The schiits about to hit the fan!

madmax

I have been seriously considering one of these DACs. http://schiit.com/products/yggdrasil

Has anyone considered the differences between todays typical sigma delta dacs and this type of R2R dac design? The reviews by typical forum members on various sites are absolute raves over the product.

vmaxer

Buy it and provide a full review

Polkie2009

Lol, I was intrigued til I saw that price on it.

madmax

They have a cheaper one for $1250 also. http://schiit.com/products/gungnir
You have to select the "multi-bit" model.

madmax

vmaxer wrote: »

Buy it and provide a full review

I went ahead and took your advice. On backorder for 3 weeks though. Some of us should not be allowed credit cards...

It was a tossup between the Mytec Brooklyn, a Benchmark and the Schiit. The Mytec is well known for sound quality and will support MQA when firmware is available, everyone knows Benchmark is a winner, and then there is the Schiit. Past experience with the Schiit headphone amps and most recently their Ragnarok amp (which just got a more than excellent review in Stereophile as well as some other publications) pushed me towards it.

[Deleted User]

as always, pics and review(s) very much appreciated.

MrBuhl

That's nice Schiit!

FTGV

It appears they put considerable effort into designing the analog output stages and power supplies.I would think these would have at least as much if not more influence on sound quality as the chosen dac chip.

madmax

I'm excited about it, now just need to push it out of my mind for a few weeks while waiting.

madmax

Interesting review of the Schiit DAC. http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/670-schiit-audio-yggdrasil-multibit-dac-review/

tonyb

Sounds interesting, accept too much emphasis seems to be put on the acoustical side of things. How about good old Rock ? I'm also a tad concerned on the absence of air around the instruments. Most chase that characteristic.

If it can hold water against dacs 7 times it's price, then indeed it would be a bargain. I'm always leary of such claims though.

madmax

Yeah, both questions weigh on my mind also.

tonyb

Frankly Ken, I could care less if it was made on Jupiter. I'm not knocking it, just pointing out observations from the reviews posted. I have no doubt it's a class act, but comparing to dacs in the 16k category seems a bit like Emotiva reviews wouldn't you say ?

DaveHo

Have an asgard 2 myself. Love it! That DAC is some expensive Schitt!

heiney9

tonyb wrote: »

Sounds interesting, accept too much emphasis seems to be put on the acoustical side of things. How about good old Rock ? I'm also a tad concerned on the absence of air around the instruments. Most chase that characteristic.

If it can hold water against dacs 7 times it's price, then indeed it would be a bargain. I'm always leary of such claims though.

I am always leery of a Computer blog reviewing audio gear. Not that it should be totally discounted..............just take it in context of what it is.

H9

madmax

heiney9 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

I am always leery of a Computer blog reviewing audio gear.

Me too, and there are tons of reviews out there on it. I chose that one because it explained pretty well what the thought was behind using that type of a 21bit dac. For now I'll assume it sounds like schiit until I know better, I have no pony in the show and can always ship it back.

Oh, and please tonyb don't ever compare Schiit to Emotiva, made me throw up just a little.

EndersShadow

madmax wrote: »

Oh, and please tonyb don't ever compare Schiit to Emotiva, made me throw up just a little.

What about if we say "Emotiva aint Schitt" I think thats rather appropriate hehehe

heiney9

I hear ya Mad Max, I've bought a couple things solely based on user written reviews. Of course we can tell right out of the gates if the product is worthy of consideration based on the company, build, parts, design philosophy, etc. etc.

The true test is evaluating it in one's rig.

Anxious to hear the results. Although my Eastern Electric Dac Plus is phenomenal, so I'm no longer looking for a dac.

H9

madmax

What about if we say "Emotiva aint Schitt" I think thats rather appropriate hehehe



I think you have hit on it!

madmax

While looking at the specs of the Benchmark vs Mytek vs Schitt I notice the power requirements are quite different. While the Benchmark uses 15 watts of AC power the Schiit uses 35 watts. I notice the differences in weight are 4 pounds for the Benchmark and Mytek while the Schiit is 35 pounds. From the pics it seems this is due to several huge transformers. I'm wondering what kind of schiit is going on in this thing to make it use so much power?

madmax

I think I figured it out by looking at the pics and reading about the other DACs. Those big transformers, although being much quieter than a switching supply are not nearly as energy efficient.

madmax

I received the new DAC on Friday, two weeks sooner than expected! People say a 2 week minimum break-in period, powered continuously is a minimum, otherwise it sounds pretty bad. Well, right after connecting it sounded pretty bad, which I expected. I let it go in a bedroom and only returned periodically to see what it sounded like.

After about 4 hours it was still sounding like total crap.

Then next day it was a little smoother but still harsh and very irritating to hear.

Sunday evening (2 days burn-in) the sound was big and full, very impressive. I have never heard my system sound this good! It was really sounding like Schiit at this point!

Monday evening it was extremely thin sounding, no midrange to speak of and a very etched sounding treble.

I guess it will be a rollercoaster ride for the next two weeks!

I have been using an old, but very high fidelity transport to feed the DAC. It often gets confused on which track its playing and how many more tracks are left but its great for hearing detail like I've not often heard.

heiney9

It's amazing what a roller coaster breaking in either new gear or gear that has sat idle for a long time. I noticed it recently with some Dexa discrete op-amp I installed in my dac. Finally after about 80 hours they are settled, but it was a roller coaster ride.

H9

tonyb

madmax wrote: »

I received the new DAC on Friday, two weeks sooner than expected! People say a 2 week minimum break-in period, powered continuously is a minimum, otherwise it sounds pretty bad. Well, right after connecting it sounded pretty bad, which I expected. I let it go in a bedroom and only returned periodically to see what it sounded like.

After about 4 hours it was still sounding like total crap.

Then next day it was a little smoother but still harsh and very irritating to hear.

Sunday evening (2 days burn-in) the sound was big and full, very impressive. I have never heard my system sound this good! It was really sounding like Schiit at this point!

Monday evening it was extremely thin sounding, no midrange to speak of and a very etched sounding treble.

I guess it will be a rollercoaster ride for the next two weeks!

I have been using an old, but very high fidelity transport to feed the DAC. It often gets confused on which track its playing and how many more tracks are left but its great for hearing detail like I've not often heard.

Your observations are much aligned with mine. Could be the one I heard was not fully broken in yet as well, now that you mentioned it. Hope it gets better with some time on it.

madmax

On Sunday I found out just how good this system can sound, it was such a let down to hear it had gone away the next day. I'm still in high hopes that it comes back.

madmax

Back to big, bold and full on Tuesday, 4 days of break-in.

madmax

After about 5 days the rollercoaster seems to had stabilized. From 5 days to 8 days the sound has continually refined, the treble keeps getting smoother and the bass has become very big sounding, as if the litte KEF LS50s have become large floor standers. The soundstage has expanded way beyond the speakers as well.

Schiit recommends at least 2 weeks or more to completely burn in. I am very impressed with the sound I have today. If it gets any better I may just schiit myself.

Mr_Hz

Now you have me thinking... I was on the path thinking a Bryston BDA-2, or if I could wait and save the extra $$$, a BDA-3. What I took away from the CA review was this:

"However, the more I listened the more I thought it's entirely plausible that the Yggdrasil could be on the right side of history, if you know what I mean. The multibit topology in the Yggdrasil eliminates the Sigma-Delta problem, <which> is pre and post ringing."

Pre & Post ringing, that DSP mathematical postulation which is said to rob the DtoA conversion of some realism or such. Its what Meridian sought to over come with their Apodising filter which they introduced in their 80X.x reference series players for (current price) $20K +.... to great critical review, btw.

Doing a bit more reading and research, but I think I found my future DACs....!

muncybob

Man, you would think after spending a fair amount of $$ on gear you would not have to wait a fortnight for the damned stuff to sound like it should!

madmax

When I purchased this DAC it was my thought to return it if I found any reason whatsoever that it didn't please me fully. For the first week I left the packaging in the hallway because the initial sound really sucked due to no break-in period. After the first week it all smoothed out and sounded great. Still, I left the packaging sitting there in the hallway. Over the second week the sound got better and better. Finally, it was worth carrying the packaging down into the basement as this thing isn't going anywhere! Its the last DAC I will own unless some new truely amazing breakthrough of technology comes along in the future. I haven't owned a lot of DACs but I do know what sounds good, and this one sounds good.

madmax

muncybob wrote: »

Man, you would think after spending a fair amount of $$ on gear you would not have to wait a fortnight for the damned stuff to sound like it should!

Had to look up fortnight. Ha ha.

I've had several pieces of gear that took a few weeks to break in. Preamps I understand because you are dealing with very small signals and high gains so any small physical changes in the capacitors or inductors can be dramatic. The dac I guess I understand too because the DAC chip itself is a high precision measurement device which must be at temp with no other changes going on to operate within limits.

Even so, it would be nice to turn stuff on the first time and know what it sounds like. Another great reason to buy used!