Schiit Yggdrasil.....with mods? Yup!

[Ric Schultz]

The Schiit Yggdrasil has been out over a month now and has gotten raves from those who have heard it. One person said it was as detailed as the MSB Analog DAC with separate power supply and 4Xusb option but not as musical. My friend got an Yggy in SoCal and I told him how to mod it and it sounds way, way better than stock in detail and musicality. It might be up there with the big, big boys. He is in Pocoima and if anyone wants to A/B with a serious DAC or even a stock Yggy.....just let me know and I will get you in touch with him. The mods are all DIY and I have just posted the beginning info on my website: http://www.tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Schiit_mod.html

What is so cool about this DAC is that it has some very serious technology (super low jitter, fantastic digital filter, 4 $75 Analog Devices RtoR DACs, and a discrete fet output stage.....so the basics are all there for fantastic sound and the price is low enough ($2300) that it allows for tweaking possibilities....no one mods a $10,000 DAC! Apparently sounds great stock but this one knows how things can be made better with tweaks.....I might even put my own discrete fet buffer stage on it down the line. A new fun toy!

 

[Ric Schultz]

As it says on my site "if you feel this is dangerous then use an audiophile fuse". I personally don't think a fuse in a low level transistor piece of equipment does anything but add distortion. Now your tube gear and amps.....they definitely need fusing or circuit breakers. When is the last time you blew a fuse in a low level piece of transistor gear (preamp, DAC, transport, tuner, etc.)? The power transformer is small enough that the primary winding would just melt very quickly if it were directly shorted on the output. As I said.....just use a $50 audiophile fuse....same sound just $50 more. Fuses never protect anything from lightning....we all know that....the fuse blows and the whole product blows....lightning could care less that you have a fuse there.

 

[agisthos]

I completely agree with Ric. Jumping the fuse always sounds better, you remove a slight amount of powerline induced coloration.

Of course you would never do such a thing in a poweramp, but for these low level devices, as Ric says, when was the last time you ever had to change the fuse in a low current piece of equipment like a DAC, pre or disc player? The only time is when there is a catastrophic power surge from lightening or falling trees, and in that case, no fuse is going to save you, all the equipment gets fried.

So you may as well enjoy the benefits of jumping the fuse on these devices.

No doubt our resident EE's blood are boiling right now...

 

[Ken Newton]

The fuse is there to keep the unit from catching fire in case of an internal electrical fault. If the unit catches fire your home could catch fire, and then the people in your home could catch fire. Capisce!

 

[Blizzard]

The fuse is there to keep the unit from catching fire in case of an internal electrical fault. If the unit catches fire your home could catch fire, and then the people in your home could catch fire. Capisce!

Fuses are for pussies! Real men are risk takers

 

[zztop7]

Lightning BBQ

Fuses never protect anything from lightning....we all know that....the fuse blows and the whole product blows....lightning could care less that you have a fuse there.

Mega-MILLION surge/fuse/telecom equipment vs. lightning. I saw the aftermath of this lightning. The lightning "could care less"; just arcing through everything - BBQ.
zz.

 

[amirm]

Thanks for the write-up. Question: did you put in this toggle switch next to the IEC power socket?

 

[Ric Schultz]

No, the toggle switch is stock and is the power switch. I had him bypass it with wire and solder for better sound. Another thing to try on the AC input would be to remove the stock in RF filter and use some Mad Scientist Kegs instead along with a better AC input jack.

 

[amirm]

Man, that is really low-grade "DIY-like" approach to put such a toggle switch in there.

Good to know that was your mod as otherwise I would have been shocked to see such a solder job there .

 

[Folsom]

This was posted in another forum. Removing the IEC EMI filter will be the best improvement. They're absolute ****. In that limited space I'd only put in a couple of X capacitors.

Fuses are awful, they become more resistive as they pass more current (they are not linear). Audiophile fuses are a better option, or other fail-safe devices.

I also noticed for balanced outputs this has a clear pin1 problem. The RCA outs are awfully cheap too, some good copper ones would be good. The parts on the board appear to be quiet good quality, so there isn't a lot of options there.

What are the heatsinks connected to? The transformers could use some shielding.

But I have no idea why you wouldn't just use a solid piece of wire to bypass the fuse, soldered on under it.