New Other Stereo Stuff: Pass XP-20 and Schiit Yggdrasil

This post is really just a continuation of the last one. In that one, I raved about our new speakers, the Dynaudio Contour 60s and explained that it had been quite a while since I really made many changes to our stereo system.

But, much as I explained in that post that our amps needed some service, so our preamp, a Pass Aleph P, needed to take its own trip to California for new capacitors. And, so again, we needed a pre-amp while it was gone lest we be left tune-less. I thought about playing with tubes again (as we had with the amps) but found a Pass XP-20 for sale in Massachusetts, which (as with the VTL MB-185s) saved shipping. Well, maybe not surprisingly, given that it's two generations on from the Aleph P, it's a keeper. It's clearly a member of the same family, but it just does everything the P does that little bit better.

For some reason, while I was in the mood to upgrade, I also decided to get a Schiit Yggdrasil DAC. I'd heard it at Robert May's and  been really impressed, and one could return it in principle if one didn't like it, etc, etc. (All kinds of excuses!) But it really is that good. I have never enjoyed listening to digital (even Red Book CD digital) nearly so much.

What's more amazing, though, in a way, is that the Pass Digital 1, after all these years, is still almost as good as the Yggy. Back around 2010, I thought about 'upgrading' and listened to the Digital 1 against the Berkeley Alpha DAC. I could not tell the difference (and so decided not to drop major dollars on the Berkeley). More recently, I've tested the Digital 1 against a Benchmark DAC-1 USB, and once I'd matched levels I could not tell them apart.

Granted, the Digital 1 was much more expensive than the Benchmark, but that was twenty-some years ago. How far has digital technology come since then? Most DACs from the mid-1990s sound like...not like the Schiit, that's for sure. It's a testament to how great the Digital 1 was that it can still hold its own with some very highly-praised DACs. Even the Yggy doesn't sound that much better. Better, yes, but it's a matter of subtle things like air and soundstage depth. It actually took me a while really to pinpoint the differences.

Well, I had entertained some other upgrade ideas, but now that the economy's gone into the tank, that is going to have to wait. Not to mention that there are rather a lot of other things to worry about right about now.