Thoughts on how to feed Schiit Yggy?

[gldgate]

I'm pretty much sold on feeding Yggy via AES as well, which means I'll also be getting a converter. I hope the Aries works well with it for you, it seems like it would be a good match.

 

I'd second a good converter. I can't think of anyone who went with Berkeley or Mutec and were disappointed. If you have have music stored on NAS drives I would also recommend reading the network isolation thread and think about replacing copper ethernet with fiber.

[jumper]

I'd second a good converter. I can't think of anyone who went with Berkeley or Mutec and were disappointed. If you have have music stored on NAS drives I would also recommend reading the network isolation thread and think about replacing copper ethernet with fiber.

 

Thanks, I have been reading that thread. Networking is not my forte but I've trying to understand how I would set one up with the abailable FMC's and fiber NIC cards. I have questions so I'm sure I'll be posting about it soon.

 

As for a converter, the Mutec is on my list.

[johndean]

Sorry but if you are using a Yggy - best connection to use is XLR. I would highly recommend staying away from USB as the conduit.

Use aurender or PS audio transport especially if you have lot of redbook music and it plays high res files with outstanding results.

I use PS transport with PS power cord, Nordost feets and synergistic atmosphere XLR cable to the DAC with BMI oceanic power cord. If i compare it to my computer...its basically taking the DAC from $2000 to $10000

 

I use the Yggy with an Industrial Intona USB Isolator with a new Imac and the sound is fantastic. I agree on the xlr recommendation.

[JSeymour]

I was using a ESI Juli@ card with my C.A.P.S. V2 until I upgraded to Win 10 and the newer Julia@ driver didn't work. I am now using a Yellowtec PUC2 Lite USB converter with an external 5V PS and I was shocked at the improvement. Search the reviews for this converter. I agree with all of them that this ranks with the best.

[clipper]

Here's my preferred chain:

 

JPLAY Win 10 desktop control pc (running AO beta) --->JPLAY WS2012R2 fanless NUC (running AO) in core mode ---> iFi Micro iUSB 3.0 ---> Berkeley Alpha USB ---> Yggy

 

HDPlex 100W linear supply powers the iUSB (at 9V) and NUC (at 12V).

 

Software: Roon ---> HQPlayer (none, none, auto, PCM) ---> Backend = ASIO (JPLAY driver)

 

 

A less expensive alternative that I think sounds great:

 

Win 10 desktop control pc (running AO beta) ---> Raspberry Pi 2 (running Raspbian and networkaudiod) with Digi+ (S/PDIF) ---> Yggy.

 

In this case, the HDPlex 100W linear supply powers the Raspberry Pi (5V).

 

Supposedly it sounds even better if you power the Digi+ board directly instead of the Pi. A little soldering is involved.

 

Software is Roon ---> HQPlayer (none, none, auto, PCM) ---> Backend = NetworkAudioAdapter (Digi+).

 

 

Note: There's a really good chance that the microRendu (coming out soon) will kill the above.

[Vangelis]

I've found the player program to have far more of an influence than the hardware/OS.

 

Essentially given up on making the PC quiet, unless you build one from scratch, like Aurender, or Auralic and take the easy way, although with some DACs it's not that rosy.

 

ChrisG mentioned the SQ is better form the internal of the PC rather than stream from a NAS. I would tend to agree, C. Connaker pushed this concept years ago now (gosh) and when the SQ playback from a NAS compared to a local disk, the majority of the symposium audience preferred the local copy rather than the NAS. Of course as the library grows, the headaches increase, another topic.

 

The advantage of software players that sit on an OS, is they move and improve regularly, generally for the better. With a streamer the update rate is slower, since the manufacturers are not software houses out of principal.

 

So my advice is to use the PC as is, update it with new hardware/OS, and isolate it from the AC Supply and the DAC, install a software player of your choice to play from your existing music library which doesn't need to change BTW, it's fine. You can later tweak the software with Fidelizer, or standalone version of AO etc.

 

Aside from anything relating to a NAS drives, have you found a favorite sounding external hard drive?