Life after Yggdrasil: Watering the Ash

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Torq, Mar 1, 2017.

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  1. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    In line with the above suggestion I'm actually curious at your rejection of Light Harmonic products during the head-fi run of the thread initially.
     
  2. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    I'll suggest pro DACs:

    - Weiss DAC 1 MK3
    - Lavry Quintessence
    - Dangerous Music Convert-2

    Very curious to know how the pro audio DACs perform.
     
  3. sonicxtc

    sonicxtc New

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    Thanks for all your hard work with these comparisons.
    I'd like to suggest the Exogal Comet be considered in the group.
    There are many great reviews of this superb dac, but I'd love to hear your impressions
    of the Comet. Thank you. And, I'd strongly suggest using the outboard PSU or a similar level
    outboard PSU as many people note the Comet sounds definitively better in this mode.
     
  4. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    Is Gungnir Multibit too obvious/stupid of a suggestion since it's literally the little brother of the namesake of this amazing project?

    (If not, I could probably be talked into putting mine in a box at some point...)
     
  5. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    Good on you for posting it anyway, @PoochZag. I was thinking the same this morning, and Gumbreya too as a suggestion.
     
  6. Wfojas

    Wfojas Friend

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    Maybe he can get one in the next decade, when they ship. :oops:
     
  7. Wfojas

    Wfojas Friend

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    Actually, what I want do is go down your playlist and check out what you listen to in my setup to see if how i set my room up is good enough, relative to your impressions. For someone who said this is a vinyl year (and its been so, so far), this may just bring me back, for giggles.
     
  8. zachchen1996

    zachchen1996 Friend

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    Anyone else still curious about the Taiwanese R2R DAC company Denafrips previously discussed in this thread?
    Their flagship "Terminator".
    There might be a possibility of securing a loaner unit by contacting them directly through Facebook.

    Also intrigued with the German DAC company Trinity Electronic Design GmbH and their Trinity DAC, often see it mentioned around the web as being on the same level as the dCS Vivaldi.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2017
  9. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    A couple other pro guys to consider would be Prism, RME, Lynx, etc.

    We've got a review for the RME ADI-2 Pro here, and I'd be intrigued to see how it stacks up:
    http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/rme-adi-2-pro-discussion-thread.3160/

    I own the Prism Lyra, and currently have a Callia on loan which I might be able to send down (can't promise anything). I'm also trying to get a unit from RME on loan, but again no promises on that either.

    There are so many people fiddling with the Dante ethernet interfaces to spit out spdif/aes... has anyone tried the Rednet1 or AM2 to utilize the Focusrite dacs directly?

    And a random mention, the DDDAC 1794 has been on my curiosity list for a while... http://www.dddac.com/

    (not necessarily asking for all these; just tossing out ideas)
     
  10. beemerphile

    beemerphile Friend

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    I am about to do my own review of Yggdrasil vs. Gumbreya but unless it is overwhelming I probably lack the audio discernment to make useful comments such as @Torq is capable of. However, give me a chance to compare listening to a Chord Dave to listening to a Yggdrasil with $11.000 in my pocket and I think I could figure it out.
     
  11. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    I think that, at least for me, will be more interesting to focus on the "real high end stuff" from pro audio like Weiss or Lavry top offerings, Crane Song, Prism and Dangerous Music are some big dogs too.

    I always wanted to know how the "revered" DACs talked at gearslutz perform compared to something like Yggdrasil, because there's no point of reference.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2017
  12. FredM

    FredM New

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    Hi Torq, many thanks for this initiative and the effort you put in it. I'm already looking forward reading about your great journey. Thanks for sharing!!

    I would like to suggest the Metrum's with the new DAC TWO modules.

    Perhaps harder to get your hands on: The Arfi-DAC2 from Artistic Fidelity also has a very keen design, with great results in an user group with several others (top) DAC's. More information about the Arfi-DAC2:
    http://www.artistic-fidelity.de/index.php/en/arfi-dac2
     
  13. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    All provisionally added.
     
  14. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    There were several factors there, all related to each other and to my enormous disinclination to give people money ahead of them being able to ship me something. I'll make exceptions, sometimes, but generally only for built-to-order stuff and then only if I have a reliable, and reasonable time-line.

    Also, I have to REALLY want something to deal with long lead times.

    Anyway, at the time I started the original thread, LH Labs was apparently not doing a very good job of delivering on its promises, with, as I recall, long delays, things not shipping in the order they should, quality not necessarily being appropriate and poor communication/customer service. I had no interest into getting into the middle of that. No idea how they're doing now, but it's a bit less relevant as this time around I'm not looking for something to eventually buy (it may work out that way, but it's not the purpose of this cycle).

    And at that time I could not figure how to buy the thing with any kind of certainty about when I might get it.

    Beyond that ... I was much more interested in R2R/multi-bit solutions, or something genuinely new/interesting, not just "very well done ESS/CoTS D/S chip" DACs. That changed a bit over time, but it was something I was more interested in sticking to at the start.
     
  15. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    I shall endeavor to be as minimally biased as possible. At least when it comes to the listening/evaluation part. Wherever possible I'll be employing my little box (which will get referred to as "TOSSER", and I'll comment further on that, and where the name came from, in a bit ... since I forget who suggested it) to make things "blind-ish", but that's about as far that's likely to go.

    I think I can mostly keep those biases in check for the listening part. But once that's done, I'm not even going to try to do so when it comes to my commentary on such other factors. Build something that costs more than a house and looks like a slapped arse? I'm going to have some fun with that! ;)
     
  16. landroni

    landroni Friend

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  17. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Gungnir MB is absolutely not a stupid suggestion - I am planning on doing a four-way Schiit multi-bit DAC comparison in the near future anyway, so it'll fit in nicely. And since I already own three of the four DACs in question, I just have to decide how I am going to source the Gungnir MB (right now I'm leaning towards just buying one and upgrading my "day job" rig).

    Gumbreya is more challenging, though with this crowd it's a possibility. Generally I'm going to stick to stuff that's "stock".

    --

    I'll add the Schiit multi-bit DACs to the list.
     
  18. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    I've have a sift through the pro-stuff there and add what looks appropriate/interesting. If I don't hit the things you're most interested in then, let me know and I'll adjust it. I'll probably stick the "Burl B2 Bomber" in the list too, since it comes up a lot.
     
  19. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    In my experience, LH Labs is still not doing well with shipping and customer service.

    I figured with the GO2A being on their website with a "Buy Button" and being able to check out, that I should be able to buy it and have it shipped to me. I am not so sure about that now. My order went into "Awaiting Fulfillment" on the day I ordered it (2/18/17) and has stayed in that status. A few days after I bought mine, I see that the "Buy Button" is gone.

    The frustrating thing is there is no communication. I cannot find an email address. There is a Contact Us page on their website that I filled out a couple of times but no replies. There is a phone number on their website. It always goes to voicemail. It does not identify that I am calling LH Labs and I leave messages for the only option "Operator" but no replies.

    I see that GO2A appears available on amazon.com, via LH Labs, but I don't know how that would go. (They have a 90% feedback rating there.)
     
  20. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    I'd expect Torq to be looking at more like the Da Vinci actually instead of the LHLabs branded stuff.
     

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