Pardon me, but I never did mods on the Yggy. I posted mods on my website that were DIY mods only. When the Yggy was released I was super excited. I thought the Yggy (especially with mods) would be a reference product for years (just shows you how fast digital is changing). This is why I helped my friend who had one do the mods....I suggested them and he did them at his house one at a time. He took photos and I put the whole thing up on my site so that those with Yggys could see how to mod them, if they chose. No one chose to do all the mods that I know of. I never modded an Yggy nor have I ever had one here. If you search you can find my Yggy mod page (no longer linked from my site but still in the ethers). But I have been waiting for a DAC to mod and the Gustard is the real deal.
The stock Gustard speaks for itself. Read the other threads where people have done A/Bs against other DACs. Obviously, one can take anything further, which is what I am doing. Yes, I am making a ton of money on $400 mods on cheap DACs.....ha ha.
Your quote above was about the modded Yggy being compared to other things.....and yes, at the time I thought it might be as good as I suggested. In fact, it might be. The trouble is....no one wanted or wants to mod their own Yggy. Simply too expensive of a product to mod (and maybe lose resale value) and Schiit is not into tweaking and would not support mods (I am assuming).
Suggesting inexpensive mods for sale on the internet is not unscrupulous. Most who buy the stock Gustard will never do a mod nor have me do one.....you know that is true. They will be super happy with it stock. But for those that want more for very little then there are people like myself who offer services that are super reasonable. If you have just bought an Yggy I can see how you would be very uncomfortable with this whole conversation. If this info about the Gustard is true then the Yggy becomes yesterdays toy. Do you think the Gustard will be "The DAC" at its price point in a year....no way Jose. We are moving real fast here. There maybe a $500 DAC in year that is even better. More reason not to invest so much now in digital with it changing (for the better) so fast.
The faster this info about the Gustard gets out the more people are served......they get better more versatile sound for less. I love to serve people.....Great sound for the masses! You have to get how fast digital is changing. If you are not reading all the forums and studying closely then you are going to spend more than you need and on inferior gear. The Yggy is a great DAC....no doubt. Just don't read any of the other threads about the Gustard (stock or modified) and you will be fine.
There was a cartoon in the old "Audio" magazine that showed this guy sitting on a park bench holding a brand new preamp box that he just opened and his head was down all forlorn looking and the caption said. "Joe, just realized that his brand new preamp was already out of date". I hope to keep a few people from suffering this fate. Love is all there is.
Ric Schultz
tweakaudio.com