New Yggdrasil - First (and second) Impressions

Makes me wonder how many who said they couldn't hear a difference didn't get good advice on investing in a good quality digital front end. One of the reasons I seldom frequent Agon is because its so far behind the digital frontier. Names like Lumin, Aurender, Sonore and SoTM should be familiar to you if you are in the US and are current on high quality digital sources.

I think they both sound digital but in different ways and I like them both.

@ anzaanimalclinic

And which DAC have you personally heard or have you no familiarity with what-so-ever that you beleive sounds analog?

Makes me wonder how many who said they couldn’t hear a difference didn’t get good advice on investing in a good quality digital front end. One of the reasons I seldom frequent Agon is because its so far behind the digital frontier. Names like Lumin, Aurender, Sonore and SoTM should be familiar to you if you are in the US and are current on high quality digital sources.

@davide256

And what is your point? If you read the thread in its entirety you can discover that *initially* I couldn’t hear a difference, but subsequently was able to easily discern the quality improvement. And, this is "normal" given that (a) what I had/have prior to Yggy is very good to begin with and digital differences are not necessarily easily discerned, (b) wasn’t exactly sure precisely what to listen for in order to detect a difference and (c) the Yggy was brand new, not broken in, and at the same time I was under ill advised and self-imposed "pressure to audition" the unit within a narrow 15 day time frame.

In my particular case, I had terrific advise which included my own do diligence, irrespective of any third-party advice. Of the brands you mention, only SOTM I haven’t heard or read about. The others, Lumin, Aurender, Sonore, *were* on my radar at the time I was in the market for a DAC. In my opinion, Lumin is WAY too expensive for what it is. And, even their flagship S1 uses Sabre ESS DACs which I’m more than well aware of, as I already have the latest, most advanced chip in my Oppo UDP-205. Please spare me the implementation rigmarole. Sonore I’m just not interested in and frankly don’t even care to mention why. The Aurender A10 may have been fine, but the Yggdrasil at half its price I imagine is a *MUCH BETTER VALUE* (yes I know the Aurender is also a server, but I have no need for that).

I tested an Oppo 105 vs. my ancient Cal Audio (w/PowerBoss) and there was little or no difference (a rel. short test as I had to return it).

So, that was a real question - tho I'd expect the 205 to be better (and it plays SACDs).

Deleted

The W4S and Yggy are the only DAC's I have owned and listened to critically.  I upgraded the W4S to the newest 9038 Sabre chip that is also in the Oppo.  I was just piping in that the 9038 chip in the W4S and the Yggy sound very diifferent.  I have not heard a DAC that I think sounds like analog. 
No doubt bad analog is better than bad digital in general, and great analog is better than great digital in my experience.  I think the newer Sabre chip and the Yggy and probably other DACs mentioned that I have not heard are eliminating a lot of the really objectionable problems with digital playback. 
I think analog has a lot of problems, the biggest is that to make it sound wonderful is really expensive and involves reel to reel.  I think LP's suck- but that doesnt stop me from listening to them.
I like both the DAC's I own, they make digital sound less bad than what I have heard in the past to the point I think digital can sound really good.  I have similiarly invested in my turntable and record cleaning and tube phono amp and tube amp to make my analog sound less bad, and sometimes it sounds really good.