Dac shootout. Hex vs Vega vs Yggdrasil

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prem

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Heard the 3 dacs today. Rest of the system was Enigma Mythology 1 speakers and Viva 845 amp. All cabling was Cardas.

Source was Aries Mini with its LPS.

Tracks heard were from Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, JJ Cale, Norah Jones, Omkara, Barfi, Silsila and Lata Mangeshkars Shraddanjali. All files were cd quality wav

To my ears, Ygdrassil was the clear winner. Voices sounded real. The layers in the music clearly opened up. Tonality was spot on

Hex had a wider soundstage but had limited frequency extension. At a few places the bass sounded a bit forced.

Vega sounded normalised. Could be a result of the up sampling

Other dacs like Metrum Musette and Burson were outclassed by the above 3 dacs
 
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i had it on loan for a very short week. It's a destination DAC for many.

Clear winner by far for acoustic music especially. I've not heard anything that sounds so good with acoustic music and vocals. And its excellent across the board with genres like rock, blues, country, and even big band.

What I really liked was it plays well with everything... even equipment costing many times its price... not many can do that.

I'm holding on till I hear the Mytek, its also got excellent reviews, otherwise I'm sold on the Yggy myself.
 
Prem, a more detailed comparison please :).
And did you hear the Aries Mini on it's own without an external DAC?

So what's it going to be for you?
 
prem said:
Heard the 3 dacs today. Rest of the system was Enigma Mythology 1 speakers and Viva 845 amp. All cabling was Cardas.

Source was Aries Mini with its LPS.

Tracks heard were from Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, JJ Cale, Norah Jones, Omkara, Barfi, Silsila and Lata Mangeshkars Shraddanjali. All files were cd quality wav

To my ears, Ygdrassil was the clear winner. Voices sounded real. The layers in the music clearly opened up. Tonality was spot on

Hex had a wider soundstage but had limited frequency extension. At a few places the bass sounded a bit forced.

Vega sounded normalised. Could be a result of the up sampling

Other dacs like Metrum Musette and Burson were outclassed by the above 3 dacs
Click to expand...

Thanks Prem for the comparison.
It is good to know that an upstart of a company like Schiit makes seriously good hi-end.
Of course, guys like me fish at the bottom end of internet only brands.
Will still hold the hope that someday I will have a chain good enough to reveal such nuances in my living room.
Until then, kudos to my hodge-podge of a system.
Cheers,
Raghu
 
Prem, thanks for the comparison...It's clear now that the Yggy is a superb DAC where the difference in sound is substantial relatively when it comes to DACs..

Would be great if you could compare it with other DACs as well such as the Mytek and Chord 2Qute since very few people have been able to hear the Yggy in India...
 
Naturelover, I heard the Aries mini with its own dac too. Nothing much to write home about.

Naturelover, if you have any specific questions about the 3 dacs, I would be glad to answer.
 
Panditji, the shop I went to did not carry Chord or Mytek. Hence a comparison was not possible.
 
Prem please try listening to more ladder DACs since it is apparent that you like that sort of sound. I have personally heard good things about the aqua la scala.
 
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prem said:
Panditji, the shop I went to did not carry Chord or Mytek. Hence a comparison was not possible.
Click to expand...

Is it possible to get a home audition? In that case, you could get 2-3 forum members to get their DACs and then compare directly...I know I am asking for a lot but it's extremely difficult to hear and compare stuff in India....
 
Hi Arj, Aries Mini is nice as a source. Not as a dac. Even if used as a source it sounds much better with its own LPS. I think the Aries Mini is a good buy. But what's surprising is I wrote to both Metrum and Schitt. Both said they use Macs. So am confused if a Mac is the way to go. On a separate note, the Mythology 1 are amazing bookshelves. The best bookshelves I have heard. Unfortunately they don't come cheap. Close to USD 20000:)

Reign of chaos, the Scala is very similar sounding to the Hex, but with a little more tonal density. It's almost twice the price of the Hex.
 
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Surprisingly, there are very minor differences between a USD 3000 dac and a USD 10000 dac. This is not the case with a CD player or a turntable.
 
prem said:
Surprisingly, there are very minor differences between a USD 3000 dac and a USD 10000 dac. This is not the case with a CD player or a turntable.
Click to expand...

Prem, did you listen to any such more expensive DAC in this audition? Or are you referring to some other DAC?
 
prem said:
Hi Arj, Aries Mini is nice as a source. Not as a dac. Even if used as a source it sounds much better with its own LPS. I think the Aries Mini is a good buy. But what's surprising is I wrote to both Metrum and Schitt. Both said they use Macs..
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Interesting. what the Aries gives additional is wireless streaming and control via a mobile device but price wise with LPS , it is in the mid end mac Mini range with a SSD disk.
The Aries does give convenience but the mac give flexibility to upgrade :)
if digital is the primary source for music the mac has the edge but if it is secondary then the Aries might just be better ;)
 
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prem said:
Hi Arj, Aries Mini is nice as a source. Not as a dac. Even if used as a source it sounds much better with its own LPS.
Click to expand...

I had the same experience. Was trying the BGT tweaks as well as LPS, but the Aries sang the best with its own PSU. Had a similar experience with HDPLEX too, added sibilance and harshness.

arj said:
Interesting. what the Aries gives additional is wireless streaming and control via a mobile device but price wise with LPS , it is in the mid end mac Mini range with a SSD disk.
The Aries does give convenience but the mac give flexibility to upgrade :)
if digital is the primary source for music the mac has the edge but if it is secondary then the Aries might just be better ;)
Click to expand...

I'm sure the Auralic folks intend for folks to dip their toes in the water with the Mini and then spend more on the Aries, Altair, and Vega.

Also, the Mac is a workhorse and useful for the likes of video/Kodi HTPC too. But purely from the perspective of SQ and audiophile requirement I've found both the Auralic and the Aurender hard to beat. The Mac is a convenience and yes offers upgradeability, but in a well designed setup the Aurender will simply put "blow it away". But then again we are entering the $3000-$5000 server/streamer market here, so obviously horses for courses.
 
regeHA said:
I had the same experience. Was trying the BGT tweaks as well as LPS, but the Aries sang the best with its own PSU. Had a similar experience with HDPLEX too, added sibilance and harshness.



I'm sure the Auralic folks intend for folks to dip their toes in the water with the Mini and then spend more on the Aries, Altair, and Vega.

Also, the Mac is a workhorse and useful for the likes of video/Kodi HTPC too. But purely from the perspective of SQ and audiophile requirement I've found both the Auralic and the Aurender hard to beat. The Mac is a convenience and yes offers upgradeability, but in a well designed setup the Aurender will simply put "blow it away". But then again we are entering the $3000-$5000 server/streamer market here, so obviously horses for courses.
Click to expand...

Valid points. Aurender is simply too expensive.
The vega would have been a great option but prems review above gives it a blemish. For someone like me who owns a Dac which i love and with no USB option need a good SPDIF out option and the Auralic options are what gives it in a simple way.
 
@Prem..it is said that Yggy needs considerable time to warm up after a cold start. Some say as much as 24hrs. Is that your experience as well?
 
Naturelover, I did hear some expensive stuff too.

Matbhuvi, I heard a new Yggdrasil which was not broken in. With a 300 hr break in it should sound much better. It sounded good as it is
 
I heard all the dacs with USB and co axial. In most cases I preferred the co axial. In case of Yggdrasil I preferred the optical over all other connections. But that could be a case of the USB circuit not breaking in
 
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