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Schiit Yggdrasil (Unison USB) vs T+A DAC 8 DSD - mini review


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17 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

For this review I ran the Yggdrasil (Yggy) using the bit perfect volume control in HQPlayer (no preamp used).

 

Next up...  ECDesigns Fractal DAC.  It's been delivered, I'm just waiting for my new pre-amp to arrive so I can run it.

 

 

Very curious about the ECD, so is it not possible to run the ECD DAC in the same way without preamp as well?

Thanks

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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1 hour ago, Mark V. said:

The ECD Fractal has max output voltage of 1.27 V RMS, if your power amp has a lot of gain this could work, but most power amps do need more. In my setup I would definately need a pre amp with the Fractal DAC... Which is one reason which holds me back from buying it...

 

Sorry, not true.

Most power amps need more, yes, but for full output. A preamp does nearly always attenuation, so 1.27V input is  enough to drive the power amp to high output.

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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1 hour ago, Mark V. said:

I know what I do need in my setup... So this 1.27V RMS isn't enough for me.... My current DAC has 5V RMS output and I do use digital volume control which is at -10 dB or higher when listening loud.

 

When you set your DVC to 0dB you have then a very similar SPL with the ECD DAC.

BTW, with these values you must have a low gain power amp and/or low sensitivity speakers.

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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10 minutes ago, Gavin1977 said:

U192ETL won’t power from my JCAT USB XE though, which is a shame. 

 

Shame on JCAT or ECD?

The USB XE consumes about 1 Amp, so the PS must deliver at least 1,5 Amp to feed the extra for the Vbus for the U192.

Would be nice if you can feed the U192 from the JCAT for SQ reasons.

Maybe you can contact @Marcin_gps ?

Thanks

 

Matt

 

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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4 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

Review of the ECDesigns DAC will have to wait till my preamp arrives:  the DA96 has 375 Ohm output impedance, my existing T+A DAC 8 DSD has 22 ohms output impedance.  I think the high output impedance of the DA96 is causing the lower registers not to be as fleshed out as I would like when driving my system. The Master 9 I have on order has an output impedance of 1 ohm - so should drive anything well and resolve this issue.

 

I am not sure if the described sound signature is caused by the output impedance. I know excellent pre amps with an output impedance of 300 Ohm which do not show this behaviour.

The cause might be that ECD do not use active buffers or amplifiers what seems to be part of their design philosophy.

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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2 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

Filters on the T+A only relate to the PCM playback, the DSD section (which is what I used for comparison as it is the best sounding) is direct DSD, so no filters applied, except that ones I use in HQPlayer which do make a difference, but not as much as closed-form or sinc-m

 

AFAIK, there are two T+A analog filters, one is always switched on, named CLEAN and WIDE. DSD64 works with CLEAN only, all other DSDs can work with both.

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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On 12/31/2020 at 12:44 PM, Gavin1977 said:

The Master 9 I have on order has an output impedance of 1 ohm - so should drive anything well and resolve this issue.

 

Gavin,

is the Master 9 similar to the Master 1 which got a rave review from CP on hifi-advice?

When do you get it?

Thanks

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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7 minutes ago, Gavin1977 said:

Mines stuck in Germany at the moment due to postage restrictions to the UK...  long delay.

 

It is a pity, so I suppose the ECD bass issue is still persistent?

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/6/2021 at 7:22 PM, Gavin1977 said:

I need more time with it - so don't take it as a judgement - one thing that is clear is that the bass presentation is simply different to the other DAC's I've heard.  I think people are also correct that the ECDesigns DAC might show more benefits when you optimize components upstream (hence they the DA96ETF has the edge), so that's another factor affecting sound reproduction.

 

So it's a waiting game I'm afraid.

 

Hi Gavin,

 

I am VERY curious about your listening impressions with the ECD Fractal DAC now after arriving of your Audio-gd preamp.

Could you compare the ECDs to your other DACs under review?

Looking very much forward to your findings.😃

Thanks

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Gavin1977 said:

Lack of a traditional output stage meant that my full range speakers sounded like stand mounts - world class stand mounts, but stand mounts all the same - this is not a bass heavy DAC and very different to the T+A and Schitt sound. 

 

How do ECD compare to Schiit and T+A regarding slam, PRaT and drive?

Thanks

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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