Yggdrasil Refined - New Schiit Yggdrasil Analog 2 (Yggdrasil A2) Sound Impressions

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by drgumbybrain, Jan 16, 2018.

  1. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    The whole point of my post is that you DO NOT NEED TO WAIT for a Yggdrasil A2 to do that. You can do it now and provide your findings.
     
  2. direstraitsfan98

    direstraitsfan98 D2Girls v2.0

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    I said what I did because I've since learned from my mistakes and wanted to help him out... yes, thank you for pointing out I used to be an ass.
     
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Given that 99% of people run 16-bit content 99% of the time, we simply need to draw a line at 96.35db and ignore everything below it. By this, Yggdrasil measures near perfect.
     
  4. Josh83

    Josh83 Friend

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    Right. I should clarify that I don't care about "inferior" measurements. So, bracketing that out, what is it about multibit DACs that seem to make them more "musical" (or insert other vague descriptor) than a DS DAC that measures equally well? I think I understand the differences in how DS and multibit DACs work, but I don't really understand which of those differences translate into the sound differences many of us hear.
     
  5. Gofspar

    Gofspar Facebook Friend

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  6. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

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    Not all R2R dacs sound great either, go listen to a few vintage CD players from the 80s and you'll see in a hurry. Yggdrasil sounds good because of it's complete overall design.
     
  7. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    This ^^^.

    Like transducers, just throwing parts into a box does not make a great speaker (or a fail). It's about the whole, and that someone listened to it before shipping another box and a spec sheet, that still sounds like garbage.

    p.s., price, fancy lights, glossy, exotic materials, etc., also tells us nothing about did someone listen to it.
     
  8. gefski

    gefski Facebook Friend

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    Returned from a couple weeks away (no more shutting it down when I'm gone), sat down, and did some 'narrow focus' listening. But NOT intentionally.

    Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon' album is OK for me; I don't necessarily complete it. But a couple tracks in, I'm staring (mentally) at the guitar playing -- closer to the mic, a little farther, soft touch or a bit harder, dynamics relaxed or slightly aggressive. Me, foot tapping and slack-jawed to the end.

    OK, guitar in a more complex ensemble -- Steve Khan's 'The Green Field' -- his amazing variations in touch, texture, SLIGHTLY stronger attack or maybe pulled back. I was ignoring all the sounds around him because I was again "staring" at his playing. This from a guitarist that I may have thought had kind of the same personality on many albums. Now on one album it's hugely varied.

    For me it's clear that YggyB's truth of timbre presents "more real" than my YggyA did, and that dacs of this caliber move the listener far closer to engaging with the musical performance, like we do sitting in a live venue.

    Nothing new, just better than ever.
     
  9. gefski

    gefski Facebook Friend

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    A little P.S. to what I wrote above -- I type these on my iPad notepad, then do a quick check before posting. In this case, Apple's genius had changed "truth of timbre" (when typing I must have misspelled timbre) to "truth of Tiberius" (including the capital "T"). So happy I'm watched over like this. :D
     
  10. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    @gefski - Agree. YggyB is closer to the analog, true tone, of live music than the A version. It's very close to live minus what cannot be reproduced on home gear (e.g., the very large rooms, crowd energy). I can still find fault if I really look for it, but there is not much to find. But oh yea, if there is a fault, it needs to be at temp or it sounds flat and boring.
     
  11. drgumbybrain

    drgumbybrain Science Nut

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    Thank you for your impressions. Could you explain a bit more how do you perceived Yggdrasil flat/boring? It’s with headphones? A specific music gender?
     
  12. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

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    I think he meant before it's warmed up.
     
  13. neogeosnk

    neogeosnk Friend

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    Is there a consensus as far as how close the Soekris dacs are to the Yggy2? I don't have the space for an Yggdrasil a2 and looking for an alternative. Already have the Gungnir Multibit B serial.
     
  14. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    I don't know if it could be considered "consensus", but I'd put the performance and signature of the dac1541 (v1.2) in the same ballpark as the current Gungnir MB*. The Soekris unit has a leaner presentation even so. And compared to Yggdrasil Analog 2 the Schiit unit has even more tonal weight/meat on its bones.

    ---
    *I say "current" as I'm in the process of getting new units from Schiit for my long-promised all-up DAC comparison. Given all the rumors about running changes, it made sense to get my hands on the latest shipping units. So the Yggdrasil is an Analog 2/USB Gen 5, and the Gungnir MB and Modi MB, which have already arrived, are all of a week old. Just waiting for Bifrost MB (it was on backorder).
     
  15. k4rstar

    k4rstar Britney fan club president

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    I've only tried the dac1541. Previously I had compared it to the OG Gungnir Multibit and found it superior for my preference despite not being as good in every area. With Gumby2 I can easily say the Schiit DAC is superior in pure performance. The tone is much closer to the dac1541 (brighter, leaner) with improvements in technicalities (less smearing, less gray).

    Closing the gap in these other areas highlights the main deficiency of the dac1541: it is lacking slightly in harmonic resolve and simplifies the music compared to Gumby2. This can be initially appealing and perceived as a 'cleaner' sound but really it is a deficiency that may cause fatigue in direct comparisons as the brain struggles to fill in information that is present with one DAC but not the other. I still like the Soekris unit for what it is but from a pure D/A performance perspective I will take Gumby2 every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Yggy2 is even better-er.
     
  16. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    I'd not bother if you already have a Gungnir Multibit. Even if you didn't, I'd probably recommend a Gungnir Multibit if what you need is a pure DAC. I use the DAC1541 as a DAC and preamp feeding active monitors and as a headamp. There's no contest in my case, as I really use every aspect (well, the Holo Cyan is on the market now but wasn't when I was buying). There's nowhere from here that isn't a sidegrade to a large extent before Yggdrasil.

    <edit>Pro iDSD?</edit>
     
  17. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    While my Yggdrasil was being upgraded to Analog 2, I had my dac1541 (v1.2) in exactly the same role on my speaker system. The dac1541 provided a pleasant experience in that role, but it sounded a bit "simpler," lacking the depth of detail that I had got used to with the Yggdrasil. Now that I got the Analog 2 upgrade back and properly warmed up, the difference feels even more substantial. The dac1541 does a fine job as my work music source, but the weight and density of detail I get with the Analog 2 for a well-recorded jazz double bass (Boris Kozlov at the moment in Alex Sipiagin's "Destinations Unknown", an outstanding album with also Chris Potter, Craig Taborn, David Binney, and Eric Harland), is more than what I hear with the dac1541. In your shoes, I'd keep the Gungnir Multibit unless space is such a premium that you want to also use the dac1541's amp section, which is adequate but does not match several ($400-$1200) headamps I've used.
     
  18. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    Yes. It's not an unlivable fault, just something to be aware of before buying. If you are someone who turns gear off to save on electricity, this is not the DAC to buy.
     
  19. BillOhio

    BillOhio Friend

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    Hey Neo, apparently I'm next in line on the loaner for the Soekris dac 1421 if you want to hear that.
     
  20. neogeosnk

    neogeosnk Friend

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    hmmnn.. We could do a 3 way shootout: Yggdrasil A2/newer Gungnir Multibit/Soekris. Let me know when you get it!
     

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