I received my Yggdrasil, and have a question...

[AudioDoctor]

The consensus over on Head-Fi seems to be that it takes a month of constantly being powered up before it starts to sound the way it is supposed to sound. Have the owners of this DAC here found that to be the case?

[AudioDoctor]

18 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

.......and the following posts 🙂

 

Matt

 

How in the heck do I get to the post you're referencing?

 

 

edit: I got it.  Thanks.

[AudioDoctor]

At this point, it's been on for ~24 hours, and playing music for ~5 hours between today and last night. I think it sounds a little better, but I sure hope it improves a lot. Thanks for the replies.

[AudioDoctor]

56 minutes ago, Blake said:

If someone can't hear the difference between a new Yggy with a couple hours on it, and a Yggy after a month, then, well, I will respect their opinion, but something is wrong (hearing ability or a mental refusal to hear anything) or their audio environment.   Now, the amount of change detected by any person will vary because this is a subjective scale. One person's "small" change could be another person's "jaw dropping" moment.

 

If ever there was a piece of audio gear that proves burn-in is real, it is the Yggy.

 

The burn-in can't be real topic, like cable debates, etc. are dull, boring and overplayed.  The poor horse passed away years ago.   

 

P.S. @AudioDoctor sorry if this is derailing your thread. I'll say no more on the topic.

 

 

It's fine, it's not necessarily off topic. I don't even know where I come down on the burn-in debate yet, so this is an interesting piece of equipment. I am well aware of the idea of thermal equilibrium, but that should only take a few hours at most? Possibly even less.

 

[AudioDoctor]

8 minutes ago, bobflood said:

It also could be that it takes about a month of brain burn-in for one to get used to the fact that it sounds different from whatever was being listened to before.

 

A distinct possibility.

[AudioDoctor]

33 minutes ago, Blake said:

Owner's Manual, Page 7, burn in:

 

https://schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/yggdrasil_manual_1_1.pdf

 

The manual is admittedly a bit cryptic on this topic, but it is mentioned.  On factory burn-in, I know I read about it somewhere.  It is not in the owner's manual, but it has been reported a number of times by forum members.  

 

 

I knew I should have read that thing, I've been looking everywhere for the alien wave absorbers...

[AudioDoctor]

I find it interesting that they bothered to put the 8x light on it considering it only goes to 4x right now. IMO that's a pretty clear indicator they're planning on upgrading it to higher PCM resolutions at some point.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, JoeWhip said:

The only problem with the 8 x light is that Unison is limited to 24/192. So, to add DXD resolution will require a redo of Unison. Not happening any time soon.

 

5 Years? Thats enough time...

[AudioDoctor]

3 hours ago, JoeWhip said:

The megaburrito filter operates at DXD levels but again, Unison is new so it will take awhile before it is redone. While there are more and more native DXD recordings released now, they sound great at 24/192 and 24/176.4. I would not expect it until Yggy 3 is released.

 

I'm in no hurry. The Yggy is in my secondary system anyway. I bought it based on how much I liked the Modi Multibit when plugged into my Mcintosh versus the DA2 module inside it.

[AudioDoctor]

11 hours ago, JoeWhip said:

The megaburrito filter operates at DXD levels but again, Unison is new so it will take awhile before it is redone. While there are more and more native DXD recordings released now, they sound great at 24/192 and 24/176.4. I would not expect it until Yggy 3 is released.

 

I am sending native, non upsampled bits to it now, letting the mega burrito filter do its thing.

[AudioDoctor]

Yes, however they say a few days to hear a difference, not an entire month...

[AudioDoctor]

At this point, it's been on for 5 days and it is starting to sound pretty good.

 

 

[AudioDoctor]

59 minutes ago, Dr Tone said:

I didn’t hear much for change after the first few days.  I suspect it was just me getting used to it at that point.

 

 Listen to it for a couple weeks and then go back to your other DAC for a couple weeks.  Repeat if need be.  If you don’t find things that you like more with the Yggy in extended listening it’s not the DAC for you.

 

The DA2 module in my McIntosh MAC7200? I can tell you that's probably not going to happen considering I like the Modi Multibit more than I do the DA2. I do have another DAC I can plug into it, although that's not what I bought it for.

[AudioDoctor]

1 minute ago, davide256 said:

its always possible that the lampizator you have has set too high a bar for the Yggy to jump 🙂

Had a Gumby I sold because it didn't do low bass well, how do you feel the Yggy does on on bass drum whacks for felt vs heard bass?

 

Well, I have a Zu sub, so I am not sure if it is a fair comparison, but I am very happy with the bass and the thwacks I get at the moment.

 

That's possible the Lampi has spoiled me for everything else, but I don't think so. The Mc has it's uses in my household. Everyone can use it, the ARC input on the DA2 is proving useful, and if I want to listen to speakers I can use the Yggy. Plus, it has an FM tuner, so I can put MPR on while I work in the basement.

[AudioDoctor]

13 minutes ago, Dr Tone said:

Ok that makes sense, I hated the DAC in my C46 as well harsh highs and exaggerated bloated bass.  Add in the pops when switching back and forth between DSD and PCM...

 

The DA2 has finally eliminated the pops.

[AudioDoctor]

I have tried both the RCA and the XLR outputs, but not an adapter. The RCA outputs output at 2V and the XLR outputs 4V so it may influence gain in the rest of the chain.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, matthias said:

 

AFAIK, consensus is XLR sounds best when the rest of the set-up is balanced as well.

 

Matt

 

I'm not sure if the XLR inputs on the Mcintosh are truly balanced.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, barrows said:

Think of the connection as being about the difference between two wires.  Balanced to single ended, would take the difference between pin 2 and pin 3.  To achieve the same difference signal at the single ended input, pin 2 connects to hot (RCA center pin) and pin 3 connects to ground, keeping the difference signal the same.  This approach also allows the cable run to still provide common mode rejection on its way to the preamp.

 

Another point though: I would only choose the use the balanced outputs this way if the single ended output is derived just from half of the balanced signal (using pin 2 referenced to ground).  There is a better way some DACs can create their single ended outputs: one can take the balanced signal, and then sum it to a single ended signal through an active balanced to single ended converter (or using a transformer, but that is less common).  The advantage of this approach, is that it takes advantage of the common mode distortion/noise rejection of the balanced output, and provides that same advantage on the single ended outputs.  If the Yggdrasil uses an active balanced to single ended stage internally, then I would just run RCA cables to the single ended preamp.

 

I think the Yggy sums the differentially balanced signal and outputs that to the RCA connections.

 

edit: From Schiit.com. 

"fully discrete, Class A FET summing stages for single-ended output"  

 

 

[AudioDoctor]

34 minutes ago, bobbmd said:

@AudioDoctor have had my Yggy GS since November never really heard it sound 'bad' right from the get go left it on for about 48-72 hrs at first before playing anything it has always sounded great and I have never shut it down-- just my totally subjective observations

 

I have been at the lake since the evening of the 2nd, and therefore not listening to the Yggy, but I did leave it powered on. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, has happened to it since I left.

[AudioDoctor]

7 hours ago, musicguy said:

Heat?

 

How hot does this dac get?  I have a rack and the space it goes into will have a 1 inch space about the dac.  Is this enough?

 

Im upgrading from a gumby to a Yggdrasil.

 

m usicguy

 

Neither the Yggy, nor my Modi Multibit ever get hot. They get warm but the skin seems to work really well as an effective heat sink.

[AudioDoctor]

Well, I am home and the Yggy after being on all this time is sounding WONDERFUL!

[AudioDoctor]

23 minutes ago, Blake said:

So your "brain burned in" while you were not at home? 😆

 

...thats a joke btw.  

 

Maybe I just missed it... 😉

[AudioDoctor]

5 hours ago, Dr Tone said:

HQPlayer?  Do you have the bit depth set to 20?

 

No, it's set to default, which is what I think it's called, I'd have to check. But the Yggy gets sent 32 bits according to HQP.

[AudioDoctor]

6 minutes ago, Dr Tone said:

I think you should set it to 20 bit, let HQP do some nice dithering instead of the rounding or truncating to 20 bit the Yggy does internally.

 

It is on @Miska's advice I have HQP set to default.

[AudioDoctor]

8 hours ago, Miska said:

If you know a particular R2R ladder has certain resolution, like Yggdrasil has 20-bit, you can set it to 20-bit and since maximum rate it can take in is 192k maybe use TPDF dither. It cannot be set to completely optimal, since in Yggdrasil case the internal digital filter cannot be bypassed even at high rates, so it'll still do 2x upsampling.

 

You can compare "Default" with TPDF dither vs 20-bit with TPDF dither and check if you notice a difference.

 

 

I'll give it a shot.