Yggdrasil: A (P)review - Two days of paradise

[FiftyKilo]

Yes I also have an eye on the Woo Audio 234, no question for me that this remarkable Amp will be better than the LAu.
When I someday will sell UltraFi Equipment, that Woo Amp will perhaps on my target.
But in the moment I did say for me ( or its my credo ) " keep it simpel " and " less could be moore"
Ralf

 

[freddy1201]

OT: since two weeks now I did listen to my sleepingroom setUp which is the Abyss with CavalliLAu and Dynastation III .

Iam personal a UltraFi geek and my main SetUp in my seperate Listening Music Room is a 70000,- € Martion Orgon Four Way active Hornspeakersystem.

I only hear Music from the Theatre Pipe Organ which are installated in original Theatres or Privat Studios. Only the sound of a real Pipe can produce pure sine wave super Sonic Sound, which is very hard to play over Headphones.

The Sound of a big and massive Theatre Pipe Organ is the most complicatet kind of Music to reproduce with Loudspeakers.

I did listen this Music over HD800 and LAu and I could tell you, that nothing happens, its so one dimmension and dull in the bass section. No feeling and emotion, no live sound.

What the hell of diffrent when I did listen to TO Music with the Abyss and LAu, here is live feeling and a bass which did real pressure to my ears.

Iam so happy with this constalation, that I thinking to get rid of all the other bulky equipment.

Ralf

It's not surprising, the LAu is not good with high impedance headphones

 

[freddy1201]

 
Indeed, having your body saturated with bass frequencies is rather special :¬)
 
Since you have the budget, another member has stated that the Woo Audio 234 out performed the Cav L.Au (my a big margin) with the Abyss. Might be worth auditioning!

I hope lol, for 10000 MORE than the LAu 

 

[Yoga]

 
I hope lol, for 10000 MORE than the LAu 

 
You'd certaily hope so! :¬)

 

[conquerator2]

I've owned the Gungnir w/USB Gen2 and although there are family similarities in terms of presentation, the Yggy is a completely different beast. Way more resolving, super black background, no grain, better instrument separation, perfect timbre, and just plain better.

At 3x the price it better be 

 

[Turn&cough]

I've owned the Gungnir w/USB Gen2 and although there are family similarities in terms of presentation, the Yggy is a completely different beast. Way more resolving, super black background, no grain, better instrument separation, perfect timbre, and just plain better.

From experience when I read this I automatically think clinical and unforgiving. Hopefully I'm mistaken.

 

[schneller]

Well at $500 more than the 2Qute, I am looking forward to the head-2-head!

 

[Music Alchemist]

@zerodeefex
 
So people in the Sound Science section do a decent job of ticking me off. They insist that all DACs sound the same, and if they don't, they are defective.
 
When the time comes, would you be interested in disproving them once and for all?
 
I'm thinking we could both compare, say, the Yggdrasil to the Modi 2 in a way that leaves no room for doubt that there is a substantial improvement.

 

[Yoga]

  @zerodeefex
 
So people in the Sound Science section do a decent job of ticking me off. They insist that all DACs sound the same, and if they don't, they are defective.
 
When the time comes, would you be interested in disproving them once and for all?
 
I'm thinking we could both compare, say, the Yggdrasil to the Modi 2 in a way that leaves no room for doubt that there is a substantial improvement.

Let the people who choose X believe X. The Ys the Ys. There is no point going into subjective X vs Y arguments, it's a waste of time and energy. Regardless of all the objective talk, it's nearly always an emotional/subjective argument ("I'm right, you're wrong"). Very few people can *genuinely* discuss without some kind of emotional attachment, whether they are aware of it or not.
 
If you enjoy something, put your time into it. If you don't, find something you enjoy to put your time into it instead. Life is always happier that way :¬)

 

[Cobaltius]

  @zerodeefex
 
So people in the Sound Science section do a decent job of ticking me off. They insist that all DACs sound the same, and if they don't, they are defective.
 
When the time comes, would you be interested in disproving them once and for all?
 
I'm thinking we could both compare, say, the Yggdrasil to the Modi 2 in a way that leaves no room for doubt that there is a substantial improvement.

Well I'm hearing quite some people saying its just placebo, expectations and biases which lead us to think they sound better. I mean I can't notice a difference between MOST On-board DAC's, my Phones built in DAC, and my FiiO E07KI and Schiit Modi, they all "sound" the same. I really hope if I go from Modi to Gungnir I hope to hear a good amount of difference. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Well I'm hearing quite some people saying its just placebo, expectations and biases which lead us to think they sound better. I mean I can't notice a difference between MOST On-board DAC's, my Phones built in DAC, and my FiiO E07KI and Schiit Modi, they all "sound" the same. I really hope if I go from Modi to Gungnir I hope to hear a good amount of difference. 

 
I noticed a huge difference between my desktop setup and portable devices (or laptop headphone jack) -- but only while using certain programs and settings to let the DAC interact with the computer in a certain way and let the computer operate in a certain way. (Otherwise, the differences were noticeable but minor.)
 
Anyway, if I get the money, I'm pretty set on the Ragnarok and Yggdrasil, so at the least, I will post impressions eventually:
 

1. Ragnarok + Yggdrasil vs Magni 2 Uber + Modi 2
2. Ragnarok + Yggdrasil vs Ragnarok + Modi 2
3. ...and so on.

 
I feel that this would be the most valuable comparison, since it's the affordable stuff pitted against the endgame gear. I would also volume-match to ensure a fair comparison.

 

[zerodeefex]

Well at $500 more than the 2Qute, I am looking forward to the head-2-head!

I've owned a bit of Chord gear including the gem and the quteHD. None of it was remotely close to Schiit gear in terms of priceerformance. I doubt it will be a fair comparison given the Yggdrasil was leagues ahead of anything I've heard in its price class.

The jump from ODAC to X-Sabre/Gungnir/QuteHD/Benchmark DAC2 (I've owned all of these DACs) outside of tonality is less noticeable than the jump from those DACs to the Yggdrasil for me. I'm generally content with a modest setup, my daily work rig is GO450 > Leckerton > UERM and I have not felt I was missing a ton when stacked against my home rig. After the Yggdrasil I know I'll generally be dissatisfied until I get one.

 

[Cobaltius]

   
I noticed a huge difference between my desktop setup and portable devices (or laptop headphone jack) -- but only while using certain programs and settings to let the DAC interact with the computer in a certain way and let the computer operate in a certain way. (Otherwise, the differences were noticeable but minor.)
 
Anyway, if I get the money, I'm pretty set on the Ragnarok and Yggdrasil, so at the least, I will post impressions eventually:
 

1. Ragnarok + Yggdrasil vs Magni 2 Uber + Modi 2
2. Ragnarok + Yggdrasil vs Ragnarok + Modi 2
3. ...and so on.

 
I feel that this would be the most valuable comparison, since it's the affordable stuff pitted against the endgame gear. I would also volume-match to ensure a fair comparison.

Before I really was into audio, I use to just plug in headphones into the jacks of my desktop. Its weird because there was 2 headphone jacks (one on the front and one on the back). If I can remember I think the front jack sounded better and probably like same computers DAC's I've heard. But the back port how ever sounded really fat, a lot of mid bass, muffled and lacked clarity. I did notice a difference to when I got the FiiO E07K my first Amp/DAC. Things became a little more separated, treble became sparkly and clear and the mids sound neutral instead of that disgusting muddiness. But when I upgraded from the FiiO to the Schiit Asgard 2 and Modi I heard no difference.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Before I really was into audio, I use to just plug in headphones into the jacks of my desktop. Its weird because there was 2 headphone jacks (one on the front and one on the back). If I can remember I think the front jack sounded better and probably like same computers DAC's I've heard. But the back port how ever sounded really fat, a lot of mid bass, muffled and lacked clarity. I did notice a difference to when I got the FiiO E07K my first Amp/DAC. Things became a little more separated, treble became sparkly and clear and the mids sound neutral instead of that disgusting muddiness. But when I upgraded from the FiiO to the Schiit Asgard 2 and Modi I heard no difference.

 
My Alienware is the same way. The front headphone jack is called speakers in the computer's sound settings and has much higher output power, while the rear headphone jack is called headphones and doesn't get nearly as loud.
 
Try this:
 
Install the free trial of JPLAY. With your DAC connected, configure Kernel Streaming and the Xtream Engine in JPLAYSettings.
 
Install Fidelizer. Launch it in Audiophile or Extremist mode. (To reset your computer's settings, just restart.)
 
Open JPLAYmini and play music you are familiar with.
 
(If you need help using either program, both have online manuals.)
 
There are much more advanced things you can do, but I would be surprised if you didn't notice an improvement in sound quality from this alone!

 

[Zakin]

One thing you always have to remember is, you'll only hear whatever the weakest link is in your chain. That's why some people can go up to $1,000 dollar DACs and still claim it sounds the same as the ODAC, because something in the chain is off. Crap in, crap out. That leaves you with about ten different variables that crucially can matter in my experience. Also if Jplay/Fidelizer make a big difference, then I'd personally consider getting a stronger computer and keeping it tidy, I never found much of a difference over Jriver, but I'm insanely OCD over my main computers optimization as is.