[music1st]

   
In the case of the Spring DAC it's not really a change in my comparison.  In fact the only statement I would change in my original review of the Spring DAC is that it wouldn't be as hard for me to choose just one DAC if the choice was down to the Spring DAC and Yggdrasil.  Pretty much everything else in that review remains the same.
 
To clarify:
 

• I have no intention of selling my Spring DAC.
• The Spring DAC remains the best NOS DAC I've heard to date*.
• The Spring DAC remains the best discrete R2R DAC I've heard to date*.
• The Spring DAC does the best job with DSD content that I've heard so far.
• I find the Spring DAC to be an excellent complement to Yggdrasil.  If I didn't already have the Spring DAC, and I heard one, I'd still buy one for the things it does well/better.

 
My "big" headphone listening rigs are setup where one has Yggdrasil + Spring DAC, one is just an Yggdrasil, one is just a Gungnir MB.  I have more opportunity to listen with Yggdrasil ... at once location that's ALL I can listen with (portable stuff excepted).  So that slants things somewhat.  But, yes, I do listen more with Yggdrasil than anything else to a significant degree.  And it's simply because, for the broadest array of my listening, I find it does the best, most musical, involving and emotive job overall.  Hence, if I was limited to a single DAC, Yggdrasil would be the one I would pick.
 
--
 
*My comparisons there are, however, not back-to-back with the Pavane ... they are triangulated/from memory, so who knows what would happen if I put the Pavane, especialy the latest upgraded version, back-to-back with the Spring DAC or any of the others.

 
Torq
 
Can you tell us what music types you listen to?
 
Kerry

 

[Argo Duck]

^ IIRC you would find Torq's music types in the thread wink linked. Failing that, a broad google search might be fruitful.

 

[JohnnyCakes]

has anyone mated the Yggdrasil DAC with the Moon Neō 430?   how is it?

 

[Velomane]

  has anyone mated the Yggdrasil DAC with the Moon Neō 430?   how is it?

 
This is my set up. My Moon has the built-in DAC, but I made the mistake up hooking up a Yggy to it at a meet. Suffice to say, I was smitten. Did some A/Bing with some Daft Punk and the Yggy was clearly superior in resolution, depth and quality of bass.

 

[Torq]

   
Torq
 
Can you tell us what music types you listen to?
 
Kerry

Pretty much everything.
 
My personal collection spans about 12,000 LPs and pushing 8,000 albums between CDs and legal downloads.
 
Not much I don't like, but if you went through what I actually own you'd find metal and country underrepresented.  And some stuff I have none of in my actual library but do listen to via one of the various streaming services (I use TIDAL, Apple and Spotify).

 

[music1st]

 
Pretty much everything.
 
My personal collection spans about 12,000 LPs and pushing 8,000 albums between CDs and legal downloads.
 
Not much I don't like, but if you went through what I actually own you'd find metal and country underrepresented.  And some stuff I have none of in my actual library but do listen to via one of the various streaming services (I use TIDAL, Apple and Spotify).

 
Not that I want to open (yet another) can of worms, but where does the Yggy sit sonically compared to vinyl for you?

 

[Torq]

   
Not that I want to open (yet another) can of worms, but where does the Yggy sit sonically compared to vinyl for you?

It's pretty much as close as anything digital has gotten in terms of enjoyment and involvement.
 
To be more specific I'd have to be talking about a particular vinyl setup (I have two, neither of which are end-game nor at the same level I had in the UK).

 

[music1st]

 
It's pretty much as close as anything digital has gotten in terms of enjoyment and involvement.
 
To be more specific I'd have to be talking about a particular vinyl setup (I have two, neither of which are end-game nor at the same level I had in the UK).

 
T
 
At the edge of the art, how does the Yggy compare to the best end-game analog in your experience? (You didn't think I was going to let you get away THAT easily!

 ) 

 

[Torq]

   
T
 
At the edge of the art, how does the Yggy compare to the best end-game analog in your experience? (You didn't think I was going to let you get away THAT easily!

 ) 

Anyone that can float a truly end-game vinyl rig would simply shrug, order an Yggdrasil, while thinking "Well, it's less expensive than my pending re-tip!"
 
Diminishing returns sets in much faster for digital than it does for analog systems though, and that end-game vinyl rig is pushing 100x the price of Yggdrasil.  But then digital and analog do different things well.  

 

[dguitarnut]

There are opinions around that Yggy is better than Dave if you look hard enough. But that's what they are. Opinions.

In the "upper echelon of DACs" differences become so fine that what we hear becomes even more subjective, and personal preference the primary determinant.

IMHO, YMMV, of course!

I had the Yggdrasil and the Chord Dave both in my system for more than a week. After extensive A/B in my speaker system the Dave won out. There was better staging with a more 3D feeling about it. I ended up selling the Yggy and bought a Dave. Yep it's a little better.....I don't think it's more than 15% better.....maybe..lol.....but if you have the money why not. Torq why didn't you buy that Dave for $6500 and turn around and sell it? I have never seen one go for less than $7990. And you did it twice?

 

[music1st]

I had the Yggdrasil and the Chord Dave both in my system for more than a week. After extensive A/B in my speaker system the Dave won out. There was better staging with a more 3D feeling about it. I ended up selling the Yggy and bought a Dave. Yep it's a little better.....I don't think it's more than 15% better.....maybe..lol.....but if you have the money why not. Torq why didn't you buy that Dave for $6500 and turn around and sell it? I have never seen one go for less than $7990. And you did it twice?

I heard the Chord DAVE as well as the Yggy.  I found the Yggy had a little more presence than the DAVE which I ultimately preferred for my tastes.  YMMV.

 

[buke9]

I have heard the Dave twice once just output to my headphones Ether C's good but was not too impressed as nothing to A/B it was CanJam. The second time it was again at CanJam and it was feeding a Cavalli Liquid Tungsten to a pair of Focal Utopia's and I would to have loved to hear a A/B but have to say it was fantastic. My wife came with me this time and I gave the phones to her to listen too and she said OMG and then as I shook my head she said this sounds like crap you don't need this : ) I have heard the Liquid Tungsten several times now and out of my Yggy also and I don't know if it was the Utopias or the Dave but I think it was the Utopias but the Dave had a lot to do with it would love to hear both side by side but don't have that much disposable income.

 

[Torq]

Yep it's a little better.....I don't think it's more than 15% better.....maybe..lol.....but if you have the money why not.

 
I found things to be a lot closer than that ... more like 1-2% at this point (I've done several subsequent auditions with them).
 

Torq why didn't you buy that Dave for $6500 and turn around and sell it? I have never seen one go for less than $7990. And you did it twice?

 
Notwithstanding the fact that I have no interest in flipping hardware, it's literally not worth my time or effort.
 
The relative value of time/convenience and money are different for everyone.  I tend to operate in a time-efficient or convenience-focused manner.  Which means I'll do things like buy a Sony WM1Z and a WM1A so I can have the extra storage when I want it, but not be bothered with the extra weight when I don't - rather than fannying around carrying/switching SD cards.
 
As to the price of the unit ... In the UK, which is where both of these units were offered from, an ex-pat like myself would pay about $8,500 for a NEW DAVE (MSRP is ~$10K or 8,500 GBP, and then you deduct out VAT etc.).  You would have to visit the dealer in person to get that, but I'm in the UK frequently enough that that's no real impediment.  I'm relatively sure that I'll not only see another unit for $6,500 in the very near future (and I still don't want it) but that that price will come down further over time.

 

[hifimckinney]

Every time I listen to Worrisome Heart By Melody Gardot, I feel that noise floor is really low and is a joy listening through Yggy.

 

[Thenazgul]

 


Alright, it's finally alive! QED Reference Analog XLR Interconnects did arrive . Such a happy panda now!