I agree about the big CAVEAT. The Yggdrasil has a less than optimal digital implementation. So your findings may be entirely related to digital problems of the DAC which are influencing your cable preference. If your components worked robustly then digital cables would not have an effect.
With such a long list of exhorbitantly expensive USB cables, you might consider upgrading components as a first step towards eliminating how digital cables affect your component performance.
According to Stereophile:
"Tested for its rejection of word-clock jitter with a 16-bit J-Test signal, the Schiit Yggdrasil had some problems"
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-da-processor-measurements#LlqYiPu8IobviLI...
and
"While the processor’s analog circuitry is superbly well designed, its digital circuitry appears to have problems with high-level, high-frequency tones, and with the LSBs of 24-bit data"
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-da-processor-measurements#LlqYiPu8IobviLI...
With such a long list of exhorbitantly expensive USB cables, you might consider upgrading components as a first step towards eliminating how digital cables affect your component performance.
According to Stereophile:
"Tested for its rejection of word-clock jitter with a 16-bit J-Test signal, the Schiit Yggdrasil had some problems"
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-da-processor-measurements#LlqYiPu8IobviLI...
and
"While the processor’s analog circuitry is superbly well designed, its digital circuitry appears to have problems with high-level, high-frequency tones, and with the LSBs of 24-bit data"
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-da-processor-measurements#LlqYiPu8IobviLI...