Measurements and Review of Schiit Yggdrasil DAC

[garbulky]

You'll be surprised by the equipment that sound mixing / recording engineers used really.

A friend from my university days is a multi-award winning album recording engineer and he uses a pretty rudimentary Sony monitor of 20 year vintage. Not that he can't afford it nor does he lack potential sponsors for such stuff either. "It fits my workflow as I know exactly what to expect out of the sound at the end output, and its my workflow that gets my jobs done fast and fuss-free".

I know a guy that produces "convincing" stereo recordings of acoustic space with a single mic and an iphone mic for ambience.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

I've had 4 separate units, all with flaws...

So you say.

 

[amirm]

So you say.

I have reviewed some of his Schiit gear. Please be polite.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I have reviewed some of his Schiit gear. Please be polite.

So now it is a conspiracy. More than one person is conspiring to make it look like Schiit.

Unless it is only you Amir. Your fictional son owning this gear. His fictional noise issues. His fictional return. Now a fictional user Jimster480 who has loaned you fictional Schiit gear. So maybe not a conspiracy exactly. Either way it looks bad................real bad.

 

[amirm]

Hehe.

 

[DonH56]

Yes, let me see, Yggdrasil ($3,849 AUD) or Neumann U87 ($3,659 AUD) . . . ?

I knew I should have stayed out of this one; my time in the studio (behind and in front of the mic) are long behind me. Too many sacred cows get trodden when one sees what goes on in the studio compared to the average audiophile's vision of the process.

That said, and I am actually not a great fan of Neumann though they are a "must have" in the studio, I'd pick the mic over the Schitt.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

I have reviewed some of his Schiit gear. Please be polite.

Was not impolite, and was not directed at you. Some of the loudest voices are often also the most uninformed. You want what you are doing to be taken seriously, but you allow a great deal of meaningless trash talk, which actually derails your intentions.

 

[Thomas savage]

Was not impolite, and was not directed at you. Some of the loudest voices are often also the most uninformed. You want what you are doing to be taken seriously, but you allow a great deal of meaningless trash talk, which actually derails your intentions.

Yea it was rude, your basically implying he’s not telling the truth but in a really underhand way.

If you have nothing of worth to add to the discussion I suggest you follow your own advice here and turn down your own volume knob.

 

[Cosmik]

I have also read about this from here...

From the link:

The instruction sheet does mention that there is the possibility of “popping sounds” on the output of the amplifier as the batteries run out of charge. The instruction sheet further mentions that operating the amp while it is producing these “popping sounds” for an extended period of time can damage your headphones.

*This* is the difference between solid engineering and these 'boutique' (a.k.a. electronics beginner with delusions of grandeur) devices.

You could be listening to the output of an iPad or other competent device, but instead you spend real money on a hobbyist amateur's box that uses two PP3 batteries that only last for a couple of hours and then starts squealing, oscillating and 'popping' for entirely predictable reasons.

It's the same as the guitar fuzz box I made for someone when I was 15, using two PP3 batteries (and double pole power switch) because I didn't know enough electronics to build a circuit that ran on a single battery.

I love the way the instruction sheet says it will only start damaging your headphones after "an extended period" as though they have characterised the effect with all headphones, at all temperatures, with all possible batteries, etc. and it is their highly professional assessment that no harm will be done until you are several pops in. Just don't fall asleep while listening, or try to play a third or fourth album. No pressure.

 

[gvl]

I now only use mine on AC power, no sweat.

 

[Guermantes]

I knew I should have stayed out of this one; my time in the studio (behind and in front of the mic) are long behind me. Too many sacred cows get trodden when one sees what goes on in the studio compared to the average audiophile's vision of the process.

That said, and I am actually not a great fan of Neumann though they are a "must have" in the studio, I'd pick the mic over the Schitt.

Very definitely the mic, but I am a Neumann fan (though I'm also partial to an AKG 414 which is great value IMHO). My comment was simply to consider what a working recording engineer would see as a good investment for that amount of money.

I think you short-change yourself sometimes, Don. Your knowledge, experience and equanimity help ASR to rise above the usual school yard noise of other audio fora.

 

[DonH56]

Very definitely the mic, but I am a Neumann fan (though I'm also partial to an AKG 414 which is great value IMHO). My comment was simply to consider what a working recording engineer would see as a good investment for that amount of money.

I think you short-change yourself sometimes, Don. Your knowledge, experience and equanimity help ASR to rise above the usual school yard noise of other audio fora.

Thanks. The 414 (in various flavors) is also one of my favorites. A friend of mine, with a very nice home studio (an $80k remodel!), has several 414's. I have not been recording for several years now so got rid of everything except my measurement mic (Earthworks M30) and a few inexpensive mics for general-purpose use (couple of C1000's, pair of C3000's, IIRC -- haven't looked in the mic box for a while to see what I kept, sold the good stuff, and gave my Shure 58/57 collection to church).

 

[Cankin]

From the link:

*This* is the difference between solid engineering and these 'boutique' (a.k.a. electronics beginner with delusions of grandeur) devices.

You could be listening to the output of an iPad or other competent device, but instead you spend real money on a hobbyist amateur's box that uses two PP3 batteries that only last for a couple of hours and then starts squealing, oscillating and 'popping' for entirely predictable reasons.

It's the same as the guitar fuzz box I made for someone when I was 15, using two PP3 batteries (and double pole power switch) because I didn't know enough electronics to build a circuit that ran on a single battery.

I love the way the instruction sheet says it will only start damaging your headphones after "an extended period" as though they have characterised the effect with all headphones, at all temperatures, with all possible batteries, etc. and it is their highly professional assessment that no harm will be done until you are several pops in. Just don't fall asleep while listening, or try to play a third or fourth album. No pressure.

I think I should go back to audio interfaces, but many of them have high output impedance on headphone out.

I doubt I would pass any ABX tests between these vs Lightning dongle but I really prefer an analog volume knob to digital volume control.

 

[mindbomb]

From the link:

*This* is the difference between solid engineering and these 'boutique' (a.k.a. electronics beginner with delusions of grandeur) devices.

You could be listening to the output of an iPad or other competent device, but instead you spend real money on a hobbyist amateur's box that uses two PP3 batteries that only last for a couple of hours and then starts squealing, oscillating and 'popping' for entirely predictable reasons.

It's the same as the guitar fuzz box I made for someone when I was 15, using two PP3 batteries (and double pole power switch) because I didn't know enough electronics to build a circuit that ran on a single battery.

I love the way the instruction sheet says it will only start damaging your headphones after "an extended period" as though they have characterised the effect with all headphones, at all temperatures, with all possible batteries, etc. and it is their highly professional assessment that no harm will be done until you are several pops in. Just don't fall asleep while listening, or try to play a third or fourth album. No pressure.

It is a valid criticism, but I'd like to point out that he drained the battery with a 200mw continuous output in 2.5 hours, whereas realistically, with typical compressed music and modern high efficiency headphones, we are talking much less power being used. The official battery life spec is 7-9 hours typical. So low battery isn't going to be happening that frequently.

 

[Ron Texas]

Has this discussion gone off into microphones now?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Has this discussion gone off into microphones now?

Not yet, you have any favorites to suggest?

 

[garbulky]

Not yet, you have any favorites to suggest?

I would like to try out the more pricey microphones. Until then all I have are YOutube videos to compare and to be honest they tend to sound hard to differentiate. Perhaps that will be different with sources I'm familiar with.
I use a pair MXL V67G . I guess you could say it's surprising what you can get for less than a $100 bucks! This is probably my go to microphone.
I also use a M-audio Luna which I'd really like to try as a pair for stereo sound eventually.

 

[Jimster480]

So now it is a conspiracy. More than one person is conspiring to make it look like Schiit.

Unless it is only you Amir. Your fictional son owning this gear. His fictional noise issues. His fictional return. Now a fictional user Jimster480 who has loaned you fictional Schiit gear. So maybe not a conspiracy exactly. Either way it looks bad................real bad.

I'm not quite close to a fictional user lol anyone who googles my name will be overwhelmed with results xD

Was not impolite, and was not directed at you. Some of the loudest voices are often also the most uninformed. You want what you are doing to be taken seriously, but you allow a great deal of meaningless trash talk, which actually derails your intentions.

I'm not sure what you mean here but I can post my emails to schiit getting my gear replaced....
I had a Modi Multibit Black color that I had replaced and my Fulla2 which I had replaced. Both of which had the same characteristics when they were replaced.....
I can even show you screenshots where Jason of Schiit offers to just "refund me all the money I've ever spent on Schiit gear" if I just put the issues with USB implementation to rest.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

I'm not quite close to a fictional user lol anyone who googles my name will be overwhelmed with results xD


I'm not sure what you mean here but I can post my emails to schiit getting my gear replaced....
I had a Modi Multibit Black color that I had replaced and my Fulla2 which I had replaced. Both of which had the same characteristics when they were replaced.....
I can even show you screenshots where Jason of Schiit offers to just "refund me all the money I've ever spent on Schiit gear" if I just put the issues with USB implementation to rest.

Sorry but some attributed allot of foolishness to the three words I posted. Not my intent, but there are "different" rules for"certain" posters which limits honest discussion. I never thought you made anything up, but you do tend to repeat it loudly and often. If one likes their gear or not, IMO it is rather grating that many here constantly bellow this company is run by thieves and dishonest people. People try and do their best, one might not agree, but to think something else is just ignorance IMO. Honestly, do you think people sat around a table and said "hey let's build bad equipment and sell it"?

 

[maxxevv]

Honestly, do you think people sat around a table and said "hey let's build bad equipment and sell it"?

It more like "Hmm... don't think we have a good piece of kit here, but let's sell them like they are the best that can possibly be at the price segment.. "