[negura]

The price went up because my guess... they had to catch-up with exchange rates.
 
http://www.schiit-europe.com/index.php/schiit-ragnarok.html

 

[mcullinan]

Its a solid price, not cheap. I can see spending it and probably will. I don't really own any Schitt gear yet but this seems like something new in the zombie land of Sabreness..
M

 

[Danny86]

Is Yggdrasil also incompatible with Jplay's Kernel Streaming ? I hope more and more DAC manufacturers realize that Jplay compatibility is a big minus vs the competition is Jplay is more or less mandatory together with 2012 Server in Core Mode..

 

[ciphercomplete]

Its probably a bit much to ask a DAC manufacturer (or any computer hardware provider) to code a special driver for one piece of software that probably has comparitively few users at least when compared to the total number of DACs they are forecasted to sell. In any event compatibility is the responsibility of the software programmer not the hardware provider. Hardware providers really only need to ensure that the hardware is compatible with the operating system. As long as the OS knows how to use the dac then any program should be able to use it without issue. Why doesn't Jpay work with regular drivers anyway? Even free programs don't have trouble with that.

Some graphics card makers make special driver optimations for very popular videogames with popular is the operative word there. But those games still run fine without those optimizations.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Is Yggdrasil also incompatible with Jplay's Kernel Streaming ? I hope more and more DAC manufacturers realize that Jplay compatibility is a big minus vs the competition is Jplay is more or less mandatory together with 2012 Server in Core Mode..

 
Why wouldn't it be compatible? I use JPLAY with Kernel Streaming and my Modi 2.
 
(I have yet to install Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard, but plan to soon. Not sure if I'll use the more difficult Core mode.)

 

[ToTje]

If it will be €2500,- or lower, I sure as hell am going to get one!
I understand the USB input is really good. Since I mainly will use it for my computer, that of course is a big plus. 
 
Will it be "as is", or will it be upgradable? (Couldn't find information about that, or if it supports I2S, but I probably haven't looked right.)

 

[purrin]

  If it will be €2500,- or lower, I sure as hell am going to get one!
I understand the USB input is really good. Since I mainly will use it for my computer, that of course is a big plus. 
 
Will it be "as is", or will it be upgradable? (Couldn't find information about that, or if it supports I2S, but I probably haven't looked right.)

 
USB Gen 3 beat my (Wyrd+Off-Ramp 5 combo). More clarity, more blackness.
 
I doubt i2s will supported because there is no established standard. I'm sure Jason and Mike don't want to support idiots who randomly plug things in and make the DSP board go poof because the pin-outs are different.
 
I am trying to convince them to resurrect the ATT/ST optical used on TOTL vintage DACs of yesteryear.

 

[conquerator2]

What would be the benefits of such optical ports?
Me myself would only utilize the standard BNC/USB/Toslin/COAX inputs... Possibly HDMI I2S or AES/EBU but there is none it seems...

 

[fastfourier]

Just registered, because I had to jump on this Windows Server thing.
 
I'm not sure where the basis for installing a server OS for audio quality came from, but it's pretty nonsensical for many reasons:
 
1. Server OSes in general aren't designed around using audio, much less optimized for it. 
2. The vast majority of the whole server codebase shares code with the consumer version. This has been true since Windows XP/2000. 
3. In fact, not only are they the same codebase, but most of the DLL files are identical, or within a patch version of each other.
4. Using Core Mode/disabling most services isn't a recommended avenue for anyone who can avoid it. Those methods are usually reserved for systems and servers that are so old and slow that they don't really have any business running the operating system. 
 
Long story short, save your cash, spend it on something that matters, like this Yggdrasil!

 

[Danny86]

  Just registered, because I had to jump on this Windows Server thing.
 
I'm not sure where the basis for installing a server OS for audio quality came from, but it's pretty nonsensical for many reasons:
 
1. Server OSes in general aren't designed around using audio, much less optimized for it. 
2. The vast majority of the whole server codebase shares code with the consumer version. This has been true since Windows XP/2000. 
3. In fact, not only are they the same codebase, but most of the DLL files are identical, or within a patch version of each other.
4. Using Core Mode/disabling most services isn't a recommended avenue for anyone who can avoid it. Those methods are usually reserved for systems and servers that are so old and slow that they don't really have any business running the operating system. 
 
Long story short, save your cash, spend it on something that matters, like this Yggdrasil!

 
Well have you done it or are you just wasting people's time with your undocumented assumptions about things you clearly have no clue about ? 
 
I have done it and I can tell people it's definitely worth it and much smarter than spending $$$ on product (Microsoft gives free Student licenses to 2012 server btw......0 dollars). Core mode only equals to jumping from a mediocre DAC to a decent one. 
 
You sound just like a manufacturer who pushes people to buy more product rather than doing smart and cheap tweaks to fully leverage their gear. 

 

[prot]

Is Yggdrasil also incompatible with Jplay's Kernel Streaming ? I hope more and more DAC manufacturers realize that Jplay compatibility is a big minus vs the competition is Jplay is more or less mandatory together with 2012 Server in Core Mode..

I thought the consensus around here was that jplay was a useless piece of code that noone needs on a modern pc. The trial version certainly did not change a single audible bit for me.
And btw, when a particular piece of software does not work with a generic, standard Usb driver, it's most prolly not the driver's fault.

 

[prot]

Just registered, because I had to jump on this Windows Server thing.

I'm not sure where the basis for installing a server OS for audio quality came from, but it's pretty nonsensical for many reasons:

1. Server OSes in general aren't designed around using audio, much less optimized for it. 
2. The vast majority of the whole server codebase shares code with the consumer version. This has been true since Windows XP/2000. 
3. In fact, not only are they the same codebase, but most of the DLL files are identical, or within a patch version of each other.
4. Using Core Mode/disabling most services isn't a recommended avenue for anyone who can avoid it. Those methods are usually reserved for systems and servers that are so old and slow that they don't really have any business running the operating system. 

Long story short, save your cash, spend it on something that matters, like this Yggdrasil!

Tried to argue that a few times without any success. For some reason both the jplay and ao fans seem to have a particularly fanatical attachment to their software. No matter that no piece of software works the same on all systems, no matter there is no solid theoretical explanation, no matter there are no serious tests, no matter that both creators of jriver and foobar classify jplay as an useless "optimization" ...
And now I'm actually quite sry for bringing this up cause I saw many threads derailed because of this kind of stuff

 

[prot]

What would be the benefits of such optical ports?
Me myself would only utilize the standard BNC/USB/Toslin/COAX inputs... Possibly HDMI I2S or AES/EBU but there is none it seems...

Optical has the benefit of electrical decoupling between devices. Whether that brings any audible improvements it's debatable. Personally i never heard any. And for some reason optical is kinda dying nowadays.

 

[bfreedma]

   
Well have you done it or are you just wasting people's time with your undocumented assumptions about things you clearly have no clue about ? 
 
I have done it and I can tell people it's definitely worth it and much smarter than spending $$$ on product (Microsoft gives free Student licenses to 2012 server btw......0 dollars). Core mode only equals to jumping from a mediocre DAC to a decent one. 
 
You sound just like a manufacturer who pushes people to buy more product rather than doing smart and cheap tweaks to fully leverage their gear. 

 
Sorry, but no it doesn't.  This is just another audiophile wild goose hunt in search of a placebo.
 
And before you accuse me of being a shill, I've done it and blind tested it under reasonably controlled conditions.  I also have 3 decades of experience with MS operating systems and at one time held every cert imaginable from MS. My org is also an MS partner, so I have access to the operating systems at no cost, so I'm not saving any money avoiding Server OS.  Not stating that to brag, just to avoid the same accusations you made above.
 
Unless you're running on hardware more than a decade old that simply can't handle the basic background processing of the OS, turning off random services is not going to improve audio.  Mutlipthreading operating systems long ago dealt with operational priority and modern hardware streams without breaking a sweat.  Every look at your CPU utilization at the process level on a PC while you stream audio?  Do you even hit 5% CPU utilization?
 
I'd be open to the possibility if anyone can show the improvement running Server in Core mode using hard data.  To date, hasn't happened.

 

[evillamer]

 

   
Well have you done it or are you just wasting people's time with your undocumented assumptions about things you clearly have no clue about ? 
 
I have done it and I can tell people it's definitely worth it and much smarter than spending $$$ on product (Microsoft gives free Student licenses to 2012 server btw......0 dollars). Core mode only equals to jumping from a mediocre DAC to a decent one. 
 
You sound just like a manufacturer who pushes people to buy more product rather than doing smart and cheap tweaks to fully leverage their gear. 

 
Sorry, but no it doesn't.  This is just another audiophile wild goose hunt in search of a placebo.
 
And before you accuse me of being a shill, I've done it and blind tested it under reasonably controlled conditions.  I also have 3 decades of experience with MS operating systems and at one time held every cert imaginable from MS. My org is also an MS partner, so I have access to the operating systems at no cost, so I'm not saving any money avoiding Server OS.  Not stating that to brag, just to avoid the same accusations you made above.
 
Unless you're running on hardware more than a decade old that simply can't handle the basic background processing of the OS, turning off random services is not going to improve audio.  Mutlipthreading operating systems long ago dealt with operational priority and modern hardware streams without breaking a sweat.  Every look at your CPU utilization at the process level on a PC while you stream audio?  Do you even hit 5% CPU utilization?
 
I'd be open to the possibility if anyone can show the improvement running Server in Core mode using hard data.  To date, hasn't happened.

 
Some reviewers swear by the sound quality improvement brought about optimizing services:
 
http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/fidelizer_e.html