Vega vs Yggdrasil
May 2, 2015 at 3:48 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 6

atomicbob

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This comparison isn't going to be what you think. Others will provide all the rather descriptive differences, of which I am not gifted in such prose. I'm just going to provide a short and sweet set of bullets based on what I have heard so far (yggdrasil is only at 46 hrs of warmup)
 
AtomicBob's short guide to choosing between Auralic Vega and Schiit Yggdrasil
 
Keep in mind I work in acoustic research and audio production. Unique tools are very important for my work. 
 
1. The Vega is exemplary for a delta-sigma DAC. I will be keeping mine for this reason.
 
2. It appears that Yggdrasil is exemplary for an R2R DAC. I will be keeping mine for this reason.
 
3. If you enjoyed vinyl or tape based sound through analog signal chains and always found digital audio to have some factor to the sound that detracted from the auditory experience, or you have ears like @purrin, yggdrasil is definitely the DAC to choose.
 
4. If you never experienced such a hard to describe detraction listening to CDs and digital audio, then Vega is a top choice.
 
5. If you fall somewhere between 3 and 4 in your listening experiences, and budget permits, both are recommended. Spend a lot of time listening and publish your prose to the forums.
 
6. If you can't tell the difference, get a Mousai MSD192 and go enjoy music. It sounds decent, has an apodizing filter, and costs a lot less than either. Seriously. I own one and listen to it regularly with a BottleHead Crack and HD600. This is my (easily) transportable tube system.
 
7. Just starting out and still not satisfied with my suggestions, get a Leckerton UHA-6S mkII and a NAD Visio HP50. Not much money for a stellar portable system. Listen to the pair for a long time, go to headphone meets, audition other systems, keep notes, give yourself time to save and then revisit these suggestions. By then a lot more will have been written about the yggdrasil and comparisons to DAC x.
 
addendum updated 20150602
 
now have 700+ hrs on the yggdrasil
 
The yggdrasil is a big step closer to the emotional delivery of recorded content. The connection to the sounds in the medium make for very addictive listening sessions.
 
But what people are missing is that most all content delivered digitally passed through a delta-sigma ADC at some point, with the same evils of anti-aliasing filters containing Gibbs phenomenon, jitter, etc. To determine if well implemented R2R converters are the equivalent of digital vinyl, we would need an R2R ADC of yggdrasil quality, at the front end so we could achieve the vinyl or tape equivalent to direct to disc/tape recordings played back via R2R DAC and appropriate analog systems.
 
Obtain Reference Recordings HRx HR-2011 sampler. Listen to anything off this album through the yggdrasil and your auditory experience will be the closest ever, as if you were in the studio or venue, with the musicians. The recording methodology used minimal, exemplary mics, well placed in great acoustic spaces, through exemplary mic preamps and digitized at 176 KHz 24 bit with a Pacific Microsonics ADC.
 
May 11, 2015 at 5:49 PM Post #3 of 6
Thanks Bob! i am currently deciding between the Vega and the Yggy, Have a pair of LCD 3f's running off a Taurus MKII and Shiit Gungnir and its really not easy to decide  
 
Jun 2, 2015 at 9:42 PM Post #4 of 6
After 700+ hours I feel the gap is widening between the Yggdrasil and the Vega, favoring the Yggdrasil.
Don't get me wrong, the Vega is one fine DAC and possibly best in class for delta-sigma types. But the 3-D,  the sense of space, etc. is really special with the Yggdrasil.
 
Jun 4, 2016 at 5:20 PM Post #5 of 6
I was wondering if you could possibly comment on DSD playback via the Vega (natively) vs converted to PCM on the Schiit? I have amassed quite a few DSD files and I might need to choose between the two.
 
Thanks!
 
Jun 7, 2016 at 7:00 PM Post #6 of 6
  I was wondering if you could possibly comment on DSD playback via the Vega (natively) vs converted to PCM on the Schiit? I have amassed quite a few DSD files and I might need to choose between the two.
 
Thanks!

I don't have any DSD files and haven't evaluated the Vega for such, so my input on DSD wouldn't be useful.
 

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