[davesa]

Since most of my headphone gear is in my office, along with my cable modem and some other computer / networking gear it is all plugged into a 1500 watt UPS. My power is pretty stable, but I like the peace of mind that an occasional blip is not going to be rebooting a bunch of things, and I also like the extra reassurance of any brown outs or sags would be taken care of as it would switch over to battery in that case as well. Make sure you spend a bit extra and get a pure sine wave design. Most of the gear doesn't draw very many watts so the adapters and plugs are in a power strip, that is then plugged into the UPS. My UPS has a set of plugs that are filtered / surge suppressed but not battery backed up as well.

 

[gefski]

This is great to hear. I just got my Yggy on Friday, and I’ll get the Unison board on Monday. The Yggy is sounding pretty sweet already. Any SQ improvement from here is bonus. It would be nice if i dont have to upgrade my source to AES.

If you’re using Gen 5 now, you should see a major improvement in true timbre of every sound and instrument, in an “alive” presentation, with AES delivery or Unison. For me, Gen 5, like many USB implementations by many companies, just isn’t providing an open window. Then, leaving it on a few more weeks, achieving the proper balance of component burn in and “listener burn in”, will have you re-listening to all your music.

 

[earnmyturns]

It would be nice if i dont have to upgrade my source to AES.

In my experience, Unison with an OK USB source is better than most AES sources, even pricey ones. Having said that, I could get a smidgen of improvement over Unison with a Pi2AES, but that was quite a surprise, and I only found out because I had already a Pi2AES on another system. But the difference is subtle, Unison is very, very close.

 

[Currawong]

In my experience, Unison with an OK USB source is better than most AES sources, even pricey ones. Having said that, I could get a smidgen of improvement over Unison with a Pi2AES, but that was quite a surprise, and I only found out because I had already a Pi2AES on another system. But the difference is subtle, Unison is very, very close.

I've been resisting trying the Pi2AES because of the old WM8804 chipset in it, so it's interesting to read comments from someone who has tried it.

 

[KoshNaranek]

I've been resisting trying the Pi2AES because of the old WM8804 chipset in it, so it's interesting to read comments from someone who has tried it.

I took @earnmyturns advice and tried the pi2AES. It is the most apparent upgrade to my system since getting Yggdrasil itself. Most of the improvement is heard in the high frequencies. I don't have my wife's opinion on it because my work has such high COVID-19 risk that we only converse by phone, but I suspect that she will like it as well.

 

[darmccombs]

In my experience, Unison with an OK USB source is better than most AES sources, even pricey ones. Having said that, I could get a smidgen of improvement over Unison with a Pi2AES, but that was quite a surprise, and I only found out because I had already a Pi2AES on another system. But the difference is subtle, Unison is very, very close.

Thanks for that feedback. I don't know if my Macbook Pro (Usb-C) or Ipad Pro (Usb-C) qualify as an "OK USB Source". They seem better than my Bluesound Node 2i, but aside from that I don't know how they rate as a USB source.

If I go the Pi2AES route, that needs a hardwired ethernet source, correct? For me, that would mean I need to also purchase a wifi Access Point. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but it's more cost, and 2 more devices in my world (which I'd like to avoid as I have enough computer-like devices to support). LOL

 

[gefski]

Thanks for that feedback. I don't know if my Macbook Pro (Usb-C) or Ipad Pro (Usb-C) qualify as an "OK USB Source". They seem better than my Bluesound Node 2i, but aside from that I don't know how they rate as a USB source.

If I go the Pi2AES route, that needs a hardwired ethernet source, correct? For me, that would mean I need to also purchase a wifi Access Point. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but it's more cost, and 2 more devices in my world (which I'd like to avoid as I have enough computer-like devices to support). LOL

You can review your USB ports in ‘about this Mac’ and select one that isn’t used for anything else. Since you just installed Unison, I suggest going with it for a month and enjoying the music. Then you’ll have a real handle on your system‘s sonic personality, and can play with other file delivery systems if you feel like it.

 

[darmccombs]

If you’re using Gen 5 now, you should see a major improvement in true timbre of every sound and instrument, in an “alive” presentation, with AES delivery or Unison. For me, Gen 5, like many USB implementations by many companies, just isn’t providing an open window. Then, leaving it on a few more weeks, achieving the proper balance of component burn in and “listener burn in”, will have you re-listening to all your music.

Well I got the Unison installed, and the new card is getting warmed up. I dont know how long burn in is, on the new card, but I could hear improvements over the first 2 hours anyway. I’ll let it play music over the next day or so, to help it along.

 

[earnmyturns]

If I go the Pi2AES route, that needs a hardwired ethernet source, correct?

Not necessarily. Pi2AES is a shield board that plugs into a standard Pi 3 or Pi 4 board. The Pi can have WiFi. I never tried, so I don't if there are any gotchas, though.

As I said, the differences between Pi2AES and the USB source I had around are small, so I would not rush to work through the DYI project of getting the Pi2AES together with the Pi, the right software, etc...

 

[earnmyturns]

've been resisting trying the Pi2AES because of the old WM8804 chipset in it, so it's interesting to read comments from someone who has tried it.

It's subjective, of course, although the tester was my musical wife, who didn't know which was which. The Pi2AES Web page has a link to a .zip file of jitter graphs, which seem decent to me but what do I know?

 

[tincanear]

Well I got the Unison installed, and the new card is getting warmed up. I dont know how long burn in is, on the new card, but I could hear improvements over the first 2 hours anyway. I’ll let it play music over the next day or so, to help it along.

congrats on your Unison installation. Hope you don't have any spare parts or screws after completing the re-assemby.

my $0.02: the Unison board, as far as I know, has some conductive polymer electrolytic capacitors on the back side, next to the header pins. The component data sheets indicate 120 mins (2hrs) of applied DC voltage to stabilize the leakage current, which corresponds with the improvements heard in the first 2 hours of listening. So for audiophile use, I would expect 10x this time duration for break-in, power on and signal applied. Schiit burns in their mid & upper line amps and DAC for at least 24 hours, but not sure about upgrade PCB's.

wireless (wi-fi) connection to the Pi/Pi2Aes stack sounds like more trouble than its worth (depending on where your setup is located, there could be 20 or 30 wi-fi networks operating, along with wireless speakers, etc.)

Disclaimer: I don't own a Yggy, just a Bifrost and an electrical engineering background.

 

[earnmyturns]

wireless (wi-fi) connection to the Pi/Pi2Aes stack sounds like more trouble than its worth (depending on where your setup is located, there could be 20 or 30 wi-fi networks operating, along with wireless speakers, etc.)

I agree with you, but I wanted to mention the option because sometimes running wires is impractical. I got into digital audio in a serious way 8 years ago, in this suburban but wirelessly crowded neighborhood. I concluded quickly that WiFi was not reliable enough for trouble-free lossless audio, and powerline Ethernet adapters were also not reliable enough. I ran Cat 6 between everything myself. We moved to another house in the same neighborhood and I got an AV installer to run Cat 6 through the whole house. We moved again last year, same neighborhood (don't ask), to a house is not friendly to new wire runs, but fortunately I learned about MoCAs and I repurposed all the coax throughout the house for Ethernet duty (we don't watch cable anyway). All digital audio gear (servers, streamers) is wired, except for the Hugo 2+2go that I use in the garden while working. It works mostly, but interference from (boosted?) neighborhood networks sometimes makes it drop the (Roon) stream. TL; DR For pain-free lossless streaming, wire it.

 

[tincanear]

I agree with you, but I wanted to mention the option because sometimes running wires is impractical. I got into digital audio in a serious way 8 years ago, in this suburban but wirelessly crowded neighborhood. I concluded quickly that WiFi was not reliable enough for trouble-free lossless audio, and powerline Ethernet adapters were also not reliable enough. I ran Cat 6 between everything myself. We moved to another house in the same neighborhood and I got an AV installer to run Cat 6 through the whole house. We moved again last year, same neighborhood (don't ask), to a house is not friendly to new wire runs, but fortunately I learned about MoCAs and I repurposed all the coax throughout the house for Ethernet duty (we don't watch cable anyway). All digital audio gear (servers, streamers) is wired, except for the Hugo 2+2go that I use in the garden while working. It works mostly, but interference from (boosted?) neighborhood networks sometimes makes it drop the (Roon) stream. TL; DR For pain-free lossless streaming, wire it.

yes, cool idea about re-purposing the coaxial cabling already installed. I remember the early days of LAN networks, before Cat 3, 5 etc. when the cabling consisted of coaxial wire (RG-59, RG-6, etc) and end-of-line termination resistors, etc.

 

[darmccombs]

If you’re using Gen 5 now, you should see a major improvement in true timbre of every sound and instrument, in an “alive” presentation, with AES delivery or Unison. For me, Gen 5, like many USB implementations by many companies, just isn’t providing an open window. Then, leaving it on a few more weeks, achieving the proper balance of component burn in and “listener burn in”, will have you re-listening to all your music.

You can review your USB ports in ‘about this Mac’ and select one that isn’t used for anything else. Since you just installed Unison, I suggest going with it for a month and enjoying the music. Then you’ll have a real handle on your system‘s sonic personality, and can play with other file delivery systems if you feel like it.

Well the Unison upgrade has burned in a bit. It is a noticeable change from the USB 5 so I'll take your advise and just listen for a bit before looking at new sources. This is my current chain: Qobuz High-Res> Macbook Pro (Usb-C)> Schiit Yggdrasil A2> GS-X Mini> Norne Silver S3 cable> ZMF Verite Closed Ironwood

 

[Mikem53]

A question regarding the Yggdrasil operation. I’m using jrivers MC software which works fine and opens the dac in the bit rate/sampling required for each song..
I recently added Amazon Unlimited HD music streaming. It does not run within Jriver MC, On my MacBook Pro, I had to open the MIDI properties and set
it to 24/192 for the Yggdrasil. So now, the DAC stays open at 24/192 regardless of the actual bit/sampling rate.. The amazon app doesn’t have its own driver or exclusive control... It seems to sound fine, maybe the app just pads zeros at the end to adjust size, or the dac? SQ compromised ? thanks..
btw.. amazon unlimited HD is very good !!