[Sorrodje]

@AiDee: I hope you'll buy the Yggy before me in order I can have your impressions before any buy

.
 
I'm on the same page. I trust Purrin & Zero for sure but impressions I appreciate the most are the impressions after many weeks/month of owning. I hope to be wise enough to wait those impressions.

 

[conquerator2]

Well, I'll probably end up with the Yggy one way or another, sooner or later 

 
Until then, the Gungnir will have to suffice 

 

[evillamer]

 

We need a thread that's just like this one but for people who aren't using extremely rare, extremely expensive DAC's.  Like a big comparison of $500-1500 DAC's done by folks who have heard a bunch of them but who don't call them "unlistenable".  lol  Unfortunately, that's not super helpful to the folks who want something better than a Realtek and cheaper than a Yggdrasil.

It's awesome that the Yggdrasil compares favorably to DACs that are twice the price (if you can find them), but it's still $2200.  :-/

It's all relative. The rankings on the front page, even though I am not updating, still apply.

• Good ones, but they sound different in certain respects: Schiit Gungnir/Bifrost, NAD M51, X-Sabre, Lavry DA10, Metrum Octave, GO450
• Stuff to avoid: Mytek Stereo192-DSD DAC, Teac UD-501, anything from Yulong, Benchmark DAC1, anything from iFi

Is IFI stuff really that bad? I thought the designer is a well regarded and knowledgable engineer.

What about stuff from LH Labs?

 

[Stillhart]

Is IFI stuff really that bad? I thought the designer is a well regarded and knowledgable engineer.

What about stuff from LH Labs?

 
He has the Geek Out 450 on the good list so I assume the others would follow...

 

[jexby]

Is IFI stuff really that bad? I thought the designer is a well regarded and knowledgable engineer.

 

 
while I won't exclaim to have the DAC width/breadth of mighty Purrin-  I don't agree all iFi stuff is bad.  at all.
 
I love the DAC section of iFi iDSD micro compared to a couple others on that recent Good/Avoid list.

 

[Tuco1965]

   
while I won't exclaim to have the DAC width/breadth of mighty Purrin-  I don't agree all iFi stuff is bad.  at all.
 
I love the DAC section of iFi iDSD micro compared to a couple others on that recent Good/Avoid list.

 
It's all subjective anyway.  What matters is how you like or dislike something.

 

[evillamer]

When is Schitt going to allow pre-orders on the Yggdrasil?

Or at least give us the web page for the product or some kind of opt-in mailing notification of availability

 

[hans030390]

   
Yup, I've gleaned all that.  I do appreciate the work you put into it.  It's just hard to figure out what the hell is going on when one of the highest ranked DAC's on your list is called "unlistenable".
 
I'm actually really curious about that MDHT Havana one using the older PCM56 chip.  The appreciation thread was started in '08 and I'm wondering if the sound holds up seven years later.

 
I got the impression he meant that the Gungnir is relatively unlistenable with much better DACs on hand, not that it is unlistenable in and of itself. It's a pretty good DAC, just not something you'd probably use for serious listening when you have better DACs on hand (am I wrong here?). My tastes lean more towards the Metrum Octave side, but that's just me.
 
The more I read about the MDHT DACs, the more I think they might not sound that great. I know I've read a few reports of sharp or harsh treble, which would be odd for a tube non-oversampling DAC. I've also read the opposite. Too mixed for me to feel comfortable risking a purchase. But, hey, since I haven't heard one myself, I'd need to do that before I could say anything definitively.

 

[purrin]

Yeah. My first car was a Corolla when I was 16. Now that I have the money to buy better cars, I don't consider the Corolla driveable. I flat out will not drive a Corolla or an Accord. I just don't enjoy the experience.

 

[Stillhart]

   
I got the impression he meant that the Gungnir is relatively unlistenable with much better DACs on hand, not that it is unlistenable in and of itself. It's a pretty good DAC, just not something you'd probably use for serious listening when you have better DACs on hand (am I wrong here?). My tastes lean more towards the Metrum Octave side, but that's just me.
 
The more I read about the MDHT DACs, the more I think they might not sound that great. I know I've read a few reports of sharp or harsh treble, which would be odd for a tube non-oversampling DAC. I've also read the opposite. Too mixed for me to feel comfortable risking a purchase. But, hey, since I haven't heard one myself, I'd need to do that before I could say anything definitively.

 
I get a similar impression from the Havana.  But the real question is:  does a bad R2R DAC sound better than a good SD DAC?  Like how would it compare to something comparably priced like the Gungnir?  I haven't heard enough mid-range DAC's like that to be able to judge, even if I did take a chance on the Havana.
 

  Yeah. My first car was a Corolla when I was 16. Now that I have the money to buy better cars, I don't consider the Corolla driveable. I flat out will not drive a Corolla or an Accord. I just don't enjoy the experience.

 
From my point of view, the Corolla is a garbage car by a solid company (i.e. the Modi).  The Gungnir isn't a Corolla tho, it's solid mid-fi so maybe something like a cheap Merc or BMW.  To me , you're driving around in Ferrari's and classic E-Types and bagging on the BMW 3-Series as undriveable.  To anyone in Corolla currently, that 335 is a huge step up not only in price but also in performance.  In fact, for most people, the 328 is all they'll ever need.
 
Anyways, just trying to show another perspective.  The Gungnir is quite expensive compared to what MOST people are using, i.e. Realtek (bleh), Modi, Fiio E17, etc.  And I'm not trying to rag on you for your opinions... I've experienced this phenomenon with other things.  I'm 100% sure that you're right and the Gungnir is probably garbage once you're used to the TOTL!  But it's just not helpful at all to hear that; why bother upgrading from my ****ty NFB-15 just so I can get a ****ty Gungnir or ****ty M51 or ****ty X-sabre instead?
 
Maybe I just have the wrong idea about what this thread is for.  If it's intended to be a discussion on summit-fi DAC's, it doesn't seem that way from the number of mid-fi DAC's listed on the front page.  Like I said tho, I'm just trying to make you aware of how it sounds when you say stuff like that.  No offense intended or taken, just saying.

 

[Tom W]

When is Schitt going to allow pre-orders on the Yggdrasil?
 

 
I asked and they replied that they weren't taking pre-orders or having a waitlist for the Yggy.

 

[7ryder]

  Yeah. My first car was a Corolla when I was 16. Now that I have the money to buy better cars, I don't consider the Corolla driveable. I flat out will not drive a Corolla or an Accord. I just don't enjoy the experience.

Obviously, you haven't driven the Corolla S 

 

[hans030390]

 
But the real question is:  does a bad R2R DAC sound better than a good SD DAC?

 
I'm all about R2R these days, but, no, I'd rather take a good SD DAC (something like a Gungnir or Gamma2) over a bad R2R DAC.

 

[purrin]

 
Maybe I just have the wrong idea about what this thread is for.  If it's intended to be a discussion on summit-fi DAC's, it doesn't seem that way from the number of mid-fi DAC's listed on the front page.  Like I said tho, I'm just trying to make you aware of how it sounds when you say stuff like that.  No offense intended or taken, just saying.

 
LOL, conq asked me what I thought of Gungnir vs. Yggy, and I replied the Yggy (and SF and Gen V) makes the Gungnir unlistenable. That was an honest statement. I don't know if you are aware that this was an honest statement. Hearing Yggy is liked being touched by God. Once you are touched by God everything below Class E (touched by angels) sucks.
 
What did you want to me say? That the Yggy is only slightly better than the Gungnir? That statement would not be true. The Yggy stomps Gungnir. The Yggy schews up Gungnir and spits it out. I know in my heart that the guys at Schiit know this is true, they know Yggy destroys the Gungnir (and most everything else on the planet) but they will never say it.
 
If you look at the first post:
 
Yggy is in Class G (Godly) - OK, I just made this one up.
Gen Va is in Class E+
SFD is in Class E
Then there is VGS (Very good stuff)
After that is GS (good stuff) where the Gungnir lies
 
Gungnir is five classes below Yggy. Also, keep in mind six months ago, there was no class E, E+, and one month ago, there was no class G. This has nothing to do with $500-$1500 or summit-fi or whatever. I do not grade DACs based on cost or compare only high-end stuff. As of today, I honestly feel everything in GS is crap. Crap being defined: I would not use it for serious listening at my temple of music speaker setup. But there are different levels of crap. IMO, the Gungnir, ranked at #6 leads the heap of crap. In other words, while I honestly feel the Gungnir is crap, it is better than the other crap.
 

 
But it's just not helpful at all to hear that; why bother upgrading from my ****ty NFB-15 just so I can get a ****ty Gungnir or ****ty M51 or ****ty X-sabre instead?

 
TBH, none of the stuff within each class is really an "upgrade". It's more like a side-grade. In others words, not necessarily better, but different. The rankings reflect my own personal preferences. All the DACs in VGS and GS have flaws. It's a matter of which flaws are less annoying to you, and which strengths you value. This is why I have attempted to describe certain attributes of DACs instead of simply offer numerical rankings.
 
I know it's not helpful to say none of the stuff within each class is really an "upgrade", but I really can't do anything about that. If you truly want something better, not different, you are going to have to go up a class. That's just the way it is. <cue Bruce Hornsby or Phil Collins/David Crosby>
 
Have I gone mad or insane? Possibly. But it's certainly much less crazy than buying the latest super craptastic POS or DSD Sabre DAC from China or over-priced, over-hyped, expertly-marketed DAC from the UK or 75 lbs PCM1704-based behemoth that sounds rolled and resolves nothing from the USA.

 

[arnaud]

@AiDee
: I hope you'll buy the Yggy before me in order I can have your impressions before any buy .

I'm on the same page. I trust Purrin & Zero for sure but impressions I appreciate the most are the impressions after many weeks/month of owning. I hope to be wise enough to wait those impressions.

It is quite wise to wait for impressions once the initial new toy syndrome has worn off a bit. Having said that, it does not take 2 weeks to figure out when you hear a very special dac. It is that obvious when listening to familiar tunes, you get shocked at every new track .
Not talking about the Iggy per say, but if it is of the SQ level of my recent TotalDac purchase, you're in for a treat .

Arnaud