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Article: Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Multibit DAC Review


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In the 32 ensuing years since I built the first DAC, I've not been immune to being wrong. Sometimes spectacularly so. I must stand by my statement that I in particular loathe corporate efforts to resell entire audio libraries. In my time in this hobby, I have seen, among others, the following playback formats come and go: mono records, quadraphonic records, open reel tape, cassette tapes, 4 and 8 channel cartridges, digital audio tape (DAT), mini-discs, innumerable surround formats, and I am sure others. In addition, I opine that SACD (and perhaps DSD) appear to be on life support.

The survivors appear to be vinyl, CD, MP3 and PCM redbook downloads. The only new format in the last 70 years or so that caused many users to rebuy their libraries was PCM and (ugh!) MP3 digital audio. Period.

At the face of it, this means that there has been very little technological news in audio reproduction since World War II finished.

Audio is a hobby. It is for enjoyment. IMHO, no one person can build a digital audio playback device that will please all, even if God appeared to the designer to explain to him how to do it.

Schiit is a populist company - we build gear from 50 bucks to 2300 bucks. The Yggy is the best D/A I know how to make for $2300 - it is also 99.9% of the best I can do at any price. If you want that last .01%, you will be better catered to by others.

 

An honest, to the point, and not snarky response.

 

You forgot to mention laser video discs in the 12 inch format... :)

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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I must stand by my statement that I in particular loathe corporate efforts to resell entire audio libraries. In my time in this hobby, I have seen, among others, the following playback formats come and go.

 

I am wondering about:

 

1. What's the percentage of DSD and high res PCM that are just upsampling existing redbook, and what's the % that are truly superior than redbook?

 

2. Most of the DACs that supports DSD are actually internally converting DSD to PCM. So I am happier with using software like HQPlayer to do the conversion and feed to Yggy.

Technical question: is there any advantage to do the conversion in the DAC chip? Is there any secret sauce I am missing by using software?

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I am wondering about:

 

1. What's the percentage of DSD and high res PCM that are just upsampling existing redbook, and what's the % that are truly superior than redbook?

 

2. Most of the DACs that supports DSD are actually internally converting DSD to PCM. So I am happier with using software like HQPlayer to do the conversion and feed to Yggy.

Technical question: is there any advantage to do the conversion in the DAC chip? Is there any secret sauce I am missing by using software?

 

I don't think you have a good basis for point #2. Many ESS based DACs do not convert DSD to PCM; they may convert it to multibit SDM, but that is not the same thing. In fact many would argue that multibit sdm is still a type of "native" DSD.

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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I am wondering about:

 

Technical question: is there any advantage to do the conversion in the DAC chip? Is there any secret sauce I am missing by using software?

 

To the extent you might like the filter currently in a particular DAC chip - for example, the one in the Yggy - you would be missing the "secret sauce" of that particular filter. If you like one or more of the filters in HQPlayer better (in combination with the Yggy's filter to interpolate internally from the 176.4/192 input rate to 352.8/384), then there's nothing secret you're missing.

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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For those that order an Yggy the 2-3 weeks listed currently on the web site is likely conserative. I received notice that Yggy shipped today. Order to ship on my order was 4 working days.

Digital System: Cybershaft 10MHz OCXO clock premium>Antelope Liveclock>RedNet D16>AES Cable>Mutec MC-3+ USB​>AES Cable>Schiit Yggy

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Mine was 5 working days.

If guns kill people, do pencils misspell words?

 

Mac Mini (w/Audirvana; MMK; JS2; ext SSD); AQJB; Curious USB; Regen; Curious (20cm); Yggdrasil; anti-cable 6.2 ic; Cary SLI-80 Sig (NOS tubes); diy VHaudio airlock sp; Merlin VSM's (sadly, last iteration); Cardas Clear & VHaudio Flav 4 pwr cords; Tripp Lite iso trans; diy power box; Syn Res ART; diy Shakti Hallograph (4); Bybee room neutralizers & signal enhancers; Furutech GTX outlets; Stillpoints Ultra SS & mini

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Holy Schiit! I ordered mine Friday, November 6 and I just got a shipping notice today, Tuesday Nov 10, notwithstanding the intervening weekend. Can't wait to try it out. They really have their Schiit together now. (I just couldn't resist.)

I really think you will be shocked at this dac's ability . Definitely give it time to warm up(12 hours imo ) and keep it on 24/7

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I understand that he's trying to be funny, but sometimes rhetoric gets in the way of what you are trying to say instead of getting your point across. As I wrote, I don't have a problem with Schiit (I happily own 2 of their products) or their present decision not to support DSD. But then just say you don't think the market is big enough to warrant it, as your products are designed with different objectives in mind - a design philosophy that makes DSD support difficult.

 

The "no material available in DSD" argument just doesn't hold water anymore. You can have a pretty well fleshed out classical catalog just in DSD downloads, and it is growing almost daily. And you can have not a bad one in jazz and popular music. A couple of years ago this wasn't really true. Other than classical, not many recent recordings, it is true.

 

BTW, Charlie Hansen doesn't claim that DSD doesn't sound good. He just thinks it is unnecessary (doesn't sound better than hi-res PCM) so another format just muddies the market instead of helping. That's why he's not a supporter.

 

Charlie Hansen has stated that DSD has a "sameness" to it that makes it undesirable for him to listen to.

 

Personally I think it does some things better than PCM. Like temporal resolution, but has something funky going on in the high frequencies.

 

I haven't found that on-the-fly DSD-PCM conversion sounds nearly as good as native DSD does. Also a few SACds which I think are better than the best PCM versions I've heard, such as the original Elton John Def Jam SACD releases. Honkey Chateau in particular.

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I've had the Yggy for several months now. Simply unbelievable with standard CD's. Even better with certain hi Rez tracks. With this new DAC, I find myself buying more standard CD's, then ripping with JRiver to SSD drive for laptop play back. I am using both USB for the laptop, and Coax for CD's. The best I have experienced in more than 30+ years in this hobby... I have also used Regen and ifi iUSB3.0 with Yggy. Both great devices that extend overall performance across the frequency range for a more lifelike portrayal of music

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The sameness to the sound is a great way to describe what I hear with SACDs.

 

You don't mention the SACD player you heard this on. Couldn't it have just been a problem with the hardware?

 

I hear a significant variability in the quality of DSD played through a Mytek Stereo 192 - from just ok to as good as it gets.

Digital:  Sonore opticalModule > Uptone EtherRegen > Shunyata Sigma Ethernet > Antipodes K30 > Shunyata Omega USB > Gustard X26pro DAC < Mutec REF10 SE120

Amp & Speakers:  Spectral DMA-150mk2 > Aerial 10T

Foundation: Stillpoints Ultra, Shunyata Denali v1 and Typhon x1 power conditioners, Shunyata Delta v2 and QSA Lanedri Gamma Revelation and Infinity power cords, QSA Lanedri Gamma Revelation XLR interconnect, Shunyata Sigma Ethernet, MIT Matrix HD 60 speaker cables, GIK bass traps, ASC Isothermal tube traps, Stillpoints Aperture panels, Quadraspire SVT rack, PGGB 256

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I am wondering about:

 

1. What's the percentage of DSD and high res PCM that are just upsampling existing redbook, and what's the % that are truly superior than redbook?

 

2. Most of the DACs that supports DSD are actually internally converting DSD to PCM. So I am happier with using software like HQPlayer to do the conversion and feed to Yggy.

Technical question: is there any advantage to do the conversion in the DAC chip? Is there any secret sauce I am missing by using software?

 

1. The numbers that have come out of Pono are that 99.5% of their multi million album catalog are just Redbook rips, the other .5% are higher resolution files supplied by the labels. The real question we have and which the answers to are illusive is, are the higher res files sourced by a honest attempt by someone to go back to the original masters and do what is possible to improve the SQ through various processes, or are the labels simply up-sampling the RedBook files. Measurements of some early output from the labels showed them to be not quite an honest attempt. But since being caught out by audiophiles with the proper measuring equipment that practice has for the most part disappeared. Plus thankfully many new recordings are now being done to HD standards in the studio. See James Taylors - Before This World Before This World | HDtracks - The World's Greatest-Sounding Music Downloads > about this album

The future does look bright for new music being captured in HD digital, which is the most important issue. There really is only so much that can be done for the labels to once again resell us the catalogs

of music from our youth. As the old saying goes "you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear"

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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1. The numbers that have come out of Pono are that 99.5% of their multi million album catalog are just Redbook rips, the other .5% are higher resolution files supplied by the labels. The real question we have and which the answers to are illusive is, are the higher res files sourced by a honest attempt by someone to go back to the original masters and do what is possible to improve the SQ through various processes, or are the labels simply up-sampling the RedBook files.

I was not really clear here. What I would like to see is the labels going back to the original masters and seeing what can be done to improve SQ such as what Steven Wilson did with the Jethro Tull-Thick As A Brick, Aqualung, etc albums. Just doing straight off the master recordings at 24/192 or DSD, whatever, really offers little over a well done RedBook CD

Hopefully this will be the last time the labels ask us to re-buy the back catalogs, lets try to get it as good as possible this time around.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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I was not really clear here. What I would like to see is the labels going back to the original masters and seeing what can be done to improve SQ such as what Steven Wilson did with the Jethro Tull-Thick As A Brick, Aqualung, etc albums. Just doing straight off the master recordings at 24/192 or DSD, whatever, really offers little over a well done RedBook CD

Hopefully this will be the last time the labels ask us to re-buy the back catalogs, lets try to get it as good as possible this time around.

 

Right on brother!

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