Schiit "Byggy" Yggdrasil Singular Early Impressions

Except some of the chicken nuggets came out uncooked in the middle

 

Yeah this is the 3rd time I've had problems with Schiit. I've reached out via email yesterday but zero response and their help webpage doesn't work when you hit submit (error). 2 byggys = 1 for me, 1 for wife's record room.

 

I've let them know the "problems page" isn't working.

I'm sure we'll get back to you soon and get everything sorted out.

 

Oh, remember that loose part that was rattling around in my upgraded Byggy? It wasn't a screw.



Schiit Support has already sent me a return label to send the unit back. I'm now twice as anxious to hear this Byggy when I get it back from the company. Be careful out there.

 

You should sha

Did you read about USB locking issues a bunch of us are having?

 

Just chiming in to say I've been using a JDS synapse Max with Biggy all week and it sounds freaking incredible no matter the source. Also no input issues with it. I now prefer how this DAC sounds over Unison compared to AES.

Maybe it's the slightly rounded transients and bit of phatness that Unison adds to what is a pretty neutral DAC. Now with the synapse the resolution has upped quite a bit but it still has those Unison characteristics. Good schiit!

(I've also been enjoying how synapse max sounds with my dongles. Ask me about my dongles!).

 

Probably not needed

 

Hard to tell from the photo but it looks like the solder broke on all three legs. The shipper most likely had Ace Ventura deliver your Byggy.

 

2 week check in:
The Byggy is awesome with speakers. It will be hard to go back to the A1/A2 boards because other than the R2R tonality you’re leaving many upgrades at the table. The presentation is smoother than say a week ago, and there’s a warmth to the music so you’ll need to tweak your chain accordingly if you like it more “neutral”. But the spatial moreness is still there.

One pleasant surprise for me was running estats. Where there was scratchiness, it’s a lot more tamed with the modded SRM007t. More enjoyable than when running things out of the A2. Don’t know why but I’ll take it.

With the Verite out of the excellent Cayin IHA-8 things feel controlled. Transients, speed, detail, space, etc.

With regards to the XLR vs the RCA, the difference is negligible at this point. I tried volume matching by ear on the Rag 2 and you can say that the margin of error may be down to different cables.

I also tried this with the Cinemag converter in the path for the Stax, and this was no bueno for my use case…too much. Yuck. The takeaway: don’t make your own personal sins of commission.

 

Just want to add: do I miss the A1/A2. Yes I do. But not so much that I’ll swap the boards at the moment.

I really want Schiit to come out with a multibit Byggy (discrete please!)

 

Agreed. I was close to preferring USB with MiB though. USB is by far the better input in my chain.

 

Wowsers it looks like there are a bunch of disparate data points with Unison USB on Byggy.

Looping in @Martin aka Armchairphilosopher on HF who is the Schiit sensei

I’m adding in that I’ve tried USB direct from RPi, iPad and now iPad via regular JDS Synapse all with zero issues (knock on wood).

In case anyone cares I’ve used regular Synapse with unison input on Byggy, Mimir and with Pietus Max DAC cards with zero issues too

 

I've been encouraged to share this story. In my mind, Schiit was highly reasonable throughout, and it is already resolved fairly, so just recounting the details for whatever value it may have. Hopefully it is helpful to someone and beneficial to Schiit. It's not criticism, as I can't say what should have been done differently other than "mistakes shouldn't happen" but they do and that's life.

After it started having intermittent clicking issues back in August, I sent my Yggdrasil A1 into Schiit for repair. This is an older model I purchased from an SBAF member years ago, completely out of warranty.

Schiit received the unit in September, and after a couple weeks resoldered the DSP chip and charged me $100, which seemed pretty reasonable.

However, Schiit forgot to put the screws back into the main board when they shipped it back.

With the board floating, one of the chokes tore off in shipping, banged around inside the Yggdrasil case, scratched the main board, dented capacitors on the DSP card, and scratched the chassis interior. Inspecting the choke, it seemed 50% of the solder points that connected the choke to the main board had also not been soldered, so it seemed probable it was weak to begin with also.

I complained to Schiit and they apologized and sent me a return label. I sent it back again in October, and a week later they confirmed the chassis was replaced and the broken choke replaced and repaired.

However, when I received the unit back again, it did not boot and was non-operational.

I took it apart and found that the ribbon cable was not properly cut and was covering a couple holes on the DSP board connection. I cut the excess off the ribbon and the unit booted. However, the dented capacitors on the DSP board were still there. I contacted Schiit and after getting another return label from them I sent the unit back a third time.

Frustrated, I requested Schiit make some gesture beyond make-good and they refunded me $50, half off the original $100 repair cost.

When the unit arrived back from the third repair there were no issues and it's been working fine. My third repair form was marked "In Warranty" while the other two were marked "NW" which I assume meant "No Warranty." I'm still waiting for Schiit to confirm if that was a mistake or they actually refreshed my warranty.

I'll add that my other Schiit repairs have gone smoother. When my Jotunheim 2 shorted out and threw smoke, and also when my Mjolnir 3's right channel died, they were repaired under warranty and returned without issues.

Pics after 1st repair:
https://imgur.com/a/h7NqasW

Pics after 2nd repair:
https://imgur.com/a/uXi4lXG

 

Did you guys see the post linked upthread from HF where @theveterans mentioned making sure USB power saving features were disabled in Device Manager (assuming you're using Windows) as a possible fix? Martin from Schiit confirmed it should work.

 

The issues I’m having are with Linux RPi distros (Ropieee and GentooPlayer) and I don’t think the power saver feature was enabled on the former.
Not a big deal for me, since I prefer S/PDIF from Mano-Ultra anyway.

 

I've used an Intona isolator between a mini-PC and a Holo DACs, but the same arrangement did not work with Byggy: the Byggy did not "see" the USB source. Direct USB from the mini-PC works. The mini-PC(s) involved were running either an HQP NAA image (Holo) or DietPi+RoonBridge as a Roon endpoint (Byggy).

 

(Quick impression on Day 13, with speakers)

1. The timpani now sound tuneful rather than just muddy thuds in many recordings. So Byggy lows not just hit fast and hard - it does so with fine textures.

2. The difference between digital attenuation and analog via the preamp is quite clear to me. I was hoping digital would be good enough to let me simplify my near-field setup used most often, but that's okay.

 

Is there a chance anyone would prefer the Gungnir 2 to the Byggdrasil?

 

No.

 

I do, actually. For headphones, I prefer G2. Sounds more than good enough, and it's more desk friendly in size.