Article: Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Multibit DAC Review

[firedog]

I wish it had a digital volume control, with a handheld remote. I'd be tempted if I didn't have to add a preamp and another pair of interconnects, or replace my power amp with an integrated. I suppose I could use Audirvana's software volume dithering with the Apple remote, but that seems like a compromise, at best.

 

+1.

One partial solution might be a good quality passive. There are some very good ones that do not cost much. It's still another box, but at least the cost isn't $thousands.

[mordante]

It would be nice if Schiit would sell an upgrade or something for that would turn it into a pre-amp of sorts. Maybe a extra board with an analogue input and a proper analogue volume control.

 

I am not sure but there are not many, if any DACS that can also work as a good pre amp.

[Jud]

+1.

One partial solution might be a good quality passive. There are some very good ones that do not cost much. It's still another box, but at least the cost isn't $thousands.

 

It would be nice if Schiit would sell an upgrade or something for that would turn it into a pre-amp of sorts. Maybe a extra board with an analogue input and a proper analogue volume control.

 

I am not sure but there are not many, if any DACS that can also work as a good pre amp.

 

Unfortunately not remote controlled (Schiit-folk reading this thread, take note), but the Schiit SYS for $49 US (yeah, you read that right) works a treat in my desktop system as a simple passive attenuator (volume control). Better sound than a couple of preamps I've tried there from NAD and Audioengine. So for anyone who doesn't mind walking over to the system to change volume, there's a good inexpensive solution.

[likethesoup2]

Chris,

Well written review and I'm sure the Yggdrasil sounds every bit as good as you say it does but I do have a few comments to make.

In the very first paragraph you state that $2,300 is inexpensive for a stand alone DAC? In a world where reasonably good sounding DAC's are on chips costing peanuts and included inside any number of well reviewed components I find it hard to call $2,300 an inexpensive DAC.

 

That comes to my second criticism from the same sentence.

"That's a new-in-box component with a fifteen day return policy and a five year warranty"

I would say that the industry standard for direct sales components today is a 30 day return policy,

Emotiva and Hsu come off the top of my head. For such an expensive product I would think that they could afford a longer preview, total satisfaction guaranteed, return period than 15 days.

 

If you're unhappy with the 15 day return policy, don't buy one. It really is that simple.

 

And in the days of $10,000 - $15,000 dacs, yes $2300 is inexpensive for a state of the art dac. In fact, it 's a downright bargain; I've ordered one.

[Nikhil]

Tall praise! Thanks for an excellent write up Chris.

The legend of the Yggy keeps on growing.

 

Note: I learned a new audio term - "memorializing"

[Cycleman]

I am not sure but there are not many, if any DACS that can also work as a good pre amp.

 

Wouldn't the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha 2 DAC work well as a pre-amp?

 

Note that the unit's manual says:

"Directly connecting to power amplifiers avoids any potential loss of fidelity from going through a preamplifier."

 

Also, the Berkeley has an amazing -- to me at least -- 600-step volume control -- 00.0dB to 60.0dB in 0.1dB steps.

 

Wouldn't such fine-tune volume control help make it a better pre-amp?

[jacquesr]

ChrisG - I think it is fair to assume that people checking this thread are looking for comparisons... I also have the QB9-DSD and I am very interested in your experience. Thanks

[wisnon]

Not fair, Lampi is much more expensive.

 

Nah, the DSD-Euphoria is actually cheaper and the Amber is about the same price.

 

The other Lampis are more expensive.

 

Now you can gget the ToTL GG with R2R multibit PCM and discrete "chipless" DSD.

[wisnon]

Tall praise! Thanks for an excellent write up Chris.

The legend of the Yggy keeps on growing.

 

Note: I learned a new audio term - "memorializing"

 

Chris seems to like a brighter/clinical type of sound. Hence the TAD speakers which also have the same rep.

[mourip]

Chris.

 

Any chance of linking/porting this discussion over to the DAC Equipment forum?

 

Looks like it might have some long legs.

[mourip]

Chris seems to like a brighter/clinical type of sound. Hence the TAD speakers which also have the same rep.

 

He must have had a change of heart because the Yggy is anything but clinical. I have one and it is the most natural sounding DAC I have heard and yet has wonderful detail. I have owned 3 Saber based DACs and while I loved their detail retrieval they all eventually sounded too dry and a bit edgy for me.

[accwai]

He must have had a change of heart because the Yggy is anything but clinical. [...]

 

Yes, a rather serious change of heart at that. Below is from the recent Simaudio Neo 380D DSD Review:

 

The first thing I heard was a great sense of air around the hi-hat that virtually placed me in the room with the musicians. This sense of air or space really separates the men from the boys when it comes to music reproduction. DACs without the ability to convey this sense of space immediately cause me to lose interest in even my favorite music.

 

And in this review he said:

 

One other quality that is very noticeable through the Yggdrasil is the amount air around the instruments. This DAC doesn't have the most air I've ever heard, in fact it seems to reproduce less air around instruments than most DACs. However, the most I listened the more I thought it's entirely plausible that the Yggdrasil could be on the right side of history, if you know what I mean.

 

Just wait till he tries out a real NOS R2R DAC...

[accwai]

He must have had a change of heart because the Yggy is anything but clinical. [...]

 

And a rather serious change of heart actually. Below is from the Simaudio Neo 380D DSD Review:

 

The first thing I heard was a great sense of air around the hi-hat that virtually placed me in the room with the musicians. This sense of air or space really separates the men from the boys when it comes to music reproduction. DACs without the ability to convey this sense of space immediately cause me to lose interest in even my favorite music.

 

And in this review he said:

 

One other quality that is very noticeable through the Yggdrasil is the amount air around the instruments. This DAC doesn't have the most air I've ever heard, in fact it seems to reproduce less air around instruments than most DACs. However, the most I listened the more I thought it's entirely plausible that the Yggdrasil could be on the right side of history, if you know what I mean.

 

Just wait till he tries out a real NOS R2R DAC...

[No-Moving_Parts]

Mourip, I definitely don't want a Sabre DAC. But how is Yggy's air and sound staging? Chris seems to find it wanting in these qualities which are important to me.

[wwaldmanfan]

Unfortunately not remote controlled (Schiit-folk reading this thread, take note), but the Schiit SYS for $49 US (yeah, you read that right) works a treat in my desktop system as a simple passive attenuator (volume control). Better sound than a couple of preamps I've tried there from NAD and Audioengine. So for anyone who doesn't mind walking over to the system to change volume, there's a good inexpensive solution.

 

Sorry, Jud, I cannot give up my DAC's handheld remote, which controls power on/off, input source, polarity, volume and mute, to get up off the couch and walk across the room to my gear rack every time I want to adjust the volume. Some folks use "replay gain" a.k.a. "normalization" to make all their music the same peak volume, but I would never do that, either.

 

If Schiit can put a volume control on its $89 Fulla DAC, I don't see why they didn't incorporate one into their $2,700 unit.

[Sal1950]

If you're unhappy with the 15 day return policy, don't buy one. It really is that simple.

 

And in the days of $10,000 - $15,000 dacs, yes $2300 is inexpensive for a state of the art dac. In fact, it 's a downright bargain; I've ordered one.

 

Ya buy your ticket and ya take your ride.

I just hope your happy with your purchase within the 2 week cutoff period.

 

I guess the price position is relative, $2,300 is a LOT of dough to me.

Besides $2,000 will get you a Benchmark DAC2 HGC that will include the PreAmp/Remote functions others here are asking for, along with a SOTA headphone amp. All with a 30 DAY return policy-5 year warranty. Plus a Class A+ sound rating in Stereophiles Recommended Components as reviewed by John Atkinson, Erick Lichte, and Jon Iverson.

If I had $2k+ to put on a DAC I know which one I'd give a listen to first. I believe in getting the best bang for my buck.

[Why66Why]

Hello,

I've had the Yggy for a couple of months now and absolutely love it!

 

Here's how I solved the 'remote control' issue.

 

My Yggy is fed off an RPI running JRMC21 and controlled via Jremote on the iPhone. My amp is a 300W ATI 6002 which goes very very loud so I got attenuators (Rothwell attenuators from the UK) I got a custom made one with a -30dB attenuation so now I can play my Yggy at between 80-100 software volume (using the new TPDF dither mode of Jriver) - and it all works very well.

 

I only have one source and don't believe in preamps - the Yggy is fully balanced so is the ATI 'true balanced' all the way to the speakers (B&W CM10s) so it sound glorious. Personally I'm very happy with his set up and really doubt I can better the Yggy - if I had £10k more - I'd invest it in speakers...

[nedbade]

If I had $2k+ to put on a DAC I know which one I'd give a listen to first. I believe in getting the best bang for my buck.

 

This is the core of the matter. It all comes down to how you define 'getting the best bang for your buck.'

 

Some might agree with your valuation, some not.

 

Having heard the Bifrost Multibit (but not the Yggdrasil yet), I lean decidedly toward Yggdrasil being the best bang for my buck in this case--even without remote capability. I'd love to have one and, given the fact that they designed the DAC to do one thing really, really well without adding on features that would have raised the cost even further (but did design it so the DAC can be readily and cheaply upgraded in the future), I'm very happy with their design decisions.

 

Full disclosure, though, I won't have enough money for one for some time to come. But perhaps I will be able to afford the 3rd or 4th generation Yggy someday (children are even more expensive than DACs...)

[Jud]

(children are even more expensive than DACs...)

 

Not if you put 'em to work...

[junker]

If you need a volume control Schiit sells one for $49. It's called the SYS:

 

Schiit Audio, Headphone amps and DACs made in USA.

[ChrisG]

If Schiit can put a volume control on its $89 Fulla DAC, I don't see why they didn't incorporate one into their $2,700 unit.

 

Prolly because they didn't want to!

[nedbade]

Not if you put 'em to work...

 

 

Unfortunately, all of the mills and coal mines in our area have closed...

[ChrisG]

Ya buy your ticket and ya take your ride.

I just hope your happy with your purchase within the 2 week cutoff period.

 

I guess the price position is relative, $2,300 is a LOT of dough to me.

Besides $2,000 will get you a Benchmark DAC2 HGC that will include the PreAmp/Remote functions others here are asking for, along with a SOTA headphone amp. All with a 30 DAY return policy-5 year warranty. Plus a Class A+ sound rating in Stereophiles Recommended Components as reviewed by John Atkinson, Erick Lichte, and Jon Iverson.

If I had $2k+ to put on a DAC I know which one I'd give a listen to first. I believe in getting the best bang for my buck.

 

I forgot, I also had a DAC2 HGC for a while in my desktop system. Sure, it has all of the bells & whistles, but I didn't like it. Sounded thin to me. The Ayre QB-9 DSD sounded better (IMO, YMMV, etc.) so I sold the Benchmark (which, BTW, replaced a Teac UD-501).

 

I've had a few of the highly rated Stereophile products cycle through my house, but I think they missed the boat calling the Benchmark DACs (1 & 2) Class A (IMO, YMMV, BYOB, etc)

 

Regarding the 30 day vs 15 day trial, in my experience, if I need 30 days to determine if something new sounds better than something I already have, it's not (better). 15 days with Yggy is more than enough time to hear what it can do (even with the out-of-the-box warm-up time required -- and that's not audiophool talk, it does change a lot the first 7 days powered up). In fact, when I switched back to my Audio Research REF DAC, in less than 5 minutes I knew Yggy was staying where it was.

 

Sal, I've seen you around the Schiit boards on Head-fi (in fact, the one I link to below), so you know their philosophy. They like to keep things simple in terms of bells & whistles. They will also be the first to tell you that their products aren't for everyone and it's ok to like something else better.

 

To quote Mike Moffat

 

"Make sure what you have is for your pleasure and is not what you imagine pleases others.

 

Take care of yourself and what you like; no one else will.

 

Never spend money you do not have to impress people you do not like"

 

Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up - Page 538

 

It's a fact -- Yggy doesn't have a volume control, remote control, door locks, etc., and if people need that stuff they'll have to look elsewhere.

 

That said, it sounds great. So if you've been thinking something is missing in your digital chain, then give Yggy a test drive anyway. You might find that picking up a used preamp on the GON makes sense so you can keep Yggy in your system.

[mourip]

Mourip, I definitely don't want a Sabre DAC. But how is Yggy's air and sound staging? Chris seems to find it wanting in these qualities which are important to me.

 

Will let you know in a bit. Right now it is cooking in my headphone rig but I can already tell that it is a keeper. I listened to some choral music last night and the sense of air, ambiance and space got me to the Happy Place. I would rather wait until I can move it to my main system before making more comments as sound stage is pretty elusive with headphones:-)

[mourip]

Sorry, Jud, I cannot give up my DAC's handheld remote, which controls power on/off, input source, polarity, volume and mute, to get up off the couch and walk across the room to my gear rack every time I want to adjust the volume. Some folks use "replay gain" a.k.a. "normalization" to make all their music the same peak volume, but I would never do that, either.

 

I am looking into a Tortuga LDR3.V2 Passive Preamp as a kit. Remote with volume, balance, inputs, digital level display. They have an SE and a balanced version.