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Measurements and Review of Schiit Yggdrasil DAC

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Jimster480

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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"?
Yes I think they actually took a look at the market, decided that the reality is you can build the best of the best for only 1k... but that they are going to market it as made in the USA and play to everyone's inner feelings about supporting american companies, then they decided that since other companies were selling $80 DAC's that were inaudible from $1000 DAC's that they would build different devices for different price segments. Then they would make up huge stories for marketing to play to peoples lack of knowledge about audio in general and they would specifically design the devices so that each "tier" has a perceived increase in quality so that people could feel like they were getting their monies worth.

Don't at any point in time think that Schiit wasn't built with this systematic idea in mind. Or products like the Eitr and Wyrd wouldn't ever exist, since they both fix problems which only appear in Schiit gear in the first place.
if the company cared about making actual good products, they would have just fixed their hardware issues even in new revisions... but instead spreading lies about bad USB power and other nonsense to get people to purchase more products to fix the bugs they almost certainly put into their products intentionally? Where do you see the light in all of this? They are literally a company built around the intention of controlling the market through deception and control of informational mediums (HeadFi, SBAF, Reddits Mods, etc).
Over indulged engineer free from peer scrutiny and and very good marketing strategy.. im sure they believe what they are doing is excellent .
Excellent for their wallets.
 

Jinjuku

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Always a good way to judge sound quality!

What point are you making? I'm talking about empirical measurements. Here's a clue: In my dedicated HT I have two sub amps with full blown DSP. This equipment gives me full form and function over the signal. That's notch filtering, parametric eq, distance, time alignment etc...

Here's the thing though I'm not purchasing sealed, uncontrollable/un-configurable boxes, playing gear roulette, until I find the right kind of messed up that suites my tastes.

I've had the Modi 2 and could actually hear HD access through it. Plugged in my Emotiva DC-1 and nothing. I'm able to judge sound quality just fine.

I get it: You like dirty/noise prone, audiophile equipment, it's your preference. You're welcome to it. It simply isn't my preference.

The poor measurements stand regardless of what I or you have a preference for. They are what they are.
 

Swtoby

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Greetings. New member here and former Schiit customer. I was attracted to the line because they were affordable and Schiit seemed to claim good engineering as a focus per the Schiit Story. The problem I had were noise issues with the Magni 3. A Magni 2 uber I had also had a noise issue when I turned the volume knob. A replacement Magni 3 had the same noise issues as the first. What I mean is a crackling/static sound. Intermittent, but annoying. The Modi Multibit had its own quirks. All these have been discussed in various threads at Head-Fi and elsewhere. So they are known issues. When I found this site I wasn't happy when I saw those teardowns with the solder splatter. I spent an afternoon and disassembled my Schiit gear (Magni 3, Modi Multibit, Modi 2, Loki mini, Wyrd, Sys, Eitr, Vali 2) and ALL had the solder splatter issue seen here in those teardowns. The cleanest was the Vali 2. It is also the amp that doesn't have the annoying noise issues of the Magni. So I'll probably keep that one. I'm also not happy with the measurements shown here. Interestingly, the folks at Super Best Audio Friends admit the USB implementation, pre Eitr/Gen 5 isn't great. So i do see quality as being a problem and won't be buying more from them.
 

rebbiputzmaker

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Yes I think they actually took a look at the market, decided that the reality is you can build the best of the best for only 1k... but that they are going to market it as made in the USA and play to everyone's inner feelings about supporting american companies, then they decided that since other companies were selling $80 DAC's that were inaudible from $1000 DAC's that they would build different devices for different price segments. Then they would make up huge stories for marketing to play to peoples lack of knowledge about audio in general and they would specifically design the devices so that each "tier" has a perceived increase in quality so that people could feel like they were getting their monies worth.

Don't at any point in time think that Schiit wasn't built with this systematic idea in mind. Or products like the Eitr and Wyrd wouldn't ever exist, since they both fix problems which only appear in Schiit gear in the first place.
if the company cared about making actual good products, they would have just fixed their hardware issues even in new revisions... but instead spreading lies about bad USB power and other nonsense to get people to purchase more products to fix the bugs they almost certainly put into their products intentionally? Where do you see the light in all of this? They are literally a company built around the intention of controlling the market through deception and control of informational mediums (HeadFi, SBAF, Reddits Mods, etc).

Excellent for their wallets.
You forgot to add that they were taken over by aliens and chips were planted in their brains to control them. lol

I am trying to hold on but it is not easy. (Losing hope for humanity.)
 

Jimster480

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You forgot to add that they were taken over by aliens and chips were planted in their brains to control them. lol

I am trying to hold on but it is not easy. (Losing hope for humanity.)
No you are making a completely legitimate financial & planning assessment into a joke.
If you have nothing to rebut then try keeping quiet instead of attempting to demean a real assessment.
If you think they have a different business model, then why don't you share your idea's here?
 

Jimster480

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Greetings. New member here and former Schiit customer. I was attracted to the line because they were affordable and Schiit seemed to claim good engineering as a focus per the Schiit Story. The problem I had were noise issues with the Magni 3. A Magni 2 uber I had also had a noise issue when I turned the volume knob. A replacement Magni 3 had the same noise issues as the first. What I mean is a crackling/static sound. Intermittent, but annoying. The Modi Multibit had its own quirks. All these have been discussed in various threads at Head-Fi and elsewhere. So they are known issues. When I found this site I wasn't happy when I saw those teardowns with the solder splatter. I spent an afternoon and disassembled my Schiit gear (Magni 3, Modi Multibit, Modi 2, Loki mini, Wyrd, Sys, Eitr, Vali 2) and ALL had the solder splatter issue seen here in those teardowns. The cleanest was the Vali 2. It is also the amp that doesn't have the annoying noise issues of the Magni. So I'll probably keep that one. I'm also not happy with the measurements shown here. Interestingly, the folks at Super Best Audio Friends admit the USB implementation, pre Eitr/Gen 5 isn't great. So i do see quality as being a problem and won't be buying more from them.

Welcome to the forum, we are glad to have you here!

Where did they admit to an actual design flaw? If you have a thread with their actual admittance, please link it to me. Because last time I checked they just said "its not that great" which isn't the same as saying "its inherantly flawed and we sold it with known flaws for years and then made another product to attempt to clean up/hide those flaws and told our customers to purchase this device (which cost more than most of the flawed devices) to fix it" :)
Not trying to give you any grief I am just legitimately interested in a thread where they have actual admission of flaws.
 

Swtoby

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Welcome to the forum, we are glad to have you here!

Where did they admit to an actual design flaw? If you have a thread with their actual admittance, please link it to me. Because last time I checked they just said "its not that great" which isn't the same as saying "its inherantly flawed and we sold it with known flaws for years and then made another product to attempt to clean up/hide those flaws and told our customers to purchase this device (which cost more than most of the flawed devices) to fix it" :)
Not trying to give you any grief I am just legitimately interested in a thread where they have actual admission of flaws.

This thread from Head-fi is where I started to clue into a problem about noise. I didn't mean to imply Schiit admitted to a problem. However, Jason Stoddard does minimize the volume noise issue:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/off...di-2-uber-thread.748067/page-14#post-11351523
 

palamudin

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"Lightly touch the button with a side to side bias or motion " While you're at it, sing it a soft song optimally something from Ella Fitzgerald opus and do not forget to turn off your AC, fridge, freezer, electrical fans or any other device in household at the time of listening. Preferably turn off the grid power supply and power audio setup using Tesla power cells or other battery based power supply. DO NOT FORGET to turn off the light and wear no clothes. Make sure there is no glass in the room or residual floating radio frequencies . After complying with instructions Magni/Modi 2 ( Uber ) hum on volume knob should be gone. If not, hang yourself in the attic as a last solution to the problem.
 

Jimster480

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This thread from Head-fi is where I started to clue into a problem about noise. I didn't mean to imply Schiit admitted to a problem. However, Jason Stoddard does minimize the volume noise issue:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/off...di-2-uber-thread.748067/page-14#post-11351523
I read this thread and Jason is basically claiming that its a "simple non issue for most people" and other people in the thread are trying to blame the ODAC the guy is using lol.... Basically he told everyone that it only happens when you touch the pot and otherwise shouldn't matter.
 

Swtoby

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Welcome to the forum, we are glad to have you here!

Where did they admit to an actual design flaw? If you have a thread with their actual admittance, please link it to me. Because last time I checked they just said "its not that great" which isn't the same as saying "its inherantly flawed and we sold it with known flaws for years and then made another product to attempt to clean up/hide those flaws and told our customers to purchase this device (which cost more than most of the flawed devices) to fix it" :)
Not trying to give you any grief I am just legitimately interested in a thread where they have actual admission of flaws.[/QUOTE

Check this out too:

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...multibit-multibit-for-the-masses.2494/page-66
 

Blumlein 88

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I don't have a clue, but I really like the way performers moved close to the mike instead of doing a multitrack mix.
The information I found on that wasn't much. I've seen those shows and really liked them. It was an early condenser microphone which would have been an omni. I believe from appearance it was an early Neumann hung upside down. Though it might have been something else.

I've recorded a few times like that with performers self-mixing with movement around the microphone. Some take to it and some don't. Bluegrass still uses this approach sometimes, especially for live on stage shows.
 

Jimster480

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"Lightly touch the button with a side to side bias or motion " While you're at it, sing it a soft song optimally something from Ella Fitzgerald opus and do not forget to turn off your AC, fridge, freezer, electrical fans or any other device in household at the time of listening. Preferably turn off the grid power supply and power audio setup using Tesla power cells or other battery based power supply. DO NOT FORGET to turn off the light and wear no clothes. Make sure there is no glass in the room or residual floating radio frequencies . After complying with instructions Magni/Modi 2 ( Uber ) hum on volume knob should be gone. If not, hang yourself in the attic as a last solution to the problem.
These types of replies were the same style as what I experienced when I was a noob asking questions about my Fulla2 and why it was having humming, popping/cracking noises in low volume points of tracks.
My first one had a whirring sound when I moved the pot, the second one didn't but it had a pretty nasty imbalance before 9 oclock and my panasonic headphones I was using at the time required me to listen under 9 oclock unless I wanted to be deaf....
 

Jimster480

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Just went through this thread aswell... the guy who mentions this isn't related to Schiit.
Funny story is that the USB implementation on Yggdrasil is the same as the Mimby with just a few extra resistors IIRC. They are all using the same USB chipset lol
But notice how he recommends an Eitr which is one of the most overpriced products in its catagory when devices like the SMSL xUSB exist lol
 

Ron Texas

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The information I found on that wasn't much. I've seen those shows and really liked them. It was an early condenser microphone which would have been an omni. I believe from appearance it was an early Neumann hung upside down. Though it might have been something else.

I've recorded a few times like that with performers self-mixing with movement around the microphone. Some take to it and some don't. Bluegrass still uses this approach sometimes, especially for live on stage shows.
That music was magic. Can you imagine how it was for people listening to those 78 rpm recordings for the first time? They had to be far better than the previous generation of recordings.
 

Jinjuku

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This thread from Head-fi is where I started to clue into a problem about noise. I didn't mean to imply Schiit admitted to a problem. However, Jason Stoddard does minimize the volume noise issue:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/off...di-2-uber-thread.748067/page-14#post-11351523

I deal with this type of thinking displayed by Jason Stoddard internally at work on rare occasion. When I have a dev do something not thought out all the way through they go into incredible mental gymnastics. Then I have to basically draw the line in the sand and either get it done right or consequences are going to be coming around the bend.

We've been better about it the past 3-4 years and devs understanding that there's only the correct way to do things.
 

gvl

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...
But notice how he recommends an Eitr which is one of the most overpriced products in its catagory when devices like the SMSL xUSB exist lol

To be fair, I don't think the Eitr is much more overpriced than any other DDC out there. I'm not going to trumpet that one should buy it only because it is made in the USA, but it is common knowledge that it costs more to build things here than in China.
 

Jimster480

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To be fair, I don't think the Eitr is much more overpriced than any other DDC out there. I'm not going to trumpet that one should buy it only because it is made in the USA, but it is common knowledge that it costs more to build things here than in China.
Its 3x the price, contains half the inputs... no screen and uses the same USB chip as the rest of their lineup.... a very cheap chip under $2.
So the total cost for that unit has to be around $25-30 max even built here... while the SMSL xUSB has to have probably $30-40 cost due to the flagship xmos.
 

Jimster480

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I deal with this type of thinking displayed by Jason Stoddard internally at work on rare occasion. When I have a dev do something not thought out all the way through they go into incredible mental gymnastics. Then I have to basically draw the line in the sand and either get it done right or consequences are going to be coming around the bend.

We've been better about it the past 3-4 years and devs understanding that there's only the correct way to do things.
What sort of company do you work at, since you are using the word "dev" I imagine that would be a software company.
 

gvl

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Its 3x the price, contains half the inputs... no screen and uses the same USB chip as the rest of their lineup.... a very cheap chip under $2.
So the total cost for that unit has to be around $25-30 max even built here... while the SMSL xUSB has to have probably $30-40 cost due to the flagship xmos.

Hardware cost is just a fraction of the overall cost to build it. I wouldn't be surprised that total cost with all overhead is probably double that. This isn't exactly a device that's produced in millions or even tens of thousands, so economies of scale don't really apply. SMSL xUSB is typically $80-$90, there were shops clearing their inventories cheaper after the device has been discontinued.
 

Jimster480

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Hardware cost is just a fraction of the overall cost to build it. I wouldn't be surprised that total cost with all overhead is probably double that. This isn't exactly a device that's produced in millions or even tens of thousands, so economies of scale don't really apply. SMSL xUSB is typically $80-$90, there were shops clearing their inventories cheaper after the device has been discontinued.
Nah I mean the price when it was out was $65 on amazon. It was this price for around 6 months....
Now that its discontinued the price is actually higher.

Hardware cost is a fraction of the cost to build it?????? Uh no, wave soldering machines have a fixed cost, if you use them in the USA or china the cost is still the same. Tech's cost more here, but that is about it, the rest I am sure is assembled by machines.
 
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