Yggdrasil MIB was: Jason+Marv Pyrate Edition 11001B

Schiit will change to MIB if you want to from LIM, sure. Or you can swap the boards yourself. There are options for either self-install or Schiit install when you go to the "Yggdrasil Upgrades" section and choose the MIB boards.

And yes, you should listen to MJ3 with LIM in your chain, with your preferences, before making a decision, IMO.

 

Has anyone had success installing new MIB cards into an older non-plus Yggdrasil chassis?

I've been working with Schiit support and after receiving and carefully installing a replacement set of MIB cards I have the same issue. No audio output at all, but it will signal lock and set correct bitrate.

Switch back to A2 cards and all is well again. I let Schiit know this replacement set also doesn't work for me and will report back if / when things get sorted. To be clear, 2 different sets of new MIB cards do not produce audio on my non-plus Yggdrasil.

Curious if anyone else has experienced this?

Update:
Heard back from support and they suspect that older non-plus Yggdrasil will need a specific MIB chip, different for what is usually sent out that works with plus chassis Yggdrasil. The firmware is different because of the different front panel on plus and non plus chassis.

The Yggdrasil+ chassis has a newer firmware on the board that supports LIM, OG and MIB without a need for the specific MIB eprom chip that I mentioned earlier.

Support was able to confirm the fix on an older Yggdrasil chassis they have in the shop.

Hopefully Schiit will add a prompt before purchasing the MIB cards online that asks if you have a plus or non-plus Yggdrasil to avoid this frustration in the future.

Once the issue was figured out Schiit has been awesome in providing support and has already shipped me out a new chip.

 

That’s what I figured re: plus chassis vs. non-plus and MIB. If you only have MIB in plus chassis out in the wild up until now, you risk running into some hiccups with users trying to put MIB into non-plus chassis. Good on them for being transparent with you about their process instead of feeding you a line/keeping you in the dark and just sending a new chip, despite it being frustrating to be on the receiving end of a company fixing the kinks in a product rollout.

 

Just installed the new eprom chip and my Yiggy is back in action with the MIB cards.

First impressions, BLACK AF background (A2 never sounded grey to me, but there it is), treble sounds 'different', reminds me of the internal ESS card on Pietus Maximus (this is a good thing). More depth than I'm used to? Seems to have better layering and imaging. Voices and instruments now clearly come from a specific point in headspace. A2 wasn't able to quite pull this off for me.

Def sounds more balanced across the spectrum compared to A2. Less spice and zing up top, not that that ever bothered me on A2. Sort of sounds like what I wanted LIM to sound like. I'm not noticing any lack of plankton. If anything resolution is up across the board.

This sounds very, very nice. It's only been on for 30 min. Curious what burn in will bring, and which card I prefer long-term.

There is this nagging feeling that some of the magic that brought more realism ala A2 is gone, but I can't place it.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’m interested to hear what you think about the realism aspect after it warms up.

 

Ok, it's been playing music for nearly 3 days 24/7 and is sounding better. There was a hardness and slight prickly feeling the first day when I listened while my house was quiet. (I've been listening on and off for a few hours each day). The cards have relaxed a bit.

Here is what I miss about A2...

• MIB has more nuance and detail in the lower frequencies. However, there is less bass quantity.
• Possibly due to the above, there is less impact and slam on MIB. I miss this the most from A2. This may also be the reduced dynamics that @purr1n mentioned? Dynamic swings don't hit me in the feels on albums they usually do. I compensate by increasing volume but it doesn't help.
• MIB seems thinner overall with less weight and heft to notes. Voices, while clear and cleanly resolved, sound a bit lifeless and lacking in a way its hard to place (please note they don't literally sound lifeless, it's just the only way I can describe it now). Female vocals particularly are not as enjoyable on MIB.
  • A note on female vocals, I miss the 'air' from A2. While MIB is more neutral, I can see how the top end of A2 holds a lot of those card's magic realism.
• While I notice more resolution and clarity, I am slightly noticing less plankton. The blackground is nice, but I am missing a bit of plankton. Nothing like LIM, but very slight.

Overall, so far, MIB does feel like a flavor now, where A2, in my opinion was an upgrade in pretty much all categories for me when moving from LIM.

I could see someone preferring MIB or A2 based on their preferences, associated gear and even music genre. A2 sounds more dynamic, impactful, full in the midrange and exciting to me. With DNA Stratus so far A2 is a better match.

TLDR: If you prefer a more neutral, clear dac with better imaging and layering, along with a better blackground, go MIB. If you want more flavor, tastefully elevated bass and treble with more impact and slam, don't notice or care about blackground or prefer grit instead, go A2.

I'm getting pretty sure I'm camp A2, but I will give brain and DAC burn in more time. However, I think folks will have a pretty strong preference for one over the other and I doubt I'd keep the MIB cards around just to have, as my preference so far is strongly A2.

 

TLDR: Finicky, but it is my favorite Yggdrasil. It might be yours too if you have a system with more than average gain. Passive preamps with low gain speaker amps or low gain headphone amps need not apply. Jump on the loaner if it is still going.

I had to remove the A2/OG boards from the Yggdrasil+ chassis so I don't have any direct comparisons between the OG and the MiB. All comparisons made through the MJ3 and Auteur Classic. The Yggdrasil GS used XLR outputs for all comparisons. All comparisons were made after a week of warm-up - the MiB sounded awful the first couple of days.

The following is kind of a summary of my thoughts as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on with this DAC.

MiB XLR vs GS (via switcher into MJ3):
See @RestoredSparda 's notes above. There is not much to add. The GS wins here easy. The MiB here plays flat throughout the range until the treble where it is just slightly less exciting than the GS. From memory the OG betters the MiB here too. (IMO the only slight differences between the OG and GS are the GS's slight v shaped freq response and tasteful "treble fuc#ery" and the OG's slight midrange harmonic richness).

MiB RCA (Mj3 high gain ) vs GS normal gain:
This is no contest. MiB RCA on high gain is where its at. WTF is this!?!?!? The MiB RCA has the slight v shape that the GS has but it reveals the GS's rougher, fatiguing treble. MiB bass (especially the midbass) hits harder while being clearer. MiB's treble is just perfect - it is more active than MiB XLR. Dynamics are close but tilt in favor of MiB. I waxed poetic about how great a combo the GS and Mj3 was in the Mj3 thread, but this makes me not want to listen to that combo anymore.

MiB XLR (low gain) vs MiB RCA (High Gain):
It is like I am listening to two different DACs. There is a bigger difference here than the delta between the OG and GS. The XLR loses in all facets except maybe instrument separation? The XLRs sound dull and less dynamic. The RCAs vibrant, dynamic, and clear. The XLRs freq response is flat until the slight treble rolloff, the RCAs are v shaped with less treble rolloff.

MiB XLR (Mj3 high gain) vs MiB RCA (High Gain) vs GS:
MiB XLR and RCA best the GS (for same reasons that I gave for RCA above), but I'd rank the MiB XLR HG 2nd because of the lack of volume play.

MiB RCA on low gain exhibits the same character as the XLRs on low gain.

MiB (XLR) vs GS speaker system:
I'll keep this brief.
Soundstage width and height, Bass, Midrange: MiB = GS
Treble: MiB > GS
One thing to note is that I replicated the gain issue I described above with my speaker system. My Folsom 7293 amps have 32db gain. My Neurochrome Modulus 186 amps have 20db. The results mirrored the headphone results but the difference between the GS and MiB was smaller.

Summary.
I feel like when I am listening to the MiB on high gain through the MiB or through my speakers I am hearing its true nature (as opposed to what I hear through the XLRs on low gain). A slight V shape, strong bass, propulsive mid-bass, and the best treble I've heard from a DAC. I still feel like I am going crazy. I don't know if what I was hearing was legit. I was going to write this review last Tuesday but I kept delaying thinking "Nah, something is off". Then I go back and listen again - yes I heard right.

I'm just speculating and I obviously don't design dacs or circuits but perhaps increasing the voltage to the output stage opamps or the overall gain of the output stage would make the DAC more consistent. It would worsen those stellar THD specs though. So maybe a new version NtMbtB (Not the most but the best).

 

Anyone got a pic of MIB board?
Curious how it was implemented, if and how it deviates from the TI EVM board.

 

I’m very curious about your findings with MIB and MJ3. I’m listening to the same combo right now and I don’t hear any of what you are talking about. XLR vs RCA sound identical except the increased gain of the XLR. I’m using JAR650B via XLR headphone out.
Are using the Little Bear MC3 in the chain? If so, I suspect it is causing the differences for you. I’m plugging directly from MIB into MJ3.

 

I only used the little bear to compare XLR between GS and MIB. When comparing MiB xlr to RCA i used the Mj3 inputs only. I didnt compare using my HD650 only the Auteur.