[5genez]

Talking about confusion....

I went to bed last night wondering if I should change the fuse or not. After I fell asleep I dreamed that my Yggy was talking to me with the sweetest woman's voice I ever heard. I fell in love instantly. She told me she understood, and not to worry. That she would love the change to an audiophile fuse.

In my state of surprise, I asked her if she was just saying that because she is so nice.

Yggy sensed my doubting. She knew I was not sure it was the right thing to do..

She sat their idling quietly for a while... Then she asked me this. "Do you really love me?"

In semi shock, I responded.... "Yes."

She then said... "If you really love me? Give me a better fuse."

Then she added.... " If you really love me you won't refuse me."

Now even more confused than ever. Did she mean? Not to refuse her? Or, not to re-fuse her?

See what I mean? Confused!

 

[winders]

There are hospitals for people with problems like yours....

 

[D2Girls]

LOL @5genez that is too much.
@winders doubt he was serious.

 

[jfrocke]

Does the USB 5 equipped Yiggy have ASIO drivers? I read mixed messages in the thread.

 

[zoophaugus]

I've had an yggy for about a year now with Gen 3 USB.. Love it... I wanna make it "better". I mainly use laptop via USB to my yggy.
I'm well aware of Gen 5 upgrade and eitre.

I'm thinking more along the lines of Singxer Su 1 or matrix X Spdif 2. These are both DDC digital to digital converters or more accurately USB to Spdif converters.

At present I get no muting relay clicking noise unless the bit rate is changed in Jriver media.
Can any one tell me if I am going to get constant clicking with one of the above DDC's every time I switch tracks or stop and or pause the track if I go that route?

I am leaning towards the singxer with its own internal power supply and THE AES/EBU connection.

My reasoning for avoiding Gen 5 upgrade is that although it is the cheaper solution... it is a solution ONLY for yggy.

Both these converters can handle Dsd and can easily be used on a "future" Dac should the need arise.

Another option,
There is also the ISO REGEN. It is a true USB to USB converter. Allowing the computer to see the dac through the converter..

I am also aware of eitre... And all of it's muting relay clicking....

I tend to flip through a lot of tracks and am not interested in all the clicking people speak of.. Lol
Actually I'm well aware of it while using my CDP... Lol

Any shared experiences would be helpful.
Thanks.

I received my MATRIX X SPDIF 2 the other day..
I am happy to report that it's keeps a good signal to yggdrasil and no muting relay clicks unless actually changing byte rate within Jriver media..
Pretty much same as before... But I now have to shut down the laptop so as to kill the power in the matrix other wise yggy stays locked onto the signal...even though I play no music..
Prior to the matrix when using USB I only had to put the laptop to sleep and yggy would loose the lock on the signal...

When I say loose the lock I mean a muting relay switch click..

All systems go.. No night and day difference but an audible one none the less for the better...
Much cleaner more defined bass... Almost a darker background which makes the highs seem more detailed...
Unless you have good equipment you won't notice these minor improvements...
Just wondering if an external linear power supply for the matrix would be worth the money...
It never ends......

 

[jcn3]

Does the USB 5 equipped Yiggy have ASIO drivers? I read mixed messages in the thread.

in the latest windows 10, windows automatically finds the drivers for the yggy. on my computer, i also have an asio for generic device driver that works, too.

 

[Vangelis]

I am considering the Yggdrasil to mate up with my very high quality single ended (RCA plugs only) integrated amplifier. I’m aware that Yggdrasil is a truly balanced design and its single ended outputs are summed. My concern is that my single ended system will not fully exploit or reveal the total performance of Yggdrasil being a fully balanced DAC. Obviously balanced can have some benefits regarding grounding noise and long runs etc. using I’ve seen reviews on a number of DACs that we’re supposed to sound as good though their single ended output. Some times it’s difficult to properly compare balanced to single ended, if your amplifier was designed to sound better in balanced, but that doesn’t apply here. This topic has likely been covered somewhere in one of the hundreds of posts. I would appreciate any thoughts from Yggdrasil owners connected single ended and what success or sonic compromise there might be.

 

[zoophaugus]

I am considering the Yggdrasil to mate up with my very high quality single ended (RCA plugs only) integrated amplifier. I’m aware that Yggdrasil is a truly balanced design and its single ended outputs are summed. My concern is that my single ended system will not fully exploit or reveal the total performance of Yggdrasil being a fully balanced DAC. Obviously balanced can have some benefits regarding grounding noise and long runs etc. using I’ve seen reviews on a number of DACs that we’re supposed to sound as good though their single ended output. Some times it’s difficult to properly compare balanced to single ended, if your amplifier was designed to sound better in balanced, but that doesn’t apply here. This topic has likely been covered somewhere in one of the hundreds of posts. I would appreciate any thoughts from Yggdrasil owners connected single ended and what success or sonic compromise there might be.

I used my yggy for the first 7 or 8 months with the single ended outputs feeding an all tube pre amp and loved it... I just upgraded my pre amp which has balanced in ans outs so I went with balanced... I CANT say theres any huge difference in sound...nor can I say OMG listen to what i've been missing all this time....
My whole system is now balanced.. and yes you tend to get what appears to be a cleaner better signal but this topic has been debated endlessly...
If you have high quality interconnects you will be fine with yggy in single ended .
I was using Cardas "Nuetral Reference" IC's and Accoustic Zen "silver reference 2' IC's.
They were both good but I Prefered the accoustic zen sound over Cardas IC's, they were also more $$$ to be fair...

My equipment;
Old HP laptop, JRIVER Media, to Matrix X-SPDIF converter, to Yggdrasil, to ARC LS26, to Bryston 7B3's to Elac FS209.2's

 

[LarryMagoo]

Hey Vangellis,

FWIW, I run my Yggy SE into my Pre/Pro and balanced into my HP Amp because I get more power that way as I listen to Balanced out. I always thought that balanced was mainly for noise reduction from stray RF (besides helping my HP amp). My SE into my Pre/Pro yields a black silent connection for me.

Cheers!

 

[5genez]

I am considering the Yggdrasil to mate up with my very high quality single ended (RCA plugs only) integrated amplifier. I’m aware that Yggdrasil is a truly balanced design and its single ended outputs are summed. My concern is that my single ended system will not fully exploit or reveal the total performance of Yggdrasil being a fully balanced DAC. Obviously balanced can have some benefits regarding grounding noise and long runs etc. using I’ve seen reviews on a number of DACs that we’re supposed to sound as good though their single ended output. Some times it’s difficult to properly compare balanced to single ended, if your amplifier was designed to sound better in balanced, but that doesn’t apply here. This topic has likely been covered somewhere in one of the hundreds of posts. I would appreciate any thoughts from Yggdrasil owners connected single ended and what success or sonic compromise there might be.

I once mulled this over with an audio designer and engineer I know. When mentioning 'balanced' vs 'single ended' he gave me a surprise answer... which has been verified as true, over in a PS Audio blog by knowledgeable people.

With some slight editing to remove names.. this is the email I received. (I still may wish to pursue balanced. But, all things must be right for it to work as it should.)

Gene,

No... remember me telling you about the """""" engineering guy that used to work for """""""" and his opinion about it all? It's a "theoretical" issue and not brand-dependent... but the "opinion" is rooted in absolute fact. If both phases of a balanced line aren't perfectly identical (and they never are), then the phase that has content that is absent in the other will inject those signals into the mix. if it's genuine audio information present in the recording - then that's good. If its some form of artifact not in the original source... then it's bad.The reverse can be true as well. One phase rolls off the highs just a wee bit, then you either get a boost or a cut depending on which phase it is. Just so many things that can go wrong that CANNOT go wrong in a unbalanced line.

It's your poison though, so "drink up" as you see fit As for me, I don't trust any manufacturer to build such precisely balanced circuits so as to just be able to relax and ignore the issue - not unless they at least publish their CMMR (Common-Mode Rejection Ration) spec. Even then they are usually limited to somewhere around 90 dB, and that ain't cutting it. Heck, even 16-bit can do 96dB dynamic range, and everything these days is at least 24-bit. So... figure it out. The odds are something isn't going to be right with a balanced input - period. Well, unless maybe you're spinning vinyl that is theoretically limited to a max dynamic range of 65 dB - at best. Then who cares? (end)​

 

[gdhal]

"True" balanced is best. XLR with SE conversion second best. SE > SE third best. And away we go.

http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/Balancedornot.html

 

[5genez]

Hey Vangellis,

FWIW, I run my Yggy SE into my Pre/Pro and balanced into my HP Amp because I get more power that way as I listen to Balanced out. I always thought that balanced was mainly for noise reduction from stray RF (besides helping my HP amp). My SE into my Pre/Pro yields a black silent connection for me.

Cheers!

Balanced many times will have about twice the output of the single ended outputs,..... Higher output probably for the much longer cable runs they were originally designed for.

 

[zoophaugus]

"True" balanced is best. XLR with SE conversion second best. SE > SE third best. And away we go.

http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/Balancedornot.html

Good link thank you very much, very well written, in the book marks now..

 

[LarryMagoo]

Well, unless maybe you're spinning vinyl that is theoretically limited to a max dynamic range of 65 dB - at best. Then who cares? (end)

This is just my point with Vinyl...I simply do not understand the worship there when digital has so much more signal to noise ratio...to say nothing of the black silence between to notes... my HP cable is a custom made 20 footer so the extra juice in the balanced mode does help there...Thanks for the link!

 

[5genez]

"True" balanced is best. XLR with SE conversion second best. SE > SE third best. And away we go.

http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/Balancedornot.html

I just read much of that link. Many companies do not provide True balanced. Not many provide the ratings needed to know if it is.

It reads that only True balanced is the best. Many companies do not provide True balanced.

Here is the key snippet of your link... .

" If you ask me - SE is the way to go. I mean - good SE.

A word of warning - having XLR sockets does NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN that the product is balanced. Many SE amps have balanced inputs which immediately get summed inside for SE and amplified as SE and then split again by opamp to XLR. So check before you buy. "