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Updated Yggdrasil (Analog 2) Listening Impressions


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Many users are reporting significant improvements with the latest Yggy updates (Analog 2 output, Gen5 USB).  We had a long thread on the original Yggy, but it seems it died out last year in a discussion of brussel sprouts and the Grateful Dead.  With the reported sonic improvements, I thought we might start a new Yggy 2 listening impressions thread.

 

Bonus points for those that had the original Yggy and now own the new updated Yggy and can provide impressions comparing the two.

 

 

Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | Revel subs  

Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC 

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I come from living with a Gungnir for over 30 months. It received a Gen 5 USB upgrade when that was made available for self-installation.

 

I picked the Gungnir based on user comments and reviews that suggested that it would be more than good enough for my listening needs. Since buying it I added the class-D DIY amp (a great step up from a Krell Vanguard) and Freya.

 

My Yggy2 arrived only a day ago. Yes, I have firsthand experience how long the Gungnir (and the Phil 3 speakers and amp) take to settle down, but the difference between the Gumby and Yggy2 were so clear to me and my wife that an early review make sense:

 

- For lack of a better term, "presence" seems much improved. I listen to a lot of life (classical) music, and the Yggy2 brings musicians much more into the soundstage. Even modest 320kbps internet radio sounds excellent, like what top quality FM sounded like when stations bothered with sound quality.

 

- I hardly ever perceived "distortion"in digital playback previously, from the Gumby or other DACs, but with everything else in the chain constant, the Yggy2 sounds noticeable cleaner (smoother? more refined?), without any sacrifice in detail.

 

- I've not heard any top class vinyl playback for many years. I've been into hifi from the 80s, and The Yggy2's playback reminds me of what I recall good vinyl to sound like. It's certainly a step closer to live sound.

 

Apart from my speaker upgrade from the already excellent Gradient Revolution to the Phil 3s, for me the Gumby to Yggy2 upgrade has been the most dramatic upgrade in the past decade.

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I entered the queue at 58 in mid January and am now at 14 where I have been for close to two weeks. Allowing for one holiday and counting only weekdays I get 45 work days. So I have moved 31 places in 45 days. That is .68 updates per day.

 

Two factors. Others have said that the queue may also include repairs. Also at least once I jumped 10 places suddenly so perhaps they maintain the queue manually when they get time to register tickets or remember to update it.

 

The good news is that I am very happy with my Yggy and could willingly live with it as is...but may need to :-)

 

BTW. I have two Yggy's. One for my speaker system and one for my HP system. I am only upgrading one so I should be able to do a good comparison in time.


"Don't Believe Everything You Think"

System

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1 hour ago, mourip said:

I entered the queue at 58 in mid January and am now at 14 where I have been for close to two weeks. Allowing for one holiday and counting only weekdays I get 45 work days. So I have moved 31 places in 45 days. That is .68 updates per day.

 

Two factors. Others have said that the queue may also include repairs. Also at least once I jumped 10 places suddenly so perhaps they maintain the queue manually when they get time to register tickets or remember to update it.

 

The good news is that I am very happy with my Yggy and could willingly live with it as is...but may need to :-)

 

BTW. I have two Yggy's. One for my speaker system and one for my HP system. I am only upgrading one so I should be able to do a good comparison in time.

Yikes!  That puts me out like 4 months:(. On top of that my USB board is not functioning.  I have the option to have it repaired but with the original parts not the gen 5 boards.  I don’t want to send it in twice.  I wish Schiit would give repairs with an optional upgrade a priority.

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I should note, my Yggy 2 is still burning in (powered on and feeding it music 24/7).  I am going to give it a full month before I engage in critical listing and posting my listening impressions.  I will say the first 10 minutes or so cold, out of the box with zero warm up time, it actually sounded pretty bad.  In fact, on the first song, I almost thought my unit might be broken.  Three days later I checked again and now all is right and I am hearing some very nice things.

 

 

Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | Revel subs  

Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC 

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1 hour ago, Bigbwb said:

Yikes!  That puts me out like 4 months:(. On top of that my USB board is not functioning.  I have the option to have it repaired but with the original parts not the gen 5 boards.  I don’t want to send it in twice.  I wish Schiit would give repairs with an optional upgrade a priority.

 

I would call them. Perhaps with a disabled part that us under warrant they will push you to the head of the queue. It is easily possible that repairs go to the front anyway. That could account for the upgrade slowness.

 

It might especially help if you asked for the upgrades to be applied while it is there :-)


"Don't Believe Everything You Think"

System

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49 minutes ago, mourip said:

 

I would call them. Perhaps with a disabled part that us under warrant they will push you to the head of the queue. It is easily possible that repairs go to the front anyway. That could account for the upgrade slowness.

 

It might especially help if you asked for the upgrades to be applied while it is there :-)

I did contact them and was told no upgrades are allowed until I wait for my number in the queue.   I could send it in for the USB warranty repair but if a new board was required, I would get the same Gen board mine already has, not the Gen 5 one.  Kind of disappointing to be honest.  My Yggy is sitting in a box being I only use the USB input.

 

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Anyone have any suggestions on my above dilemma?  Am I out of line in demanding a faster turn around time with the repair/upgrade or not at all?

 

i just can’t fathom waiting 4+ months with a piece of Schiit that doesn’t work as intended;)

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Get Schiit to send you an Eiter to get your DAC working while you wait.  Send it back with your unit for upgrade.  They should do something.

Roon Rock->Auralic Aria G2->Schiit Yggdrasil A2->McIntosh C47->McIntosh MC301 Monos->Wilson Audio Sabrinas

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I think you are out of line. Why should you get bumped ahead of a bunch of customers in the upgrade queue just because you have a warranty issue? If you want the DAC fixed, send it in to get fixed. But don’t expect a bunch of people to be pushed back in line just because you think you deserve special treatment. 

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1 hour ago, Bigbwb said:

Anyone have any suggestions on my above dilemma?  Am I out of line in demanding a faster turn around time with the repair/upgrade or not at all?

 

i just can’t fathom waiting 4+ months with a piece of Schiit that doesn’t work as intended;)

 

You are not out of line. They should fast track you and offer the USB upgrade for your trouble. Sounds like they need more service techs.

 

Try emailing "Laura at Schiit dot com" directly if you have not communicated with her already.

 

One other possibility is to just order the new board for $100 and install it yourself. It is easy and will save you the expense of shipping the whole unit in. Frustrating but given the queue lenght it might be worth it.

 

I guess that I should ask. Are you sure that it is not a driver issue?


"Don't Believe Everything You Think"

System

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1 hour ago, oneguy said:

My personal opinion is to use a DDC and convert from USB to AES for Yggy. I own a Analog 2/Gen 5 and I still prefer the AES input. My USB cable also uses femto reclocking and it still couldn't compare for use with the Yggy.

 

Using a Mutec +3 USB with AES out is definitely a step up from even the new USB board but is not so cheap. I have compared both and use the Mutec.


"Don't Believe Everything You Think"

System

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9 minutes ago, mourip said:

 

You are not out of line. They should fast track you and offer the USB upgrade for your trouble. Sounds like they need more service techs.

 

Try emailing "Laura at Schiit dot com" directly if you have not communicated with her already.

 

One other possibility is to just order the new board for $100 and install it yourself. It is easy and will save you the expense of shipping the whole unit in. Frustrating but given the queue lenght it might be worth it.

 

I guess that I should ask. Are you sure that it is not a driver issue?

Thanks for the advice!  I plan to reach out to them one more time to ask again!  I agree, I think there service department is understaffed.

I asked and no boards are available unless you wait in line.

 

ive tried the Yggy with different usb cables on two different windows pc’s and one iMac......nothing registers via usb.  I would be shocked if the usb board or something else is not faulty.

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2 hours ago, oneguy said:

My personal opinion is to use a DDC and convert from USB to AES for Yggy. I own a Analog 2/Gen 5 and I still prefer the AES input. My USB cable also uses femto reclocking and it still couldn't compare for use with the Yggy.

 

Not reallly familiar with any DDCs,  care to share a name of a few that are not crazy priced?  ?

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9 hours ago, Bigbwb said:

 

Not reallly familiar with any DDCs,  care to share a name of a few that are not crazy priced?  ?

Not sure what break the threshold is for crazy price but the Matrix X-SPDIF 2 comes in at $375 and the Singxer SU-1 comes in at $399. The SU-1 can be found for ~$250 used. Not sure about the X-SPDIF 2.

 

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12 hours ago, oneguy said:

 

Not sure what break the threshold is for crazy price but the Matrix X-SPDIF 2 comes in at $375 and the Singxer SU-1 comes in at $399. The SU-1 can be found for ~$250 used. Not sure about the X-SPDIF 2.

So what’s the consensus on best sound quality for the Yggy:

 

1 - using one of the above DDC converters to output AES into yggy

2- or update the Yggy to gen 5 USB and use this input with my Uptone ISO Regen powered by LPS-1.2

 

(I will upgrade to the analog 2 boards either way)

 

thanks!

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10 minutes ago, Bigbwb said:

So what’s the consensus on best sound quality for the Yggy:

 

1 - using one of the above DDC converters to output AES into yggy

2- or update the Yggy to gen 5 USB and use this input with my Uptone ISO Regen powered by LPS-1.2

 

(I will upgrade to the analog 2 boards either way)

 

thanks!

I'd go with option 1. I think the AES input makes a bigger impact than the Gen 5.

I did a comparison with the following chains

 

A. (LPS-1) ultraRendu-> (LPS-4) LH Labs 20G -> (LPS-1) SU-1 -> Generic XLR non-AES cable -> Yggy

B. (LPS-1)ultraRendu-> (LPS4 )LH Labs 20G -> Yggy

 

Option A was unambiguously better.

 

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15 minutes ago, Bigbwb said:

So what’s the consensus on best sound quality for the Yggy:

 

1 - using one of the above DDC converters to output AES into yggy

2- or update the Yggy to gen 5 USB and use this input with my Uptone ISO Regen powered by LPS-1.2

 

(I will upgrade to the analog 2 boards either way)

 

thanks!

 

Depends on the rest of your system.

 

Feeding both from an Auralic Aries G2, I found the AES fuller and maybe a little richer and the USB more focused and precise.  A system tuning difference, not one was absolutely better than the other.

Roon Rock->Auralic Aria G2->Schiit Yggdrasil A2->McIntosh C47->McIntosh MC301 Monos->Wilson Audio Sabrinas

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4 minutes ago, Dr Tone said:

 

Depends on the rest of your system.

 

Feeding both from an Auralic Aries G2, I found the AES fuller and maybe a little richer and the USB more focused and precise.  A system tuning difference, not one was absolutely better than the other.

I guess that goes back to the YMMV adage. USB in my scenario had no upsides vs AES and was a step or two backwards in coherency.

 

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Good feedback gents.  I’m afraid I’ll ask 10 more people and get 10 different opinions;).  Perhaps for simplicity sake I should update the Yggy(as planned) and see how I like the USB input with my existing gear.  If I feel I need to tweak, then I will definitely be trying the SU-1 or similar for AES/XLR output into the Yggy.  

Im also curious about a few other scenarios such as will the ISO Regen powered by LPS-1.2 give any benefits post Gen 5 upgrade, and secondly, maybe trying the Ultrarendu.

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On 2018-03-21 at 7:33 PM, oneguy said:

I guess that goes back to the YMMV adage. USB in my scenario had no upsides vs AES and was a step or two backwards in coherency.

 

First test was with a ridiculously stupid priced AES cable loaned to me by my dealer.

 

I just got my 3’ Mogami 110 ohm AES Gold delivered, so I’ll give the AES input a go again.  Initial impressions are the same, but I’ll give it more time this go about.

Roon Rock->Auralic Aria G2->Schiit Yggdrasil A2->McIntosh C47->McIntosh MC301 Monos->Wilson Audio Sabrinas

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