Setting input music quality for Yggdrasil

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Gray, Jan 3, 2016.

  1. Gray

    Gray Friend

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    The Schiit Yggdrasil manual FAQ section states, "How should I set the input bit depth and sample rate? Set it to the native bit depth and sample rate of the music. Yggdrasil will take care of the rest."

    This can be done on a Mac by opening Launchpad - Other - Audio MIDI Setup and setting the format to 96kHz/24bit or 192kHz/24bit, changing the "Sample Rate Indicator" light on my Yggdrasil to 48 X2 or 48 X4 respectively. But then this light does not change when I stream lower quality music.

    Do you routinely change this setting every time you change music quality or do you just leave it at a higher input quality? I did a Google search and found a recommendation to just leave it at the higher sample/bit rate, and that any up-sampling does not adversely affect the audible sound quality. I will play with it over the next few days, but I was curious what other Yggdrasil owners thought. Thanks!
     
  2. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Buy Audirvana software (or similar) and it will automatically change that setting for you on the fly based on the sampling rate of the files you play with it. Also has the advantage of bypassing Core Audio and accessing the DAC directly.
     
  3. Madaboutaudio

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    For most applications, youtube and computer games, most of the time, the music data source is 16bit 48KHz or lower. So I recommend just setting to 16bit 48KHz.

    For music playback, it is recommended to set to the music source file's bit depth and sampling rate so as to get as close to "Bit Perfect" at the software level.

    If there's a option for floating point or Integer, recommend use integer as floating point might introduce rounding errors at the dac(which usually operate with fixed bits: 16/18/20/24).

    more on topic:
    http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/SampleRateConversion.htm

    Other links to read up:
    http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/OperatingSystem.htm
    http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/VolumeControl.htm
    http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/MediaPlayer.htm
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2016
  4. Judeus

    Judeus Facebook Friend

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    setting at 24 or 32 bit for a 16bit file shouldnt matter, it just adds 0s at the end doesnt it?
     
  5. NoStream

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    I'm pretty sure you want an integer multiple of the sampling rate on the recording. So for a 44.1 redbook cd file, you could go up to 88.2 or 176.4. But you wouldn't gain anything from that, and I leave my player set to 24/same so that I'm leaving any upsampling to my DAC. In other words, upsampling all your 44.1 files to 48 may be causing sound quality issues.

    If you're feeding bit-perfect and not using digital volume control, it doesn't matter. I like to be able to fine-tune volume from my player, so 24-bit gives me some headroom to do so losslessly. That way I don't have to walk over to my amplifier to tweak volume between albums. There's also no good reason to not feed a 24-bit stream to a DAC that can handle it.
     
  6. Madaboutaudio

    Madaboutaudio Friend

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    In theory it shouldn't matter. But increasing the container size does increase the amount of data that needs to be transferred over to the DAC and it's unnecessary to do so (unless you are planning on using digital volume control instead of analog volume pot/preamp). More data transferred/calculations might result in more EMF/RFI noise + additional latency or jitter.

    http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/VolumeControl.htm
     
  7. Gray

    Gray Friend

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    Later today I will download the 15 day free trial of "Amarra for Tidal". It should work well on my Mac Mini, and states that it will set the DAC (my Yggdrasil) to match the streaming rate of the source music. I will let you know...
     
  8. Gray

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    "Amarra for Tidal" does change my Yggdrasil's input bit depth and sample rate automatically (based on the Tidal streaming rate).
     
  9. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Does it do it for anything besides Tidal?
     
  10. Gray

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    I don't believe so, though their full version is able to (but is reportedly less efficient for Tidal, since it runs atop the Tidal software). Of course, I can just manually set my Yggdrasil to 44 X1 using the Apple Audio MIDI Setup... but where's the fun in that. ;)
     
  11. skypickle

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    Sorry to necro this thread, but I recently got an Yggdrasil and am perplexed by the same behavior.
    I am running windows 10 pro with a PPang USB card to the DAC. Foobar is the player. The sample rate LED does not change when differently encoded files are played. Rather, the sample rate LEDS are 'stuck' to whatever windows is set to output in the sound control panel. So, for example,

    1)right click on the little speaker in the notification area (bottom right)
    2)select playback devices
    3)in the control panel that pops up, select Speakers 2-Schiit Audio Gen 3 USB
    4)click on the properties button
    5)click on the advanced tab
    6) in the drop down list, select the bit depth and sample rate.

    Whatever I choose in this drop down is what lights up on the Yggdrasil. So if for example I set it to 24 bit 192 kHz and play a track that is 16 bit 44khz, the Yggdrasil LEDS that are lit are 48khz and 4x. This behavior exists regardless of the oft ware player used - vlc, foobar2k, grove music or windows media player.

    Device manager shows the Schiit usb functioning properly - no yellow exclamation marks.

    Is there a setting that I missed? I know I can leave it at 24/192 but I don't want windows resampling the output.
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Use a media player that will utilize exclusive mode WASAPI. I think most of those players you mentioned will default to Windows DirectSound.
     
  13. Lightbulb Sun

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    As Marv suggested, you will need the WASAPI output plugin from https://www.foobar2000.org/components/tag/output, and make sure you enable exclusive mode. Otherwise you are using DS.
     
  14. skypickle

    skypickle New

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    thank you and @Marvey as well.

    I have been enjoying the sound even if windows has been in the way! I tried hooking up a raspberry pi running moode to Yggdrasil and I got a lot of 'ticking'. Odd, since the same raspberry played fine through an iFi micro DSD dac. I guess Yggdrasil renders the slightest abnormalities. After Yggdrasil, the iFi is now sounds flat and uninviting.
     

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