Schiit Audio Releases its Unison USB Upgrade

[GeneZ]

On 2/8/2020 at 11:57 PM, thotdoc said:

Interesting theoretical discussion: How does it change the sound?

 

I believe Schiit may be doing a disservice by not saying about there is a burn in period. Nothing was noted when they shipped me the card.   I installed my Unison card just under a month ago. I heard an immediate difference, but nothing startling. It was better in certain subtle ways.  Then..  just a few days ago the sound surprisingly blossomed in a manner like I never heard any DAC I have owned.  There is now an element of richness and aliveness that has me intrigued with certain files I had no idea could sound so good.

[GeneZ]

2 hours ago, beajuju said:

I sent, last week, my Gungir to Schiit and they recognized the burn in period: 

 

" We’ve received your product for upgrade! Now, give us a couple of days to do the work, test the result, and burn it in. Then it will be on its way back to you! We’ll send another email when it’s been shipped, with a tracking number"

 

 That is a manufacturer burn-in that many manufacturers do after assembly.  It means they will run the unit for a time to make sure it will not malfunction.  Its not the same as the burn process process that can take weeks to bring a component to sounding its best.

 

Here is a part of an older review that reveals what burning in entails.

 

Listening
Although Moffatt warned me that the Yggy wouldn’t sound good right out of the box, I gave it a quick listen anyway after an hour of warm-up. He was right; the Yggy was hard, bright, forward, and flat. I checked in with it a couple of times over the next week and heard it improving somewhat, but it was still disappointing. I decided to let it sit in my rack, powered up, for a full month before revisiting it.  

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-dac/?page=2

[GeneZ]

1 hour ago, davide256 said:

Received the Gumby back last week after an initial delay from not getting the email saying to send it in. The sound does seem to have improved, still auditioning. However I was forced to dust off my Linn Genki CD player during the Gumbys absence; its doing far better on dynamics, resolution,and low bass pressure wave

from its internal DAC than fed through the Gumby BNC connection, same is true comparing NUC USB streaming for same CD recording. Waiting on delivery of a better BNC cable to see if that improves anything.

 

Could be the BNC cable you are using.  Yesterday I swapped out my go-to USB cable for one recommended by Schiit.  It became dull sounding in comparison. Might not be the Gumby. 

Besides, the Linn has a superb reputation for sound on its own.   Its designed as a dedicated unit internally.  It does not have a cheap DAC inside. Why go external?

[GeneZ]

43 minutes ago, davide256 said:

The Genki  internal DAC is excellent. But it has some subliminal nasties that cause listening fatigue over an extended listening period, pretty common in older DAC's and

better addressed in newer DAC designs... I don't get any listening fatigue from the Gumby.

 I noticed the same thing with my Yggy.  No more listening fatigue. No more need to compensate for the typical frazzly upper midrange and  treble that I got from other DACs .  With that in mind,  I believe some cable manufacturers make their cables to try to blunt the effect that causes fatigue.  When listening with a DAC that does not cause fatigue a new more transparent cable will be needed. IMHO.

[GeneZ]

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

I have a question about the Yggdrasil and its DAC/USB input.

 

Schitt says the DAC has 21 bits of resolution...  SO, what happens when you send it a 24 bit file?

  From what I understand...   When its a 24 bit file?   With a typical DAC you will not be getting a true 24 bit playback.  They can not do it with the technology they use.  Typical DAC designers need to tune their sound due to technology limitations.   They need to guess how their DAC should respond to the 24 bit input and tune it. 

 

So, though it may say 24 bit playback... Its a "created response" that requires the designer to guess how its DAC will convert.  Its why we end up with a sound that does not sound quite like real live music.  The Yiggy does not use a designer response to the signal.   So, we end up with a true 21 bit playback, rather than a pseudo 24 bit designed response.

 

I believe its why we end up with listening fatigue.  Its like when wearing the wrong strength glasses (or needing glasses) and we become fatigued during watching or reading. Likewise, typical DAC fatigue is hearing an unfocused audio signal and the brain gets tired trying to compensate. 

 

The Yiggy with its configuration gives a true 21 bit playback.   An audio focus is there without the guesswork artifacts from being guessed and designed.   

 

That's how I understand it.   Maybe, someone with better understanding of what takes place with the Yiggy can correct me, and benefit the those reading this. 

[GeneZ]

2 hours ago, matthias said:

 

Ten days ago Mike Moffat posted on SBAF:

 

"We lost John Prine this week. The next day Ivana shows up and before the sun went down the Unison USB Out worked. Fuck-ton of bugs but good enough to compare to S/PDIF out." 

 

Matt

  Can you link it?   I need to read the context, please.

[GeneZ]

On 1/28/2020 at 5:47 PM, plissken said:

"Forget decrapifiers, regenerators, isolators, and all the USB dongles and boxes you’ve been told you need for USB sound. Our all-new Gen 5 USB input doesn’t require any of that stuff. It’s this simple: Gen 5 is USB, solved."
- Mike Moffat, 2017
 

  The truth is....  With the generation 5? Those add ons did nothing for improving the sound in my system. Though they did effect the sound with other DAC's I had.   The Unison  does something to improve the analog tone over the Gen 5.   Its richer sounding.