nyhifihead
Well-Known Member
A friend of mine I may or may not have brought down into our rabbit hole "cut to the chase" as far as his digital chain.
He picked up a schiit yggdrisil and the singxer SU-1 digital interface. Upgrading from a TDA1541 based dac
I lent him gear before so it was understood when he bought cool shiny things he would let me test them in my system
we tested 2 sets of loudspeakers (Infinity Kappa 6.1 and RBH 641se) and switched between the differential pcm1704s in the integra and the yggy, digital signals coming from AES out of the superb xu208 based SU-1
This was not an official test by any means, but I did hear the dac in my OWN system & space and was able to compare in real time FWIW. I made a basic rubric to try and accurately reflect my thoughts without using vague descriptors. out of 10
Integra Research RDC 7.1 (dual PCM1704) - my main dac I've found to be quite formidable against almost all other modern solutions. the yggy puts it in its place though.
Resolution- 9
Soundstage- 8
Timbre- 10
Musicality- 8
Frequency balance- 10
Subjective "Realism"- 8
total- 53/60 = 88%
Ultra Fi iRoc (TDA1541) - I know it's far from state of the art but the slightly colored warm sound makes me love rotating this thing throughout my systems
Resolution- 5
Soundstage- 7
Timbre- 7
Musicality- 9
Frequency balance- 8
Subjective "Realism"- 7
total- 43/60 = 72%
Schiit Yggdrisil (Analog Devices AD5791) - The performance of this thing has me desperate to hear other mega bucks dacs in my system..
Resolution- 10
Soundstage- 9
Timbre- 10
Musicality- 10
Frequency balance- 10
Subjective "Realism"- 9
total- 58/60= 97%
the yggdrisil's instrument separation and timbre is what blew me away. width and depth of soundstage was best I've experienced in my system. low end is so clear, overall resolution is just better straight up than the pcm1704.
it was a pleasure to run it through the Kappa 6.1s, they delivered a resolution I didn't know they were capable of. Since I have 2 18"s to cover the low end I found the midbass exceptionally clear once the IMG woofers were relieved above 80hz. Percussion was insanely real.
The RBH 641se sounded great as well, the silk dome is a tad smoother than the emit-r but not rolled off at all. the cabinets are so inert on these things they really give you a solid center image as they disappear. They have an extremely complex xover with the 1" silk dome 4" midrange and 2x 6.5 woofers. It makes this speaker 85 db sensitivity and 4 ohm nominal. Talk about a brutal load, good thing the 9505 is meant for that kind of load. The RBH are tight and articulate and separation of instruments was even better than the Infinitys
The yggdrisil does live up to the hype and I think its price is actually reasonable for the sonic upgrade. which is insane to me. based on my subjective rubric the yggy is 9% better than my pcm1704 based dac.. a 9% upgrade is pretty big in the context of hifi. Anyone with upgraditis should consider one of these before spending much more on something that won't change the sound as drastic
He picked up a schiit yggdrisil and the singxer SU-1 digital interface. Upgrading from a TDA1541 based dac
I lent him gear before so it was understood when he bought cool shiny things he would let me test them in my system
we tested 2 sets of loudspeakers (Infinity Kappa 6.1 and RBH 641se) and switched between the differential pcm1704s in the integra and the yggy, digital signals coming from AES out of the superb xu208 based SU-1
This was not an official test by any means, but I did hear the dac in my OWN system & space and was able to compare in real time FWIW. I made a basic rubric to try and accurately reflect my thoughts without using vague descriptors. out of 10
Integra Research RDC 7.1 (dual PCM1704) - my main dac I've found to be quite formidable against almost all other modern solutions. the yggy puts it in its place though.
Resolution- 9
Soundstage- 8
Timbre- 10
Musicality- 8
Frequency balance- 10
Subjective "Realism"- 8
total- 53/60 = 88%
Ultra Fi iRoc (TDA1541) - I know it's far from state of the art but the slightly colored warm sound makes me love rotating this thing throughout my systems
Resolution- 5
Soundstage- 7
Timbre- 7
Musicality- 9
Frequency balance- 8
Subjective "Realism"- 7
total- 43/60 = 72%
Schiit Yggdrisil (Analog Devices AD5791) - The performance of this thing has me desperate to hear other mega bucks dacs in my system..
Resolution- 10
Soundstage- 9
Timbre- 10
Musicality- 10
Frequency balance- 10
Subjective "Realism"- 9
total- 58/60= 97%
the yggdrisil's instrument separation and timbre is what blew me away. width and depth of soundstage was best I've experienced in my system. low end is so clear, overall resolution is just better straight up than the pcm1704.
it was a pleasure to run it through the Kappa 6.1s, they delivered a resolution I didn't know they were capable of. Since I have 2 18"s to cover the low end I found the midbass exceptionally clear once the IMG woofers were relieved above 80hz. Percussion was insanely real.
The RBH 641se sounded great as well, the silk dome is a tad smoother than the emit-r but not rolled off at all. the cabinets are so inert on these things they really give you a solid center image as they disappear. They have an extremely complex xover with the 1" silk dome 4" midrange and 2x 6.5 woofers. It makes this speaker 85 db sensitivity and 4 ohm nominal. Talk about a brutal load, good thing the 9505 is meant for that kind of load. The RBH are tight and articulate and separation of instruments was even better than the Infinitys
The yggdrisil does live up to the hype and I think its price is actually reasonable for the sonic upgrade. which is insane to me. based on my subjective rubric the yggy is 9% better than my pcm1704 based dac.. a 9% upgrade is pretty big in the context of hifi. Anyone with upgraditis should consider one of these before spending much more on something that won't change the sound as drastic