[LarryMagoo]

Sub'd . A lot more peaceful here...

 

[sennsay]

Hello.
My Yggdrasil Analog2 impression vs Yggdrasil Analog1.

First of all, I use my Yggy for speaker setup only, so maybe it is making easier to hear sound difference. It is much easier to hear difference, especially of staging, in speakers than headphones.
I play flute, practiced hard to play good tones everyday, played in amateur orchestra when I was young, and listen to classical, jazz, pop, metal, and so on.
Please keep in mind this is just my impression and could differ by persons, and my English might not be good as well.

My main speaker system setup:
USB: iMac 2009 (Audirvana/iTunes) -> Yggdrasil (Gen5 USB, Analog2) —> Freya (TungSol) —> 2 Vidars —> Magnepan MMG
Disc: DENON DCD1500AE (coax) —> (same)
Cables: audioquest carbon USB, carbon coax, Yukon XLR (DAC to pre), MacKenzie XLR (from pre to power, but changed to Yukon after 5 weeks Yggy A2 warm up), Furutech FS-502 speaker cable. Cables including power lifted by wooden blocks from floor.

Summary:
Compared to old Yggdrasil (Gen5 USB, Analog1):

• Required full 4 weeks warm-up to be stable in good sound, in my impression.
• Very different sound compared to Analog1 (after full 4 weeks warmup)
• Bass is much well defined.
• Sound fade in smoothly from silence and fades out continuously to silence (in my impression.)
  Reverberation sounds very realistic like seeing real concert hall.
  Old Yggy felt like somewhat coming out suddenly and disappearing suddenly after threshold.
  (I don’t know about the measurements but just my feeling and I feel like that especially if I compare it to Chord Mojo.)
  This was the only point in old Yggy that I felt clearly behind Chord Mojo compared in the same speaker setup, but in Yggy A2, it came near to Mojo in that aspect and I don’t feel any complaint now. And this, makes sound really realistic, as if you can touch or see the performer in the room and not the sound from the audio set, which I felt like in old Yggy (was like “good audio”).
  I know it is not scientific and might be silly but I felt like that.
• By those, it somewhat reminds me of good old days listening to vinyl disc. Very realistic and full and dynamic.
  Awesome music. I get really moved by music.

Change by warm-up hours (my impression. All other components fully burned in and setup unchanged before and after. only Yggy being changed):

• 800hr (near 5 weeks) : no significant change from week ago. Changed cable here so no more direct impression after this.
• 670hr (full 4 weeks) : Awesome. Reminds me of good old day listening to vinyl. Realistic sound. Way better than Yggy A1.
• 470hr (nearly 3weeks): Almost OK. same level (but different) as Yggy A1, but sound still changing/fluctuating by time.
• before that: staging not open enough. sometimes dull but fatiguing. sometimes too much reverb.
• before before (200hr?) : congested (esp. full orchestra). total sound not integrated. sometimes coming too forward, or too dull.
• Initial hours: better than I thought, but started fluctuating (going dull, going bright, and so on) soon after that like typical components/cables tend to.

My original Yggy (A1, Gen3 USB) took about 500hrs to be almost stable, so not so far from that.

I understand impressions will differ among listeners, so I am looking forward to hear Yggy A1/A2 comparisons from other members.

Your English is just fine, plenty good enough to share some great results. Thank you, Licht, it tells me a lot and also confirming what some other excellent reviewers have found - give Yggy a good month to get it's act together! I have a fairly new R2R-11 and it's only 100 hrs in, still changing, I'm told 500 will be needed for complete settling time. I will then use it mostly for a headphone system and buy an Yggy for the lounge, with a valve preamp. Thanks again for your impressions!

 

[koven]

I've been driving my headphones and monitors with Ragnarok connected to Yggy2 and was wondering if the Rag is as good of an amp as Yggy2 a dac... Audiophiles usually do not consider integrated amps to be worthy. I am concerned that the Rag could be limiting the Yggy2s potential. Do you think a dedicated hp amp like gs-x or HPA-1 would do more justice as far as revealing transparency or depth which I find lacking in comparison to the Dave or even H2? Will I have to get a preamp if I wanted one of these amps? Or, is there a better hp amp?

While I love the Yggy 2, I did not like the Rag at all. I recall it being cold/sterile with etchy treble (tried w/ Utopia and HD800S). I ended up selling it quite fast. To me there are much better amps in the ~$1K tier, Taurus mk2 for example. And since you mentioned the GSX, I had the GSX mk2 and it blows the Rag away. Yggy outclasses the Rag by a mile I think. Just my two cents of course YMMV.

 

[Astral Abyss]

While I love the Yggy 2, I did not like the Rag at all. I recall it being cold/sterile with etchy treble (tried w/ Utopia and HD800S). I ended up selling it quite fast. To me there are much better amps in the ~$1K tier, Taurus mk2 for example. And since you mentioned the GSX, I had the GSX mk2 and it blows the Rag away. Yggy outclasses the Rag by a mile I think. Just my two cents of course YMMV.

Interesting how much differently we all hear. I have an Yggy A1 connected to a Ragnarok and think it sounds excellent. On the flip side, I felt that the GSX mk2 was very dry sounding and I felt that the stepped attenuator was too course on adjustment.

 

[jscmd2000]

While I love the Yggy 2, I did not like the Rag at all. I recall it being cold/sterile with etchy treble (tried w/ Utopia and HD800S). I ended up selling it quite fast. To me there are much better amps in the ~$1K tier, Taurus mk2 for example. And since you mentioned the GSX, I had the GSX mk2 and it blows the Rag away. Yggy outclasses the Rag by a mile I think. Just my two cents of course YMMV.

That is exactly what I hear with the Yggy 2 and Ragnarok. The apparent detail is there, so much more than Yggy 1 which I noticed the moment I turned it on even without the recommended warm up, but I find that the depth is lacking. If I listen to my other dacs in comparison and A/B test, the Z axis is on the narrow side and not as engaging. In addition, there is a lot of energy up top, kind of bordering sibilant. In other words, or your words, cold/sterile with etchy treble. Do you remember what the GSX did to these things? Curious, because I am almost set on it. I suppose you didn't like it as much as what you currently own, but what does your current setup provide that the Rag and GSX did not?

 

[Don Quichotte]

Has anybody compared the Yggy 2 with the Gumby? I mean, an in depth comparison... Is the Gumby still the warmer and more relaxed of the 2? What is Yggy 2 doing better, apart from detail and bass authority?

 

[purehifi192]

Has anybody compared the Yggy 2 with the Gumby? I mean, an in depth comparison... Is the Gumby still the warmer and more relaxed of the 2? What is Yggy 2 doing better, apart from detail and bass authority?

Same question..

I have the A2 version in my speaker setup and a Bifrost MB in my office for headphones. I had planned to upgrade to Gungir MB for this system due to the "warmer/relaxed" comments from people like Jason and ableza.

 

[gordec]

I would love to hear Yggdrasil A2 against Gumby in my current system. I bought the Gumby last week and have been so impressed. It’s definitely a monumental moment in my hobby. To put things in context, I auditioned Sennheiser HE1 at the San Fransisco store for 1 hours few months ago. Brought my own tracks and everything. Since then I have been using it as my ultimate reference in headphone system. Since then I got the Susvara which pairs very well with McIntosh MHA100 through the speaker taps. However, the naturalness, soundstage and holographic rendering were just not there compared to the HE1. I have been using the integrated DAC in the MHA100 and tried ifi black label and few other popular DACs. Boy did Gumby change all that. I’m not exaggerating if I say Gumby with MHA100 and Susvara puts it within 5%-10% of the HE1. More important music feels like that day I auditioned at Sennheiser.

If Yggdrasil A2 is even a step further, I would upgrade in a heartbeat. It also speaks to how great of a value Gumby is at around $1k range.

 

[US Blues]

I would love to hear Yggdrasil A2 against Gumby in my current system. I bought the Gumby last week and have been so impressed. It’s definitely a monumental moment in my hobby. To put things in context, I auditioned Sennheiser HE1 at the San Fransisco store for 1 hours few months ago. Brought my own tracks and everything. Since then I have been using it as my ultimate reference in headphone system. Since then I got the Susvara which pairs very well with McIntosh MHA100 through the speaker taps. However, the naturalness, soundstage and holographic rendering were just not there compared to the HE1. I have been using the integrated DAC in the MHA100 and tried ifi black label and few other popular DACs. Boy did Gumby change all that. I’m not exaggerating if I say Gumby with MHA100 and Susvara puts it within 5%-10% of the HE1. More important music feels like that day I auditioned at Sennheiser.

If Yggdrasil A2 is even a step further, I would upgrade in a heartbeat. It also speaks to how great of a value Gumby is at around $1k range.

Looks like we'll have a new Yggy owner soon.

 

[NEXTLEVEL5]

Looks like we'll have a new Yggy owner soon.

LOL. Never compared these Dac's but Yggy2 is definitely a step or 2 above the Multibit module that comes with the Jotunheim. VERY happy so far and it hasn't been a week yet.

 

[the finisher]

It gets better, I swear.
Mine is over 1000 hrs now, so much better than new.

 

[gordec]

Looks like we'll have a new Yggy owner soon.

But I promised my checking account no more gear until end of the year.

 

[Licht]

Your English is just fine, plenty good enough to share some great results. Thank you, Licht, it tells me a lot and also confirming what some other excellent reviewers have found - give Yggy a good month to get it's act together! I have a fairly new R2R-11 and it's only 100 hrs in, still changing, I'm told 500 will be needed for complete settling time. I will then use it mostly for a headphone system and buy an Yggy for the lounge, with a valve preamp. Thanks again for your impressions!

Thank you. It's my pleasure to be help of other Head-Fi-ers.
A month for Yggdrasil and 3 weeks for Gumby (changed drastically, like surrounding constricting wall had suddenly disappeared at around 290hrs in my case with Mjolnir2 in set).
I am considering R2R 11 for my bedroom system as well, but do you intend to leave it on 24/7 even after full burn-in? And does it need to be always on to sound good?

 

[the finisher]

I ran mine of a cheap laptop continuously for the first month, when not listening.
It's been on since the day I got it.
I power cycle it about once a week if I don't move it to the other room.
Consensuses is to leave it on always. I leave Jotunheim on continuously too.

I'm going to measure the watts used at idle pretty quick here just cause I'm curious, if I can find my kill a watt meter.

Edit: I get about 27.5 watts with Yggy@ idle, this goes up 1.5 watts when it locks a signal.
Interestingly when actually playing music it barely increases, only .2 watt. So still under 30 watts while active.

The Jot only pulls a bit over 14 watts at idle, when driving the LCD X and HD6xx this only went up around 4 watts.

So Yggy/Jot at idle around 41/42 watts, and fully active 45/46 watts. I give the range because this is sure not an accurate measuring tool, but it's in the ballpark.

I was just curious, thought I'd share.

 

[hornytoad]

I got Yggy 1 when they were first introduced and after a month of "settling" it sounded superb.

I was 29th in line to upgrade to Yggy 2, and after a month in service it became scary good sounding. Revisiting old favorites Yggy 2 revealed the music in a completely new way, everything about the sound is better. This is the last DAC I need.

Until Yggy 3 comes along.

The thing I love about Yggy1 is the scary good ability to replicate acoustic music . Does the Yggy 2 have that same attribute ?