LOL…
You & your Hypemeisters must be getting free Yggys-
I paid for mine. Dunno about others.
If you're so confident, why not have yours pro reviewed ?
Why? I don't care what Robert Harley or Michael Fremer think. When Stereophile says the Benchmark DAC1 is a Class "A" Digital component, I have doubts about their ears or honesty. 80% of the gear that has a TAS super award , I think is crap.
Why do you keep on about this very good DAC being a huge giant killer ? It's just not…
I'm not. I haven't really said much about it on HF for a while. The only thing I did recently was correct your assertion that discrete resistors provided more relative accuracy than the AD5751.
Why not do a shootout w/ all these DACs you claim to know so well & get a panel (you don't know) from the LAAS over to your place to compare ?
Why would I want to get folks from the Los Angeles Astronomical society? All kidding aside, I get audiophiles in my house all the time to compare stuff. Most I know well, and
many times every time new people. I also organize a lot of small semi-public meets. Lots of new people every time.
I've done this w/ several at my house against the MSB Analog DAC during a week- Results ? Yggy = great… but still thin & glassy at the top… Analog DAC… same detail… more ease, analog flow & far more 'draw you in' to the music going on… at least 25% better & overall more enjoyable…
I agree that the MSB is a fuller warmer sounding DAC with mellower treble if that is what you are looking for. This is why I've suggested, as a personal project, taking the outputs from the pins of the chips and running a tube buffer in place of the FETs.
However, I still maintain Yggy is more resolving with better microdynamics. My priority for DACs rests on resolution and the micro-stuff more than tonal coloring. I already have another DAC which gives me more ease and fluidity, however I find it a tad too forgiving and artificially smooth. Heck, even the 20 year old Spectral SDR2000 sounds better than the MSB if you want that kind of sound. If your are not hearing the Yggy as being much more resolving than the MSB Analog DAC (I believe we've already been through this), you need to look elsewhere in your chain. It could be your active preamp, or 15 piece x-over in your speakers, or maybe your cables are getting in the way.
Keep the chain simple. Limit the number of gain and buffer stages in each device. You are probably running two stages in your preamp and three stages in your speaker amp. Get rid of crap that doesn't need to be there like your preamp. The Yggy's outputs should be hot enough to drive an passive pre or autoformer. Minimize reactive components (caps + coils) in passive speaker x-overs.
Also, consider that you are running a setup that tends to be very different from most people here on HF. One of the secret advantages to headphones is that the signal chains are extremely simple (typically two stage amps, no pre, and no x-over). I don't think a lot of HF'ers realize how resolving their setups are compared to most speaker systems, even expensive ones. Finally, as we say, YMMV. Your personal truth may very well be different from my truth, which may be different from others' truths.
If the Yggy blows everything away, then why have at least 4 been sold or returned ???
Stupid argument, but lets continue on it. What's the rate of sale or return? Schiit was sold hundreds already and I bet they will sell 50-100 per month. How many DACs does MSB sell per year? 24? 29? In ten to fifteen years, there won't be enough rich old audiophiles to keep companies like MSB afloat. Keep in mind that I turned down several opportunities to purchase MSB DACs.
Again, this is just a stupid argument because we can always turn things around and say Schiit is more popular.
Nearly never does any level of MSB come up for sale..
Last time I checked when I was interested in an MSB DAC about a year ago, there were three on the 'gon.
