Hmmm....nowhere did I complain about the performance nor did I say I was unsatisfied with Vidar, Freya, or Yggdrasil. At their price points, I don't know that there is a better amp than Vidar or a better preamp with Freya's feature set. I am convinced that you cannot buy a better DAC than Yggdrasil under for $5500.
Having said that, I was not satisfied with how my system sounded. I was confident that my speakers were what I wanted. But, I did feel that I could improve the sound with a better amp and preamp. The first step was replacing Vidar with the Pioneer M-22. It's late 70's early 80's Class A 30 watt amp that is just special. If it were made today, it would cost ver $5000. It's bass is just a bit better than Vidar. Where the M-22 really shines over Vidar is in the mids and highs. It is spectacular there. The preamp I have now, the Don Sachs Model 2, is four times the price of Freya. It was custom made to match the M-22 and also a tube amp I have my eye on that I may buy someday. It is not as flexible as Freya as it does not offer a passive or JFET modes nor is it fully balanced. It has only a tube gain stage mode and has balanced in but is converted to SE internally. But it does that tube mode exceedingly well and I don't need balanced out. The Don Sachs Model 2 has been everything I hoped it would be. So far, I am 2 for 2 but at a significant uptick in price.
Yggdrasil is a whole different topic. The PS Audio DirectStream that I am evaluating right now costs, at retail, 2.6x what Yggdrasil costs. I am having hard time finding significant differences in sound between the two. In fact, I would be very happy owning either one. The places where the DirectStream (with the Red Cloud code) stands out is the much blacker background, the 3D soundstage, and overall musicality. The DirectStream has some other features that are enticing. First, the unit I have has a Bridge II card installed which allows the DAC to become a Roon endpoint. I just plug it into Ethernet and it go. I don't need an ultraRendu or anything like it. The DirectStream also supports DSD and, with the Bridge II card, MQA. I am not into either one of those at this time, but having that flexibility is only a positive. Finally, the DirectStream is field upgradable as it does not use any DAC chip. It uses FPGA's. So Ted Smith can do his magic and an upgrade can improve the DirectStream so much it is like getting a new DAC. I am still listening to both and have not made a final decision as to which DAC I am going to keep. But I am leaning toward keeping the DirectStream. Of course, it helps that I picked it up for one heck of a killer price.
The bottom line here is that Schiit makes some really great products. Especially when you factor in the value they offer. But, that doesn't mean that, if you are willing to spend the money, you can't get better sounding components.
