New Yggdrasil - First (and second) Impressions

It is the pinnacle of irony that George, whom has spent so much time and energy ridiculing those that steadfastly insist that they hear discernable, and even profound, differences with boutique fuses is now in the exact opposite place trying to defend the sonic superiority of his favorite DAC vs the Oppo. He knows with absolute certainty that the Yggdrasil makes a big improvement to his ears and in his system but experiences total futility in convincing someone that claims they cannot hear the same. It is so easy to hear; how can they not hear it??? Frustrating, ain’t it George?

The fact is that there is no way to understand these different/contrary perceptions produced in completely unfamiliar rooms with completely unfamiliar gear pairings on a web forum, let alone convince anyone of anything that they are skeptical toward. Why don’t we just stop trying?

No ridicule or offense intended toward you gdhal, or to George either for that matter.

Dave

Very good review gdhal. It has been fun to follow this progression and it seems clear, at least to me, that you have invested enough time and energy to grasp what the Yggy or other up-scale DAC offers vs the very good Oppos. Good job all around. Well done.

I certainly learned a few things about giving recommendations to folks moving up from the lower ranks of hi-end to next step or two and I really appreciate that enlightenment.

First, I considered recording quality a given. I listen to about anything on my hi-end rig AS LONG AS IT IS RECORDED WELL and maintain a second vinyl-based vintage system for listening to the rock of the 60s/70s/80s and most blues. And radio. I love listening to this stuff on that system. It’s a whole different experience than listening to well recorded music on my hi-end rig, but every bit as satisfying IMO. Two different worlds. It never occurred to me that someone would think that a better DAC would improve poor recordings. It won’t. Quite the opposite IME. This was an oversight in my thinking in prior posts not to be more specific about the sensitivity of better equipment to recording quality and even music genre.

Second, two or more peoples’ perception of "significant gains" in sound quality can be quite different. Your description of the differences/improvements you heard with the Yggy vs your other sources is well into what I consider to be "significant gains" territory. I learned that short blurbs on an audio forum about relative differences between equipment really need to be defined by describing more precise observations about the improvements, lest we set up someone we are trying to help for failure by misleading them on expectations.

Trying the Yggy cold is a complete waste of time to my thinking; again, it would never occur to me, but maybe I will learn more.

Again, great job gdhal.

Dave