Yggdrasil is well made DAC, but Qutest can work with both PCM and DSD signals. If you don´t know the power of DSD recordings, you could be satisfied…
Chord is revealing every detail in music, on user side is to work with it and add right other components to prefer musical informations . Then you can hear music and everything what is inside the recordings in the best form. It needs good linear power supply for Qutest at first! Then connect right cables as usual. Cables must have good Phase response, the same is for amp and boxes. Then you´ll discover the art of music engineers in every recording. It is not agressive detailed digital music reproduction, but studio quallity sound like being there during mixing process. But it is walking on thin ice! Trying as more as possible cables and other components is necessary.
Sounds like you’re making excuses for what OP heard and the drawbacks of the Chord… IF it can use a linear power supply, then WHY Chord doesn’t freaking include one? Both Yggdrasil, and DS JR, have power supply (linear) within and even cheaper… To me, that’s inexcusable to include a crap switching power supply with a multi-thousand dollar DAC or equipment!
You are right, I don´t know it too…Maybe business, maybe driving customer to more expensive models. But linear PS is not too expensive and improving is noticeable.
Then must be included! The cost obviously plays a major role, but it’s not a cheap DAC, and I think if they did a mass purchase could get a decent unit below $200 and make the DAC $200 more expensive.
I believe Chord wanted to get the price right where it is and hopefully keep someone from buying another DAC form somebody else. It’s a very attractive price and it nicely undercuts everyone selling a $2499 DAC. Instead of seeing someone become a customer of whomever, they are Chord customers, many for life. We know a nice linear power supply is going to help it out, but every reviewer I’ve read has said wonderful things about it without mentioning power supply needs.
How many Mojos have they sold? Now they want to sell that many Qutest DACS. They most likely will. I own a Mojo, and a DSD Jr., and a DSD Sr. They didn’t get me. (But it was close)…
I applaud you choice of the Yggdrasil. It is a spectacular DAC for the money. I don’t think there is much between the Yggdrasil and the DirectStream. I would be quite happy with an Yggdrasil as my main DAC. I think the Yggdrasil is MUCH better than the Chord Qutest.
What do you mean, they didn’t get me?
I mean instead of buying a new (and additional) Chord I bought two PS Audio DACs.
They almost got me… I love the sound of the Poly/Mojo combo (my first Chord products). The UI and roll-out of the Poly was abysmal and that kind of soured me. I went with PS for the DSD Sr and I am dern glad I did!
BTW, does Chord Cutest have volume control? Like could it be used without a pre-amp?
Not Qutest. But Hugo2 has a remote control, for changing inputs and volume control, so can be used as a pre-amp. I have one also driving headphones for late night listening. Quite incredible for such a small thing.
That cancels it out as DAC for me, need it to be pre-amp as well. I think DS Jr, might work better, if I can find one.
I recently swapped out my DSJ for a W4S DAC-2v2se 10th Anniversary. I’m very pleased with the change. No bridge on the W4S, but I wasn’t using it anyway, instead using music players to input my streaming and computer files. If you want to stick with a PS Audio player, I’ll bet once Ted’s TSS hits the market, a good number of DS Sr. will become available on the used market.
I had an Ayon cd player that I loved for the money, but it was far from reliable. The first one I received had to be swapped out for a new one because of a noisy left channel. Then a few years later the laser failed and I needed a whole new transport. The following year after that the left channel developed the same issue I had with the very first unit I received, but this time it took over four months for repairs.
Also owned several Accuphase cd players that developed problems, but the one that really pissed me off was when I was charged over $300 plus shipping back in 2008 to replace what looked like a tiny rubber band for the transport, which I could’ve installed myself in a few seconds.
Nothing is bulletproof, especially high end audio equipment.
I can’t speak to the reliability issue, but Ayon was the best sounding room at T.H.E. SHOW in Long Beach, CA last month, in my opinion.
Ayon makes some of the finest sounding equipment I’ve heard, and I came very close to moving up their line, but decided to first give PSA a try.
One of the deciding factors for sticking with PSA besides sound quality, was their close proximity to where I live, making it much easier and more convenient if repairs are ever needed. Like I mentioned above, it took over four months to get my Ayon player repaired last time I sent it in.
It’s disappointing to read of that experience with your Ayon Audio product. The product should arrive new in perfect condition, and a laser should last more than a few years. No excuse for a four month repair.
Having had the Yggdrasil here recently I can emphatically state my DS Sr is the better all around DAC. Bass performance was the only area where I thought Yggdrasil pulled ahead. It was just a bit cleaner and more delineated. The biggest weakness I found with Yggdrasil was that it was lacking in sound stage depth. The difference between these two DACs in this regard was pretty big. With Yggdrasil the sound mostly came from the speakers position and with the DS Sr it always seemed to come from some place within the sound field.
Then again, these DACs are priced no where near the same. If it performed as good as the DS Sr, Schiit would be charging more money for it. For the price, however, Yggdrasil is an amazing DAC for the money.
Well, I had the latest Yggdrasil in my system a few weeks ago comparing it to my DirectStream. With both DACs the speakers disappear. Yggdrasil actually has more height than the DirectStream but the same depth. The Yggdrasil has me sitting a little closer to the stage which I don’t prefer. I would rather be a few rows farther back like I am with the Directstream.
Maybe my preamp works better with the Yggdrasil than yours does…
Could be. I was using Yggdrasil’s companion preamp, Freya.
Interestingly enough, the price is artificially increased past the $2400 price point if you need a $1500-$2000+ preamp for it to sound as good as you’re claiming it can. This brings it dangerously close to the DS Sr dealer price as it does not require a preamp to sound spectacular. All I can say is that the Freya preamp pair did not sound as good as the DS Sr alone.