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Schiit Yggdrasil DAC, why did they change it ?

Back in 2017 Schiit Audio introduced a DAC they called a Yggdrasil. It was well received to say the least and The Absolute Sound said after a break in period it sounded as good as any DAC. Some time ago they changed it and right now there are 3 versions available on their website. They are Less is More, More is Better, and GS2 (Garage Sale 2). The prices are $2299, $2699, $1699 respectively after the recent price increase. The difference is the first 2 use gen 2 cards and GS2 uses gen1 cards. Each DAC has 4 of these cards and the gen 1 cards cost a lot more ( Schiit says Uber expensive ). The GS2 uses cards they got when people upgraded to the new DACs and they kept the gen 1 cards. Mike Moffat said in an interview he did not want to have a product that cost more than $2500. I think the original just became too expensive to build and that’s why they went with much cheaper TI cards. They claim the new DACs sound better after they did complicated math and engineering. I think the original sounded better and the GS2 is at least as good as the new ones. I’ve seen "want to buy" ads for the original. Having said all of the above I want to say I’m a big fan of Schiit Audio and use their Freya+ preamp and the GS2 DAC. The rest of my system is a PSAudio S300 Amp and Herbeth 30.2 XD speakers.

carl292

Showing 1 response by mulveling

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mulveling
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I had an original A1 (USB 3) and later an A2 (USB 5). Both sounded really, really good from coaxial inputs. On each new USB version they kept claiming it was finally "there" with traditional coax, but let me tell you - USB 3 and 5 both really sucked, so color me skeptical about the Unison (I know it’s been out a while now).

Both OG Yggys sounded much better than an OG Gumby - I don’t get anyone who claims to like that one better. It wasn’t close.

Both my OG Yggys developed issues that required repair from Schiit. One had a control board failure (no input / bitrate switching), the other a choke failed (no signal from outputs). It’s very rare I’ve had any electronic components with problems (other than very high voltage electrostatic headphone amps, which is a different animal), and I’ve had a LOT, so being 0 for 2 here really sucked.

I ended up with DACs I like better than Yggy OG (Phison PD2, Meridian UltraDAC), though at much greater expense. I think the OG does deliver on its promise of sound quality beyond its price point. I’ve read enough to concern me about the SQ of new LIM / etc models, I’ll just avoid them if I get an itch to own a Yggy again (not likely because of their failure history with me).

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