Schiit Yggdrasil Less is More (and MIL and OG) Impressions + Measurements

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by purr1n, Sep 9, 2021.

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Should SBAF get a loaner Yggdrasil Less Is More?

  1. Yes, please!

    75.4%
  2. Only if there isn't anything else more interesting

    11.5%
  3. No, I would prefer for a loaner an overpriced planar that looks like it's from House Harkonnen

    6.2%
  4. Save up for something better

    6.9%
  1. Aklegal

    Aklegal Friend

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    In JRiver the user can do the following:

    tools -->options -->audio

    In the "settings" section look for "Play silence at startup for hardware synchronization" then select the length of time needed to give the Yggdrasil time to "catch up". 1/4 second has been long enough for mine.
     
  2. ext1

    ext1 MOT: Jupiter Audio Research

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    Wow, that's really good option, I wish foobar had that so that I didn't need to figure this out.. xD
    Now I know if I ever decide to switch to JRiver it won't have issue with the LIM! Thanks for the insight!
     
  3. Alcophone

    Alcophone Acquaintance

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    Another solution is using the "Affix silence" component (foo_dsp_silence). Despite its name you can use it to prefix silence.
    After installing it, create a DSP profile with that plugin as the only DSP. Set "Silence before" for it to a suitable value (experiment to find one that is sufficiently long), save the DSP profile and make sure it's active (right clicking the tool bar and enabling "DSP Switcher" can help with that).
    Before any track this will insert silence with whatever bit depth and sample rate that track has, giving the DAC a chance to get a lock and unmute before the actual song is transmitted to it.

    Edit: Missed the previous two posts while writing this, this seems to be equivalent to the JRiver approach.
     
  4. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Final bout: A2 vs LIM (third-swap-is-the-charm edition, plus dicking around more with tubes and minor speaker positioning).

    Victory: LIM.

    ...in case anyone is paying attention to my back-and-forth.
     
  5. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Because??
     
  6. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    The slight softness or lack of air i experienced with it was mitigated by tweaking speaker toe-in plus going back to some RCA cleartop 12AU7s.

    Overall, LIM has more convincing tone plus attack/leading edge transients compared to A2.
     
  7. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    @yotacowboy have you noticed the decrease in resolution ("plankton") and/or increase in "blackground" that others have mentioned when switching from A2 to LIM?
     
  8. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    There was a comparative lack of resolution with the LIM boards, initially. My speaker setup is a bit dependent on toe-in to get the room and speakers to work well together. Most folks with speakers similar to mine (AN UK) find that toe-ing to have the firing axes cross up to a meter in front of the listening position works well, which is how I had mine set up.

    After re-installing LIM, I set the toe-in so I'm sitting directly on-axis, and also took some time with a laser distance tool to dial in ear-to-tweeter to be within 1/4", speaker to speaker. Finally, I plopped in the tubes I've found to most accentuate both air and space, as well as inner detail/microdetail; RCA cleartop 12AU7s. Those two changes were enough to get me past my initial criticisms of the LIM.

    My setup doesn't have the lowest natural noise floor (usually about 40-42dB with all other appliances and stuff turned off) and I typically listen at 70-75 dBs, so, I'm probably not the best person to comment on blackground.
     
  9. Wojciech Czupta

    Wojciech Czupta New

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    Guys, LIM is staying. You were right, proper break in was needed. Not 1-2 weeks but more 1-2 months. Jaw dropping...
     
  10. stretchneck

    stretchneck New

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    Anyone got impressions they’d like to share on Yggdrasil Less is More vs Denafrips terminator?

    Would be nice to know how these stack up…
     
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  11. stretchneck

    stretchneck New

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    Why the dislike? Genuine question isn't it?
     
  12. Aklegal

    Aklegal Friend

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  13. ColdsnapBry

    ColdsnapBry Almost "Made"

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    Anyone might be able to share if Yggdrasil LIM is better synergy than any version of Gugnir for a SW51+ and bs650 user?
     
  14. tranq

    tranq Friend

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    @purr1n

    Any chance you have updated the two charts to reflect the addition of Bifrost 2/64?
     

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  15. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    I assume the dislike was due to the perceived the lack of effort in trying to search and read what's already on the site.
     
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  16. luckybaer

    luckybaer Friend

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    Can anyone offer their thoughts on the NOS feature on the Yggdrasil LiM? I’ve been intrigued by NOS DACs, but never taken the plunge.
     
  17. internethandle

    internethandle Almost "Made"

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    I know that the impressions post-firmware update for BF2 were largely not good for its NOS mode. Actual impressions for the Yggdrasil+'s NOS mode I haven't seen yet, but maybe someone can chime in -- I'm sure there's some over at HF or somewhere.

    The megacomboburrito filter/DSP in the Schiit Multibit DAC's are a huge portion of why they sound the way they do. Taking that out of the equation could always be questionable. Of course, you'll find people who really want to go their own way and will do something like activate the NOS mode and then play with HQPlayer upsampling or something, but you could also do that with the DAC still in OS mode.
     
  18. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    the benefits of HQPlayer and PCM/DSD upsampling may be less apparent to DACs with 192kHz input limits, or where the internal filter in OS mode performs the subsequent 192 to 384 upsampling, etc.
     
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  19. internethandle

    internethandle Almost "Made"

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    Yeah.

    There's some setting(s) that folks were playing around with for I think A2/OG and HQPlayer kicking around here somewhere. Maybe the old A2 thread? Don't remember. Definitely not something that caught on much though, you don't need to fuss with what isn't broken.
     
  20. Justin S

    Justin S Friend

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    I have had very good experience with HQ Player and DACs like the old AKM RME ADI-2 (w DSD direct), Holo Spring and Soekris 2451. I did find that a simple FIR upres to 192 on the old BF2 sharpened up the imaging a bit, but it was a lot of fussing around for minimal gains. I would be curious to see how the Yggdrasil NOS mode + HQPlayer would work. In the past, I found that I would use different HQPlayer filters for different transducers, genres and even listening intents.

    Having said this, one of the things I appreciate about the Yggdrasil is it sounds fantastic without hours of messing around with HQPlayer Filters .
     
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