Also how much of a jump in upgrade are you looking to make? IMO from an Yggy to a Amber 3 is not enough of an upgrade to justify the effort, having had both for quite a long time, and coming from a guy who loved the Amber 3, I’d shoot for a 5K pricepoint used, not new. IMO, I don’t think it’s a big enough jump to justify ditching a Yggy unless you’re looking a DACs in the $8-10K dollar new price range.
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I would personally disagree, but it will really depend on the system and gear at hand. I do think it’s a step up to justify making the middle step, but you can always go higher and get a larger jump
That’s pretty much what I was thinking as well (and honestly what most of the stuff I’d suggest falls in)
Again disagree, but it will really come down to what you prioritize and what system you are feeding. Although personally if the jump from a yggy to amber 3 isn’t large enough in your system to justify, I’d suggest reevaluating your current system because there’s likely a stronger bottleneck there that I’d want to solve before doing anything else
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BTW, I recently became a BF2 owner and can say with certainly that my desktop is complete. PC > DDC > BF2 > Aural Auditon Amp > HD-600 or VC as the mood strikes.
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I get what you’re saying. It’s why I ask HOW MUCH of an upgrade. I think that there’s a clear gap between the two and the the Amber was my first true love in the hobby. 
It’s just that in my equipment jockeying journey and where I am today my perspective is definitely my own. There’s just so much value in fantastic DACs that can be had and some are better than an Amber 3. lol
Maybe it’s just me thinking too fondly about the Yggy as I was personally very pleased by it’s performance at it’s price level. Today however and at new pricing I wouldn’t buy an Amber 3, I’d probably shoot for higher. But I would buy a Yggy at new pricing. It’s probably one of the few pieces of kit that I think isn’t retail priced too high for what it is.
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I guess my question would the rest of the chain would be at the time when you moved from the yggy to the amber 3?
That is fair, I would agree, I would wait to look used for lampizator, but would have no issue paying new price for a yggy. It did basically end up being number 2 in value in my roundup anyways lol
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I am really, really liking the BF2 having owned it now a month. It improves sound quality in small ways that really add up. I feel like it is a whole bunch of microdetails? It gives everything a feeling of more depth and what I think people mean by naturalness. It’s quite lovely when listened to on the RNHP and Whammy. Out of my headphones the ones I feel it adds most to is also a Sennheiser, HD 660s in this case.
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The same or close to the upgrade amount of how a Yggy is from a BF2 to justify the price.
Do you prefer this method to the BF2 USB? or is it just for convenience?
A little of both. The DDC does allow placement flexibility but does clean up the sound, blacker background, increased clarity blah blah blah.
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The BF2 is the first DAC that I’ve reacquired. There is something magical about it that I enjoy. Its punch and zesty attitude with the music / genres I listen to just naturally lend to toe tapping and head bobbing and dare I say I enjoy the music more, even though I can “hear” the music better on other DACs, if that last twist makes any sense.
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These are questions I have been asking myself - Does a new Yggy at msrp make sense considering there are others at that price point both used and new, tho may not have that same signature and feel.
I have thought about the Amber 3 but, I’m thinking right now with the gear that I already have that something with balanced output is preferred and its a bit rare to find the Amber 3 in the pre-owned space with that configuration. Also, the Baltic from reading is more the direction I would lean, it think.
I still have this nagging feeling that I missed an important step when I skipped over Yggy and that I will need to circle back and get one, or I will always wonder what if - at least while in the $5K or less range.
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You are referring to the Mojo Audio Mystique line of DACs correct, such as in the 5K range new the Mystique X Lite, and not something from Chord?
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Depends on what you are going to pair with + what sound you are going after + what’s on the market used I’d say
With where you are at now and the rest of the gear you have, I’d shoot for Baltic level if you want to go lampi
So, while I think you’d definitely really like the yggy with the gear you have, it’s not going to be a jump over what you have, at least not a large one. I think you kinda need to figure out the direction you want to go, do you want to have multiple similar tier setups, or do you want to consolidate and just make the jump to the next level with a single chain? If you are still looking for multiple chains and would like to keep your current amps without dumping a lot more money into both of them, I think the yggy would shine on the ferrum stack and you could keep the spring with the vio, you might even find yourself selling the spring off later on (do you still have the sonnet iirc?). But I still think regardless of better synergy it’s a sidegrade, and I don’t know how satisfying that may be in the long term
Yes the EVO and new X series (not heard the new x series yet though), not a chord product, don’t know if a chord dac would be up your alley nor synergize well with your current systems, but I think the mojo audio stuff will (very different from each other lol)
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Consolidating to a single chain from god knows how many amps and DAC’s was one of the best things I ever did FWIW, I really do not miss the choice, (though I do swap headphones week to week).
Having said that I also made a big jump in DAC when I did it.
I really wouldn’t worry about what you’ve missed.
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I think it can be a mistake to do that when you don’t have your preferences and/or headphones you want to stick with nailed down, but when you have largely found what you like and what you want to keep, it really just is more rewarding imo
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This right here is exactly what i live about tbe yggy. Zest is a very good way to put it. Its this weird funk/energy it puts into the texture that is just 
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I’m going to disagree a little bit (though I do largely agree), most people will never hear all the options, and as you move up it becomes harder and harder, most of the very highend stuff just isn’t available on the used market fequently.
If you can find one thing you like, there is a lot of value in “what you don’t know won’t hurt you”, at this point I take any ones opinion on what’s good with an enormous grain of salt (though to be fair I’ve heard a lot of the common recommendations), and I honestly won’t move from where I am without at least hearing a new option.
like you I’d consider a horizon at the right price used (there is no real way for me to hear one any other way), because I like the Lampizator house sound, and there is other gear I’d take the chance to hear.
But most of my experience to this point says, for the most part you get what you pay for with DAC’s, yes the overall presentation varies, and it’s best to go in informed, but at least on the technical side it’s at best unusual to find a respected DAC that sells for twice what the DAC you own did that’s not obviously better.
Having said that there is the whole synergy aspect, and ensuring you aren’t too unbalanced in one regard, it just gets very hard/expensive to play the midfi hell on the internet game once you reach a certain point.
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Tt2 + ferrum stack was a massive snooze fest even on LCD-R. Would not recomend…
That’s true, it largely becomes a game of “what can I get my hands on” because while the amount of options is wide, the difficulty in getting ahold of them increases as well.
Makes sense, and yes ignorance is bliss
When you spend that much, you really don’t want to take random chances
So I would agree, although I would like to note that typically synergy mismatches become much more critical the farther you move up, so while I would agree it’s hard to get a bad dac per se, I do think it is potentially more easy to end up with a more mismatched and uncooperative chain
Also while it is typically unusual I’d agree, you sure can go out of your way to find something like that depending on what range you are at lol, bigger issue if you are just getting into nicer dacs, but not that big of a problem once you are well in
You can just end up in mid fi hell but at a higher level, I know first hand lol and I’m glad to be out
Would agree, when I had the tt2 in it was a very unengaging listen, really not suggested pairing lol
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One of the biggest problems is that it’s so subjective, and so you’re trying to narrow down your list based on other people’s recommendations, based on their preferences. It almost doesn’t matter to me which is better technically, because at the end of the day, it comes down to whether I like it or not. I’m glad I got an Yggy and for the music that I listen to, and my sonic preferences, the Yggy was a big step up from the BF2. I also liked the Yggy more than a Spring and TT2, but I know people who feel the opposite.
The other biggest problem is the ability to demo equipment. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow an Yggy and TT2. With my upcoming Mojo Mystique, I had to buy it, and can return it for a refund (minus shipping) if I don’t like it. If I’m still looking, I’ll do the same with TotalDac. I’d love do have both the Mojo and TotalDAC in at the same time, but I can’t afford that kind of cash outlay. After that, if I’m still looking, I’ve located a Rockna dealer in Jersey City, so I’ll set up an audition there the next time I’m visiting New York.
This could take a while, and at some point, if I haven’t found something significantly better for my preferences, within my budget, I will probably decide that I like the Yggy enough that I can’t be bothered to search any more, because it’s more fun to listen to music than to A-B equipment.
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I’ve honestly been working with a similar kind of mindset as I upgrade. Each step up the ladder I take in source gear, I try to spend at least double the amount of the thing I’m moving up from so that I can get a real worthwhile jump (e.g. RNHP → Quicksilver → Allnic).
Though obviously your mileage will vary with things like budget and what you’re looking for, but I really enjoy having these larger jumps.
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