Yggdrasil

Nice! I've heard a lot of chatter about this crazily named DAC.

Naming it after a mythical tree is far better than calling it Dave. Good on them. 

Mr Underhill posted:

My digital front end is sounding the best it has ever done ....after a LOT of tuning. But, there are aspects of it that I would like to change. It could be that this is simply down to the source files or other parts of my system, but I thought I'd borrow one of these 'DAC of the moment' to compare with my Bel Canto 3.5 vbs.

R2R vs DS.

Box just arrived, I'll post some thoughts in a few days.

M

What are your source files?  Don't tell me iTunes Store files . . . . 

Hungryhalibut posted:

Naming it after a mythical tree is far better than calling it Dave. Good on them. 

I'm just embarrassed that I can't pronounce the name.

Kevin Richardson posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Naming it after a mythical tree is far better than calling it Dave. Good on them. 

I'm just embarrassed that I can't pronounce the name.

Best guess is to use Icelandic or Faroese pronunciation.

IG-druh-sill.

Close but no sigar. There is no direct equivalent for the pronunciation of the letter Y in English. Maybe the Y in the word Lymph comes close. Yggdrasil is old norse and the pronunciation is still the same in Norwegian and its former colonies where old Norse was spoken such as Iceland and the Faroe  Islands.

For a proper pronunciation you can go here:

https://www.ntnu.edu/now/1/pronunciation

Close but no sigar.

Close but no cigar

Karl posted:

Close but no sigar.

Close but no cigar

There's always Sigur Ros. Whilst we are having a dabble in Nordic words

it's sigar in Norwegian.

Mr. U

I have been running an Yddrasil (YGGY) for about 18 months now between an NDX and a 252.  I particularly like what it does for stringed instruments, female voices and drums .. Treat it just like a piece of Naim kit.  Leave it on all the time and give it some time to warm up when you first put it in the system.

I'll be following this thread with interest.  Have fun.

John Willmott posted:

 

I'll be following this thread with interest.  Have fun.

 

Me, too.  As for pronunciation check out 2011's THOR; Hemsworth schools Portman on the World Tree.  Accurately?  Who knows, but it IS a Kenneth Branagh film so I imagine so.

Mr Fjeld posted:

it's sigar in Norwegian.

I bow to your linguistic knowledge. I am still trying, unsuccessfully, to get my head around my last Norwegian album, Rumi Songs, (a recent ECM release). Old Norse "poetry" set to "jazz" with the vocals sung in semi operatic style.

Those Norwegians take different hallucinogenics to me.

Only day or so in and it is rather good. Should apparently be fully on song by Sunday.

M

I'm just going to refer to it as "That whack new Schitt DAC." 

Well, this thing is excellent.

I am being driven here by an ongoing edge that I hear when using my Bel Canto 3.5vb, due to a change to Focal 1008be IIs. With my previous speakers, Living Voice, the issue wasn't evident, and even then it is only evident in a small subset of my music; but, irritatingly so.

I have historically used my Oppo 205D as a baseline to assure myself that any issues I was hearing existed, and that the issue wasn’t with the BC itself.
 
The BC is a better DAC than the Oppo, but the Oppo is no mean performer, excellent VFM – when set up correctly.
 
Looking at the issues I was having with the BC:
 
>Small number of tracks/albums with hard sibilants (e.g. Tarzan)
Y – Initially no change, but as the Yggy has warmed and settled this has changed, e.g.:
Tarzan – Now listenable. Still sharper than I would like, but not ear bending
Simon & Garfunkle – Now a LOT better, mainly fine.
 
>Cymbals being splashy & hard
Y – Issue gone
 
>General feeling of edge
Y – Issue substantially reduced, almost gone
 
The Y paints a wider and more detailed soundstage. I can hear lyrics more easily. I am aware of fully resolved instruments that were before just a part of background clutter.
 
An example: Liszt transcribed Beethoven’s symphonies for piano. These are available on Qobuz. At the start of the 7th Symphony, 1st movement there is a thumping start which is immediately damped, this makes the whole cage of the strings vibrate. Through the BC this was an almost dissociated noise, like a second supporting instrument was in the background. Through the Y this was the piano, adding to the power of the player.
 
So the Y is simply better than the BC?
 
Perhaps, but I could set up a demo that the BC would win.
 
The BC has a high frequency edge, this can act like a spice in food. For instance, again from Qobuz, there is an album of Star Trek themes which includes part of the soundtrack from the more recent Star Trek movie. The track ‘Hella Bar Talk / Enterprising Young Man’ opens softly, and a deep drum beat joins, this moves into Enterprising Young Man when there is some impactful drumming. Through the BC the bass is more evident, and the climatic drumming is just balls out exciting. Though the Y this is all there, but just a tad muted.

Listened to a vinyl rip I did of Rikki Lee Jone's eponymous album last night, it was like listening to it for the first time.

Overall the Y paints a superb aural picture that the BC, while good, cannot equal; and it is not fully warmed up!
 
[b]M[/b]

Very interesting, and I like your direct comparisons.  Too many of the audio media "never met an advertiser they didn't like," and so try very hard to avoid such useful A/B reviews.

I wonder if anyone has compared the Yaggy with the Naim DAC with or without external power supply?

I compared the YGGY to the NAIM DAC (sans PS) and a Hugo plus a number of other DAC's a couple of years ago before deciding on the YGGY .. it provided a far more pleasing sound in my room.

Some final thoughts:

It has gone back. I would thoroughly recommend the service offered by Mark in the UK - you pay postage at a very reasonable rate and have the DAC for two weeks.

Having slotted my Bel Canto (BC) back into place I want to muddy the waters a bit. Returning to my three issues:

>Small number of tracks/albums with hard sibilants (e.g. Tarzan)
Y – Initially no change, but as the Yggy has warmed and settled this has changed, e.g.:
Tarzan – Now listenable. Still sharper than I would like, but not ear bending
Simon & Garfunkle – Now a LOT better, mainly fine.
--I will stick with this.
 
>Cymbals being splashy & hard
Y – Issue gone
--Again true .....but:

The BC is more extended in the high frequencies. The hard sibilance is happening at 6-10KHz, and perhaps this is where this effect is happening too?
With the Yggy the high frequencies are there, and beautifully articulated, however they feel as though they are recessed in the sound stage and at a lower volume so that some detail is just missing.
Similarly at the bass end of things the Yggy doesn't dig as deep. However, it is wonderfully musical, whereas the BC can feel a bit one note in comparison.

Please note that I am overstating things in order to draw the comparison. These are both good DACs, and the Yggy may well be a great DAC.
 
>General feeling of edge
Y – Issue substantially reduced, almost gone.
--Again true .....but:

That was with the tracks that caused me issues with the BC. With other music the Yggy could move towards sharp, not to the same extent as the BC, but it is there, for instance:

Stevie Nicks (LP rip 9624) - The Other Side of the Mirror
Great album, and sounds stonking through the BC. Via the Yggy retained all the marvels of that DAC: wider soundstage; more details that add to the experience; clearer what is happening musically ....but, the vocals sound slightly sharper.

U2 (Quboz 16/44.1) - The Joshua Tree
As above (*)

Conclusion

In my mind and in my system the Yggdrasil is a clearly a better DAC overall than the Bel Canto 3.5vb, and I thought the BC was a very minor improvement on my nDAC/XPS; purchased to scratch a couple of other itches.

Having listened to the Yggy I can definitely understand why some people describe DS DACs as grey in comparison to R2R, at least on this very limited sample! There is something propulsive and compulsive about the Yggy, you want to stay up and listen to just one more track, that becomes one more album. You find yourself getting into music that before left you a bit nonplussed.

Will I be buying it? Perhaps. I want to audition two or three other DACs: A Lampizator; the Border Patrol DAC; and, perhaps the Mytek Brooklyn.

(*) Fascinating:
Last Saturday I was listening to the Yggy most of the day. In the evening I put on U2 (Quboz 16/44.1) - The Joshua Tree, it sounded AWFUL. Far worse than any of the sharpness I had experienced with the BC. I had already listened to this and not heard this issue, and the following morning all was well again. Why? I obviously don't know, but I wish I had immediately tried streaming a local file as I suspect it may be due to high contention on Virgin's infrastructure. As it was I turned off the system and watched Dr Who - really good this season!

Interesting observations, thanks for sharing. 

What is the rest of your system?

.sjb

Hi SJB,

Front end below, into EAR534 > Focal 1008be II.

Only update on the diagram below = IFI SMPS powering the Raspberry Pi 3 is now an R-Core 5v/3A LPSU.

Mr. Underhill..  

I'm not sure which is more disconcerting, the complexity of your system or the fact that I completely understand your diagram.  

Unless i'm missing something. why the need for such a complex setup in front of Bel Canto DAC ?

James

Brubacca posted:

Mr. Underhill..  

I'm not sure which is more disconcerting, the complexity of your system or the fact that I completely understand your diagram.  

Nah, I'm totally lost thankfully.

I'd be afraid of a set-up like that as there are just too many variables, too many things that could go wrong, that I'd be likely to blame on the wrong part of the chain.

I suppose in a way your diagram shows the complexity of getting all this in one box and the attraction of something like an NDS if it gives all the care and manipulation to the signal that your cascade of items does.

My set-up iFi PS>Rpi3>Hugo TT now seems minimalist in the extreme

.sjb

Yep, it is complex ....but that has nothing to do with the DAC. I would love to remove a lot of the parts and get the same result, unfortunately I find that simplification leads to subtraction; although there are some parts that I have been able to shed.

From the POV of the DACs you can ignore my music file host and transport ....but, you did ask.

SJB,

I found replacing the IFI PSU with a Chinese R-Core LPSU had a nice effect; although I use it to host LMS and act as a hub to my music files on USB sticks on the StarTech.

I agree there ARE a lot of variables, but our ears are very capable devices. Ultimately, I just aim to share my experiences and let people know about technologies. If anyone was thinking of buying a Schiit DAC then we would all advise them to listen to it in their own system .....but, hopefully I have given them an idea of what they might hear, and why it is worth taking the bother.

James,

This front end enabled me to move my front end, files and transport, off my NAS and make gains in the quality of what I hear. The nice thing is that it is something that can be done in easy steps.

M