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

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by drgumbybrain, Jan 16, 2018.

  1. musicfirst

    musicfirst Almost 60, supposedly still hears ant farts

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    Its perfectly OK to draw your lines for yourself, I just have a problem when you try and draw them for others.

    This is not my first rodeo.

    Do I really have to say "these differences are small" to the readers of this thread*?

    Do you really need me to say "At this time I still prefer the YA1" to those same readers?

    There.. done and done.

    * Interestingly, it is precisely these 'small' differences that separate our chosen equipment from the others we audition, especially DACs and cables...;-)
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2018
  2. musicfirst

    musicfirst Almost 60, supposedly still hears ant farts

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    Now, all of a sudden my profile says "Pompous ass. Unclear if deaf".... Funny, my thoughts exactly.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2018
  3. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    If this is true and it may well be

    This should read:

    my chosen equipment

    Most of the descriptions of Yggdrasil’s warm up behaviour sound a little exaggerated to me which is fine if it is done to make it clearer what is happening during warm up.
    Personally if it was break in I would not be bothered but I would not want a piece of gear which needs days to sound its best after being powered on.

    Being an scientist/engineer myself (sorry regular one only one degree) I value the impressions/findings of a trained musicians higher than those of any engineer.

    I have found out that for me listening to gear (comparative) gets boring very quickly. I prefer listening to music, I know that many like to do both and for some it’s more about the gear than the music.

    I guess this place is big enough for all of us.
     
  4. musicfirst

    musicfirst Almost 60, supposedly still hears ant farts

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    You probably had a job after your first degree... ;-)

    It seems to me that a lot of musicians (with some notable exceptions) place little or no stock on sound quality. That is often why I believe the majority of live shows sound terrible to mediocre at best. Rare is the artist/band who cares enough to find a great sound man, or even bother to travel with their own..

    Pat Metheny often introduced his sound man as the nth member of the band and his sound is always amazing but all too rare.

    While I'm not sure why the disconnect between musicians and sound quality exists, I think it may be that the emotional and/or artistic connection between a musician and their music completely trumps the left brain analysis of sound quality.

    One of my audio buddies only half jokingly quips that he longs for the days when FM radio was the best sound he knew.

    Although this is all very interesting stuff, surely it is a discussion for another thread.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2018
  5. musicfirst

    musicfirst Almost 60, supposedly still hears ant farts

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    Now "Almost 60, supposedly still hears ant farts"

    ...As long as they're below 15k, I'll hear 'em..:)
     
  6. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    9 posts in this thread in the last three days just from you. Week off for horrible SNR.

    P.S. In general, whenever a member has popped onto SBAF and claims decades of experience as an engineer and blah blah blah pompous horn tooting shit as evidence of their credibility, they've been full of shit.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    These are my audio credentials.
    [​IMG]
     
  8. Buddha1979

    Buddha1979 New

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    I am close to ending week 3 with the Yggdrasil Analog 2. I love it. I have been listening every day so I cannot say for sure how much it changed over time. But it sounds amazing right now. For sure other parts of my system are the weaker parts now. It sounds so much more alive and vivid than all the DACs I had before. I am using USB from my computer at the moment. I tried sPDIF coaxial output from my sound card as well but found no difference in sound. Not so sure the USB card is weak at all and needs improvement as has been stated elsewhere o_O. My PCI USB card produced distorted noises in the sound and I thought at first that the USB card of the Yggdrasil had a fault but luckily plugging the USB cable into my motherboard's USB slot solved the problem. Happy customer here so far - I would buy the Yggdrasil again.
     
  9. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    I can attest this is a lie. Marv is 143 years old and the Apple ][+ wasn't released until he was 104.
     
  10. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    Maybe he was in 6th grade then.
     
  11. bengo

    bengo Friend

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    Also I think the photo is out of date, he doesn't have eyebrows now.
     
  12. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    Careful. Z will dox you if he sees this, regardless of your intent or if it was previously public. Word to the wise.
     
  13. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    It's pretty much too late for me. I get randos who actually e-mail me directly. One even threatened to call my work unless I deleted a post where he looked liked an ass, post ban.

    Just know we have video surveillance up the wazoo around my cluster of houses, and the nice old lady in the house across the street with the American flag looks after us. She and her husband know how to use guns and have concealed weapons permits. In fact, her husband shot their next door neighbor's dog when he attacked their dog for the fourth time and the neighbors couldn't control the dog. Despite the permits, their preferred firearm for neighborhood protection is the shotgun.

    So please feel free to come by after I got doxxed. I'd love to practice my CPR and bandaging skills under real conditions. Of course nothing much I can do if your pulmonary artery is mangled other than take down your last words.
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2018
  14. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    Just speaking from experience. He's very protective. You've trained him well.
     
  15. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

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    Now we know the fate of those that suddenly disappear from SBAF.
     
  16. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    Good to read you are enjoying it. It's a big step up from the digital repetitious crap DACs in so many CD players, phones, cheap computer sound cards, etc. I do think Yggdrasil A1 was a bit more impressive sounding out of the box, but over time I became increasingly aware of a metallic overtone, and grey haze. Y2 essentially corrected both. It's a more natural sound, less hazy. Slightly less initial wow factor, but ... Y2 is easier to listen too for longer periods of time, and I still get plenty of 'wow' moments. I am still constantly impressed by when the music gets complex, the sounds don't all turn into one big fuzzball. Instruments and voices remain well separated.

    p.s. I had almost given up on digital sounding decent. Glad I took the advice here and bought a Yggdrasil A2. I listen to much more music, for longer, than I ever did on my previous gear where I'd get annoyed in an hour or so. Enjoy it!
     
  17. toddrhodes

    toddrhodes Friend

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    Well, just wanting to close the loop on my end a little bit. I thought I needed a transformer to leverage the higher output of the XLR outs from Yggdrasil to my Odyssey Pre (SE only). Turns out it was the tubes in the preamp the whole time. They must be just getting older because I swapped in a newer set of Tung-Sol 12AU7s and my volume has returned in full. In addition, it fixed an issue that was tilting everything to the left a little that was bothering me, but I was attributing to other, more environmental things.

    So yea, wasn't anything to do with Yggdrasil, but rather my preamp. When I can swing it, I'll try to grab some Amperex 7316's but for now, the Tung-Sols will do.
     
  18. musicfirst

    musicfirst Almost 60, supposedly still hears ant farts

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    Raymond is definitely not scared anymore. Definitely.. Definitely. Not scared.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2018
  19. toddrhodes

    toddrhodes Friend

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    Got my Jensen PO-2XR 1:1 transformer in today, have had it warming up for a few hours. Immediate impressions are, I absolutely appreciate the additional gain, even after fixing the tubes, I still felt like I was asking too much from my line stage. Beyond that, I can't quite describe what I'm finding as the difference other than it elevates the entire experience a notch or two. Visceral recordings (like the Rage S/T original Ludwig CD I'm listening to at the moment) become moreso, as if guitars gained a little bite and individual instruments seem to just be fleshed out a little better. This isn't a good imaging exercise. I think it made this DAC a touch more forward? And in saying that, I felt like it needed that little bit. It's not "polite" per se, and maybe it's because I needed to crank the system much more before than after the transformers, but it seems to have additional ease with which it puts forth sound, like I'm used to with my vinyl rig. That's the hardest part to describe, so take it with a grain of salt, I just know I like it, a lot, and am happy I took the plunge. It was a custom build to get XLR in, RCA out, from Cable Solutions. I paid $289 for the unit.
     
  20. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    Music recommendation for Y A2 magic on a decent 2-channel system: Ejdeha by Gordon Grdina's The Marrow (Songlines/Bandcamp). Oud, bass, cello, various drums. The well-defined soundstage placement of each string and drum beat, the "solidity" of the lower notes is remarkable.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2018

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