[Baldr]

 
What I don't get is why would a "better transport" solve the problem of the Yggy muting when sample rates change?

 
Some transports mute the digital signal between tracks on CDs, some do not.  If the dig data mutes, the Yggy will also mute.

 

[Ransom23]

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.

 

[dwest1023]

I'm sure others will chime in, but I don't think 45 hrs is enough time for the Yggy to reveil what it can do. I've had mine 6 months and for whatever reasons it just seems to keep maturing. Just when I think it is finish giving its sound, it just seems to keep getting better.

 

[johndean]

Well I agree with you .. It is not enough time

 

[llkmi]

Give Yggy at least a week before doing the A/B with the Moon - but I would recommend a direct A to B if you can swing it. I have heard some Moon gear at a local dealer (not that unit) and it sounded very good. I totally agree that the DAC can make a bigger difference than others suggest. Keep us posted - I would love to hear your direct comparison if you are able to do it. I agree that the Yggy does not reach it's magic point until about a week and there seems to be subtle improvements even after that.

 

[Ransom23]

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys. No worries, I'll definitely give the Yggy it's due and won't be hasty in deciding this. It really is producing the best sound I've ever heard on my speaker setup and I don't take this lightly. Also, I just watched a few sections of movies that I'm familiar with too and there were audio effects in there I didn't even know existed before. It's truly a wonderful DAC.
 
As for headphone setup, I should also point out that I'm using the unbalanced outputs on the Yggy at the moment and not the balanced. The reason being that I had been getting distortion from my Oppo 105 with balanced cables. So I thought my budget cables were a problem and bought better cables, but to no avail. Then I thought maybe that, given I'd never used the balanced outputs on the Oppo, that maybe it had a flaw from the factory that I was only just discovering, but then got the same distortion issues with Yggy. Member ZoNtO pointed out it was likely a voltage issue. He was right. Thanks again ZoNtO! I confirmed the outputs of both the Oppo (4.2v@ max volume) and the Yggy (4.0v I think) were too hot for my hp amp. I simply turned down the volume control on the Oppo and the problem vanished. No such option on the Yggy though. This means, to do a true apples to apples comparison to the Moon, I would need to get attenuators just to give the Yggy a fair shake. Eesh! Hopefully the resolution between unbalanced and balanced is at least similar so I don't have to mess with buying parts I may not even need. I worry a little about attenuators messing with SQ anyway.
 
I should note that did about 2 more hours of music listening on the speakers tonight. Wonderful! Nice thoughts went through my head like, "how could I ever consider sending this back?" Being considerate of the neighbors and aware of the late hour, I decided to switch to headphones and there was that stark difference again. I know I gave the personal bias and the synergy argument before as explanations as to this difference , but it's just so drastic that these arguments somehow just don't seem to be enough. I'm not just talking about the obvious loss of dimensionality and soundstage when switching between speakers and headphones, but resolution also. I even used the same cable that was feeding the chain to the speakers just to keep the variables the same.
 
Quote:

  Give Yggy at least a week before doing the A/B with the Moon - but I would recommend a direct A to B if you can swing it. I have heard some Moon gear at a local dealer (not that unit) and it sounded very good. I totally agree that the DAC can make a bigger difference than others suggest. Keep us posted - I would love to hear your direct comparison if you are able to do it. I agree that the Yggy does not reach it's magic point until about a week and there seems to be subtle improvements even after that.

 
I'll definitely see if I can twist an arm to borrow a Moon unit to do some A/B or ask about their return policy. The local shop is used to having people with lots of $ that just buy expensive gear on the first listen without asking for any comparisons at all, so I think they may be a bit spoiled and consider me a budget customer and nuisance asking for such comparisons.

  If they allow me to do it, I'll report my findings.

 

[realmassy]

After spending two weeks with the demo unit I've decided to buy the Yggi. Got it on Friday and spent a few hours with it....and doesn't sound anything like the demo unit LOL
I see what you guys meant when you referred to burn-in, warm-up or whatever. It doesn't sound bad but is a bit congested and grainy on top.
Will patiently waiting

 

[johndean]

After spending two weeks with the demo unit I've decided to buy the Yggi. Got it on Friday and spent a few hours with it....and doesn't sound anything like the demo unit LOL
I see what you guys meant when you referred to burn-in, warm-up or whatever. It doesn't sound bad but is a bit congested and grainy on top.
Will patiently waiting

Out of the box I've never detected anything grainy with the Yggy .

 

[realmassy]

Let's say that is grainy against my reference, and it wasn't the case during the demo.

 

[Ransom23]

Let's say that is grainy against my reference, and it wasn't the case during the demo.

I didn't notice anything like that straight out of the box either, but I suppose it is all relative to just what you are used to hearing from your previous gear. Hopefully it will match what you heard in the demo once it has more hours on it.

I'm at 92 hours since I turned mine on and hopefully I'll have some competition for it in an A/B scenario in a few more days.

 

[llkmi]

Not sure if this was posted yet but the Computer Audiophile review of the Yggy is quite glowing - putting it in the same league as $15K Dacs - 
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/670-schiit-audio-yggdrasil-multibit-dac-review/?p=480586
 
"The Yggdrasil is a disruptive product that I can't recommend enough to both new and experienced music aficionados."
 
For what it's worth, I took my son to the NY Audio Show a couple of weeks ago. There were some very expensive systems - many of which I found very disappointing. When we got home my son said my (much more modest) system sounded better than most of what we heard. I have no way of proving it but I attribute much of that to the Yggy. As we were going from room to room I kept wondering with each system how it would sound if the Yggy was the source as I often felt that there was something missing "up stream". I have not had the luxury to do direct A/B comparisons so I am just going by intuition. It is nice to read the Computer Audiophile review and hear other opinions on this post with a similar opinion of the Yggy.
 
None the less - if anyone in the NY (Westchester area) would like to compare Yggy with their high end dac I may be game (if my schedule ever permits) 

 

[mttbsh]

I agree with dwwest23 above. I've had my Yggy since early August, listen to it A LOT, and am still noticing improvements in detail, soundstaging and bass depth. It seems that it is continuing to "open up", just as the finest wines are a bit closed up at first and won't reveal their full flavors until they've had enough time to breathe. I haven't heard the Moon DAC so I can't compare - maybe for your system it is a better synergy - but after just 3 days use, you have not heard what the Yggdrasil's can really do.

 

[jlbrach]

just got finished listening to my yiggy/rag combo through my HEK's...listened to james taylor and felt like he was in the room with me and the Jayhawks with that great twangy guitar...I have a very high end stereo system that i listen to less and less since i have gotten into this high end headphone scene....

 

[johndean]

just got finished listening to my yiggy/rag combo through my HEK's...listened to james taylor and felt like he was in the room with me and the Jayhawks with that great twangy guitar...I have a very high end stereo system that i listen to less and less since i have gotten into this high end headphone scene....

I really prefer speakers to headphones so everyone is different . The Yggy is unbelievable though .

 

[gevorg]

Yggy can do wonders with speakers too