Thoughts on Yggy Analog 2 vs Gumby?

[saru]

I'm glad to see such a warm reception for Schiit products on this forum, particularly of the multibit DACs. I've had my Gumby for about a year and a half, and I've found it to be an immensely pleasurable component to my listening experience. At the time I made my purchase, I had gone back and forth between splurging on the Yggdrasil or taking a more economical approach with the Gungnir Multibit... ultimately I went with Gumby to maximize on value, noting several reviews and forum posts which claimed that Gumby can achieve roughly 80-85% of the sound quality from an Yggy.

Since then, we've seen two major upgrades come along: the Gen 5 USB upgrade (applied to both Yggy and Gumby) and the Analog 2 upgrade (Yggy only). From everything I've read, the Analog 2 upgrade substantially improves upon overall sound quality for the already-excellent Yggradsil. I wonder, then, how these upgrades have affected the relative perfomance delta between the two units. Since the retail price for Yggy has only gone up $100 while that of Gumby has remained in place, I am curious whether the value proposition has substantially changed. Returning to the arbitrary "percentage of Yggy sound quality" concept... if it was about 85% before, what might we expect that percentage to be today? 75? 60? Lower still?

I'd be really interested to hear opinions of anyone who has listened to both Gumby USB Gen 5 and Yggy USB Gen 5 + Analog 2.

[Josep]

Hello Saru, sorry i cannot help you with your question but i see we have similar music system... i was wondering if the gumby makes big difference compared to the MAC6700 internal DAC

[saru]

Hello Saru, sorry i cannot help you with your question but i see we have similar music system... i was wondering if the gumby makes big difference compared to the MAC6700 internal DAC

Funny that you mention it, as I am currently assessing that myself. Last summer, the Gumby failed in a power surge and I had to send it back to Schiit for warranty service. While I was waiting for it to come back from California, I was using the 6700's DAC and trying to get accustomed to it. The Gumby came back and I set it up long enough to do a playtest, but rigged the USB back to the 6700 because I wanted to energize the Gumby for a few days... long story short, I never did get the Gumby back into the system for various reasons until this weekend, when it dawned on me that because Schiit replaced the motherboard, I would need to do a proper playback burn-in along as though it were a new unit! :d'oh:

So that's what I've been up to this weekend... the burn-in isn't complete yet, but what I can tell you is this: the somewhat-harsh and flat sound of the 6700's DAC that has been bugging me as of late immediately lifted when I brought the Gumby back into play. I'm expecting further improvements as it moves through the next couple days of playback... and then it'll be about time to send Gumby back to Schiit for the Gen 5 USB!

[Dr Tone]

Hello Saru, sorry i cannot help you with your question but i see we have similar music system... i was wondering if the gumby makes big difference compared to the MAC6700 internal DAC

I can't help you on the Gumby, but I can tell you the Yggy is in a different league than the DAC in my C47 and most consider the newer DAC in the C47 substantially better than the older DAC in the 6700.

[Puma Cat]

I can't help you on the Gumby, but I can tell you the Yggy is in a different league than the DAC in my C47 and most consider the newer DAC in the C47 substantially better than the older DAC in the 6700.

Well, we're talking about comparing a run of the mill D/S ESS 9018 DAC to a bespoke R2R/Ladder DAC by Mike Moffat, and in my experience, ESS Sabre D/S DACs simply can't compete this these much more sophisticated DAC chipsets and filters. Also, the analog output section of Yggy can't be overlooked, either. Jason Stoddard is a brilliant audio engineer on the order of a Nelson Pass, IMHO. Yggy is a much more of a no-compromise device.

[jdandy]

saru.......All I can tell you is my new Yggdrasil DAC makes listening to music pure pleasure. It is easily worth its price several times over.

[saru]

saru.......All I can tell you is my new Yggdrasil DAC makes listening to music pure pleasure. It is easily worth its price several times over.

Oh, without question! Your review posts have stated as much quite eloquently :) If my AudioBucks(TM) were not mostly committed to a move to separates this year, I would probably already have an Yggy en route with my trusty Gumby listed on the marketplace.

My query is more along the lines of "now that Yggdrasil has the Analog 2 upgrade, has the performance gap between Yggy and Gumby increased substantially from before?" This consideration is important not only for those deciding between the two products when purchasing new from Schiit, but also for the secondhand market-value of the Gumby.

[Dr Tone]

Well, we're talking about comparing a run of the mill D/S ESS 9018 DAC to a bespoke R2R/Ladder DAC by Mike Moffat, and in my experience, ESS Sabre D/S DACs simply can't compete this these much more sophisticated DAC chipsets and filters. Also, the analog output section of Yggy can't be overlooked, either. Jason Stoddard is a brilliant audio engineer on the order of a Nelson Pass, IMHO. Yggy is a much more of a no-compromise device.

Careful the D1100 owners might be reading your comments. :D

[Puma Cat]

Careful the D1100 owners might be reading your comments. :D

That's fine; I don't have a problem with it. ;)

As stated in my post, I was sharing my experiences.

Folks can take that for what its worth.

[j3brow]

Careful the D1100 owners might be reading your comments. :D



And the owners of Brinkmann Nyquist DAC :)

[audioguru]

Careful the D1100 owners might be reading your comments. :D

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to audition the MSB Analog DAC in my home. While this product has recently been discontinued by MSB, this particular unit was loaded with all of the latest upgrade options including the MQA module. With upgrades, it was easily 2x the price of the Mcintosh D1100. While the Analog DAC sounded smooth and natural, in back to back listening comparisons I have to give the sonic edge to the D1100. To my ears, the D1100 was consistently able to engage me more and pull me into the sonic landscape of albums I know well. With the D1100, there was a greater sense of dynamics, offering up a clearer sense of the recording soundstage, transients were more evident, and the sound overall seemed more natural on complex musical passages. More goosebumps and a greater sense of emotion from the performance came through with the D1100. I'm not able to explain from a technical standpoint why that is, but just thought I would relay what my first hand experience has been. I personally find it amazing how there are many competing approaches/technologies for decoding the bit-stream (Delta Sigma chip, R2R Ladder, FPGA) and how the sonic results do vary tremendously. I guess at the end of the day there is no definitive winner when it comes to the decoding technology utilized - rather it's all about the execution of the overall design surrounding the given decoding technology, including power supply, clean clock, output filter, etc.

Now I would love the chance to do a shootout between the D1100 and the Yggy...:)