George, You say the same thing over and over on many threads...that is the definition of "obsessed".....but really besides the point.
What you are doing is generalizing. You have not heard the Schiit or the Gustard, so how can you know anything about how they sound? You cannot. I would say that generally, you are mostly correct. But not always. There are too many factors to say which DAC will sound best at any price point no matter what the technology is inside. You, obviously, think otherwise. It is too bad that you base your knowledge on guess work rather than true knowledge (actual listening tests).
Here are some more things to consider. Many, in the last couple of years have discovered the joys of upsampling all PCM to double and Quad speed DSD (using HQ player, the best sounding of all the upsampling software at this time.....to be bettered soon, no doubt). "They say" that this upsampled PCM to DSD sounds better or as good as playing the PCM through a "Great R2R DAC". The Yggy, though very good is no match for an MSB Analog...let alone Select, Rockna, TotalDAC, Trinity, etc.
Mike Levine....look him up....bought the Trinity (R2R DAC that lists for $45,000) and finally heard the glory of PCM. However, he soon sold it as Quad times DSD oversampling using the inferior JRriver software came really close using his Lampizator DAC to decode the DSD. I believe he is about to try HQ player and I bet he will be amazed.
Quadman.....look him up.... is double upsampling PCM to DSD using HQplayer into a modded Gustard and he says his PCM sounds as good as his turntable setup. He is looking for ways to get quad and eight times DSD into the Gustard.
You cannot do any of the above with an Yggy. It only plays PCM.
By the way, the three people who have A/Bed the Yggy and the Gustard, that I know of, are all listening to straight PCM and feel the Gustard is better. None has done the DSD upsampling game yet.
