. So good. And the saxophone? it sounds so thick, so analogy, so close, so intimate. so worthy of buying the ticket to the show.

Mike, thank you for bringing live music to me once again. Thank you, thank you.
 
May 13, 2015 at 2:37 AM Post #3 of 12,119
http://www.head-fi.org/t/667711/new-schiit-ragnarok-and-yggdrasil/7110#post_11587169

After 140 hours of baking, the Yggdrasil arrived.

Daft Punk - Random access memories 
Give Life back to music - the drums are controlled, precise, and powerful. It is like you have Don Henley performing in front of you. (oh, and go ahead and try Hell Freezes Over CD, if you still have it) 
Get Lucky - the opening claps with the drums struck so hard and precise together it is like I never heard this song before. My play count on this song is 100+. Wow, just wow. 

Eric Clapton - Unplugged 
Old Love - His picks were done in my face. So precise, so real, so powerful. I can hear every single one of the tones out from his guitar in front of me, and how he controlled the wire using his left hand. His chords, when he picks them, are so powerful. His individual notes are so fast, and I never missed a bit. Every one of them, in my head. 

Dave Burbeck - Time out 
Take five - I have been to alto live performances  - The texture is for reals from Yggy. I now have Dave's band with their equipment here. The each hit in the  drum solo  by Eugene - I can make out each one of those hits now. Each one.  like, ba-ba-ba-bam in 0.1 second. So good. And the saxophone? it sounds so thick, so analogy, so close, so intimate. so worthy of buying the ticket to the show. 

Mike, thank you for bringing live music to me once again. Thank you, thank you. 


Thanks for the impressions!
May I ask if you are using speakers or headphones?
My Ygg is still warming with only 80 hours under the hood
 
May 13, 2015 at 3:29 AM Post #5 of 12,119
IndieGradoFan said:
I repurposed my Gungnir too -- ended up with a Raspberry PI 2 + Hifiberry Digi+ > SPDIF RCA to BNC > Gungnir > WA6 > TH-900. I shouldn't be at this point, but nonetheless, I was shocked at the improvement of the Gungnir over the built-in DACs in my Marantz SR6007. It's been a very good sounding day!


Somewhat offtopic but I find the receiver vs. dac subject interesting. It is however kinda hard to figure out what kind of apples are you comparing. IIUC, you replaced the marantz6007 with gungnir+wa6 .. in that case the simple ss amp (marantz) vs. tubeamp (wa6) difference may be the "shocking" one.

Or did you make a direct gungnirDac vs marantzDac comparison?! I'd like to hear more in that case.. e.g. through which amp (marantz, wa6 or anorher), which speakers/HPs, detailed sound differences, etc. Maybe you can also do a marantzDac vs Igg at some point in the future
 
May 13, 2015 at 3:32 AM Post #6 of 12,119
this DAC is just spot on. I am on hour 172 as I am speaking right now, and I cannot believe what I am hearing.
 
The bass is fast, voluptuous, yet delicate and thick. The mids were a little recessed the first week but after about 100 hours of burning, they started to dramatically open up. The soundstage is jawdroppingly 3 dimensional. I was listening to California King Bed and the Yggy rendered the vocals so realistically that I thought Rihanna was in the room!!!!
 
One annoying issue though is the fact that the mute relay kicks in every time a track of a different sample rate gets played.
 
Anyone knows if the firmware of the Yggy can be updated one way or another (if any)?
 
May 13, 2015 at 3:51 AM Post #8 of 12,119
One annoying issue though is the fact that the mute relay kicks in every time a track of a different sample rate gets played.

 
You mean different format? as in flac vs mp3 or even if the sample rate changes between flac or mp3 files?
 
May 13, 2015 at 8:14 AM Post #11 of 12,119
Somewhat offtopic but I find the receiver vs. dac subject interesting. It is however kinda hard to figure out what kind of apples are you comparing. IIUC, you replaced the marantz6007 with gungnir+wa6 .. in that case the simple ss amp (marantz) vs. tubeamp (wa6) difference may be the "shocking" one.

Or did you make a direct gungnirDac vs marantzDac comparison?! I'd like to hear more in that case.. e.g. through which amp (marantz, wa6 or anorher), which speakers/HPs, detailed sound differences, etc. Maybe you can also do a marantzDac vs Igg at some point in the future

 
I'll keep it short since it's a little off-topic. Previously, I was running AirPlay > Marantz SR6007 > Zone 2 Preout > WA6 > TH900. Now, it is AirPlay > RPi2 > Gungnir > WA6 > TH900. I haven't compared the two setups extensively, as I wanted to listen to the Yggy instead, though my initial impression was very positive. This might be explained by the AirPlay implementation in the Marantz, limitations of the zone2 preout, the DACs, etc. My main motivation for the change was convenience -- when starting AirPlay on the Marantz, it switches the input of zone 1 to sets the AVR volume to whatever is indicated by the streaming device. This is rather aggravating when I really just want zone 2 out, forcing tricks like muting zone 1 so that the AirPlay volume has no effect.
 
May 13, 2015 at 9:31 AM Post #12 of 12,119
I'm at 156 hrs.  Seems like I get most improvement in sound after running overnight music through the USB interface.  Had major breakthrough in sound quality on day 4 after a steady diet of audio feed starting early on day 3.   No music days 5 and 6 and not that much improvement.  Ran music last night and this morning the Yggy disappears.  No grain or cues that I am listening to a DAC.  Vocals pure, cymbals shimmer, stuff jumping out of the recordings. And I'm listening to Ozzy Osborne "Memoirs of a Madman" which I never thought was that great on the old DAC. I have a new appreciation for the prince of darkness.  Amazing!
 
May 13, 2015 at 9:32 AM Post #13 of 12,119
  I'm at 156 hrs.  Seems like I get most improvement in sound after running overnight music through the USB interface.  Had major breakthrough in sound quality on day 4 after a steady diet of audio feed starting early on day 3.   No music days 5 and 6 and not that much improvement.  Ran music last night and this morning the Yggy disappears.  No grain or cues that I am listening to a DAC.  Vocals pure, cymbals shimmer, stuff jumping out of the recordings. And I'm listening to Ozzy Osborne "Memoirs of a Madman" which I never thought was that great on the old DAC. I have a new appreciation for the prince of darkness.  Amazing!

 
Yes - it seems shifting bits all the time helps the process.
 
May 13, 2015 at 11:15 AM Post #14 of 12,119
  I'm at 156 hrs.  Seems like I get most improvement in sound after running overnight music through the USB interface.  Had major breakthrough in sound quality on day 4 after a steady diet of audio feed starting early on day 3.   No music days 5 and 6 and not that much improvement.  Ran music last night and this morning the Yggy disappears.  No grain or cues that I am listening to a DAC.  Vocals pure, cymbals shimmer, stuff jumping out of the recordings. And I'm listening to Ozzy Osborne "Memoirs of a Madman" which I never thought was that great on the old DAC. I have a new appreciation for the prince of darkness.  Amazing!

Glad you're enjoying your new baby !!
 
To clarify… are you saying you're not running music through Yggy 24/7 for break-in ?  That's what it sounds like… if so.. try it… hence the "not that much improvement" on "days 5 and 6"
 
Interestingly, my buddy reminded me his Bifrost took 400 hrs to break in… w/ a 24/7 load of course...
 
If his experience is replicated on Yggy… she may in fact reach the MSB Analog quality… so far, it has not..  High hopes as usual !
 
David
 
May 13, 2015 at 12:55 PM Post #15 of 12,119
I notice it nice and warm when it is fed input all time.
My room temp is 84° farenheit anyways.

Checked on it quickly before leaving for work this morning and what stood out at 84hr mark is an absolutely clear top end.
:)
 

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