Life after Yggdrasil: Watering the Ash

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Torq, Mar 1, 2017.

Tags:
  1. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    May 7, 2019
    Likes Received:
    2,208
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    NY
    Would be interesting to know the root cause but this looks like the most plausible cause and would also like to know how insurance company approach damage caused due to lack of earthing
     
  2. Ruined

    Ruined HD700 ruined my ear holes

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2020
    Likes Received:
    264
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Parts Unknown
    I have a Musical Fidelity MX-DAC and always wondered how it sounded vs the Schiit dacs which I have never owned. It comes off to me as super clean, tight, precise, neutral-ish, yet not overly bright. Very few people seem to own or even have heard of this dac but it seems to be positively reviewed by those who try it.

    Has a PCM1795 as dac chip and pretty basic internal layout with balanced and unbalanced outputs. Despite being an old chip IMO it's good sounding, in fact Denon just recently used it (in quad config) in their recent $3499 integrated amp release. Is @Torq still doing these audition comparisons?
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2020
  3. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2016
    Likes Received:
    3,438
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Palo Alto
    Home Page:
    He's stopped and pretty much gone from forums, except occasionally on headphones.com, apparently he's preparing for a multi-year sailing adventure.
     
  4. Jerry

    Jerry Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,045
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Asia
    What a life...
     
  5. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,951
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Europe
    I had the V90 and m1 (almost forgot about this one). Is it even close to that one?
     
  6. Ruined

    Ruined HD700 ruined my ear holes

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2020
    Likes Received:
    264
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Parts Unknown
    Haven't heard either of those, but MXDAC was basically the next iteration following the M1DAC - reviewers said it sounded significantly different (better) than the M1DAC tho. The v90 was a lower tier product that came out between the M1DAC and MXDAC if i recall.

    Here's a quick Amazon review I found from a guy that A/B compared all three : "The MX-DAC plays much better than the V90-DAC and the M1DAC, but doesn't quite get to the big M6DAC (it also costs 2,699 euros). "

    Not the most info but I got the same impression I read elsewhere on the net in the past, a significant upgrade from the v90/m1.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2020
  7. areasonableman

    areasonableman New

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2021
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    Busan, South Korea
    So I've been looking for a PCM63 based dac that isn't outrageously expensive and I stumbled across the Esoteric D-30. It was a model only sold in japan as far as I can tell and information about it is proving pretty difficult to find but it looks very promising.

    It uses ~ 8 ~ PCM63s and looks super overbuilt. Has anyone heard one? It's unknown enough to not be even used Yggdrasil A1 money. I live in South Korea right now so I think I might import one from Japan.
     
  8. shredical

    shredical Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2015
    Likes Received:
    261
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Home Page:
    I had a chance at picking up an assemblage DAC 3.0 recently from a local HFier, but came with a no guarantee its working, been stored for last 3 years comment. 300$. Passed on it.

    so while researching DACs, the Gungnir Multibit and Yggdrasil GS are at the top of my list.. although i've never heard either of them. Used to have the original Gungnir a long time ago but don't recall it.

    I've always gravitated to R2R based DACs. And came across the denafrips.

    I know a few folks have different models from this company when i did a search...

    but didn't find a dedicated thread on them.

    Any owners care to start one? I am interested to hear your thoughts on their products and how it compares to Schitt's multibit DAC. Only interested in the full balanced with AES input versions. So that rules out the Ares from denafrips.

    Specifically interested ot know differences between the Pontus 2 and Venus 2.
     
  9. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,387
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northwest France
  10. shredical

    shredical Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2015
    Likes Received:
    261
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Home Page:
    jeez.. guess not! Thanks
     
  11. Ruined

    Ruined HD700 ruined my ear holes

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2020
    Likes Received:
    264
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Parts Unknown
    Not that I expected it to be good for music playback because I bought it for recording, but if any are curious the ROLAND STUDIO CAPTURE has very bad musicality compared to my Musical Fidelity MX-DAC; soundstage sounds flat, highs overemphasized, typical pro audio sound. I ended up bypassing the DAC in the studio capture and running digital coax to the MX-DAC for when I need to monitor something. Easier then to route all the sound through one DAC as well.

    I am sure the STUDIO CAPTURE measures well tho! :D
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2021
  12. Rob the Comic

    Rob the Comic banned from ASR

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2020
    Likes Received:
    10,014
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    I does IMHO. After joining here and lurking a lot before that I had both Yggys and the Bifrost 2 at one stage in the search. The Beatles mono box definitely sounded better - to me anyway - through the new Yggdrasil with the Phonitor XE and Utopias.
     
  13. Xecuter

    Xecuter Brush and floss your amp twice a day

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,053
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Australia
    dCS Bartok,

    [​IMG]

    I don't usually start a DAC review by mentioning build quality but this thing is incredibly solid and beautifully finished. Everything oozes attention to detail.
    The DAC controls are fantastic, letting you review the board temperature, change filters, display, generate signals, all kinds of fancy audiophile stuff.

    It has a built in network streamer and you can just plug ethernet into it and stream over roon. They do say it sounds better from the dCS network bridge but I mean of course they do.

    Testing conditions: Roon over ethernet from a desktop PC/SFT-1 > dCS Bartok > XLR to EC studio> SCA-2 > XLR to ATC SCM 150 ASLT
    Bartok: tested all filters, 3,4,5 mostly with dsd upsamping OFF


    How does it sound?
    It sounds decent, it's easy to listen to but it's rather unremarkable. You could probably find some synergy between certain headphones and the headphone out that would be acceptable but again not remarkable.

    Engagement factor is low, it has this ultra polished but still slightly digital/artifical sound, which ends up making everything sound a bit smoothed over and kinda dull. It falls short compared to the recently reviewed Holo May which was technically far more impressive overall.

    The little timbral details are not there, transients are slightly dulled, stage is wide and deep and not 'round' like on the Vivaldi. Overall It's technically unimpressive, but I guess it is an all in one? They've gone for a really safe tuning which will appeal to a lot of the 'hifi' market.

    I'm not going to waste too much more of your time going into this. Don't buy this. it sounds OK, but at this price point it really needs to be something special and it simply isn't.

    As expected It did not make the top 10 DAC list.
     
    • Like Like x 24
    • Epic Epic x 3
    • List
  14. GoldenOne

    GoldenOne Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2020
    Likes Received:
    1,073
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    England
    Got a Bartok here at the moment and have found exactly the same thing.
    It's not 'bad' it's just....Dull. Really dull. And whilst the build and features are truly exceptional, the sound quality itself honestly is nothing even close to 'excellent' and I'd take a May, Wavedream, DAVE, or Terminator Plus over it without hesitation.

    And honestly....I'm pretty sure I'm even preferring the X26 pro to it....
     
  15. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,342
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bird-watcher's paradise
    Jeez, you guys sure expect a lot from 18gr.
     
  16. iFi audio

    iFi audio MOT iFi Audio

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,286
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Many places.
    Home Page:
    It's not exactly affordable kit, so it's fair to have expectations way up there with price. I haven't heard Bartok, but it its build quality is great, at least that's what I thought after seeing one at one of audio shows.
     
  17. GoldenOne

    GoldenOne Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2020
    Likes Received:
    1,073
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    England
  18. zonto

    zonto Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,131
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Boston, MA
    @GoldenOne Thanks for sharing. I had heard the Bartok at a dealer once but didn’t compare it to anything. Knew it was out of my “willing to pay” range in any event. I didn’t notice any comparisons to Yggdrasil though, despite seeing one in the rack in the video and you posting in this thread?
     
  19. GoldenOne

    GoldenOne Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2020
    Likes Received:
    1,073
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    England
    I'd definitely take a Yggdrasil over the Bartok, but then I'd also take an M1SE, May, Wavedream, DAVE, Terminator Plus and even some much lower cost stuff like the X26 Pro over it too so it's more about the Bartok being not at all worth the money.

    I'll be doing a video review of all three Yggdrasil models once I've heard LIM.
    I've got MIL here at the moment and a friend loaned me his OG Yggdrasil for a while which was great.

    I really really like the Yggdrasil OG, didn't like MIL at all. Hopefully will be able to get some LIM cards soon :)
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    92,279
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    The ultrasonic noise is noise shaping, special dithering to get lower distortion and SINAD with bandwidth limited. After all, it's a five-bit DAC. It's kind of cool that they made their own hybrid delta-sigma DAC.
     

Share This Page