Back to the DAC

I decided to hold off on my desire to buy a Playback Designs MPD-8 for a while. I may get a used one in a few years once people move on to the next best thing. I already have a PBD Plink based streamer in the house for day I get a MPD-8 DAC.

To hold me for the next few years I was looking to get another Schitt Yggi+ DAC. I have the "musical" Less Is More (LIM) and wanted my new DAC to be more detailed. My speaker is a bit warmer than the speaker in my LIM system.

It was suggested to me to go for the last remaining Schitt Yggi+ OG. So I got that yesterday DAC instead of the Yggi+ More Is Better (MIB) that I was initially inquiring about.

From your description of the sound you want and also because of your Gustard R2R DAC you own, I would think the LIM is what you would like of the 3 Yggi+’s that I considered.

You can do a home demo of the LIM and MIB for 15-days. If it works out, you save a lot of money. The OG I got yesterday was the last one they had to sell. The LIM can be changed to the MIB, and maybe MIB to LIM for $850. I now have 2 Yggi+’s for the next few years.

Another warm-ish DAC for under $3k is the Musetec 005. Though I like the LIM more.

BTW - my last DAC before the LIM cost $15K. I think the LIM is better, even though I normally do not go for the "musical" thing for DACs.

You should be able to sell the Merot for the $4k. It has high resale value.

If your system is a bit bright, like my Magnepan LRS+. Then the LIM sounds really good on it. However, there are some who feel it is not very good. All I know is that it works really well with my brighter LRS+ but not perfectly with my warmer Yamaha NS5000. Now those comments are really about my perception.

Since it worked so well with my LRS+ I wanted the same pedigree DAC with a bit less of that "musicality" for my NS5000. I hope I get that with the OG version that I should get delivery this week. This is also a discontinued DAC but I learned why it was discontinued from someone at Schitt. So that did not stop me from buying the last one.

The PBD Merlot is also a discontinued DAC and was one I was looking to get for a short time if it worked with my PBD streamer’s Plink, it did not.

I'm suprised to see you said the PBD Merlot didn't work with your PLink based streamer. I used it with the PBD outboard streamer and later with another streamer and the PBD USB-X4 and Plink input with no issues. Best...

I never bought the Merlot, but my research indicated that there was a version change and the Stream-IF that I own would not work via Plink on the Merlot. I use the Stream-IF via SPDIF on my Benchmark DAC3B. It is a great streamer, even on SPDIF.

If I am wrong not a biggie since my eventual goal is to go with the MPD-6 or MPD-8. 

It looks like the Yggi+ OG I ordered yesterday may arrive tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how it fairs with the LIM.

I never said that last part on the Gungnir.

My friend’s opinion on audio is like gold to me. The dude is a savant when it comes to audio. He came over to my place and heard the LIM with my big system, the Yamaha NS5000. It was not great with that slightly warmer system. I ended up using the Benchmark DAC3B for the rest of the listening and we both liked it more than the LIM combination. However, we both feel the DAC3B is just an OK DAC and too hot on top. He has the DAC3B in his lab.

Moving the LIM to my brighter office system which has the LRS+ and the Sanders Magtech made for an excellent combination. I listen to this system every day for hours. I know I can get more detail but I am loving the sounds as is.

The Yggi+ DAC is better than the DAC3B in many ways. That is why I have the more detailed OG on order for the Yamaha NS5000.

The LIM reminds me of the Sony SCD-1 SACD player I owned for 20-years. It was modded and an exceptional player. It was not the most detailed (compared to modern DACs), but the enjoyment factor was very high with it. The LIM is similar that way.

The main guy at Playback Designs was involved in the creation of the Sony SCD-1 so that is a big reason I am interested in the MPD-8 DAC sometime in the future.

BTW - the reason I got the OG over the MIB that I was initially planning to get was that a guy at Schitt, who is a musician, spoke to me at length why he though the OG was the best DAC Schitt ever made, he hated the LIM. So, take that as another data point.

Easy thing with Schitt is you can do a home demo. Just run your streamer for 24 x 15 and hear it for yourself. It will cost a few bucks to restock.

I got my Schiit Yggi+ OG today and burning it in my office system. First with the Leafs-Bruins hockey game and now music.

It likely needs a bit of time before it shines. However, it does sound rather good so far. 

I found this review today, and it has some good history on Mike Moffet.

Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DAC - The Absolute Sound  (Robert Harley)

Now this quote is getting interesting. I did not realize this DAC could be great. 

I can’t tell you how Moffatt did it, but I can describe how the Yggy sounds, and why its one of the three best DACs I’ve heard regardless of price. (The other two are the $19,500 Berkeley Alpha Reference and the $35,000 dCS Vivaldi. I suspect that the MSB Select is outstanding, after hearing it many times at shows, but I haven’t evaluated it in my own system.)

I see you have a CODA #8 and a CODA preamp. Well, I can help there since I owned the latest CODA #8 and the CODA 07x. I no longer have those 2 since I upgraded to the CODA #16 and the Holo Serene preamp. This is a lot better than the #8 and the 07x. These 2 units are on my Yamaha NS5000 speaker and now the Schitt OG joins them. I initially tried the LIM in this system, and it was too warm. I would think you would feel the same but some people like it warm. The OG is breaking in but it has more sparkle on the top that I was wanting.

On my upstairs system I have the Benchmark HPA4 preamp, Sanders Magtech amp, and the Magnepan LRS+. I like the Magtech more than the CODA #8. I heard both the fresh out of the box Schitt OG and the fully broken in LIM on this system and they both sounded good. The OG had more details while the LIM had a warmer tone.

The DAC that Robert Harley of TAS was raving about was the OG that I got yesterday. The review is for the older version of the Yggi OG. It was upgraded to plus status after that review. It has potential, since I did some late-night listening yesterday with my RAAL CA-1a phone and the VM-1a tube amp and it was the best I have heard from it. Though the gain on the OG and the VM-1a is not a perfect match and not something I will use together.

If you were to get a NEW Yggi+ DAC from Schitt you would be limited to the LIM and MIB. The MIB is more similar to the OG that I got. I got the last OG they sold.

Since the OG sounded good with the LRS+ I am thinking I might upgrade the LIM to the MIB in a few months after I do some extensive listening.

BTW - I considered Briscati and Chord in the past. The Chord was intriguing because of the designer seemed innovative, similar in experience as Playback Designs, Rockna, and Schitt. There are a lot of companies taking a chip and shaping the sound. Like sticking drivers on a box. I like a bit of innovation for my gear.

I agree that that source is the most important. However, when it comes to DACs I also feel it is the least important.  That is because for my money the laws of diminishing returns apply to DACs more than most components. 

I have a great local FM station and I have 3 tuners in 2 systems. The sonics are very good on all of them with 2 of them being modded vintage units.  The difference between those 2 and my Magnum Dynalab MD108T, which cost about $8k, is very large. It is not diminishing returns for my source tuners.

I only got 20+ hours on my new low cost Yggi+ OG DAC and the thing sounds great. I would need to go up very high in the cost scale to do better. Say $20k for a Playback Designs. I had a $15k DAC for a year and the OG is better. Point is that there can be great savings on the DAC. All the DACs discussed on this thread are more than capable performers. 

USB supposed to be the best input on the Yggi+. Ethernet is usually my least preferred on the DACs I have owned, especially when using something like a Sonore Optical Rendu streamer beats that easily.

I have used those DAC savings on my amps, and I found that there was a very big difference in performance. 

BTW - if one is interested in treatments without the treatments take a look at Mitch Barnetts offering for Convolution filters. Not sure if Aurrender supports it. Roon and JRiver support it.

Digital Room Calibration Services, Convolver, Headphone Filtersets (accuratesound.ca)

Mitch is from Vancouver area, and he remotely did genius level work on my room in California. We needed to fix my Thiel CS3.7 first. I could hear 1 issue, but he identified so many others.

I tried to do the DSP myself after starting to read his book. I was smart enough to realize how dumb I am in that realm. Luckily, he started offering the remote service. I no longer use his filters in my office. I have ugly acoustic panels and I moved things around. I also have different speakers in the room so a new set of measurements would have been needed.

Accurate Sound Reproduction Using DSP: Barnett, Mitch: 9781520977904: Amazon.com: Books

The headphone folks are also big fans for Mitch.

I am curious as to how my Livingroom system would sound with Mitches fitters. I am going to try it out once I have taken care of other matters.

The Schitt URD is interesting and similar to the D.BOB I have for SACD/CD

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in Texas and California ($1300)

The URD is a transport with streaming bypass that will allow you to use your Briscasti M1 SE.

My D.BOB is similar but I use a used $250 OPPO player to take DSD or PCM via HDMI into my DAC.

Read up on the D.BOB on Stereophile or some other places. Mine cost $650 but it has gone up in price to $1k. Excellent way to listen to CD's and SACD's. My frame of reference is the great Sony SCD-1 SACD player (modded), which died after 20+ years.

BTW - that Yggi+ OG DAC I got now has about 100 hours on it and I am done DAC shopping for the Livingroom. Amazing sound.

Yggi+ OG | Benchmark HPA4 preamp | CODA #16 | Yamaha NS5000 speakers

I am not going to spend $15k-$24k on a better DAC as was the original plan.

CD transport, unless it’s the caliber of Audio Note or Jays Audio

Do not see the need for such high caliber transport when the output is HDMI (DSD or PCM). 

My DACs do not have HDMI either.

The HDMI I refer to is the output from the transport. In my case the transport is a used $250 OPPO Blu-ray player. That HDMI goes into the D.BOB. The D.BOB outputs SPDIF, which I expect any DAC you buy to have. The DAC ouput goes into your preamp.

This is reference level SACD and CD sound for under $1k for me. I am comparing this to the reference level Sony SCD-1 modded by Vacuum State.