Gumby vs Yggy

yeah plus I was pretty stoked about buying the Gumby with the gen5 usb card, was supposed to negate the need for any intermediate device.

Sorry, thought Gumby implied multibit. I’ve read several reviews comparing the Arcam as being very close to the Gungnir ds so I was actually thinking they mislabeled this as a Gumby. 

Wow....that's a big statement!!! Or get that tube amp I'm dreaming of lol. But seriously, shouldn't a good computer with good software be a "good" source. I looked at the Auralic streamers and they are doable. My Mac with Audirvana is much better than streaming directly from my iPad Pro. 

Thanks gdhal!! I think that’s what disappointed me, all the Gumby and Yggy reviews tell of huge sonic gains and talked of the multibit “magic”. Don’t get me wrong, it sounded great, but so does my Arcam. Some songs favored one or the other but very comparable. And yes it was powered up with music streaming through it 24/7 for ten days straight. Source was Tidal through Audirvana.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, I appreciate the feedback. Well the Gumby is back in the system, probably to stay. There is just something about the sound that I can't put my finger on....smoothness...air...less fatigue?? I find myself missing it when the Arcam is back in the system. Maybe I'm just nuts lol.

I'm still very much open to the idea of a dedicated streamer, kinda surprised that there really aren't a lot of options. Aurender is out of my $$ comfort zone, Auralic is doable, surprised they discontinued the Mini. Bluesound Node 2? I very much prefer something with built in wifi.

Anyway, with the gen5 usb board on the Gumby, I figure my MacBook/Audirvana should be fine for now. I really want to try a tube amp next. Got my eye on a Primaluna Prologue 5 which should be a very nice match for my modest system. 

ya got to keep rubbing it in about the Yggy gdhal lol

That's good news, thanks ghosthouse!!

gdhal, no offense at all, was just teasing ;-) sorry if it came across as anything but!!

The Gungnir I bought was multibit, most refer to this model as the Gumby. I think I'm going to pop the cover off to verify what board is inside. The tiny sticker on back does say it's multibit but there really is no way to tell from the outside.

I popped the cover and it's got the correct multibit board in there.

I left it powered on and processing music streams for a solid week before I was very critical with it. At which time I started with the tweaks, power cord, usb vs optical, isolation stand etc. There certainly isn't a wow factor with this upgrade, but like I said yesterday...I miss it when I switch back to my old dac. I don't expect any more changes due to burn in at this point. I guess it's like gdhal said that if you notice big changes then there was a problem to begin with. The Arcam is a killer dac for the money. Perhaps others with better ears/equipment will notice a more stark difference. My experience has been much more subtle, but still pleasant none the less. 

Thanks everyone for the feedback and help. I ended up keeping it :) I also put my old Threshold S200 back into the system and things are sounding pretty nice. I guess I really should be looking at a proper streamer.

Has anyone used a Bryston BDP-1 USB with the Gumby....it may be a perfect match with the new Gen5 usb board? And it's reasonably priced.