Schiit yggdrasil + Less Is More vs. Denafrips Pontus II

The latest pontus 12th anniversary is betterstill , and if you decide later to spend under $600 the Iris oversample ddc is very good and has even better pre filtering and a Temperature controlled clock ,same one in the more $$ Venus 12 anniversary and it a good I2S input which is a hdmi , I use a good inefrom wire world  makes a nice improvement especially is using a computer,

I have no experience with the Yggy, but I did try a Gungnir when I was looking for a new DAC.  I only had it briefly, as the loud relay clicking between tracks, and the loss of the very first few milliseconds of the tracks, led me to return it and take the restocking hit.  Yes, Schitt did warn me about the relay clicking, but it was much more intrusive than I had imagined.  I tried a few more non Chinese DACs in an attempt to avoid ChiFi, but in the end, the Pontus II was a clear winner in this price range.  I am really enjoying it's analog, smooth yet detailed sound.  FYI, I am using the original firmware with no plans to upgrade to the new firmware.

I own the Yggdrasil Less Is More and upgraded from a very highly modified Cary DAC-100.  The DAC-100 was very antiquated but with bypassing they’re buffer circuitry and coming directly off the Wavelength DAC board with a high end cable soldered directly to it and going into the tube input of my preamp sounded very rich and sweet.  It just lacked the detail of newer DAC’s and I was looking to upgrade.  I had tried the Cary DMC-700 which listed at $8500 but was only a small upgrade over the setup I had.  
The Yggdrasil LIM (not +) sounded extremely thin but detailed at first.  It kept sounding better as it burned in.  I kept music from my custom server with JRiver playing 24/7.  Two weeks in it started to smooth out and it wasn’t for about 3 weeks until I felt it was listenable.  It was just so bright and thin sounding.  A couple months in it sounded really great but would still probably not perform well on a very bright system.  (So a couple of weeks with it is not enough  time to really know what it sounds like). My system is very detailed all tube system with ET LFT-8b speakers and the panel tweeters don’t like brashy sources.  I really like the Yggy LIM but you’ll have to make sure it’s right for your particular system.  If your system is overly detailed it might not be a great choice.  If you need to open up the sound then it could be perfect.  It is a truly good sounding DAC with excellent sound stage and imaging.  I like it better than the DMS-700 even if it isn’t as warm sounding.  Also every time you unplug the Yggy LIM it takes most of the week to get back to its best sound quality.  

P.S. I don’t notice any loss of sound on the beginning of tracks ever. The relays only click when changing sampling rates and it’s very quiet. I really barely notice it. Maybe because the Yggy has a bigger, more solid case than other models. There is no clicking in between tracks, only between different sampling rate tracks and as I said, no loss of music at all. If others have relay clicking then maybe it’s the setup of their music server software. I have JRiver set with no quiet segments between tracks. So it’s not having to re-lock onto the track.

@carlsbad2  Not sure why you would consider the Pontus overhyped especially for the price. The more direct competitor to your Dave (which I personally am not a fan of) is the Terminator 12th. All the Denafrips DACs represent excellent value and performance for the money. Even more so if you prefer the Denafrips house sound.