WayneWilmeth wrote: Hi GDHAL,
I don't think it was this thread, but I did not see any reports of how you like your Schiit Yggy with the TRefs?
I just thought about that as I was watching a review of the Yggy that said you must NEVER turn it off. He said it takes a week of warm up to sound its best!!
Wow, would not work in my neck of the woods, we cannot go a whole day without a power outage.
Any report?
Happy listening,
God Bless,
Wayne

Hi Wayne -

I have posted my findings *extensively* on audiogon. The thread went viral for a while and is still listed in the top four. forum.audiogon.com/discussions/new-yggdr...d-second-impressions

There are ancillary threads in the digital section of the forum where I've also posted.

Succinctly, so as to save you and others time in having to read the thousands of words on agon:

- It was worth the purchase price and is an outstanding value where audio gear is concerned. I liken the Yggy to the Tritons in this regard

- It makes my two delta sigma DACs sound digital (edited, I originally and mistaken wrote analog) by comparison, and I will never go back to listening to delta sigma as the multibit is definitely more authentic sounding

- I was able to prove my findings under meticulous A/B comparisons, which included a better set of ears than mine. See my post here for details forum.audiogon.com/discussions/best-prac...ing-a-dac-comparison which includes, among other things, my "finding" ideal music that typifies the ability to discern the difference between R2R and DS.

- I have to an extent undergone a metamorphosis to cult Yggy and am a member on the head-fi forum, where Moffat and Stoddard also post. I have made both friends and foe over there

- specific elements that make this DAC better (IMO) than my Oppo and Emotiva: richer bass (see note 1), more evolving (see note 2) midrange and more treble control (see note 3)

- my UDP-205 and Emotiva have been relegated to transport duties. They are terrific units in their own right and I will not be parting with them any time soon. See my web site for specifics on hookup configuration halr.x10.mx/shows.html

NOTES:

1 - this is so blatantly obvious and everyone who owns a Yggy reports the same. Bass comes out of nowhere. So much is missing with delta sigma. The T Refs "eat-it-up"

2 - this is more likely a result of the better clock and jitter control. what I mean by evolving is if you listen to a tune you know from child birth and is therefore ingrained in your mind, your mind knows the millisecond or nanosecond of music that happens *IMMEDIATELY AFTER* the passage currently being played. The Yggy's "timing" in this regard is impeccable.

3 - treble on the delta sigma is (very) "tinny" by comparison

EDIT:

In fairness to my contention that multibit can best delta sigma, it should be noted that I never owned a "high end" delat sigma implementation such as the Benchmark 3. However, I believe I dispelled any idea that "better" DS would provide different results. See here forum.audiogon.com/discussions/schiit-yggdrasil-21-bit where I point out I already have a *virtual Benchmark DAC 3*. I call it an "Oppo UDP-205" :laugh:

GDHAL wrote:
- It makes my two delta sigma DACs sound analog by comparison, and I will never go back to listening to delta sigma as the multibit is definitely more authentic sounding

- specific elements that make this DAC better (IMO) than my Oppo and Emotiva: richer bass (see note 1), more evolving (see note 2) midrange and more treble control (see note 3)

GDHAL, Thanks for the comments on this. I'll read your detailed review at your link.

A couple of comments/questions:

I'm not sure what you mean by making your delta sigma DACs sound analog. My impression going to the Aurelic Vega (a delta sigma) was that it sounded smoother (more analog-like) than the Oppo. A noticeable difference. The Oppo was more "edgy" and digital sounding by comparison. Could you clarify what you mean here?

Also, I noticed the same bass improvement with the Vega DAC. My wild guess here is that this has more to do with the quality of the output stage (Vega is pure Class A) than the bit decoding, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I noticed the same improvement you describe.

Charlie

charliehatch wrote:

GDHAL wrote:
- It makes my two delta sigma DACs sound analog by comparison, and I will never go back to listening to delta sigma as the multibit is definitely more authentic sounding

- specific elements that make this DAC better (IMO) than my Oppo and Emotiva: richer bass (see note 1), more evolving (see note 2) midrange and more treble control (see note 3)

GDHAL, Thanks for the comments on this. I'll read your detailed review at your link.

A couple of comments/questions:

I'm not sure what you mean by making your delta sigma DACs sound analog. My impression going to the Aurelic Vega (a delta sigma) was that it sounded smoother (more analog-like) than the Oppo. A noticeable difference. The Oppo was more "edgy" and digital sounding by comparison. Could you clarify what you mean here?

Also, I noticed the same bass improvement with the Vega DAC. My wild guess here is that this has more to do with the quality of the output stage (Vega is pure Class A) than the bit decoding, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I noticed the same improvement you describe.

Charlie

Hi Charlie -

You are very welcome!

First, before answering your specific question(s), I'd like to add something I inadvertently neglected to write earlier. Wayne mentioned he read/viewed data having to do with the necessity of leaving the Yggy powered on 24/7. There are two camps of individuals here. Schiit does **recommend** that it be left on 24/7 for optimal performance. I, and others, have found little to no difference in this regard and, therefore, I power down my Yggy when finished listening. That said, it does take a good 90 minutes to come back to full external temperature, 90 degree F. I did perform cursory testing with warm and cold starting and couldn't hear a difference. When I initially installed it, I did leave it on 24/7 for a good week or so.

To the question of making the delta sigma sound analog, THIS IS MY ERROR. I wrote "It makes my two delta sigma DACs sound analog by comparison". I meant to write" It makes my two delta sigma DACs sound DIGITAL by comparison". Good catch and my error. Apologies I will correct that after porting here.

And yes, your point is very well taken about the improved bass perhaps being tied more so to the analog stage than the multibit versus delta sigma.

Thanks for that GDHAL and Charlie!!! Glad you are enjoying your musical DACs.
Interesting.
Let me know when it gets to be mulit-channel and then I will be ready to get onboard.
Happy listening,
God Bless,
Wayne

WayneWilmeth wrote: Thanks for that GDHAL and Charlie!!! Glad you are enjoying your musical DACs.
Interesting.
Let me know when it gets to be mulit-channel and then I will be ready to get onboard.
Happy listening,
God Bless,
Wayne

You're welcome Wayne.

By the way, and I *could* be mistaken, but I believe "multi-channel" is merely "more than two channels, though still technically stereo". For my personal home audio enjoyment, I never gravitated toward anything other than listening to two speakers in front of me. I would imagine that everything other than one speaker is to some extent "multi-channel". Where does it end? Theoretically multi-channel is an infinite number of points that sound could emanate from. Hence, 5.1. 7.1, 9.1, 22.1 and growing....

Yes, you COULD say that, look at it that way.
BUT
I have 2 TOnes in front of me, AND a wonderful SC-X in the middle in front of me, 2 T 2s on the sides, slightly behind me, 2 T 3s behind me at the back of the room with a big ole Sub between them.
I have 5 mono block amps and a stereo amp all tied into those lovely speakers, not to mention the built in amps in 6 of the speakers and the sub. A Tube CD player that NEVER gets played because it is only POS.
A Oppo 95 that plays surround sound discs of all kinds, an Emotiva XMC-1 that receives 7.2 channels input by analog and digital.
SO
Why on God's green earth would I want almost all that to go to waste listening to music in stereo, or mono, like watching a Black and White TV when you could watch color????? Stereo is soooooo 50s technology. Similar to the mono that came before it and Black and White photography.
AND the Blu ray concerts, Blu ray audio, DSD SACDs, DVD-Audio discs just leave good ole Redbook CDs in the dust.
Time to go with the flow!!!!
IMHO,
God Bless,
Wayne
PS I will grant you this much, stereo works for headphones, ciems. And that is virtually the ONLY way I listen to it.