Thoughts on a bunch of DACs (and why delta-sigma kinda sucks, just to get you to think about stuff)
Mar 4, 2015 at 3:39 AM Post #2,761 of 6,500
@Sorrodje
That sounds like a very interesting super DAC. However, the super price is not that interesting
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I paid 1800€ for it :wink: . not so expensive compared to a lot of other contenders ( Metrum Hex, Audio GD last flagship, Auralic Vega ... ) but it's discontinued and somewhat rare on the market. The current most affordable totaldac is priced at 6500€.
 
I purchased this A1 because I fell in love with R2R with the discover of the Metrum Octave. This totalDAC and the Yggy was my two best bets for my end-game HD800 rig. But you're right it's serious money. That's why I decided to buy this totaldac while I'm saving money for the Yggy.  when I'll be ready, I'll be able to compare them side by side at home and then choose the one I prefer with my own ears. 
 
Fortunately I've friend who own other "big" dacs like the AMR DP555 or the Totaldac D1 Dual. I hope we'll have the opportunity to compare the Yggy to all these. :wink: . i'm eager to discover by myself if the Yggy is really the promised state-of-the-art DAC on the market.. or not. No offense to Marv' or Zerodeefex or other people who claimed the Yggy blows all other dacs out the water but I much prefer to make my own opinion with my own (flawed) ears.
 
Mar 4, 2015 at 10:19 AM Post #2,762 of 6,500
I paid 1800€ for it :wink: . not so expensive compared to a lot of other contenders ( Metrum Hex, Audio GD last flagship, Auralic Vega ... ) but it's discontinued and somewhat rare on the market. The current most affordable totaldac is priced at 6500€.

I purchased this A1 because I fell in love with R2R with the discover of the Metrum Octave. This totalDAC and the Yggy was my two best bets for my end-game HD800 rig. But you're right it's serious money. That's why I decided to buy this totaldac while I'm saving money for the Yggy.  when I'll be ready, I'll be able to compare them side by side at home and then choose the one I prefer with my own ears. 

Fortunately I've friend who own other "big" dacs like the AMR DP555 or the Totaldac D1 Dual. I hope we'll have the opportunity to compare the Yggy to all these. :wink: . i'm eager to discover by myself if the Yggy is really the promised state-of-the-art DAC on the market.. or not. No offense to Marv' or Zerodeefex or other people who claimed the Yggy blows all other dacs out the water but I much prefer to make my own opinion with my own (flawed) ears.


Congrats on the A1! I have gotten used to me D1 but what's left is just enjoyment. I started with the compensation filter on (compensation for the rolloff due to the brickwall filter for nos playback of 44.1k material) but soon found that leaving it off sounded more natural (having it on gives treble a somewhat metallic / hard sound).

I may have gone death but I think that this rollof issue of nos dacs is overplayed a bit: I enjoy the D1 without the compensation filter, and switching from 44.1k to HD material does not make me feel like I am missing on a ton of detail or air.

I shall be proved wrong at some point perhaps and don't doubt the oversampling filter in the iggy is great and all but, from my seat, it feels more like playing into schiit's marketing on the revolutionary filter. There's so much more to a dac than just this filter, one would need to hear the iggy with a more traditional filter in order to assertively attribute the perceived "unprecedented resolution" of the iggy to its OS filter.

Cheers,
Arnaud
 
Mar 4, 2015 at 10:40 AM Post #2,763 of 6,500
Thanks Arnaud,
 
On the A1 , the FIR filter is not desactivable . There isn't any setting at all. On/off button, One Coax Input, Two RCA ouputs and that's all. KISS philosophy and its all what I need
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Hope You'll have the chance to compare your D1 to the Yggy too.
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Mar 4, 2015 at 10:42 AM Post #2,764 of 6,500
   
Pleased to be hated for that.
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Very brief impressions ( Huge grain of salt wholeheartly recommended) : its sounds like a PCM1704uk dac but on steroïds : less mellow, more impactful with ballz expecially in Bass area but all spectrum is really lively. No risk to fall asleep during the listening. Never heard my Stax sounded like that before. More liquid and mellifluous than the Metrum Octave. 2 hours of listening , new toys effect highly likeky :wink: . Need more real comparison against my other dac and I need my f.cking HD800 returns home from Colorware. I know the Senn better than the Stax and the HD800 is a better tool to evaluate gear IMO.
 
It does not sound how I would have expected. I didn't expect that sense of thunderous power and liveliness.

 
Thanks for the feedback - I realise its very tough with so few hours, but hopefully you'll be able to revisit this thread in a month or so when you've had more time with the DAC. My expectations would be through the roof if I had a chance to listen to anything from totaldac - their current range seems to stretch into the seriously high-end and you definitely got a bargain. 
 
Mar 4, 2015 at 10:48 AM Post #2,765 of 6,500
@Estreteer : I even asked my friend to loan me the Octave I sold to him in order to compare the two directly. I won't be able to do quick A/B but at least I'll have the two DAC on my desk.
 
Mar 4, 2015 at 10:52 AM Post #2,766 of 6,500
Congrats on the A1! I have gotten used to me D1 but what's left is just enjoyment. I started with the compensation filter on (compensation for the rolloff due to the brickwall filter for nos playback of 44.1k material) but soon found that leaving it off sounded more natural (having it on gives treble a somewhat metallic / hard sound).

I may have gone death but I think that this rollof issue of nos dacs is overplayed a bit: I enjoy the D1 without the compensation filter, and switching from 44.1k to HD material does not make me feel like I am missing on a ton of detail or air.

I shall be proved wrong at some point perhaps and don't doubt the oversampling filter in the iggy is great and all but, from my seat, it feels more like playing into schiit's marketing on the revolutionary filter. There's so much more to a dac than just this filter, one would need to hear the iggy with a more traditional filter in order to assertively attribute the perceived "unprecedented resolution" of the iggy to its OS filter.

Cheers,
Arnaud


Or you can pass by to visit us next time you're around :wink:. Closest thing to the Yggy is still the Theta gen Va and I have a Rag incoming.
 
Mar 4, 2015 at 12:46 PM Post #2,767 of 6,500
 There's so much more to a dac than just this filter, one would need to hear the iggy with a more traditional filter in order to assertively attribute the perceived "unprecedented resolution" of the iggy to its OS filter.

 
You got your wires crossed. Yggy's digital filter doesn't have as much to do with its "unprecedented resolution" as with its holographic staging / precise imaging. Gen V has the same filter but with a smaller processing window. You should hop over to frenchbat's place to get a sense of the Gen V's imaging/staging, preferably with speakers. Keep in mind that the Gen V already trashes the MSB DACs, and the Yggy trashes the Gen V.
 
Yggdrasil's resolution is because of its effective bits and accuracy (the chips used - I believe it's a badly kept secret now). I'm in the middle of certain experiments to further verify this. Everyone will get to read a paper about this in a year or so.
 
Mar 4, 2015 at 12:49 PM Post #2,768 of 6,500
 Everyone will get to read a paper about this in a year or so.

Hopefully the paper won't be pay-walled
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Mar 4, 2015 at 12:51 PM Post #2,769 of 6,500
 
Very brief impressions ( Huge grain of salt wholeheartly recommended) : its sounds like a PCM1704uk dac but on steroïds : less mellow, more impactful with ballz expecially in Bass area but all spectrum is really lively.

 
So it sounds like a PCM1702? :)
 
Mar 4, 2015 at 12:56 PM Post #2,771 of 6,500
   
You got your wires crossed. Yggy's digital filter doesn't have as much to do with its "unprecedented resolution" as with its holographic staging / precise imaging. Gen V has the same filter but with a smaller processing window. You should hop over to frenchbat's place to get a sense of the Gen V's imaging/staging, preferably with speakers. Keep in mind that the Gen V already trashes the MSB DACs, and the Yggy trashes the Gen V.
 
Yggdrasil's resolution is because of its effective bits and accuracy (the chips used - I believe it's a badly kept secret now). I'm in the middle of certain experiments to further verify this. Everyone will get to read a paper about this in a year or so.


Might take a while, since I'm not in Japan anymore. But he knows the door's open :wink: Depends whether someone among the Tokyo team gets an Yggy first or not.
 
Mar 4, 2015 at 1:17 PM Post #2,774 of 6,500
 
 
Very brief impressions ( Huge grain of salt wholeheartly recommended) : its sounds like a PCM1704uk dac but on steroïds : less mellow, more impactful with ballz expecially in Bass area but all spectrum is really lively.

 
So it sounds like a PCM1702? :)

 
OH! So the totalDAC sounds like this:

 
Mar 4, 2015 at 3:20 PM Post #2,775 of 6,500
Don't forget there's several Totaldac. I purchased the lowest priced one . the state-of-the-art totaldac which meany people consider as the best current dac in production is the totaldac D1 Dual .
 
Currently listening  to this :
 

 
I can't believe i have a Stax lambda on my head. lol
 

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