Schiit Yggdrasil Stereophile Review + Measurements

I love the quote which basically says "I couldn't reproduce the manufacturers cheating claims without cheating so I cheated for them".

Rob

 

The degree of bias is utterly contemptible. JA's claim to any sort of journalistic objectivity or integrity has been demolished.

 

I might be confused here, but WTF is the point of independent measurements/review if the aim is to "replicate the manufacturer's own measurements."

Perhaps JA now thinks that J Gordon Holt's comments about lack of honesty were an instruction rather than a criticism of the modern world of hifi. (Interview link)

Damn. I used to buy Stereophile

 

Science is all about reproducibility. If a scientist can't reproduce an experiment, the results are suspect. In this case, if the manufacturer's measurements cannot be reproduced, they are suspect. Reproducing the manufacture's measurements to understand the product sounds like a very logical first step. After that, running the product through a standard battery of tests produces results that are easy to compare to other products.

 

This thread is a good summary of why after 40 years of buying/subscribing to Stereophile I let my subscription expire. Thinking back, my issues with Stereophile were part of the reason I joined up with the pirates at Changstar. How long has it been now?

 

5 or 6 years. I never remember whether CS started in 2011 or 2012

 

I can't remember what I had for dinner the next day. Sometimes. Anybody have the correct year all this craziness started? My apologies for the derail. Carry on. Hope we can get some realistic measurements on the DAVE at some point.

 

Maybe you didn't get to page 7, where GUTB blurts out that he's never actually heard a Schiit multibit product:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/31284-just-got-a-yggdrasil/?page=7 (scroll down)

Later on the same page, he admits his working knowledge of the Yggdrasil comes from an unnamed review, presumably negative.

Your choice to either admire the honesty, or be dumbfounded by the stupidity.

 

I see what you mean, but does it apply here? Aren't What the company claims and measurements achieved by others, potentially two entirely different things? Why would it even be necessary to know what measurements the company claimed. By analogy, isn't this like saying that something had to be done to make a product sound like the company said it did?

 

The less said about GUTB the better.

And, unlike some here, I have only encountered him on a mere two forums. It was more than enough. I doubt my brain could survive the combination of GUTB and Computer Audiophile.

 

Thanks, @ultrabike

Or... not. I suppose, if the attempt does not succeed. Or to point in what circumstances they could be achieved.

Maybe I'm beginning to get it.

 

I have reluctantly come to the same conclusion Marv. I read some reviews from 15 years ago, they are different. More consistent. But gradually the reviews for what I thought was only decent gear was more and more positive in JA's reviews and measurements. Musical Fidelity comes to mind, no slam on them, but the more ad space they bought the more Musical Fidelity equipment got reviewed. And it got to the point that every new product from them got positive reviews. A certain amp I bought comes to mind. My experience with it was quite different than the description in the Stereophile review. I am not talking personal preference here. But the amp I bought had a very different sound than described in the reviews. It really was a poor design, no matter what your personal preference might be. My faith in the accuracy of their reviews began to gradually slip. This Yggdrasil thing is a perfect example. I guess when one is fighting for the survival of your magazine, your standards start to slip.

 

Yggdarsil is amazing!

If you enjoy music, just get it. Is it technically correct? Who cares. It is musical? it sounds like LIVE music. Even at low volume, the music comes through. Seriously have you heard the Yggdrasil yet? It must be warmed up, so the resistors in that R2R DAC are operating at spec, but once done, it is the fecking Schitt. Utterly amazing sounding.

 

The same subjectivist argument can be made for the dave, or any other piece of equipment. If you like how it sounds, nothing else matters. I don't think anyone here would argue with that.

This discussion is about the accuracy, and reproducibility, of the measurements taken by stereophile magazine. There is correlation between measurements and quality of sound reproduction, so to some extent, measurements matter. Also, stereophile proports to offer independent and trusted measurements, so the validity of said results is relevant.

 

I don't think it uses an R2R ladder. You're waiting for discrete DAC components to hit INL spec.

(Also not the point, this thread is discussing dishonest use of measurements right now, rather than subjective enthusiasm.)

 

What's the difference between a non-sigma-delta multibit DAC (how Schiit describes it) and an R2R ladder? I though the Yggdrasil was an R2R as well.