Review and Measurements of Schiit Yggdrasil V2 DAC

[andreasmaaan]

I have this local expert and an audio designer telling me otherwise. And as for certainty of scientific findings, I'm alwasy on a skeptic side. I've seen scientific findings change over time. New study shows different, or differentiate findings better and sheds a new light. Also, there's an important difference between 'we didn't find relevance' and 'relevance doesn't exist'. So pardon me if I cannot accept this as a fact.

Well science doesn't deal in absolute facts, so that's fine

Did you try the wave generator to see if you personally experience what your friend believes happens above the audible spectrum?

 

[Krunok]

Well science doesn't deal in absolute facts, so that's fine

Did you try the wave generator to see if you personally experience what your friend believes happens above the audible spectrum?

I have tried it: my younger son (16y) hears up to 20kHz, my older son (21y) hears up to 19khz, I (54y) hear up to 12kHz.

P.S. On the bright side, I was still able to easilly hear the difference between 2 remastered files which Fred sent me feew weks ago.

 

[zalive]

Well science doesn't deal in absolute facts, so that's fine

Did you try the wave generator to see if you personally experience what your friend believes happens above the audible spectrum?

The level difference ruins experience and makes it harder to differentiate which is level and which might be the difference. What I hear is sawtooth being particularly quiet, Triangle being quieter a bit than the upper two, and sine and square about the same level (did somebody change something in the meantime). However when comparing sine to square, change is subtle but it seems I hear...more. Like a richer tone. I hear up to 14 kHz (47 years soon), and I tested at 12 kHz and 13 kHz. Is this a good pick? Anyway I hear all four as being bit different in each comparison, the difference feels bigger with lower two against the upper two but it also involves a level change (lower two feels not richer in tone but actually less but it's also a different level), and I can't tell how much of a difference is related to level. It would be nice to have a matched level generator, hard for me to understand why it's not done so...

 

[andreasmaaan]

@zalive since that test is as you say flawed, I've created my own (wanted to test myself too).

This is 15 seconds of 24/96 uncompressed audio.

At the beginning, all that is present is an 11KHz sine wave.

At some point between 1 and 10 seconds, it is joined by a 22KHz sine wave of equal amplitude.

Without analysing the files or looking at the volume levels (which jump up when the second tone is added), see if you can pick where between 1 and 10 seconds the 22KHz is added.

Note that both tones have a 0.1s fade-in time.

The file is here.

Keep the volume down to begin with, it's quite loud

EDIT: please make sure you download the file and play it using your own software player. I'm not convinced it will play correctly directly off dropbox, but it will if you download it (have done a test run and checked the levels/spectrogram to verify this).

 

[zalive]

I don't want to get this tone too much up

Well, I think I hear a difference somewhere after 3 seconds of sample, but there's strange effect present like my brain attenuates the unpleasant tone after few seconds, so I'm completely unsure what I hear, is this a sound change or that subjective attenuation through my hearing apparatus.

If I try to consequtively listen through the same sample then I can't hear any difference. Annoying tone indeed

 

[Krunok]

.. or that subjective attenuation through my hearing apparatus.

If I try to consequtively listen through the same sample then I can't hear any difference. Annoying tone indeed

This.

 

[andreasmaaan]

I don't want to get this tone too much up

Well, I think I hear a difference somewhere after 3 seconds of sample, but there's strange effect present like my brain attenuates the unpleasant tone after few seconds, so I'm completely unsure what I hear, is this a sound change or that subjective attenuation through my hearing apparatus.

If I try to consequtively listen through the same sample then I can't hear any difference. Annoying tone indeed

Yeh very annoying haha

Shall I reveal the correct answer now or would others like to try it on themselves first?

 

[zalive]

Reveal it through private message (I won't reveal it), don't spoil the party for the others

Would be much nicer without such subjective attenuation effect, you don't get this when you listen music normally...then I would be able to confirm 'yup, I don't hear any change, everything sounds the same to me from the beginning to the end', or would be easier to hear something if possible.

 

[Krunok]

Yeh very annoying haha

Shall I reveal the correct answer now or would others like to try it on themselves first?

I heard only a single unchanged tone. But, as I admitted, I'm half deaf.

 

[Soniclife]

I heard only a single unchanged tone. But, as I admitted, I'm half deaf.

Same, although the first time I played it something weird happened at about the 2/3 point, could not hear it on subsequent plays.

 

[Krunok]

Same, although the first time I played it something weird happened at about the 2/3 point, could not hear it on subsequent plays.

I tend to ignore first pass when listening to such irritant sounds to allow my ears to accomodate to them.

 

[gvl]

I accidentally cheated (spectrum analyzer is on by default in JRiver) but even if I think I hear something at the time the second tone kicks in it is so subtle that I wouldn't be able to tell had I run the experiment cleanly. That said, many dynamic drivers would already have significant roll off at 22kHz, and before testing your ears you need to know if your gear can reproduce those frequencies.

 

[Guermantes]

I could clearly hear when the second tone kicked in over loudspeakers but not over headphones . . .

 

[andreasmaaan]

I could clearly hear when the second tone kicked in over loudspeakers but not over headphones . . .

Interesting Do you know how high in frequency your hearing extends?

 

[Guermantes]

Well I know it isn't what it used to be . . . More attenuated above 14 kHz but I can definitely hear up to 18 kHz with level compensation.

What I heard when the higher tone started seemed to be more like a shift in phase rather than a change in complexity. I reduced the level and found the effect disappeared, so it may be an artefact of my monitor path. As I said, I heard no change over headphones (DT 880 Pro).

 

[jhwalker]

I'm 55 and my hearing only supposedly extends up to about 17-18k, but I can hear it kick in - like an overtone in music, you don't so much hear the fundamental, but the quality of the sound changes. It is subtle.

 

[Deleted member 2348]

Merely 20 minutes of comparison, I can tell you that your measurements do not mean anything to me because I rely on my own ears. DAC3 cannot even hold a candle to Yggy even if it may have the best measurements in the world.

Maybe I missed it in your post or in the following posts: How did you match the levels of the two DACs you compared? The Yggdrasil has 4.2V output at 0dBFS and the Benchmark DAC3 3.1V (unbalanced, 0dBFS, both values taken from Amir's reviews). If you did not match the levels, chances are that you simply liked 2.6dB louder better …

 

[Samoyed]

I’m new, so indulge me. I read as much of this Schiit as I could, and concluded the Schiit, relative to cost, isn’t worth a ....

Can I ask that those who have heard both try subjective comparisons as I just got a mass drop for the Topping?

 

[Jimster480]

I’m new, so indulge me. I read as much of this Schiit as I could, and concluded the Schiit, relative to cost, isn’t worth a ....

Can I ask that those who have heard both try subjective comparisons as I just got a mass drop for the Topping?

I've listened to 6 different schiit products.... nothing to write home about.

 

[Samoyed]

No, Schiit.