A New DAC for $349!*

Poe,
Your experiences are paralleling mine exactly; the filling out should continue as you get more hours on it. I think you will find at 250 hours that it is a very fine DAC, indeed.

 

Congrats. Just be patient as it will really change as it burns in.

 

I sold mine after 200 hours of use. Bought a Cambridge DacMagic...simple and efficient.

 

My Bifrost arrived today. I decided to go for a demo unit on a week's trial so that I can hear what it sounds like fully broken-in on my setup before committing to the purchase......

I've only been playing with it for a few hours, but here are my impressions so far after A/B-ing the Bifrost in real time with my existing DAC (Legato Link Convertor built-in to Pioneer PDR-555RW CD Recorder from 1998), seamlessly with the flick of a switch:

Initially I thought the Bifrost was a little rolled off in the upper treble, as if there was a veil over the speakers. Compared to my existing DAC, the treble doesn't seem as crisp/defined, particularly cymbals etc. I also thought the bass was rather hollower on the Bifrost than on my existing DAC.

As I listen more however I think that the difference is that the Bifrost emphasises the 1kHz-2kHz region more than my existing DAC, which gives the impression of more forward mid range and softer / laid back treble and hollower bass.

The Bifrost's sound is probably smoother, but I think it's going to take my ears some time to adjust. My ears are quite sensitive around 1kHz-2kHz and my Tannoy loudspeakers also have a tendency to accentuate this region. I'm finding it quite fatiguing at the moment but I will persevere because I really WANT to like the Bifrost....

 

I replaced my Dacmagic on my NP30 with the Bifrost and my HiFiMan EF5 with the Lyr and am very pleased with both.

 

Interesting. I just used the equalizer in Foobar2k to make a small cut in the 1k-2k range, and it does sound more pleasing to my ears as well. It does appear that the BiFrost accentuates that 1-2k band. Breaking-in was going well, but it now sounds even a bit less digital and aggressive. I'm going to have to incorporate that small filter at 1-2k into my saved eq settings.

 

The Bifrost can be a bit much in the upper mids until you get past 100-150 hours, but trust me on this, it really smooths out. Getting on to 250 hrs and past it is really very sweet, and not bright or harsh in any way. Reminds me of the DAC version of a Conrad-Johnson Premier 17LS preamp. And that's a good thing...

 

Wait until you get past 250 hours on it and then re-evaluate. While it shows marked improvement by the 100-150 hour point, with some real miles on it, it continues to smooth out. It's a markedly different and better DAC with three months of use on it compared to 1 month of use. I wrote to Jason Stoddard of Schiit about the chronology of my burn-in experience and he said mine tracked theirs very well.

 

Yeah I think I was getting ahead of myself a little bit there. I did go ahead and make an all purpose foobar eq setting for the short term that incorporates a small 1-2k filter. On material that's mastered really well I'm finding I really don't need it though. I'm listening to Steve's "Forever Changes" now and it sounds really good flat. The mids lean in just a tiny bit.

I just need to be patient I guess. Good to hear it continues to improve over the months too

 

Just plug it into your PC and queue up a 250 hour playlist. That's what I plan on doing when my own Bifrost arrives this week

 

Anybody care to post a picture of what this unit looks like under its cover?

 

If you're referring to the Bifrost, it is not easy to open up, but there is a picture at the Schiit website.

 

There you go

 

Spent much of today comparing the Bifrost's optical and USB inputs, both being fed with a Mac Mini. I'm having a hard time hearing any difference between the 2 inputs with the 96/24 and 44/16 material I'm feeding it (A/B-ing is quite difficult because you can't just simply switch between inputs on the DAC, you need to change it in the Mac's operating system as well, by which time you've forgotten what the last one sounded like.

Can I ask Bifrost owners which connection method sounds better in your systems, optical or USB? I'm trying to decide whether the extra £100 for USB is worth it or not.

I've read that the coax is the best, but as far as I'm aware no Mac computers have coax outputs, just optical, hence why I'm stuck with either optical or USB.

The only advantage to USB as far as I can tell is the ability to play 24/192, as the Mac's optical is limited to 24/96. Having said that there doesn't seem to be much music available at the moment in 24/192 that interests me.....

PS - It may just be my BiFrost unit but the USB port doesn't seem as 'robust' as the optical port, i.e. there is some movement when the USB cable is plugged in as if it isn't being held as tightly as it should be. Anyone else think this?

 

I haven't heard this unit, but John Darko's review of the Bifrost for Tone Audio Magazine indicated that they had done a credible job in narrowing the difference between SPDIF and USB,m even though SPDIF was still preferable.

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/the-schiit-bifrost-dac/

 

I can’t hear a difference when comparing the USB and the optical connection between my iMac and the Bifrost. So for the sake of convenience I prefer optical. I’m a strong believer in 16 bit/44.1 kHz playback, so any “limitations” between the different connection methods are not important to me.

That’s not limited to your Bifrost’s USB port. Very often USB plugs feel wobbly and unsteady, though I think this does not affect the reliability of data transfer. Firewire connections feel much more stable in my opinion.

Werner.

 

I compared the two pretty extensively, and I couldn't hear what would be attributable to "statistically significant" difference (that is, if I conducted a proportion test, don't think there would be a significant p-value). The bottom line is both sounded absolutely great. And the plus is that with USB, you can obtain 24/192 playback, which, if you haven't heard on the Bifrost (with a good recording/mastering, of course), you haven't heard how good it can really sound. What I'm saying rather long-windedly is that I would really recommend having the USB functionality.

 

While researching the Bifrost, the spdif chain seemed a more stable choice so I passed on the USB card. I do have ample 24/96 & 24/192 music and have been very happy.

 

A "stable" choice?

Does this mean that USB is an "unstable" choice?

 

Up to about 230 hours on my BiFrost now. The exaggerated 1-2k frequency band that I was previously concerned about has flattened out nicely now. There's no longer any audible midrange boosting going on. Also, the bass has *really* fleshed out. The notes are now well defined and very full. In fact I almost feel I don't need my subwoofer anymore. I'm getting more bass out of my CBM-170's than I've ever heard before, by a considerable margin. The sub almost seems like overkill.

I'm really glad I decided to upgrade from the MS2 at this point. The MS2 is a great DAC for the price, but the Bifrost has really taken my system to a whole new level.

If you're thinking about it, go for it!

 

This is good to hear. Mine hasn't flattened out yet and I was starting to get concerned (I've put about another 50 hrs on the demo unit since getting it). I think synergy also has a lot to do with it, as my amplification (Yamaha CR-1000) and speakers (Tannoy 3149) err on the smoother side with regards to top end bite, so perhaps the Bifrost is just smoothing things a touch too far.....

 

Check the website FAQs. Schiit says SPDIF is preferable to USB for music. They confirmed that to me by e-mail. Superior sound for $100 less for the DAC seemed to be a no-brainer to me.

 

All good until the Gungnir is available and folks discover the SPDIF output from their computer causes the "buy better gear" light to light up. Then maybe the USB will look like a good option.

I'm predicting the Gungnir is going to stir the pot a bit and get people more aware of the quality of various SPDIF sources. We'll see. I'm curious about what SPDIF sources will light up the Gungnir's light.

Now that C-Media has the USB 2.0 capable USB receiver chip we're going to be seeing more DACs and USB to SPDIF converters available that can do 24/192. Used to be 16/48 or 24/48 was the USB baseline. Then 24/96 became possible in various implementations. Now 24/192 will be possible and common. C-Media also has ASIO drivers (for Windows) for their chip. Things are looking good for USB.

 

Not at all, it simply depends on the path the signal takes. It is hard to get down to specifics because equipment (computers) are different. So one has to do their best to understand their own gear and which way is better.

 

Hi Bill,
I read the website and FAQs extensively before purchasing and was aware of Schiit's view that in their opinion, they still felt S/PDIF sounded better in the implementation of the Bifrost design (at least it is implemented today; given that it is upgradeable, that may change in the future).

And as much respect as I have for Jason and Mike at Schiit (and I do, these guys are the real deal and the company is a "mover" in the world of audio), I simply don't agree, and neither does Gordon Rankin of Wavelength, Rob Robinson of Channel D, Eric Halverson of HRT or Andreas Koch of Playback Designs. And it doesn't bear out in listening; for the 3 mos. I owned by Bifrost, I couldn't tell a difference between USB and S/PDIF using Toslink optical (a Macbook doesn't support S/PDIF any other way), and S/PDIF optical doesn't support 24/192 from a Macbook or Mac based server. The Bifrost sound absolutely terrific with both, but it was particularly impressive streaming 24/192 via asynch USB. That's just my experience and 2¢, though.