2023 has been a rather busy year for Schiit Audio; the company now manufactures its components in California and Texas and has introduced a number of new products including the URD CD transport, Hel+ gaming hub, Skoll phono pre-amplifier, and Midgard headphone amplifier.
A look look through the website reveals an expanded range of power amplifiers, headphone amplifiers, surround sound processors, pre-amplifiers and DACs.
On the DAC side, the flagship Yggdrasil is still offered in two different configurations (OG and Less is More), but all of that is about to change.
Schiit Audio has announced its Yggdrasil+ More is Better, or MIB for only $2,599 ($2,699 in the silver finish).
The new version of its best-selling DAC delivers the “best measured performance yet” according to Jason Stoddard, Schiit’s co-founder.
“These exceptional results are the result of Texas Instruments’ new DAC11001B IC,” said Jason Stoddard. “It has taken the precision DAC crown, across the entire audio band, from 20Hz to 20kHz.”
The DAC11001B IC is typically not used for consumer audio, but Schiit Audio is experienced at using its custom DSP-based digital filter to interface with ICs usually used in medical and defense applications. The Yggdrasil+ MIB uses 4 DAC11001Bs, one for each phase, in a hardware-balanced, differential application.
One of the benefits of buying from Schiit is that many of the products are easily upgradeable and that certainly applies to the Yggdrasil+ platform. According to Stoddard, the new MIB boards for existing Yggdrasil+ units will be available before the end of 2023.
The analog board upgrade cost is expected to be $800 USD.
“This highlights a key advantage of Yggdrasil,” said Jason Stoddard. “It’s the only completely modular, upgradable DAC, which makes it evergreen. Introduced 9 years ago, it’s perhaps the only DAC of its age that has grown and changed with the times, rather then being replaced by a new product.”
All Yggdrasil+
- Inputs: Unison USB, AES/EBU XLR, RCA SPDIF, BNC SPDIF, Optical SPDIF
- Input Capability: up to 24/192 for all inputs
- Input Receiver, SPDIF: AKM AK4113
- Input Receiver, USB: Unison USB™, based on Microchip PIC32 microprocessor
- Clock Management: Bitperfect clock management at all native sample rates via Adapticlock analysis and VCXO/VCO regeneration
- Digital Filter: proprietary Schiit time- and frequency-domain optimized digital filter implemented on Analog Devices SHARC DSP processor
- Output: One pair XLR balanced and two pairs RCA single-ended
- Output Impedance: 75 ohms
- Power Supply: two transformers (one for digital supplies, one for analog supplies) plus one input choke for discrete, dual mono, shunt-regulated analog +/-24V supply, plus 12 or more separate local regulated supplies for DACs and digital sections, including high-precision, low-noise LM723 regulation in critical areas.
- Upgradability: Fully modular architecture. Separate digital input board, USB input board, DSP engine board, and DAC/analog output boards.
- Power Consumption: 45W
- Size: 16 x 13” x 2.875”
- Weight: 25 lbs
Yggy+ MIB (More is Better)
- Frequency Response, Analog Stage: 20Hz-20Khz, +/-0.1dB, 0.5Hz-100KHz, -1dB
- Maximum Output: 4.0V RMS (balanced), 2.0V RMS (single-ended)
- THD+N: -118dB referenced to full output (0.0001%), -96dB at 20kHz, 90kHz bandwidth
- IMD: <0.0002%, CCIF, at full output
- SNR: > 128dB, referenced to 4V RMS
- D/A Conversion IC: Texas Instruments DAC11001B x 4 (2 per channel, dual hardware balanced configuration)
- Analog Stage: Integrated, using LME49724 differential stage
Yggdrasil+ MIB is available now at schiit.com for $2,599 in black, $2,699 in silver.
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ORT
November 10, 2023 at 11:24 am
Every piece of Schiit I have purchased has been given to either family or friend. Even the only one to have actually caught my eye, the Valhalla. I finally gave that to my son.
I have a look I prefer and it ain’t Schiit. This is NOT to say that Schiit looks like crap (it does not!) but rather I am aesthetically lost in the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayback! Think Lang’s “Metropolis”. I cannot hear any difference betwixt tubes and solid state but I can see it. And I prefer something along the lines of having lines that I prefer.
So even when I buy some Schiit for my self I do not keep it very long before I give it to a loved one that is also a stereo enthusiast. I bought a Modius for my son and later a Magnius for my self. And then I gave him the Magnius. I gave my older brother a Vali. I kept the Valhalla for a few years but I never listened to music through it much. Yes, the tubes glowed but there was some THING missing.
VU Meters. Oh how loathsomely shallow of me…I even bought a small stand alone set of VU Meters but have not used them or the hard-wired headphone setup for a few months now. I may have to hook it all back up and get used to hard wired again so that I do not get up and walk off pulling every thing behind me.
I know that the Skoll (reads like chewing tobacco to me, LOL!) is a phono pre-amp so perhaps I can buy and keep one of those. Perhaps. Maybe. Whonoze? I do not have balanced turntable so no chance to tempt me via cool looking cables (as opposed to foo-foo looking, i.e., HEXpensive cables!)
The Midgard has a cool name. No VU Meters tho’ so unless a family member or friend wants one I will not buy one. I suppose on the off chance that I make friends with a residentially challenged oenophile (RCO) who is also a music enthusiast with access to an active AC outlet, headphones and…I digress.
How could I not like something named “Hel” or rather “Hel+”. I gave my son (a) Hel2 a few years ago so it may be time to give him Hel again! I would give one to one of my brothers but he has a DAC/Amp in his computer room and I doubt if he would accept it. I may still give him one just because I can. Of late he is still much enamored of his Sennheiser Moe-3s and insufferably so. 😉
Hopefully someone here will test/review the Skoll (“Jess a pinch ‘tween yor cheek n buns” – *GACK*) to help me consider owning one my self.
No one else in my family enjoys spinning the licorice pizza so I must be careful not to buy something I cannot give to someone in the event it fails to sate my wanton desires for more than adequate looking audio equipment. I do not know that many RCOs and none of them spin records. Dammit. 😉
As for the Yggdrasil+ MIB DAC? Cool looking yes, with superb measurements to boot but beyond my ability to discern anything more than the fact that the 0s & 1s are magically changed into music. But outside of looking cool, that is all I ask of it.
Schiit makes excellent equipment that performs better than most other gear at a price that many more can afford. That is the sweet spot more marques should aspire to. Sir Jason of Stoddard has a MASSIVE thread over at Head-Fi that is populated by the most enthusiastic group of audio people one could hope to meet.
Said thread is filled with Schiit! And never forget Kittehs and Pooches! And more. They are into audio for the joy of music and the camaraderie and share amongst all who read that thread their life’s soundtrack. They really are a wonderful group of folks!
I coined a term for them – “Schiitizens”. And more than a few of them I am honored to call friend.
ORT
Dave
November 19, 2024 at 2:10 pm
If you like the vintage look and warm glow of VU meters add a Teac AN-180 noise reduction unit to your rig. It doesn’t even have to be in the signal path. Sony made a similar unit (the NR-335) but I prefer the look of the Teac box.