Chord Dave vs Schiit Yggdrasil (feat. HD800, Utopia, LCD-4)

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by jacq, Nov 13, 2016.

  1. jacq

    jacq Top 3 poster - friend

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    Here's some pics:

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    [​IMG]

    Intro:

    I chose the HD800 as I am most familiar with this headphone and the Master9 is a solid state headphone amplifier that I’ve owned for 9 months now. I still prefer over the other amplifiers I’ve heard at meets so far, including an ampnsound Mogwai, or Burson Conductor V2+ from the top of my head. I know there might be some hate when it comes to the amplifier of my choice due to it being Chinese made and perhaps solid state, but I much prefer it over my previous Mjolnir 2 or the Ragnarok which I had initially planned to upgrade to upon having distaste for the Mjolnir. I hope you guys can give any of the audio-gd amplifiers a try if the opportunity presents itself, and maybe you can have a glimpse of what the Master9 is capable of in a smaller scale. Overall, I find the amplifier very smooth with a detailed midrange which is a perfect match for the Yggdrasil that I own for it. Having the Gungnir prior to this, my setup was described as warm and laid back—perhaps too laid back, but still highly resolving.

    Dave – Master 9 – HD800

    There this whole out of your head sound persists and I think it has something to do with the bass presence being boosted a bit without being muddy, hinting coloration, along with the treble being more drawn out but with very clean extension. Low level detail in songs are easily perceivable without much effort, every note is well articulated with speed with very natural sounding timbre. I think what I appreciate the most is how the HD800 can sound so dynamic with a good source, midrange is clean swept with all the intricate details you could ever want from it. I honestly don’t know how much better it can go with this… I am in awe and I find all of this is absurd because just when you’ve thought the summit has been scaled right?

    Yggdrasil – Master9 – HD800

    The Yggdrasil has a flatter, more panned out stage and the upper treble loses detail quite a bit when compared directly to the Dave. It can be a close call on the detail, and I really hate giving the Yggdrasil shit due to the price difference but I suppose it has to be done. Feeding the Yggdrasil to the HD800, you can hear the treble distort a bit though it’s mostly alleviated by the SDR mod. Bass remains true to the HD800 nature, it’s fast and a bit light but enough for most people’s needs. Midrange and vocals sound clean as it should, in which I think the Yggdrasil is the more neutral amplifier out of the two. In terms of dynamics, I think the Dave is still the winner but the Yggdrasil is no slouch. Music feels alive, albeit more the slightly laid back DAC of the two. What I dislike about the Yggdrasil is the fact that you have to leave it on 24/7 as sometimes I worry that I might’ve accidentally turned it off. The warmup time is definitely no joke but I hate how it’s so difficult to transport it to meets, it’s like bringing a patient on life support from the car to the meeting area. There are also talks about using AES/EBU or other USB decrappifiers to better it and I have actually ordered the Singxer SU-1 to see what people are talking about. Although these inconveniences exist, the Yggdrasil is probably the piece of equipment that’s not going to leave my room and I have no plans of buying another DAC in the next year or so to replace it so it’s a love and hate relationship I guess. All I can say is that this chain is definitely something one can live with, with the best cost to performance ratio I could imagine. You get a very competent and powerful amplifier, one of the best valued DACs out there, and the luxury of having one of the most revealing headphones out there.

    Crème de la crème pairings:

    Dave – Utopia

    I’ve found the Utopia a bit raw on the upper midrange but it’s not very persistent with every single song I had tried it with. While at times it can be too forward, it is also immensely forgiving which I really like about the Utopia. I feel like the Dave is well deserving of being a 2-in-1 amplifier for the Utopia with adequate power for it all throughout. I don’t really see the need for more and it resolves quite well, much more so than the Yggdrasil. I suppose this is only ideal when you’re too tight on space and absolutely need a combo, but at $12,000 the target audience should not have this issue to begin with so lol. Its strongest suit is probably the midrange with it being ever so clear and clean (thanks to the Dave), followed by a held back lower treble but again, it is not too invasive nor persistent though it’s there. Besides this, I’d like to note that the Dave has a way of making a headphone have a big, out of your head experience that makes it extremely immersive which is well deserving for a resolving headphone like the Utopia. I think this pairing will be good for all genres I can think of out there, it was adequate for EDM, with speed and extension, excellent timbre with my favorite Duke Ellington tracks, absolutely divine when it came to soundstage and immersion with binaural tracks (admittedly the soundstage of the Utopia is still small compared to the HD800 but the Dave contributes with the spatiality and overall coherence of the stage area. I think that it’s easily the best cost-is-no-object amp/dac + headphone setup that ever heard and considering that one may want to simplify their setup with a single headphone/component, the Dave + Utopia is it.

    Dave – LCD4

    The bass is frail with the Dave’s headphone out, and it just sounds weak all throughout. I suppose someone will prefer this if they’ve never heard the LCD4 from a powerful amplifier that can handle it. It’s not quieter or anything, it’s more about driver handling and overall speed of the music that makes me say it’s held back.

    Conclusion:

    While it definitely sets a whole new meaning of diminishing returns to me, I think the Dave is a 20-25% improvement to the Yggdrasil in terms of overall detail, and a small deviation from timbre delivery on the upper treble region. Is it worth 5-6x the Yggdrasil? Of course not, but the Dave is a statement piece, a cost-is-no-object item which ironically still needs an amplifier depending on what you’re driving… But overall, it sounds incredible. Though the Yggdrasil at the price it’s at right now is also very very hard to ignore. While overpriced, the Dave is a success to me as I’m always excited with whatever stuff manufacturers come up with in hopes that quality of fidelity will trickle down to cheaper and more affordable forms of gear.

    Some more bonus pics: http://imgur.com/a/Mp6JW. I truly apologize for the mediocre pictures, it's mostly because I just had surgery and I can't really move much.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2016
  2. Valolilol

    Valolilol Acquaintance

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    Thank you very much for this review @jacq, not every body is able to review such a system :).
     
  3. Robert777

    Robert777 Acquaintance

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    Thank you. Damn, the Master 9 is huge.
     
  4. Lojay

    Lojay Friend

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    Thanks for your efforts, Jacq. I wrote a similar piece in the Chord DAVE thread on SBAF, but I did my comparisons through my DIYT2 / SR009 combination. The DAVE has more textural detail in rendering instruments and hence does sound more resolving, but that may not be immediately noticeable during meet-conditions.

    There are people who prefer a cost-is-no-object DAC in a smaller, 2-in-1 factor form. I am using my DAVE in my office and I think reducing as much hi-fi clutter on my desktop helps.
     
  5. Madaboutaudio

    Madaboutaudio Friend

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    With the cost difference between the Dave and Yggdrasil, you can use the excess money on other upstream and downstream components(Dante to AES, better interconnects, power cable and balanced power conditioning etc) which in the end the Yggdrasil based system will more than likely sound better than stock USB Dave based system on the same Budget.
     
  6. jacq

    jacq Top 3 poster - friend

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    It's inversely proportional to my imaginary schlong.
     
  7. Robert777

    Robert777 Acquaintance

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    That must be exhausting.

    Because I do not get to meets or have local friends into the same stuff I am often surprised when seeing pictures of gear out in the wild as it were. Often, things I imagined to be of certain dimensions are actually much bigger. Dave is actually smaller than I first thought. Old Theta stuff is massive!
     
  8. Madaboutaudio

    Madaboutaudio Friend

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    Master 9 is also very heavy at 16KG/35 pounds. It also runs really hot at temperatures >50C/122F due to it's pure class A operating mode.

    It has 10 years warranty but only first year free shipping. For those considering buying from outside of china/russia, do take into consideration the cost of repair shipping which can be very costly through and fro.

    It's a very high performing resistor volume controlled headphone and preamp for sure but it's not for those on tight budget.

    I'm still waiting for Schiit to release the Freya, It will be interesting to see how Freya Preamp modes stack up against the M9 preamp powerhouse.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2016
  9. jacq

    jacq Top 3 poster - friend

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    Yeah it's a bit exhausting to bring massive gear to meets. I felt like it was a bit too much when I got my Master9 and Gungnir so I was like, wew, this is too much. I am tempted to buy a power supply to bring the Yggdrasil with me but I'm not too sure because it'll mean like 3 trips to the car which is too cumbersome. I don't know where you're from but if you're ever in the South Florida area, we have a small and pretty active group here.
     
  10. Robert777

    Robert777 Acquaintance

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    Thank you so much for the generous offer. I am terribly far away in the UK. Thanks again for the hard work on comparing the DACs.
     
  11. FishCommander

    FishCommander New

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    Really appreciate your thoughts. Glad to hear something like Yggdrasil can throw blows with Dave for its price point.
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I'd be curious for a DAVE vs. Yggdrasil A2 comparison.
     
  13. dreambox

    dreambox New

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    @purr1n
    exactly what i am doing this days ;)

    [​IMG]
     

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