Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Review

[audio5]

Thank you Dan for insightful review,can't resist the urge to get one.
What is your take on sony Hirez line Ta-ZH 1ES and walkman 1Z signature series?
Sami

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by ylee

Wow, what a great review Dan. Honestly, you give the best reviews on AA. I appreciate your patience and attention to detail in describing the Yggdrasil for us to benefit from. I like unconventional and/or unique design approaches when it comes to audio equipment. I think that's why I have the eclectic collection of gear I own and enjoy.

The Schiit DAC is something I'm considering getting in 2019 after I scratch the power conditioning/regenerating itch in 2018. The Yggy is pretty inexpensive relative to most high end gear. You can't go wrong in buying one as it will give it's own insight into music we own/stream. Bits aren't just bits, and each DAC design has its unique sound qualities. That said, I'm looking forward to other reviews you post in the future.

Yong.......Thank you for the compliment. A Yggdrasil DAC in your system will seriously raise the performance. If the source is not right, nothing beyond it will fix it. The Yggdrasil will make you wonder how you ever lived without it.

[chessman]

Dan, I have read your fine review twice - the first time out of curiosity about the Yggy and the second time for the sheer joy of reading such excellent writing. I have effusively complimented your prior efforts, but this one exceeds even those. One hell of an outstanding job! Bravo!!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by chessman

Dan, I have read your fine review twice - the first time out of curiosity about the Yggy and the second time for the sheer joy of reading such excellent writing. I have effusively complimented your prior efforts, but this one exceeds even those. One hell of an outstanding job! Bravo!!

Randy.......What a nice compliment. Thank you very much. I read the review a few times too. Pretty good, if I don't say so myself.

[JWH]

Originally Posted by jdandy

JHW.......If you mean does the Yggdrasil sound like real voices and real instruments, then yes it is extremely analog. There is nothing in the sound that tells me the music I am enjoying is digital. That's how analog the Yggdrasil sounds to my ears.

Exactly, we read so often about digital’s infiriotity to vinyl in the audio magazines. I’d love to A-B the Yggdrasil to vinyl with the same recording. I’ve done this in the past with DS dacs and vinyl was the clear winner. I suspect that the Yggdrasil may be close if not just as good.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jdandy

JHW.......If you mean does the Yggdrasil sound like real voices and real instruments, then yes it is extremely analog. There is nothing in the sound that tells me the music I am enjoying is digital. That's how analog the Yggdrasil sounds to my ears.

I think that Serge and I can safely say the same applies to Yggy's smaller brother, Gumby, which is no slouch, either. I would put Gumby up with D/S DACs costing $8K-$10K.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by JWH

Exactly, we read so often about digital’s infiriotity to vinyl in the audio magazines. I’d love to A-B the Yggdrasil to vinyl with the same recording. I’ve done this in the past with DS dacs and vinyl was the clear winner. I suspect that the Yggdrasil may be close if not just as good.

It's going to be pretty hard to tell them apart, is my guess.

[PHC1]

Comparing a DAC to Vinyl is rather difficult and perhaps pointless for the simple reason that for $2300 you are experiencing top notch performance from digital (in the case of Schiit Yggdrasil at least) with very little to no gain in performance stepping up to a DAC at 10x the price due to steep diminishing returns. It will simply be a different flavor with the much more expensive DAC since the fundamentals are already present and there are no compromises in the design at the $2300 level of Yggdrasil.

The spread of performance is much wider with vinyl. Where does one begin to compare? A $750 cartridge? A $15k cartridge? Tonearm? Table itself? Will an SME at $20k all setup compete? Maybe a $150k table? I can tell you from personal experience that a meticulously setup SME20.2 with SME IV arm and a Dynavector cartridge vinyl rig at $20k can not match the absolute performance of the $1250 Schiit Gungnir Multibit. So it is clear that the two can not be compared on absolute levels.

Now, of course I am implying a good quality recording on both digital and vinyl that can actually be compared and make sense to compare. If we get into the different flavor of analog vs digital, that is a different story, here, personal preference comes into play. It is however worth mentioning that there is no setup issues with a DAC but there are plenty with vinyl and even a perfectly optimized table will still leave room for error and inherent flaws of vinyl playback.

The goal and what I imagine most of us strive for is the relaxed and natural sounding playback, not so much colored but accurate yet musical and based on what I am hearing and what other owners are reporting on Schiit Multibit, including Dan’s wonderful review and feedback is that Schiit Multibit does sound accurate and natural and yet musical as we have come to describe these terms because digital did not always sound musical...

[jdandy]

Serge.......I agree with you completely. The variables between the mechanisms necessary for vinyl playback versus digital playback are enormous. There are discrepancies associated with vinyl setup that plaque the format no matter how well the critical adjustments have been made. Add to that the performance swings between phono cartridges, tonearms, phono stage preamplifiers, accuracy of RIAA equalization, suspension and isolation, tonearm resonance, the list goes on and on. Making a meaningful comparison of the same song played on vinyl with the same song played from a digital source is not done on a level playing field, hence a waste of time in my opinion. Experiments like this are best suited to owners who wish to play with their own systems. The results will never be universal.

What I can say about the Yggdrasil DAC is it produces a fully fleshed out musical experience where instruments, percussion, voices, harmonics, dynamics, and ambiance are faithfully reproduced in such a way as to leave me feeling like I have experienced a live performance. The sound is refreshingly real and emotionally engaging. I really can't ask for more.

[jdandy]

I have continued to keep the Yggdrasil fed with music files from the Aurender N100H. It now has 604 hours of break-in logged. I spent two hours this afternoon enjoying music. I replayed the same five songs I have used throughout the the break-in process. I no longer detect any perceptible change in the Yggdrasil's sound since it past the 500 hours mark. Quite frankly I can't imagine the Yggy sounding better than it does right now. I know it is digital source code but there is analog sound in my room. Each time a song begins I feel touched on an emotional level by the sheer musical nature of the Yggdrasil's sound. This is a sensational DAC.