This weekend I compared my upgraded Yggy (I’ll call it Yggy B) to my friend’s original Yggy (Yggy A). My audio buddy and I both listen mostly to speaker systems. His system comprises Windows 10 computer with JRiver Music Center (fed by NAS), Paul Pang USB card, Mutec MC-3 + USB, Freya, Line Magnetics single ended amplifier, and Devore Orangutan O/96 speakers.
Our shared impressions are:
1. Yggy B improves bass response over Yggy A. Bass is more punchy, and, beyond that, bass instruments have improved natural sound. They just plain sound more like…um….themselves. I listen to a lot of acoustic jazz and Yggy B yields, for instance, a more “woody” sound to plucked or bowed upright bass than A., conveying the sound of the instrument body. To me, this alone is worth the price of admission.
2. Yggy B “layers”--front to back--performers and instruments better than Yggy A—and that was to me a strong suit of the original version. For example, Yggy B puts front to back space between piano, drums, bass, and vocalist, which lesser DACs may scruntch (technical term!) together. It also better reveals the recording environment—if that is present on the file.
3. Yggy B conveys a wonderful sense of depth in the recording environment, if present on the file. I suppose this follows from the “layering” comment in 2.
4. I think, but am less sure, that the overtones from cymbals are better presented with “tails” lasting longer and deeper into the noise floor.
These impressions seem to be consistent from system to system, no matter if they are similar or not. Before I compared Yggy A and B in my buddy’s system, I evaluated Yggy B in my own after about 350 post-upgrade power-on hours. My solo impressions were similar to the above even though I use electrostatic speakers and no preamplifier between Yggy and amplifier (I control volume in JRiver). (We share Paul Pang’s USB card and Mutec MC-3 + USB, though.)
I also hauled Yggy B to another friend’s house. (Yggy gets heavy after a while!) His system consists of: Windows 8 (fed by NAS), Wavelab 8.5, Mutec MC-3 + USB and Reference 10 clock, Merging Technologies Horus dac, and Meyer Sound X-10 speakers. As this gear suggests, he’s lives in the professional sound world as a mastering engineer. He matched playback levels to within 1 dB.
Both dacs sounded great on his system; neither better than the other, just different. Consistent with the above, my friend remarked that “Yggy moves the rear of the image outside my room into my neighbor’s yard.” He made this remark after we listened to “Immortal Bach” on the 2L label. This is a great recording with which to assess a system’s ability to image left to right and front to back.
I can’t end this post without saying “’Thank you” to Baldr for this significant and satisfying upgrade and to both him and Jason for fulfilling their promise to make upgrades available for Yggy.
Rich
). Compared to my memory of those albums from the Yggy 1, nothing was lost in realism, and I felt more immersed in a 3D musical space, rather than being outside listening in.
Thanks.
