New Yggdrasil - First (and second) Impressions
All - I consider my concern/inquiry regarding NOT hearing any difference when using the Yggy *phase inversion button* resolved. Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_phase "Some audiophiles claim that reversing the polarities of all the channels simultaneously makes a subtle perceptible difference in the reproduced sound, even though the relative phases of all the channels are preserved. ... In practice, the absolute phase of an audio system can be assumed to be inaudible." The broader and more important question as to why I do not hear a difference when compared to the Oppo UDP-205 still remains though. |
"Some audiophiles claim that reversing the polarities of all the channels simultaneously makes a subtle perceptible difference in the reproduced soundYes I believe it can, I’ve heard the difference using dynamic speakers especially in the bass, but less so using planer,esl, types. It’s sound it makes with dynamic speakers in that initial movement of the cone is out into the room (pushing) rather than backward (sucking), this pushing of the air on the eardrum has a more discernible sound rather than the sucking of the air, and gives a more leading edge to the start of the bass note. Cheers George |
@georgehifi I appreciate your contributions to this particular thread, because I know by reading elsewhere on the forum (within the past 18 months or so) that you are a proponent of the Yggdrasil. And, from what I can glean, you are a proponent not merely because you own/use the product, but because you truly believe or absolutely know with certainty that (a) multi-bit ladder R2R is superior to delta sigma and perhaps more importantly (b) that Schiit's *implementation* is exemplary. So, are you able to recommend a musical or sound passage - that can be downloaded freely in lossless format via the Internet - and indicate the time index (from-to) and specific nuance to listen to, in order to unequivocally state that multi-bit sounds better - as in readily audible - than delta sigma, or an Oppo UDP-205 specifically? |
@georgehifi My point was that the newer ESS style converters use massively parallel one bit sigma deltas and is similar to a ladder DAC only with hundreds of smaller 1 bit ladder steps. So the latest ESS chip technology has converged away from high noise DSD style single 1 bit sigma delta conversion (what you dislike) towards a solution which is more akin to an R2R ladder DAC (which you like). In fact a ladder R2R DAC is NOT a ladder at all - it jumps 1 to 2 to 4 to 8 to 16 etc. which would hardly work to access your roof eavestroughs like a regular 32 foot ladder because if the first step was one foot then the last step would be an impassable 16 feet!!!! FWIW I agree with you in principle. I don’t like DSD and SACD - I think the technology brings no overall benefit - all it does is provide unsurpassed linearity at the expense of massive amounts of ultra HF noise (all the noise has to be filtered out). Frankly, as a format I think it brings absolutely nothing to the table over PCM. I prefer PCM as a format!! However I do not see the absolute requirement for native conversion of PCM as in fact I do like oversampling - as oversampling really helps linearize DAC non-linearities by randomizing linearity errors much in the same way dithering improves quantization noise. |
