I purchased this dac a few months back and I am absolutely blown away by how much I enjoy listening to it. I have owned a Bi-dat, Ayre QB DSD, Resolution Audio, PS Audio and many others as well as in home demo of very expensive Chord, Aesthetics and DCS gear. Nothing has sounded this good in my room in my system( Devore Fidelity, Line Magnetic - other products I absolutely love). Please forgive my lack of detailed description and hyperbole as I know many of us hear and experience reproduced sound differently so you might hate it. This is just a recommendation to try it. I am so glad I did. and wanted to share my experience.
henrykrinkle; please respond with your impression of this when you can. I am also interested in this piece. Also interested in the Yamaha cd s 2100, but cant find much about it.
Thanks for that feedback Spencer. That's exactly what I was looking for.
I didn't mean to imply Schiit products are not well built. I've only become aware of the Schiit brand recently and I really don't know much about them. I don't know if their products are well built or not, that's why I was asking for feedback from others.
As a former PS dac owner, and current Schiit dac owner IMHO, there is absolutely no quality drop going from PS to Schiit. Sonics merits of every model is different and I haven't heard the Directstream Jr. I own other PS products and have nothing but praise for Paul & his company. But, your comments seem to imply that because of price the Schiit must not be well built. Not true. They sell direct, their is less markup.
The guys behind Schiit were responsible for Theta and other high end gear that was higher priced when marketed thru typical dealer base. They aren't just making value stuff. They are making some of the best sounding gear at selling it for uncommonly fair pricing. Their used gear sells faster & at higher percent of original than most. Cheers, Spencer
I have had a PS Audio DirectStream DAC now for about 18 months and still love the unit. One thing I really like about it is that firmware upgrades improve its performance (in my experience these sorts of upgrades usually only modify the features). It's easy to apply these firmware upgrades, and if you like, can revert back to an older version (which I have never done).
The DirectStream Junior has the same sort of firmware upgrade process, is supposed to sound "85% as good as a DirectStream DAC". I suspect you'll be smitten with its sound as well.
The hard drive on my media server had some corrupted files on it. While it's been back to the factory for a "refresh" I snagged a PS Audio PerfectWave transport, with the I2S (HDMI) cable into the DirectStream DAC, it's the best sounding combination I've ever experienced. Excellent detail!
I’m having a hard time deciding between the Gungnir multibit, the Yggy, and possibly doing a trade-in with PS Audio and going for a Direct Stream Junior. A wide price range, I know. The Direct Stream Junior would be a stretch money wise for me, yet it is so tempting.
What’s the build quality of the Yggy & Gungnir like?
Is the Direct Stream Junior comparable to the higher end Shiit DACs, or is it in a different league?
+1 for all the raves on the Yggy. For those on a tighter budget, the newer multibit version of Schiit's Gungnir (or the old one + factory upgrade) go a long way towards the tech & sound of the Yggy at $1249. Very pleased with Schiit Audio and these dacs in particular. Really astounding value. Cheers, Spencer
I've had several DACs over the years, most recently the Wyred4sound DAC2. For those looking for a reasonably priced DAC and don't care about DSD or preamp functions, this DAC sounds unlike anything else I have ever heard. Detail, soundstage, realism...as others have said, it just sounds so different. If using USB, I found a good USB cable and the addition of a Wyred4sound Recovery an additional benefit.
I heard at one guy’s house,wasn’t impressed at all. Modern DACs from the big manufacturers are all damn good nowadays, there’s no point in spending big bucks on a DAC. Make sure the DAC you get can do NOS mode though, that is the key.
I've been preaching this all along that R2R Ladder Multibit dacs have it all over DSD (Delta Sigma) dacs for "Redbook" replay conversion. As they are "bit perfect" in their conversion, and not a facsimile of it, like DSD Delta Sigma conversion dacs do.
These expressive quotes from Mike Moffat (Schitt) hits the nail on the head.
We’ve thrown out delta-sigma D/As and traditional digital filters to preserve the original samples all the way through from input to output.
21 Bits, No Guessing: Mission-Critical D/A Technology When doctors are trying to diagnose whether you have gas or cancer from MRI results, or when the military is trying to ensure a missile hits an ammo dump and not a nunnery next door, they don’t use “24 bit” or “32 bit” delta-sigma D/A converters. Instead, they rely on precision, multibit ladder DACs, like the Analog Devices AD5791. This allows them the bit-perfect precision they need for critical applications, rather than the guesswork of a delta-sigma. We chose this same critical technology for Yggdrasil. Following these unique D/A converters are sophisticated discrete JFET buffers and summers.
Ordered one myself and kept it. Why not, 15 day trial and $2300?
Outstanding Red Book playback.This DAC along with an Aurender N100H beats hands down all other DAC/transport combos I had. First digital front end that threw a sound stage outside my Thiel 3.6 speakers and better pinpoints low frequency instruments such as double basses and cellos in the sound stage. It's dynamic range is so good that I can turn up my preamp volume to a higher setting, especially on 24 bit recordings.
The engineering behind it is impressive and truly an advancement in digital playback that surpasses the state of the art units of ten or twenty years ago (IMO). But the price tag says it can't be taken seriously. Shame. I was looking at a Berkely Reference or a Bricasti to replace my Theta Gen Va. No more; can't justify the extra ten grand.
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