The Yggy isn’t the last word in DACs. It has a dedicated and vocal following on this forum, but there are other DACs out there as good or better for approximately the same money.
I use iFi Pro iDSD. Highly recommended by many reviewers, if that means anything to you.
BTW - I had a Freya preamp that I was using for its tubes, volume control and balanced input to the Vidar monoblocks. I returned the Freya since the Pro iDSD accomplishes all of that also.
Hey Slim,
The info is greatly appreciated. Earlier I had read with interest the thread about the comparison of Schiit vs iFi that you had replied to in August. Depending on how things work out over the next few days, I will definitely give their products serious consideration.
Being in a smaller city devoid of high-end stereo vendors, relying on the advice of people who have listened to a variety of equipment or have dedicated years to nice stereo equipment is for me invaluable.
My current problems aside, I’ve really enjoyed researching the equipment and trying to put together a system that works for my particular needs & space. Living in a small apartment in close proximity to your neighbors creates a few considerations about volume & placement that a spacious home in the country does not. I gave all my living rooms chairs to my daughter when she headed off to college and decided to fill the void with stereo equipment.
The one thing that amuses & bewilders is the varied opinions about…basically everything. Finding a fanatic & a detractor for the same piece of equipment has happened more than once. There’s nothing better to temper your enthusiasm for a new exciting piece of equipment than to read a scathing diatribe that’s 180 degrees out of phase with everything you’ve read so far. 
But not having the luxury of A/B comparisons & blind tests makes me blissfully ignorant of what I might be missing. To me, the music streaming through the Yggdrasil into a First Watt SIT-3 that I’m listening to right now sounds magnitudes better than anything I’ve ever owned before. But I’m sure that I, like you, will eventually start replacing, tweaking & expanding what I have as I encounter components that intrigue me.
Thanks for taking the time to give me something new to research.
Can you say more about the SIT-3? There are only a handful of units out there as yet. A few “professional” reviews, but only one other consumer opinion that I’ve read.
On waiting list for next batch, hence my interest.
Thanks!
Hey Rob,
Oh how I wish I could tell you more but unfortunately I can’t. 
At least not anything too in-depth or insightful.
To give you a bit of the back story, I had decided to try to cobble together a stereo system for my small apartment. Because of where I live, having a lot of volume and rumbling bass really wasn’t an option. So I decided to focus more on a lower powered system that had good midrange and clarity. Initially the plan was to get a headphone-only system and add the amp & speakers at a later date. My goal was to slowly build a system incrementally to try and acquire the nicest components my budget could withstand and avoid having to upgrade components in the near future.
Fortunately I have a friend down in Louisiana who has been an avid audiophile for decades. I’ve always enjoyed listening to his various systems and I have a lot of respect for his advice because his likes/dislikes and goals are similar to mine. It’s nice to have a resource you trust. The last time I went to visit him & his wife (in May), we spent the day switching between a pair of large monoblock tube amps, a Thoress & a First Watt F7 discussing the pros & cons of each one with a variety of music. He’s a big fan of Nelson Pass’ designs and has other pieces of his equipment. He was real excited about the SIT-3. After listening to the F7, I was too if the SIT-3 was going to be better.
This created a bit of a logistical problem for me because buying an amp put a big dent in my piggy bank. But the SIT-3 was of such limited production (when they’re gone they’re gone!) that if I wanted one, I had to buy now because otherwise it might be never.
When mine did arrive, taking it out of the box I liked the build quality and the heft of it. It seemed like a solid piece of engineering. But if you look at a photo, not a lot of bells & whistles. It’s a pretty straightforward & functional component which I like.
The next hurdle I ran into was without a DAC, I had no way of listening to it. Also, I didn’t have nice speakers that would let me enjoy it to its fullest yet. So I acquired a Yggdrasil and used a pair of consumer-grade JBL 2-ways from my tv setup to burn in the amp and actually get to hear it (instead of having it boxed in the corner) while I went about acquiring the rest of the system. So the setup I used was not for critical listening at all. Components were sitting on top of the cardboard boxes they were shipped in. Inefficient speakers were sitting on a wooden floor. Speaker placement was random. I was house/pet sitting for friends out in the country while they were on vacation so it seemed like a good place to crank it up & burn it in. I was mainly focused on using it for Roon testing and setup since I only had 15 days to get the DAC to work. But since I could never get the Yggdrasil to work with Roon and Schiit customer service would never reply to any of my emails for assistance, I was forced to return it and put everything else back in boxes in the corner of my apartment.
Taking into account all of the shortcomings of my setup, I really thought the music I was playing through my Dell laptop sounded pretty good. Since all I’ve ever owned before has been fairly common Sony equipment, even in this less-than-ideal setting, it sounded better than what I currently have. But that’s not much of an endorsement you can base a purchase on since I never got to listen to it in an ideal setup that maximized its true potential. This is more of an optimistic impression from a person with limited experience.
When I emailed my friend to let him know my SIT-3 had arrived, he had been burning his in and listening to it for about 200 hours. His reply might be a bit more insightful than anything I have to say:
"All I can tell you is that after over 35 years in this hobby, the SIT-3 is one of the most special components I’ve ever had in my system. The only other components I’ve either heard or owned in this league are the original Martin Logan Curved Line Source speakers (from the mid-1980s and long out of production), my Thoress F2A11 amp (the green amp on top of the equipment stand), and my Auditorium 23 Hommage Ken speakers currently in the system. I firmly believe that you have purchased what will become a legendary amplifier!"
I got the general impression he was enthusiastic about it. He’s listening to it through a Mojo Audio Mystique v3 DAC and the Auditorium speakers so I think he’s getting a clearer picture of what it’s capable of. As soon as I get a refund from Schiit and get back on track again, I may be in a position to be more helpful.
Thanks for the reply. While waiting for the SIT-3 to arrive, I have several email conversations with Nelson Pass. He is generous with his time and the sharing of his expertise.
Your friend clearly thinks highly of the amp and will no doubt be of valuable assistance as you build your system.
I look forward to the arrival of my First Watt in the fairly near future.
I knew that this project was going to test my patience a bit as I couldn’t go out and get 100% of the things I needed in one swoop. I’ve been having a lot of fun with this so I’m not letting the glitch with the Yggdrasil derail that. Originally Mark @ RenoHiFi had told me mine wouldn’t be available until close to November so I was real pleased when it arrived in September. I couldn’t do anything with it but it made for a great paperweight while my back-ordered Yggdrasil which wouldn’t work was waiting to ship. But I should have speakers soon and once I get a new DAC I’ll be super close. I’m really looking forward to it. Fortunately I still have plenty to keep me busy with a lot of side projects getting my network, streaming library & furniture all setup. I hope you like your new amp!
An addendum -
I’ve been taking my new iFi Pro DSD for a spin the last week or so. The SQ is great, but there are other outstanding problems with it.
I’m debating whether to send it back, I’ve got 30 days to decide.
Just a heads up, since I prematurely (it seems) recommended it to you.
Hey Slim,
Thanks for the update. After your last post, I went and looked at the iFi Pro DSD but felt it might not be the best fit for me. I already have a preamp with a headphone jack and volume control so I would favor a DAC that was discrete and only handled that one particular task. But I still appreciate the initial input and the follow up.
As I found out with the Yggdrasil, you sometimes hear good things about both a product and the service and neither seem to materialize for you for some unknown reason. Sometimes it’s just not your lucky day. Initially when I opened the box and saw the build quality and the design, I was optimistic. But that faded over the next five days. Fortunately I have lots of options and I don’t mind looking at them all. That’s part of the fun. 
I guess you’ve sent the Yggy back. How did that go for you? It seems like Schiit can be shits, unless you’re actually buying something. I never get a reply to my technical questions.
Did you look at the Chord Qutest?
I’m not sure what the final outcome with Schiit will be. The Yggdrasil won’t get there until Tuesday. Then I might have to wait another week before I see a refund. I’ll post a follow up for future readers of this thread. I’m not a big fan of the fact that they do not answer their phone. It’s just a voice message telling you to email them. But they read your email & then decide whether they want to reply or not. I sent five emails and got a single one-line hyperlink to the Roon documentation (Thanks!). I asked eight questions. I had zero answered. Some of the questions you’d think they’d want to reply to like “Can I exchange it?”. It was weird.
I did see the Chord products. They have a unique design style. They do seem to like bright colors!
Hey Slim, just out of curiosity, what issues have you had Slim?
On the positive side, my system has never been more alive. Once I got about 40 hours on the tubes, they got sweeter and more musical. That’s the bitch, I love the sonics, the soundstage, the definition. Also, my monoblocks will only take balanced input, so in this price range there’s not a lot of choices.
I’ve got a ticket open with iFi. I’ve found them to be quite responsive, they’re asking me all sorts of question, but really either the units act like this or they don’t. I’ve got a 30 day, so I may send it back and get another unit.
We’ll see.
BTW - Right now I’ve got it cranked up to 11, listening to some blues. Nothing gets muddy or stressed out, it sounds as good as at lower levels.
I know you’ve never had a DAC/pre do this but it’s generally good practise to turn the power amps on last (and off first).
WTF indeed.
That’s normal - Pro setting is double the output voltage of HiFi and not really recommended for home use.
Excellent - can’t go wrong with the 30 day trial. You can walk away with your money back if you’re not happy, relatively risk free. Hope it gets sorted though.
Sorry to hear of your failed Yggy trial. I can attest to Schiit’s support “terseness” (to be generous). But when I was installing mine about a year ago, Roon proved to be more of an issue than Yggy. I had trouble with getting Roon, TIDAL, and Yggy to synchronize the start of a playback. All good now.
I was the one who initially recommended the DigiOne. I was told (again, a year ago) that Yggy would not be recognized by Roon as an endpoint per se. Also my Rock (same as yours) was 75 feet away from the Yggy so a USB connection was impractical.
But just for curiosity’s sake, there was no question for you that your Yggy was “Roon Ready”? Namely, Yggy showed up on the Setup screen as a recognized endpoint, yes?
+1 to that. I’m thru buying Schiit products, anyway.
Yes. The Yggy was recognized by Roon on all three machines & three different operating systems (Linux, MacOS, WIndows).
The 5 upgrade happened about Nov-Dec last year. I recall (I think ) the announcement shortly before I bought mine.
I guess I never tried the USB connection, 'cause unlike you, I never questioned the need for an extra kit. It was a grand adventure, I was spending money, upgrading everything, questioning little.
Schiit, TMK, has never used Roon in its ads or marketing stuff. And, again, they weren’t exactly effusive when answering questions like, “are you Roon Ready/Tested/able to connect”? So, I felt like a pioneer blazing new trails.
Anyway, it ended well for me. Bought the endpoint (and learned all about RPis), and after “typical” connection mysteries, I now have a predictable and lovely music source.
Hope your adventure ends well.
For a brief moment I considered spending some more money and acquiring a streamer with a different output (S/PDIF, BNC) to solve the problem. But I didn’t like the idea of having a DAC with a USB port that didn’t work as intended. Schitt’s inability to provide support for their own products did not endear me to them either. Which is a shame because the build quality seemed nice and I had no complaints about the sound I could get through it. I’m glad you got yours to work.
The good news is that I’m in the enviable position of being able to acquire whatever I want or need to get this to work. I just might have to wait a couple of months to save a bit more cash depending on how extravagant I want to be. When I started this process I had an idea of how much I wanted to spend. I blew past that amount fairly early on so the idea of a “budget” is laughable at this point. And I don’t mind trying out new products. Since I don’t live near any audio dealers, I already knew that paying shipping to try something out and then potentially paying to ship it back was going to be part of the process. It’s still more convenient & less expensive than driving 10 hours round trip to audition a component.
So I’m pretty optimistic that in the end everything is going to be great. The fact that this is a slow process is not a bad thing since I look at this more as a new hobby and a journey. I could have bought racks and stands but I decided to see if I could build my own first. Here’s some white oak speaker stands that I started building this weekend. Eventually the mitered column will be filled with dampening material and they will be painted black since my monitors will be ebony.
Just for fun, I wrote a computer program to compare my Roon & my NAS to the copy I have on my ripping workstation (which I consider to be my reference library) to keep the two in sync. It recognizes file changes for re-ripped files. It does a 2-way compare and makes sure that both directory structures match by creating directory trees and copying files as necessary. Some things it does automatically. Others it only flags to let me resolve it manually. It’s still a bit rough and needs a lot of polish to include all of the bells & whistles I have rattling around in my brain but again a fun side project to refine this winter. I’m never bored.
Oh wow! You are a hobbyist with a capital H! You have all parts of your brain working. And a checkbook! Go for it!
This post is a followup for readers who may encounter a similar problem in the future and are researching a solution.
I returned the Yggdrasil to Schiit and their reply is below:
Your Yggdrasil functions normally. As a one time courtesy we have waived the restocking fee.
So the good news is that I’m only out $154.90 in shipping costs and not the $275 it would have cost me with the restocking fee. But of course with all of the verifiable problems I had, I asked what I felt was an important question:
Since you are listed as a Roon Partner, did you test this Yggdrasil for Roon USB connectivity? Or is that not part of your testing?
I was pleased after my earlier failed attempts to get customer support to respond that Tom was kind enough to give the reply below. Unfortunately instead of answering my question above, he only provided a helpful hint that may be useful to future buyers. This information however would not have solved my problem since these instructions only work on a Yggdrasil that has been enabled (mine would not) and is simply not producing sound. I was never able to reach the manual settings screen for my Yggdrasil:
It turns out that when exclusive mode in Roon is turned on, it somehow sets the Audio MIDI setup for the device *Yggdrasil Gen 5) to be 32 bit. Manually setting the Yggdrasil to 2ch 24-bit Integer 192.0 kHz get sound working again. In my Roon device Playback settings I do have the Sample Rate (PCM) set to Up to 192 and the Max Bits Per Sample (PCM) to 24 bits. It LOOKS like when put into exclusive mode, 32 bits it being set and the Yggdrasil seems to not like that.
Just to make sure I wasn’t misreading the information they were sharing with me or that I had made a mistake while testing, I asked if they had specifically gotten my Yggdrasil to work with Roon and if that was part of their testing. If I get a reply, I will share that. But I had seen the information about the 32 bit problem in my earlier research and was never able to get to a screen where I could modify any of the settings for my Yggdrasil which Schiit claims is working as designed.
