Having trouble with optical output from my Blusound Vault 2 to a brand-new Schiit Yggdrasil

Audio Gear Talk BluOS: NAD & Bluesound
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@support Hello, this may be a lengthy one. Forgive me!

I’m attempting to connect my brand-new Schiit Yggy using an optical cable going from my Bluesound Vault 2’s optical out to the Yggy’s optical input, routed to my Focal CMS65 studio monitors using balanced xlr cables, and I’m currently getting no sound with the Yggy’s optical input selected in either the BluOS app or Roon. I have tried a couple of different optical cables, all 3-6 ft in length, to no avail. I am, however, at least seeing the red light.

I AM currently able to get sound from Roon/BluOS with the Yggy via the USB out of my Windows 10 PC, although, as @kevin may or may not recall, I’m unfortunately still using my main work PC as my Roon core, so, I thought it best to at least try to separate playback from the core as much as possible by outputting to the Yggy via the Vault.

Having to rely on the USB connection of my work PC/Roon core for the past few days has also resulted in my having to use Roon’s DSP software volume control. I’d definitely prefer to have Roon’s volume fixed and to be using an external volume control, as opposed to doing anything in software, but, the balanced outputs of the Yggy are apparently now going to require a balanced passive preamp, and I don’t even know where to begin on that front.

Apologies for prattling on here. I do want to point out, before anyone hops in (hopefully), that I don’t have any other readily available components with an optical connection to test out. I do have a PS4, but, moving gear/furniture is a bit strenuous with a disability. I’d prefer to not have to start moving other devices by the television around if I could possibly avoid it.

I’d greatly appreciate any ideas on the Vault’s optical output, and also, maybe if anyone cares to pop in with any ideas on how to improve my overall layout, that’d be cool, too…thank you!

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Does your television have optical out?

I know you don’t want to hear it but you really need to figure out if the problem is the optical in on the Yggdrasil or optical out on the Vault 2 and there is only 2 ways of doing that. Test the Vault into something else or plug something else into the Yggdrasil.

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Do you have a coax cable laying around? You could try connecting the two devices that way.

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Maybe a dumb question, but why aren’t you connecting with USB?

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Because the Vault doesn’t do USB out.

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Joe, no insult intended, but have you selected the optical input on the front of the Yggy?

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Thanks for reaching out, Jeff. A kind soul on Head-Fi alerted me to your reply.

As I wrote there, it’s a great idea, in theory, but my TV is on the wall opposite from the Yggy. I had quite an adventure lifting the Yggy onto my desk, so, helpful notion though it may be, this mean mother Yggy isn’t moving anytime soon.

I think what I’m going to do is drop the optical and try coax

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No worries, thank you for reaching out. My Roon Core is (very) unfortunately shared with my work PC for the time being. I can get sound via USB out of my PC, though, I’d prefer outputting from the vault to separate playback as much as possible right now.

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No insult whatsoever, John. I did. Perhaps I got a bum optical in? Who knows? Way too heavy and pricey to ship back. I’ll just move onto coax and see how we do. The immediate priority is to not be using my PC for work, core, and playback, with the ultimate goal being to get the core off my work PC entirely.

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@Joe_Strain Joe do you have any friends with an Apple TV 2/3 that has optical out…certainly easy to move about and try with airplay but you might need an hdmi monitor to set it up. Just a thought to be able to test the optical input on the Yggy without something to big to move about. Or maybe an old DVD player perhaps.

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Hopefully coax works as it’s preferred over optical on the Yggdrasil anyway.

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What format is the music you are throwing at the Yggy via optical? Optical can’t really handle 24/192 reliably. Just a thought in case that is your problem…

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Good point Kenneth. I’m not sure if the Bluesound Vault 2 would down sample or try to play whatever rate it was told to do…maybe a screen shot of the playback path would be handy

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Alright, quick update for the good folk following my issues. I don’t mean to be greedy for attention, but, I wrote this on Head-fi, and I’ve copy/pasted this both here and the Bluesound forums, as it saves my digits some effort:

Test one: I used a red/white RCA cable going from the Bluesound’s coax out to the coax in of the Yggy, and…SUCCESS!! Glorious Judas Priest being piped out of Roon via the Vault. OK, good.

Test two: Had a neighbor stop by with an AppleTV. We tried two different optical cables with the Yggy, one 3 ft in length, the other, I believe, was 6 ft in length, aaaaannnddd…Absof**kinglutely NOTHING!

Now, I fully admit that my optical cables may not be the bees knees of audio reproduction, but, they did serve me well in a big box surround set-up for years. Unless my buddy has a wonky AppleTV, which is highly unlikely, it appears as though the optical input on the Yggy is a dud.

Now, I’ll try to be a reasonable man here. Far be it from me to pitch a tantrum and throw anyone under the bus, as these things happen, but…BUT, I would be lying if I said I’m not the slightest bit disappointed here. I know the Schiit people are doing a lot of upgrades at present, getting new gear ready…fine…things slip through the cracks, but, this was definitely not the outcome I’d have anticipated.

I guess the bottom line here, is that were I a healthier man, and, if I didn’t have any other connection alternatives, I’d probably be a great deal more upset than I am, but, as it stands, I have options, thanks to the great community here, and, I’m sure as heck not bothered enough to haul this beast off of my desk, re-pack it, hoof it down to the UPS store, and ship it back. C’est la vie, and all that. I’ve got music cranking, I’m a happy dolt.

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Joe, I’d contact Schiit anyway, explain your personal physical situation, see what they say.

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Alrighty, Jeff. An e-mail certainly couldn’t hurt. I’ll be sure to write it BEFORE I break into the Jameson Caskmates, though! :stuck_out_tongue:

EDIT: Someone on Head-fi posted that the ATV was not a good test because it output in DD or DD+ and that the Yggy needs PCM. I don’t think I changed any of his settings, so maybe that’s why it didn’t work, who knows?

I just wanted to put this here so as to not impugn Schiit’s credibility and say that there is still a CHANCE that the optical input on the Yggy is to blame.

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Yah you would have to force the apple tv to output 2 channel pcm for the Yggdrasil to understand it.

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Ugh, I hate problems right out of the box. But, I’m pretty sure you will like the sound once you identify the problem. Mine is about one month old; using BNC cable from a DigiOne. Just beautiful sound, IMO. Good luck to you.

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Well that’s some good news at least. :smiley:

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I really appreciate the community’s interest in helping me get the best out of my new gear and Roon…thank you!
Now…Where do I post so we can discuss potential balanced preamps? :grinning: