Audiophilepure

https://pt.audio/2026/08/14/esoteric-n-01xd-se-network-player-dac-review

It is also the finest DAC I have reviewed to date. That statement is not based solely on absolute sonic performance, although the N-01XD SE certainly delivers it. It reflects the complete ownership experience: the engineering, industrial design, streaming implementation, operational stability, flexibility, and, above all, the confidence that every part of the product was developed with a unified purpose. I could easily imagine living with this component for many years without feeling the need to chase the next incremental improvement. When the review period ended, packing the N-01XD SE for return was more difficult than usual. That is perhaps the strongest endorsement I can offer. Of all the digital components that have passed through my system, this is the one I would most seriously consider purchasing for myself. It did not simply impress me—it changed my expectations for what an integrated digital source can achieve.

Back in the ‘80s when I heard Mike Moffat’s original “Frankenstein” (the test bed for what would eventually become Theta Digital), I was blown away by the amazing detail it produced but knew that digital had a long way to go to match existing analog sources in musicality. At JPL at the time, using experimental DACs and a Studer Revox tube half-track 32-ips reel-to-reel machine (unfortunately I did not participate, but those that did were people whose ear I highly respected), a bar was set at 400kHz as the point at which a difference could no longer be perceived. Nowadays, though only available in relatively small quantities (software-wise), that bar is available to the general public, and the Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Singular has brought us to the edge of achieving that holy grail of audio quality deciphering lowly 44.1kHz recordings.

Without question, the Yggdrasil Singular is the best sound Schiit DAC I have heard, surpassing many DACs costing ten to twenty times more; it is that perfect synthesis of the right digital section matched with the right analog section producing exceptional detail paired with fastidiously accurate tonality, epic transient response, and luscious musicality.

If not totally unrivalled in sound quality in a price-is-no-object world, it is without peer in value; great work, Schiit Audio.