Schiit YGGDRASIL User manual

BALANCED UPGRADABLE DAC
IN NORSE MYTHOLOGY, YGGDRASIL IS THE WORLD TREE.
THE SOURCE OF ALL THINGS.
IT’S ALSO PRETTY MUCH UNPRONOUNCEABLE.
WHICH IS WHY WE CALL THIS DAC “YGGY.”
IT’S THE BEST DAC WE KNOW HOW TO BUILD...
WELL, WITHOUT A SECOND MORTGAGE AND 50 AMP POWER RUNS.
YGGDRASIL
OWNER’S MANUAL

The following is required by the roughly 9,542 government agencies
and regulations we have to comply with. If you have some common
sense, they should seem pretty straightforward. In any case, read
these instructions before proceeding farther, follow all instructions, and heed
all warnings. Or else!
1. If you don’t know how to install audio devices, get a qualied professional
to help.
2. Never use this device near water, and clean only with a
dry cloth.
3. Assure adequate ventilation, do not block any ventilation openings, or place
near heat sources.
4. Use only the supplied power cord or suitable replacement. Route cords away
from trafc areas and protect them from being pinched. Unplug the cord from
the outlet if the apparatus is unused for a long period of time.
5. To prevent electric shock, do not use the plug with an
extension cord, receptacle, or outlet unless blades can be
fully inserted.
6. Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel. Service is required when
the device has been damaged, including cord or plug damage, liquid has been
spilled or objects have fallen into the device, the device has been exposed to
rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped.
WARNING: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR
ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS DEVICE TO RAIN OR
MOISTURE.
INTRODUCTION
Yggdrasil is the ultimate DAC—for Schiit, and maybe for anyone.
Compare it to anything, at any price.
Yggdrasil is the culmination of 5 years of research that started
with 1917 Western Electric papers on Pulse Code Modulation,
continued with a professor emeritus of mathematics to solve a
divide-by-zero problem, followed by a RAND Corp mathemetician
to devise the code, and completed with a team consisting of the
“father of the DAC,” Mike Moffat, and exceptional digital, rmware,
and analog engineers.
It is the antithesis of noise-shaping technologies like DSD, pre-
serving all the original PCM samples from input, through clock
reconstruction at the original sample rate, the digital lter, to true
multibit DACs suitable for medical and military technology. It is an
extension of multibit technology that deviated into noise-shaped
solutions 20 years ago. It is unlike any other DAC in the world.
Enjoy.
IN THE BOx
(1) Yggdrasil
(1) Power cord
(0) Stick-on feet (they’re screwed on)

1. Connect Yggdrasil to your source and your amp or preamp.
You’ll need a set of XLR or RCA cables to connect the Yggdrasil’s
outputs to your amp or preamp, and a digital cable or cables (co-
axial BNC or RCA, Toslink, or USB) to connect your sources.
2. If you are using USB and have a Windows computer, you may
need to download drivers. Many newer Windows computers will
automatically install the correct drivers, though, so it’s best to
simply plug the Yggdrasil in via USB and see if it does so. If it
doesn’t, our drivers are available at schiit.com/drivers
3. If you are using a computer source, ensure it is set to output to
the Yggdrasil. Sometimes PCs and Macs get confused and want to
use internal speakers, or your powered USB headset, or whatever.
Plus, you need to select the Yggdrasil via Control Panel or System
Preferences and via your music player software—many types of
music players can override the output specied in the OS.
4. Select your source using the button on the front panel. And
enjoy your music!
GETTING STARTED
ABOUT UPGRADES
Yggdrasil is upgradable via its modular design—the USB Input,
SPDIF/Input Processing, DSP, and DAC/Analog cards are all
separate and updatable. Upgrades can be purchased on the Schiit
website. All upgrades must be done by authorized personnel.
USB Input. Allows you to keep up with changes in USB technology.
SPDIF/Input Processing. If there are changes to the SPDIF inputs
or Adapticlock system, you can keep up with them.
DSP. Allows you to keep up with changes in digital signal
processing technology, including additional processing power.
DAC/Analog. If there are signicant changes to DAC technology
or associated analog processing, we’ll announce new DAC/Analog
cards so you can take advantage of these changes.
When it’s time for your upgrade, and it has to come back to us, the
Schiit Upgrade Queueing system ensures you can keep your DAC
until the moment we’re ready to do the upgrade and turn it around
fast. When you order an upgrade, you’ll be automatically added to
the queueing system.
If you’d like to be the rst to know about upgrades as they become
available, sign up on the SPAM link on our site.

CONNECTIONS
B
USB
COAX BNC
AES/EBU
OPTICAL
SCH10Y
000001
115VAC 45W
4 Toslink Input.
Connect with a short (3m or less) Toslink
cable to any optical digital output.
5 Coax Input.
Connect to any coaxial digital source with a
high-quality 75 ohm coaxial cable.
6 BNC Input.
Connect with a good, 75 ohm coaxial cable
to a BNC digital source.
1 Single-Ended Output.
Connect to your preamp or integrated amp
with good RCA cables.
2 Balanced Output.
Connect to your balanced gear with good
XLR cables.
3 USB Input.
Connect to your computer source with a
short (2m or less), USB 2.0-rated cable.
7 AES/EBU Input.
Use a high-quality XLR cable to connect to
any AES/EBU digital source.
8 Power Switch.
Up for on, down for off. Very simple.
9 Power Cord.
Plug the end of the supplied IEC cord in here,
and hte other end into the wall. Yep.
1 2
3
4 5 6 7
8 9

3 Sample Rate Indicators.
These indicate what format is coming in to
Yggy—44.1K or 48K, plus the multiple
(1, 2, 4, or 8X.)
4 Input Select.
Push this button to walk through the
inputs: USB, AES/EBU, BNC, Coax, Toslink.
5 Input Indicators. These show what input
you’ve selected. Hopefully it doesn’t show
more than one.
1 Phase Invert Button.
Press this button to invert the absolute
phase. This may help with some recordings
that do not maintain absolute phase.
2 Phase Invert Indicator.
When this is lit, the absolute phase is
inverted.
5 VCO/VCXO Indicator.
Also known as the “buy better gear” light.
If this is illuminated, the Yggdrasil’s input
clock regeneration (Adapticlock) is in VCO
mode. This means your source does not
provide a good center frequency, or jitter is
too high for the VCXO mode to operate.
CONTROLS
1
2 3
4
5 6