[tameral]

I’ve owned the OG A2 for several years, and I’m very curious whether stepping up to a big dollar DAC (DCS, Tambaqui) is lots BETTER, or just different. The Yggy is just so good, and not just for the price.

This was my concern too- I wondered if LIM might pair well with a brighter amp (like Burson 3xP) or a brighter headphone like HD800S or Focal Clear. Or maybe if it would be possible to use EQ to add a treble shelf to brighten LIM’s FR. I think you’re right though- it’s probably better to be happy with your source ‘as is’ and then work on synergy with that. Do you have a tube amp you like and are using with the A2?

Admittedly I haven't heard the Holo or Rockna DACs, but I suspect a lot of truth with previous expressed sentiments that past the A2 it is just synergy and subjective preferences over outright clear superiority. The Yggy definitely is worth the price of admission for sure and has a long life ahead of it. I have it paired with a Feliks Envy (balanced out) for now and I'm very pleased with that.

As for the LIM, I had contemplated listing the boards in the Classifieds, but that's not going to happen - it has a magical quality but I just can't have that darkness from the source all the time. At some point I'll upgrade the Chassis so I can easily swap between, although Schiit still actively discourages that as a practice based on my communication with them (I guess out of liability-avoidance).

 

[jlemaster1957]

. The Yggy definitely is worth the price of admission for sure and has a long life ahead of it.

Agree - Jason let slip that a new USB that will -maybe- allow input of 384kHz filess coming soon (later this year maybe?) and after that inevitably there will be new Boards - over on SBAF he also got pretty excited about a possible collaboration with Soekris. Whatever, Schiit will help us satisfy the ‘upgrade-Otis’ itch for years.

I have it paired with a Feliks Envy (balanced out) for now and I'm very pleased with that.

I’d also heard good things about the Envy- Thinking too about tubes myself- and whether there is a more affordable tube-based speaker amp out there that I could use, and run the Burson 3X GT into it as a pre.

. At some point I'll upgrade the Chassis so I can easily swap between, although Schiit still actively discourages that as a practice based on my communication with them (I guess out of liability-avoidance).

Had heard the same. Schiit has aimed with the new chassis to make the upgrades user upgrade-able but they also infer a) you need to know what you’re doing ie have some electronic nous or know someone who does and b) the LIM and other boards are not meant to be ‘swapped according to your mood’ - it seems to be something to do when we want more of a mid-to-long term swap.

 

[maheeinfy]

Has anyone tried MIL. It is supposed to be close to OG/A2
I know its the least preferred of the three but not sure if it has been confirmed by folks outside of reviewers

 

[jlemaster1957]

Agree - Jason let slip that a new USB that will -maybe- allow input of 384kHz filess coming soon (later this year maybe?) and after that inevitably there will be new Boards - over on SBAF he also got pretty excited about a possible collaboration with Soekris. Whatever, Schiit will help us satisfy the ‘upgrade-Otis’ itch for years.

I’d also heard good things about the Envy- Thinking too about tubes myself- and whether there is a more affordable tube-based speaker amp out there that I could use, and run the Burson 3X GT into it as a pre.

Had heard the same. Schiit has aimed with the new chassis to make the upgrades user upgrade-able but they also infer a) you need to know what you’re doing ie have some electronic nous or know someone who does and b) the LIM and other boards are not meant to be ‘swapped according to your mood’ - it seems to be something to do when we want more of a mid-to-long term swap.

Yggy + OG has arrived and is inserted in the system. Burn in has begun. Took a listen just out of curiosity after an hour to some EDM via Burson 3XGT —> HD6XX. I thought I was getting CPR the bass was so intense- off went the Roon bass shelf. Better. Wowza!

 

[AudioDoctor]

How do you use HQPlayer and the Pi? I have a Pi2AES and am trying to figure out how to integrate it with HQPlayer and Roon. I can get it to work going directly from my pc to the Yggy via USB, but not through the Pi2.

Well, I am was not using Pi2AES I was using the USB out on the Pi4 to the Yggy and HQPlayers NAA image on the Pi4.

 

[whitefang]

I’ve owned the OG A2 for several years, and I’m very curious whether stepping up to a big dollar DAC (DCS, Tambaqui) is lots BETTER, or just different. The Yggy is just so good, and not just for the price.

I can confirm it is just different, there are definitely some aspects that dCS, MSB (or whatever), do better than the Yggdrasil. The way Yggdrasil OG presents music is really unlike any other DACs. I will be ultimately getting the Weiss DAC502, to me it is better than most DACs in any price range, but I will still keep the Yggdrasil.
If Yggdrasil were made by those brands its MSRP will be easily 10k+

 

[George Hincapie]

I can confirm it is just different, there are definitely some aspects that dCS, MSB (or whatever), do better than the Yggdrasil. The way Yggdrasil OG presents music is really unlike any other DACs. I will be ultimately getting the Weiss DAC502, to me it is better than most DACs in any price range, but I will still keep the Yggdrasil.
If Yggdrasil were made by those brands its MSRP will be easily 10k+

I bought the 501MkII. Awful. Sent it back. It is not a £10K DAC.

 

[o-MJ-o]

If Yggdrasil were made by those brands its MSRP will be easily 10k+

Let’s not exaggerate it can’t compete with 10k dacs on technical level. Its not even worlds ahead of the 700$ Bifrost2. Schiit would raise the price in a heartbeat if they thought it worths more. But yeah it sounds beautiful indeed.

 

[sp33ls]

Let’s not exaggerate it can’t compete with 10k dacs on technical level. Its not even worlds ahead of the 700$ Bifrost2. Schiit would raise the price in a heartbeat if they thought it worths more. But yeah it sounds beautiful indeed.

That’s just a testament to how good the BF2 is, tho..?

Law of diminishing returns hits real hard with DACs.

I will be ultimately getting the Weiss DAC502, to me it is better than most DACs in any price range, but I will still keep the Yggdrasil.
If Yggdrasil were made by those brands its MSRP will be easily 10k+

I had contemplated the 204 DAC, which is of the same conversion quality as the 502 but without the features, but after looking into it more deeply I had come to the conclusions that I’d just be falling for another hype train. No doubt it sounds good, but it seems very unlikely to be more engaging than the Yggy.

The Yggy LiM has been awesome so I think I’m just going to stick with it. Plus, the modular design will help satiate my inevitable upgraditis.

 

[whitefang]

That’s just a testament to how good the BF2 is, tho..?

Law of diminishing returns hits real hard with DACs.


I had contemplated the 204 DAC, which is of the same conversion quality as the 502 but without the features, but after looking into it more deeply I had come to the conclusions that I’d just be falling for another hype train. No doubt it sounds good, but it seems very unlikely to be more engaging than the Yggy.

The Yggy LiM has been awesome so I think I’m just going to stick with it. Plus, the modular design will help satiate my inevitable upgraditis.

the 204 does not has the same "conversion quality" with the 50x series, it is the same tech as the older MAN301 or DAC202, which is still great as of today.
50x has a different mechanism in processing the digital signal, and the -4ch(Mk-II) use a different chip. but let's not derail the thread.

The Yggdrasil, the OG in particular, has a very engaging sound that is different from most modern DACs but at the same time doesnt short of technical qualities. The Ygg doesn't sound as clean and refined like the Mola Mola or Weiss, but it still has very strong resolution and imaging. There are some more expensive DACs sacrificed a lot of details/microdynamics to achieve the so called for "fun/pleasing/analog" kind of sound.

Not that it has the technicalities to directly compete with the 10k+ DACs but if one enjoyed the sound of OG Yggdrasil, even getting DACs in the 10k range might not make you happier. I'd be grateful if someone could give me a recommendation as well.
MSB discrete may be the closest to what I wanted but I cant justify it being 10k more, Yggdrasil is too good for its price.

 

[sp33ls]

the 204 does not has the same "conversion quality" with the 50x series, it is the same tech as the older MAN301 or DAC202, which is still great as of today.
50x has a different mechanism in processing the digital signal, and the -4ch(Mk-II) use a different chip. but let's not derail the thread.

The Yggdrasil, the OG in particular, has a very engaging sound that is different from most modern DACs but at the same time doesnt short of technical qualities. The Ygg doesn't sound as clean and refined like the Mola Mola or Weiss, but it still has very strong resolution and imaging. There are some more expensive DACs sacrificed a lot of details/microdynamics to achieve the so called for "fun/pleasing/analog" kind of sound.

Not that it has the technicalities to directly compete with the 10k+ DACs but if one enjoyed the sound of OG Yggdrasil, even getting DACs in the 10k range might not make you happier. I'd be grateful if someone could give me a recommendation as well.
MSB discrete may be the closest to what I wanted but I cant justify it being 10k more, Yggdrasil is too good for its price.

Thanks for the correction, I misunderstood the specs of the 204.

Agreed, once one gets to the tier of the Yggy, it does seem to be more about trade offs and preferences vs being objectively better in all categories. Maybe that does exist, but can’t imagine how much it would cost, and is definitely not worth it to me to enjoy the music.

 

[lolhahaha]

I just recently upgraded my speaker setup from a Bifrost 2, Freya, and 2 Audio GD Precision 3 amps used as monoblocks to a Yggy, Freya+ and 2 Aegir amps and I don't see how anything could sound much better than this. I'm going back and forth between Ascent Sierra 2 speakers and Decware speakers. Both sound great with the Ascends being slightly brighter but not in a bad way. The obvious upgrade for me now is those new Ascend towers. But that's another 5000+ dollars and I don't need more volume anyway. Those small speakers are enough unless I want to get that last 20-30hz of bass under 50hz.

I don't even use a streamer, just playing flac files off of an external HD. Just going from a PC to the Yggy and the sound is amazing. I've been shopping for a streamer, but I can't decide between several between 1200-5000 bucks. The reviews I've seen are mostly unhelpful. They never say straight out that this one is better than the other one. I might have to just order a couple of them and compare myself.

 

[Vangelis]

I just recently upgraded my speaker setup from a Bifrost 2, Freya, and 2 Audio GD Precision 3 amps used as monoblocks to a Yggy, Freya+ and 2 Aegir amps and I don't see how anything could sound much better than this. I'm going back and forth between Ascent Sierra 2 speakers and Decware speakers. Both sound great with the Ascends being slightly brighter but not in a bad way. The obvious upgrade for me now is those new Ascend towers. But that's another 5000+ dollars and I don't need more volume anyway. Those small speakers are enough unless I want to get that last 20-30hz of bass under 50hz.

I don't even use a streamer, just playing flac files off of an external HD. Just going from a PC to the Yggy and the sound is amazing. I've been shopping for a streamer, but I can't decide between several between 1200-5000 bucks. The reviews I've seen are mostly unhelpful. They never say straight out that this one is better than the other one. I might have to just order a couple of them and compare myself.

I’ve owned many streamers from Melco, Innous, Ifi and Aurender, they all vary in sound quality. Today a digital streaming front end consists 3 essential parts, that being a Ethernet switch, a streamer and the DAC, comparable to analog front end, consisting of photo section, table and cartridge. Before if you compare streamers, make sure that you have high quality ethernet cables and a proper switch quality. Without addressing the quality of the ethernet cables, and your switch, would be comparable to purchasing a world-class camera and putting a junk lens in front of it, and expect great resolution. Not addressing the switch and the ethernet cables will lead to the frustration of the streamer sounding flat, opaque and musically unengaging. You have a very nice DAC, so you’re part way there. I would recommend doing some research on the ethernet cables that people had great luck with as well what switches sound best. One great performering I streamer can easily recommend is the new Lumin U2, it would be at the top of your budget, but it competes sonically with far far more costly Streamers and you can easily add a NAS or USB drive to play your own rips.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

I just recently upgraded my speaker setup from a Bifrost 2, Freya, and 2 Audio GD Precision 3 amps used as monoblocks to a Yggy, Freya+ and 2 Aegir amps and I don't see how anything could sound much better than this. I'm going back and forth between Ascent Sierra 2 speakers and Decware speakers. Both sound great with the Ascends being slightly brighter but not in a bad way. The obvious upgrade for me now is those new Ascend towers. But that's another 5000+ dollars and I don't need more volume anyway. Those small speakers are enough unless I want to get that last 20-30hz of bass under 50hz.

I don't even use a streamer, just playing flac files off of an external HD. Just going from a PC to the Yggy and the sound is amazing. I've been shopping for a streamer, but I can't decide between several between 1200-5000 bucks. The reviews I've seen are mostly unhelpful. They never say straight out that this one is better than the other one. I might have to just order a couple of them and compare myself.

SOtM makes a very nice streamer. You can get a neo200 for $450. He sometimes has sales too. If you want DIY, a raspberry pi is ridiculously easy to build and free software is readily available. Both of these will require software like foobar or audirvana. I personally use Roon.
The streamer has no sound if it’s built correctly. It will be transparent. Spend the money on the software you’ll use to stream. I personally suggest a Roon lifetime license, SOtM neo stream, and a Wi-Fi dongle for the neo stream ($25). That’s my Yggy setup and it’s amazing. No hassle and easy setup. Cost is <$1500.

 

[johnwillmclean]

Let’s not exaggerate it can’t compete with 10k dacs on technical level. It’s not even worlds ahead of the 700$ Bifrost2. Schiit would raise the price in a heartbeat if they thought it worths more. But yeah it sounds beautiful indeed.

Well technically we have DACs that are near perfect under $200, you don’t need 10k for better objective differences.