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Yggdrasil Refined - New Schiit Yggdrasil Analog 2 (Yggdrasil A2) Sound Impressions

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by drgumbybrain, Jan 16, 2018.

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  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    No idea and I honestly cannot answer that. History says it's coming eventually, just no idea when.
     
    purr1n, Jan 16, 2018
    #21
  2. Mystic

    Mystic Mystique's Spiritual Advisor

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    That HF thread is one of the reasons I don't like engaging with people in general. Too much stupid.

    Apparently he is also pissed that Schiit CS didn't reply to his email within 4 hours. This is a prime example of customers you fire.
     
    Mystic, Jan 16, 2018
    #22
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Schiit doesn't get back to me within four hours either. Sometimes they take days. Freya took a while to ship to me with a few follow up e-mails unanswered. For the record, I use their regular "commoner" queues just like everyone else. Just because I can directly communicate to Jason or Mike doesn't mean I'm going to abuse this privilege to my advantage at the expense of their time.

    Fast response from a support tech or sales engineer isn't their forte. Shit, most other big-boy audio companies are the same way, or worse because they have such low sales volume.
     
    purr1n, Jan 16, 2018
    #23
  4. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    ... so anyway, back to the Analog-2.

    @Marvey, any comment on the A2's SE performance relative to balanced? Your digital rig uses...?
     
    captkirk, Jan 16, 2018
    #24
  5. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The Yggdrasil Analog 2 balanced to the AF's Cinemag CLMI-15 transformers sounded cleaner and clearer with blacker background. The SE out into the AF sounded hazy in comparison. Not close IMO in the scheme of DACs. Someone else asked me about the Jensen ISOMAX box, but I cannot say for certain without direct comparison, other than I felt the Jensen sounded warmer. My preference was for the CLMI-15s.
     
    purr1n, Jan 16, 2018
    #25
  6. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    How does one know they dislike the output stage of this DAC (or any DAC)? Is this based on measurements? Honest question.
     
    rlow, Jan 16, 2018
    #26
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The output stage on the original Yggdrasil can be bypassed or tweaked to something close to what is currently in place. I ran "Gumbfreya" (took the outputs straight from the AD5*91 chips to the tube stage of the Freya. Huge difference in terms of clarity, blackground and decent jump in resolution. There are some gains to be made still by doing this with the Yggdrasil Analog 2, but the gains are so small that it's not worth invalidating your warranty or making your chain more complex. I mean, we are already talking about 0.001% distortion or better.

    The Yggdrasil Analog 2 does way more of course than just the output stage revisions.

    @iDesign / @rlow : there is the distinct possibility that the Yggdrasil Analog 2 might measure worse in second order distortion or other distortion. I am not totally sure. I do know that a lot parts from the original output stage were ripped out. The glitch should be fixed. Sometimes simplier circuits sound better but measure worse.
     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2018
    purr1n, Jan 16, 2018
    #27
  8. PacoTaco

    PacoTaco Friend

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    To put it simply, a bad analog section can introduce noise and make a dac sound "grey." That has always been a criticism of this dac. Well, that and the slight coloration in the bass.
     
    PacoTaco, Jan 16, 2018
    #28
  9. neogeosnk

    neogeosnk Friend

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    Hope there's plans for a Gungnir refresh also. Some folks (me!) don't physically have the space for a Yggdrasil.
     
    neogeosnk, Jan 16, 2018
    #29
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Honestly, I prefer a Modi Analog 2 - with the class warfare thing going on these days.
     
    purr1n, Jan 16, 2018
    #30
  11. leafy

    leafy Facebook Friend

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    Any idea what the "firmware update for the DSP board" comprises of? The "glitch fix" seems to be there for quite a while so it's probably not why this requires a firmware upgrade.
     
    leafy, Jan 16, 2018
    #31
  12. SoupRKnowva

    SoupRKnowva Official SBAF South Korean Ambassador

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    guys, were complaining about the wrong things, we need to be up in arms that there arent nudes of the new boards yet |\/|

    show us the booty @schiit |{
     
    SoupRKnowva, Jan 16, 2018
    #32
  13. Garns

    Garns Friend

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    For other denizens of upside-down land - Addicted to Audio can do the upgrade locally in Aus. No price yet. Next stock delivery from Schiit is due mid-February, so check back after then.
     
    Garns, Jan 16, 2018
    #33
  14. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Did the Gungnir MB ever have problems going into 600 ohm loads like the Yggdrasil?
     
    Cspirou, Jan 16, 2018
    #34
  15. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Sounds to me that all of us (really meaning you guys) are finally benefiting the programming Dr. they hired awhile back. I will be interested to seeing Jason's chapter on this.
     
    Azimuth, Jan 16, 2018
    #35
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    It did. There was quite a bit of variance though with the Yggys and Gumbys. Some worked better than others with a 600 ohm load.
     
    purr1n, Jan 16, 2018
    #36
  17. drgumbybrain

    drgumbybrain Science Nut

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    drgumbybrain, Jan 16, 2018
    #37
  18. Aklegal

    Aklegal Friend

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    This, and the fact that the outputs are current limited on the old model. So I couldn't use the balanced outs to a preamp and the rca outs to a headphone amp. The extra current the upgrade provides will solve this, fingers crossed.
     
    Aklegal, Jan 16, 2018
    #38
  19. wrestler

    wrestler Acquaintance

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    [curious] Is the analog section physically separate from the AD5791BRUZ chips now on the Analog 2? Correct me if my understanding is wrong because I'm a super-n00b on audio electronics, but from Marv's Gungnir Multibit-Freya experiments, it seems it is theoretically possible to have them separate. Throwing away another 4 AD5791BRUZ chips for Analog 3 upgrade whenever it happens seems wasteful.
     
    wrestler, Jan 16, 2018
    #39
  20. Chris F

    Chris F Boyz 4 Now Fanatic - Friend

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    I'm 50 of 51. I have an original first run Yggdrasil from April 2015 which will get the Analog 2 and Gen 5 USB. Looking forward to hearing three years of evolution.

    I'm a big fan of companies like Schiit that offer upgrades instead of obsolescence. Hats off to Mike, Jason and the rest of the guys at Schiit.
     
    Chris F, Jan 16, 2018
    #40
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