Yggy DAC


Aurender A10  Has a built in DAC.   Also it can be hooked up to a outside DAC.    So i hook a Yeggdrasel DAC  Up to  A , B it.   i could hear no difference at all.   Anyone try that or an opinion on the subject
 Thanx 


twoch
As much as people like to say there are big differences in good digital products there really aren't. Trust your ears - they are right. 

What kind of interconnects are you using? What kind of power cables? Speakers? Amps? There is a level where the resolution/transparency of the interconnect/preamp/amp is not enough to show differences between DAC sources. There are absolutely differences, but you may not be able to hear them with your current equipment/cabling.

That being said, it may be that there is not a huge difference between the two DACs you are auditioning. Based on what I have seen on the Aurender A10 internal architecture, I would think the Aurender would have more resolution.

I think you're also using the Aurender as a preamp here?  This could be driving a lot of the sound signature.

Aurender A10 Has a built in DAC. So i hook a Yaggdrasel DAC Up to A/B it. i could hear no difference at all.

Odd you should have heard some differences as the A10 is Delta Sigma conversion and the Yaggy is R2R Ladder Multibit, which I’ve always preferred to listen too when it comes to 16 or 24 bit PCM (Redbook) source material.

Cheers George

Hi twoch,
I don't have any experience with Cardas, but if you're using gold-plated connectors (i.e. spades, XLR, etc.) it could be restricting resolution. Also, the tube preamp/amp may not be able to reveal the full resolution of the different DACs.  Gold-plated connectors combined with fully tube equipment may make a very warm laid back sound -- this may not be revealing enough to show micro-detail differences in source equipment.

I'm not saying this is the case, but it is possible. I don't have any experience with your two DACs. However, if you are expecting a radical change in sound, you will probably not get one unless you choose a wildly different topology that shapes the sound differently (like tube vs solid-state, or Class A vs. non Class A).

In another thread I stated how an Oppo BDP-105 sounded very similar to a custom DAC I had.  However, when placing high resolution cables in the system (solid-core OCC, rhodium plated furutech), we could definitely hear that the custom DAC was revealing sounds that the Oppo just could not produce. 

I'm also surprised you were not able to hear differences.

In addition to the cabling points already brought up, you may want to add power supply / power conditioning to the mix as well.

Have you had an audio buddy or two listen to your two setups? Their findings may be informative to you.
How are you doing the A-B? If you are switching rapidly, you are not likely to hear differences. Listen to each for a while, pause, then play the same selection(s) through the second DAC.
Aurender A10 Has a built in DAC. Also it can be hooked up to a outside DAC.   So i hook a Yeggdrasel DAC Up to A , B it. i could hear no difference at all.

As I patiently await my Yggdrasil which I expect to receive later this month, I'll consider your statement a positive only in-so-far as the Aurender MSRP is more than twice that of the Yggy. So if they do in fact sound the same, what does that tell you?
" in-so-far as the Aurender MSRP is more than twice that of the Yggy. So if they do in fact sound the same, what does that tell you?"


It tells me that if you add the price of an equivalent Aurender streamer (N100H) at $2700 plus the cost of a good cable to connect them, you are very close to the price of the A-10. Comparing just the DACs, they are price wise very similar.  Although different DACs at similar prices do not always sound the same,  it does not surprise me that the DAC in the A10 and the Yggy sound similar. 
The Aurender has a full-featured, advanced DAC internally, and I imagine the differences could be small between it and the Yggy. I've personally done group comparisons with the Yggy and other DACs and do not doubt what my ears and their ears found to be different. 

It also seems like the Aurender, while offering the option, is designed as a Reference DAC and streamer, and the advantages of signal path and proximity certainly favor the Aurender's DAC. Perhaps if you had an EMM labs DAC you would utilize the option, but purchasing an Yggy in addition to the Aurender does not make much sense to me. 

Good to know Aurender has a pretty nice DAC in that thing. 
I have owned multiple DACs over the years--all connected with desktop audio, and none in the multi $1K range common in big living room audiophile setups (which I had years ago, pre-DACs).

Anyway, I have most definitely heard differences between various DACs. For example, I hear distinct, though subtle differences between multi-bit DACs and delta-sigma designs; also differences between good multi-bit and pure/non-oversampling multibit.

HOWEVER...I've also learned that when a given DAC is made very well, with robust power supply, well-implemented digital section, best available USB receiver, etc--it's harder to pick out those subtle differences when comparing to another, equally well designed & constructed DAC. If one were comparing, say, 5 top level-DACs, I'd expect the multi-bit one to diverge a bit from the others in timbre of instruments, lack of grain & glare, and a slightly "wet" (ie, non-dry), rounded sound to bass. But at the top level of design/built, differences between DACs become fairly small (unlike amps and speakers, which are all over the place).