I just wanted to share some of my experiences with the first 3 days with the Yggdrasil. It's been on about 45 hours or so at this point and there two very different impressions I got with the DAC depending on whether it was paired with my tube integrated and speakers vs hp amp and LCD-X. This will probably say more about my listening preferences, but maybe it will help someone out.
With speakers and integrated tube amp: Awesome! A huge step forward in resolution and a smaller step forward in added 3-dimensional imaging as well, which makes my speakers sound more expensive than they are. Also, there is more music
there now. No complaints about any of those! The tubes in the signal chain add richness, smoothness and depth that makes music more engaging, while the Yggy delivers more detail than the Oppo ever could. If I only owned speakers, I think I'd be sold on the combo and my search would be over.
With the LCD-X and Pathos Aurium amp: The detailed, albeit smooth nature of the Yggy was again a clear step up over the Oppo, but the jump was not nearly as pronounced as with speakers. I found that after listening for even a few minutes, I wanted to put down the headphones and get back to listening to my speakers and tube integrated. The pairing just wasn't as much fun to listen to and it was not the similar jump in SQ that I found with speakers. Ideally both systems, speakers and headphones, would produce a somewhat similar level of satisfaction or one is going to collect dust.
Admittedly, this scenario is all about synergy and my particular setup and not a knock against the Yggdrasil. If I had some nice expensive tube hp amp at the end of the audio chain to liven up the sound and make the sound stage bigger, I might be just as pleased in the headphone arena as I am with speakers. However, it seems everything in this particular audio chain was just less engaging and smaller with regard to stage depth and width.
In this regard, comparing the Yggy to the Moon 280d that I heard at a dealer (with my Hp and amp in tow mind you to keep comparisons fair), I would say that the Moon was coloring the sound with some tube-like richness, but even more importantly was that it opened up the sound stage on the LCD-X more than I'd ever heard them before, making it more like listening to speakers. Listening to music was a lot more fun and the perceived gap between the SQ of my speaker setup and the headphone gear narrowed. So with headphones and my particular gear, I think the Moon dac is my preference, but I'll need more time with that gear to be sure.
This is an unfortunate pickle that I feared might happen. I like aspects of both DACs. Maybe the synergy of a good tube hp amp with the Yggy would make me happy on both fronts, but I can't afford that now. Also, if I could afford to have two separate systems and therefore two DACs the solution would be simple.
In my inexperience, I wouldn't have thought that DACs would make me rethink so much about the system as a whole. Perhaps gaining and losing synergy because of one piece of gear changing is one of those things keeping people swapping gear..
I'm going to see if I can get my hands on the dealer's floor unit of the 280d for some A and B comparisons at home while I have the Schiit gear still or perhaps just buy the 280d if their restocking fee isn't ridiculous.
It makes me laugh now, all those comments I've read on other forums from people that say expensive DACs don't make much of a difference and they never impart a sonic character, at least, until I started hearing them for myself.