Dac shootout. Hex vs Vega vs Yggdrasil

[panditji]

It's been over 6 months now since I moved 100% to optical. It actually meant even changing my DACs as the norm was using USB DACs and PC sound cards prior to that.

I still have folks telling me optical is more prone to jitter, does not do high res, etc. but I've never heard sound like this in all of my setups other than with an Ayon CDP and a borrowed Cyrus.

I still lust after the Cyrus...



I've heard the 2Qute and Yggy in direct comparison and really no comparison. The Yggdrasil walks all over it.

That is what I have also read but then the Yggy is 60-70% more expensive than a 2Qute and does DSD as well... Would love to hear an Yggy as I have read so much about it and do a comparison with the 2Qute myself...

 

[prem]

Yggy does not do DSD. But it has a 5 year warranty and is upgradeable

And also to put things into perspective, none of the dacs I heard come anywhere near the turntable set up I have. They just don't have that dynamic agility or tonality or timing

 

[regeHA]

Now I need to finalise my source

Aries Mini or Sonic Orbiter SE or Raspberry Pi? Suggestions and opinions are welcome.

RegeHA, do u use a raspberry Pi?

Used to and I can recommend it highly. But you'll need to use either wireless via MinimServer or something like HiFiBerry. To my ears a direct comparison in wireless/DLNA mode between the Pi, the Aries Mini, and a PC there was no difference.

Rikhav is using it too... I'm sure he can set it up for you in under 20 mins. FM "terrible" too.

I use a Synology NAS now with MinimServer, no difference from the Pi again in DLNA streaming... but the Synology does offer a lot more.

A Pi with an externally powered HDD plugged in via USB beats most of the sources/transports I've heard over many, many years.

 

[regeHA]

That is what I have also read but then the Yggy is 60-70% more expensive than a 2Qute and does DSD as well... Would love to hear an Yggy as I have read so much about it and do a comparison with the 2Qute myself...

DSD is the reason I'm considering the Mytek, but other than high res music there is very little to fault in the Yggy. It's hands down one of the best DACs I've heard.

PS: Haven't heard the MSB Analog DAC yet, but I'm sure that or a Total DAC would be top of the DAC chain.

 

[prem]

RegeHA, does Pi have a optical out? Also what power supply would u recommend with it?

Can a raspberry Pi be controlled with an iPhone?

 

[prem]

RegeHa, if price was not a consideration, what transport would u recommend?

 

[panditji]

DSD is the reason I'm considering the Mytek, but other than high res music there is very little to fault in the Yggy. It's hands down one of the best DACs I've heard.

PS: Haven't heard the MSB Analog DAC yet, but I'm sure that or a Total DAC would be top of the DAC chain.

Now I have to hear an Yggy soon.. Have heard too many great reviews so far...Do help if you know anybody owning an Yggy in the Delhi/NCR region...

 

[regeHA]

RegeHA, does Pi have a optical out? Also what power supply would u recommend with it?

No optical out. You would need to use DLNA streaming and Chromecast Audio. I'm doing this and I really like it.

Not sure how much it will matter in your setup though. I'm certain you have a more resolving and isolated system to begin with... so like the BGT tweaks might not even make a difference in your setup. I'd start with asking either Rikhav or Terrible to come over with their Pi and take it from there.

RegeHa, if price was not a consideration, what transport would u recommend?

Very hard to say. I'm extremely happy with my $700 NAS. And I cannot say the Pi lacked in anyway. If I was setting things up again I'd seriously consider the microRendu, but now I don't have place for either ethernet or USB in my setup.

If I was playing at that level then Aurender would be a serious consideration, or else the Lumin U1.

The only other consideration, in a price no consideration situation, would be for a Linn system, they get the source/transport right so much more than others.

 

[regeHA]

RegeHA, does Pi have a optical out? Also what power supply would u recommend with it?

Can a raspberry Pi be controlled with an iPhone?

I'm using a mobile charger power supply. I've tried both power bank and a budget LPS and could not find any difference. Also, I've heard the HDPlex actually hurt the SQ of an Aries. In fact the Aries sounded best with its own power supply.

Android is better, the best app I've used is the BubbleUPnP app on Android. For iPhone the PlugPlayer is a good app.

 

[prem]

RegeHA, I am not looking at streaming facility right now. There's nothing really good available in India. So what I will be listening to is primarily wav files on a hard disk. Since I liked optical connection, I would prefer a source which has it. Would ideally like to keep it very very simple. Minimum cabling and minimum number of boxes. Micro rendu does not have a optical out. So that's out

Would a Synolgy NAS into a Sonic Orbiter SE or a Aries Mini with a 1tb SSD installed? What would be your choice?

 

[regeHA]

RegeHA, I am not looking at streaming facility right now. There's nothing really good available in India. So what I will be listening to is primarily wav files on a hard disk. Since I liked optical connection, I would prefer a source which has it. Would ideally like to keep it very very simple. Minimum cabling and minimum number of boxes. Micro rendu does not have a optical out. So that's out

Would a Synolgy NAS into a Sonic Orbiter SE or a Aries Mini with a 1tb SSD installed? What would be your choice?

Aries Mini. Easy to setup and use, has a killer app too.

Alternatively you can consider the HiFiBerry Digi+ (https://www.hifiberry.com/digiplus/) with a Pi.

For plug and play ease and good output the Mini for sure.

Edit: Wanted to mention by streaming I meant my own content on my local network. Not the likes of Spotify.

 

[Orko]

And also to put things into perspective, none of the dacs I heard come anywhere near the turntable set up I have. They just don't have that dynamic agility or tonality or timing

Prem, have you tried playing a needle drop or vinyl transfer through a digital player? I'm wondering if that would take care of the dynamics and tonality, to some extent, assuming that the rest of the chain is top-notch.

 

[prem]

No Orko. The dacs were heard on another system. I do not have any needle drops

 

[Orko]

No Orko. The dacs were heard on another system. I do not have any needle drops

Got it. If you ever do though, I'd be very interested in knowing what you feel.

Thank you, by the way, for this fascinating thread. And my thanks also to everyone who's contributing. I'm all agog

 

[prem]

Sure Orko.

If I can get hold of a good A to D converter will definitely rip and see

 

[arj]

I've found the 24/192 needle drops to be very good in terms of the texture of the Music it presents .. But they would be coloured by the TT/cart and phono combo . Have never compared it with the equivalent pure digital content . Of course I had to down sample it to 48 [emoji15]


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[Orko]

I've found the 24/192 needle drops to be very good in terms of the texture of the Music it presents .. But they would be coloured by the TT/cart and phono combo .

Haha, yes. That's a degree of fastidiousness that escaped me

Have never compared it with the equivalent pure digital content . Of course I had to down sample it to 48 [emoji15]

I haven't either. Is it at all possible to get the exact equivalent, given that vinyl and digital versions are mastered differently?

 

[arj]

No I don't think they would sound the sAme even if they were from the same master ( which is possible ) due to the cart/phono being different to the dac used


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[square_wave]

Would a Synolgy NAS into a Sonic Orbiter SE or a Aries Mini with a 1tb SSD installed? What would be your choice?

Hey Prem, Were you able to compare the auralic aries and mini purely as a digital source ( via optical , usb) ? Comparison should be using the same external dac.

In this respect, if the aries mini sounds better than a tricked out mac mini, it is great value.

 

[prem]

Square wave, I could hardly detect any difference between the Aries optical and the Mini optical. The Aries I compared was the one with the Femto clock and built in LPS. The mini had an external LPS. John Darko too in his evaluation came to pretty much similar conclusions

Square wave did u mean the Mac Mini or the Aries Mini? I didn't hear anything through a Mac mini. No shop is going to have a Mac mini in their set up when they are trying to sell a dedicated server