Yggdrasil Refined - New Schiit Yggdrasil Analog 2 (Yggdrasil A2) Sound Impressions

For me, both YggyA and YggyB, when cold, are like a good $300 dac. Clean, clear, no F/R aberrations. Projected on a wall.

Missing is true timbre, touch, flesh and bone, ambience even in an apparent silent passage.
Moves me way closer to the live experience. Though as @Darren G points out, we still can never really be fully fooled compared to live. Even with a great dac, we still have mental work to do (just less of it).

 

Ask Jay to bring his Crane Song Solaris. A few of us think it needs another look even though the single good review on sbaf didn't do it any favors.

 

@gefski and @k4rstar both explained it well. Once you get past the 'this sounds technically clean', with much gear I end having to mentally struggle to fill in what should be there (would be there live). I don't with this DAC once warmed up. The other plus is that I'm not struggling with everything sounds the same*. I fought with that to some degree with YggyA, a sense of a grey overlay, and metallic tone that tended to make all music sound the same (but fortunately little sense of digital repetition).

A year from now I might be more aware of fault, but for now, I'd be reluctant to upgrade Yggdrasil again. It sounds good now.

* Hence why I've put my Utopias up for sale. Just can't get past that metallic overtone. Technically accurate, but my mind tends to lock unto repetitive traits and then I am no longer enjoying.

 

Bought a used Gen 1 version A Yggdrasil, How should I contact them to get A2 upgrade done. Do they accept Drop offs or mail only?

 

• http://www.schiit.com/products/yggdrasil-analog-2
  
• http://www.schiit.com/contact

 

What amp you using?
(Suggest tubes always holographic & transparent with no hardness, glare or flat 2D of many Solid state.)

What player?
(Suggest Roon as it has a resolving EQ to make up for headphones weaknesses)

What Dac?
(Suggest no Delta-sigma dacs, only these type ladder dacs)

What headphones you prefer?
(Suggest transparency over colored, for ability to not give attention to itself)

I know people that bought the Utopia more than once.
They came back to it for the resolve.
Similarly, I came back to the HD800 third time now.

 

One factor most are probably unaware of is any metal driver cone will take MANY MANY hrs of breakin.

When used in speakers sometimes they can take a year to fully settle in.
And with beryllium in the mix I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Utopias blossomed after ≈2Khrs or more.

JJ

 

Beryllium-10 has a half-life of 1.39 × 10 the 6th years, 10 to the 6th is a 1,000,000 years.

So nah. Perhaps the surround material, might change, but it's not the Beryllium that is gonna change in a few human hours of listening.

 

Is anyone suggesting that burn in is cause because of radioactive decay? Of trace isotopes...?

 

any increased burn in time is likely attributable to the interesting bonding materials between the dome/cone and the surround and voice coil. BE domes offer some interesting but not insurmountable challenges with regards to adhesives between the dome and VC that may affect "burn in" time.

 

Nod, if there is break-in, I would be looking at those materials too.

 

Nah, wasn't saying that. But see @yotacowboy reply above.

All I meant was that the properties (including the stiffness) of the Beryllium isn't where I'd be looking for a change in my relatively few hours of use as compared with the elements properties. To put that in perspective, next time you fly on a plane, be thankful that the titanium fan blades in that jet engine haven't 'broken in'.

 

Oh yeah? Then why do older planes have smoother treble?

 

Technically, those fan blades are a nickle superalloy. While they do contain titanium, it's typically no more than 3%, although the presence of that titanium (as well as aluminum) does mitigate the effect of creep which is a time and temperature dependent deformation.

Technically², the fan blades also literally go through a period of burn-in before use. This could be considered like a controlled version of the aforementioned creep. Doing so alleviates any potential residual stresses from the manufacturing process (where the blades are almost "grown" rather than machine formed) and weeds out any other peculiarities.

After extended use, these blades do get "broken in", by which I mean their tips get worn off/disintegrate since those are the parts exposed to the highest heat and stress. They must periodically be repaired; no easy task, but typically done through a micro welding technique that tries to align grain growth along the original axis. Fun fact: this regular maintenance of the engine blades (or rather, the contract for it) is worth more than the engine itself.

And that concludes today's mini metallurgy lesson.

 

You guys crack me up, talking about half lives and titanium jet engine blades as if they somehow apply to an acoustic transducer. hahahahahahahahahaha.

But then I suppose I provide a type of entertainment for you as well.
So I guess it all balances out in the end.

I'm reminded of a passage from Gurdjieff, (to paraphrase) 'when you tell me about, or describe some thing, you tell me more about yourself then the object itself'.

Just a thought or 2 to ponder.

JJ

 

@Armaegis - Fair enough, and you explained well

 

Meanwhile, I think anyone who has heard Yggy2 would agree, this DAC presents music in a very analog and musical way.

 

Now that the hype around Yggdrasil A2 is slowly dying, I am interested in knowing whether the warmer presentation of Yggdrasil A2 vs Yggdrasil is a problem in itself. By warm are we talking midbass or subbass lift? Yggdrasil tends to have a slightly fatter bass compared to some DS dacs I sampled. Is Yggdrasil A2 worse with respect to this?

I understand that system synergy is key but I have dialed my OB PAP speakers tonally and moving onto a warmer DAC is a bit of a concern irrespective of better technicalities.

I may stick to Yggdrasil 1 for now or maybe move onto Gungnir Multibit A2 or an alternative DAC to keep that neutral tone. I might be crazy enough to get a Yggdrasil A2 and directly compare to Yggdrasil but transeuropean postage would be very prohibitive.

 

I went from Gungnir Multibit A1 > Gungnir Multibit A2 > Yggdrasil A2, and I really appreciate Yggdrasil A2's extra bit of treble sweetness (for bad recordings) that I'd grown accustomed to with Gungnir Multibit A1, as well as that extra bit of slam. The better spatial/resolving technicalities don't hurt, either.

If you really want to keep the tone, Gungnir Multibit A2 sounds like it could be for you. It's still supposed to be a step up from Yggdrasil A1.