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

As an owner of a Yggdrasil+ GS2, I may have happened on a set of wild A2 Yggdrasil boards. Is it safe to presume that if I were to purchase them, I could simply open the chassis and install them and everything would work properly coming from the A1 boards in the GS2 to the A2? I keep hearing conflicting info and would like to make sure it wouldn't require a front panel flash or ROM Chip or something to get the A2 card working.

Any help would be appreciated, I've been looking to try an A2 for a while, and this would prevent me from purchasing a whole separate Yggdrasil in order to try it out.

Thank you experienced SBAFers

 

Looking forward to your impressions! I think you'll like the umami.

 

After reading up a bit more, it's looking like I'll need an updated ROM chip from Schiit to make the A2 boards work with the new slim chassis' front panel. Anyone do this before?

 

(tl;dr: you shouldn't need to get a new chip to go from A1 boards to A2 boards if you started with a GS2+ Yggdrasil)

So I would just email Schiit support to confirm. It is getting a bit confusing. Here is my understanding, though. This is as of only recently when Schiit began to put out different firmware chips for the Yggdrasil+ chassis vs. the non-+ chassis in response to users having problems with using the + chassis revision chips in the non-+ chassis. So as of now there are:

- 2 EEPROM firmware chips for LIM, one for the + chassis and one for the non-+ old chassis.
- Same as above, but for MIB.
- Same as above but one + chassis chip and one non-+ chassis chip that will work for both A1/GS *and* A2/OG.

So basically you should be okay, in theory, to just plug in the A2 boards and not swap the EEPROM, because the GS2+ EEPROM should work for both A1 boards AND A2 boards in the newer + chassis. Again, confirm with Schiit if possible, though.

EDIT: Ignore the above. As @roderickvd pointed out, the Yggdrasil+ chassis EEPROM/firmware chip is universal and works for ALL Yggdrasil boards. So if you have a Yggdrasil+, you should be able to plug in ANY of the circulating Yggdrasil boards -- A1, A2, MIL (eh, maybe double check with Schiit here, not many MIL boards out there), MIB, or LIM -- into a Yggdrasil+ and have them work without swapping out the firmware chip.

If you have an old, non-Yggdrasil+ chassis, there is a separate EEPROM firmware chip you will need for LIM, MIL, and MIB, but there is only *one* chip (sort of, see below) that will work for *either* A1 or A2. This A1/A2 chip that works for both sets of boards in the old non-Yggdrasil+ chassis sometimes has a sticker with "YD218" on top of it, and is also known as the "GS firmware" when used with the A1 boards.

The only wild card in the above is that there is still the older A1-only EEPROM chip floating around with the original, non-updated firmware on it (so still with the original A1 "glitch" that the GS firmware "fixed") but Schiit themselves are unlikely to be sending that out to anyone, and it probably only works in the non-+ chassis, again with A1 cards only. The only case in which you might have this EEPROM chip and need to ask Schiit for a new one if moving to A2 with a non-+ chassis (or wanting to "upgrade" to the non-glitched "GS" firmware for A1) is if you find yourself in possession of a very old, original Yggdrasil, like pre-2017 or so, when A2 was introduced. They are still in the wild, though, if you find a used A1 Yggdrasil, for instance, or if you bought your Yggdrasil that far back and did no upgrading.

The long and short of it is if you're not sure what chip you have and are trying to go from A1 to A2 with an old non-+ Yggdrasil chassis, your best bet is to swap out the EEPROM with a new chip before putting in A2 boards.

 

@

I didn't upgrade from A1 to A2. But upgrade from A1 to LIM. Along with the boards you'll get a ROM chip; you don't want to be installing one and not the other

 

Shouldn't all of the Yggdrasil+ chips be the same at this point?

I acquired a Yggdrasil+ LIM. Swapping in A2 boards worked fine with the same ROM chip.

Then I bought MIB cards. They came with a ROM chip in the box, which looked the same as was already in my Yggdrasil+, so I left in untouched. Now all three A2/LIM/MIB can play fine from the same ROM chip.

It's confusing - as much I vouch that it's all fine on my side, I also read some recent posts on HF pointing in the other direction.

Edit: this here by Jason.

 

I can confirm this. No EEPROM needed for the GS2+ @Nick76. I dropped in A2 cards in mine no problem. I know another person that is not on SBAF who dropped the new MIB cards in with no issue as well.

 

Awesome, first real confirmation I’ve got that it works, thank you! Green light to go ahead and cop the boards. Excited to have some impressions

 

Thanks for pointing this out, give me a bit and I’ll update my post to reflect the universal chip for the + chassis so I don’t confuse people further.

 

A2 boards are in! Dropped right into the GS2 with no problem. No firmware or ROM chip needed. Warming up but immediately noticing deeper and wider staging and more mid-bass warmth. Tonally, it's reminding me of how I remember Bifrost 2 OG sounded off the bat. Excited to hear how it changes over next couple of days.

 

Enjoy! Agreed on the tonality similar to the BF2 OG... a certain thickness that I can definitely see people taking a liking to. Me, having enjoyed all of the BF2 OG, BF2/64, Yggdrasil A2, Yggdrasil LIM and Yggdrasil MIB, that has definitely been a road of self-discovery to learn I prefer the Texas Instruments-powered DACs.

Thanks for sharing the data point on the ROM chip, too.

 

Late to this party and THANK YOU all for posting here on this topic because unfortunately, Schiit support is pretty poor with regard to understanding what customers like us are trying to do (which is simply swap our boards). Despite several emails to Schiit support about this intent as recently as today, and over the last year-ish, they have not understood this simple idea (swap my boards like you're all doing) and even after my upgrade to the Yggdrasil+ which I explained in my email questions, they're telling me I need the EEPROM chip for my LiM boards in the new Yggdrasil+ I just bought. ***SIGH*** What a sour taste for a brand I've been very pleased with for so long.

Hope others have better luck. Thanks again, @internethandle @roderickvd and the rest of you. I expect that once my MiB is done burning in after a week or two, I may likely switch back to LiM as the "delicate" sound of MiB, while outstanding, is not as engaging and musically fun as LiM or A2. And while I remember the move from A2 to LiM involved trade-offs, the overall LiM sound is what I prefer. We'll see though - still have several more days of burn in on MiB before I try to recoup the cost. (Factory installed, not returnable.)

 

Update 7/27 - Just posted my impressions in the other MiB thread. TL;DR is ten days of burn-in and switching from AES to USB input has turned me around. MiB is a keeper for me (speaker system) and the emotional connection I had with my LiM in the system is back. Thanks again all for helping to persuade me to give MiB a try and sticking with it.

 

Hi.
As I understood - its possible upgrade from A1 to LIM ( in old chasis A1) without any firm installation?
Just plug and play?

 

No, the old chassis will require a ROM chip from Schiit to swap LIM in. The newer Yggdrasil+ chassis is a different story as it has a universal ROM chip.

 

Is it possible swap ROM chip at home?Or only with schiit help?

 

Yep, it just pops in and out. I've circled it in this picture

 

Thanks for info!

 

Calculated price for upgrade to LIM - with shipping and taxes (EU) same price like used bifrost 2/64.
Is it big difference will be between 2/64 and LIM card in Yggi?

 

LIM and 2/64 are vastly different presentations, so I'd be hesitant to shop them against each other. They each suite different synergies.