Rings of Gold: A Tale of Eight Bifrosts

Yep, it's yours then.

PM me your address and I'll get it headed your way sometime tomorrow.

That leaves the Uber board still available and up for grabs.

 

Now that's the kind of thing I'm thinking of! I like it!

As to when I might finish it up, that's hard to say. I still have some engineering, feature and usability work to do. Though once I'm final on the boards and software, it'll move pretty quickly from there I think. At a guess, I'd say towards the end of the year - but there are no guarantees!

 

I don't have friend status yet but I do have a Bifrost 4490 and would be interested in comparing it with the Uber board if no one else claims it. I was planning to pick up a Momby after the SchiitShow this weekend (assuming they don't release something that trumps it) for a mini version of this comparison. Awesome write up by the way.

 

No problem.

Assuming no one with friend-status, or on an original Bifrost, chimes in before tomorrow, then it's yours.

Shoot me a PM with the address you want it shipped to.

This, and the USB board, will go out sometime tomorrow.

 

In hopes that this thread has produced a lot of hype for the vintage uber board, I'd be happy to sell mine to someone at an exorbitant price

Really interesting write up. The 4490 ranks higher than Uber for me, but it could come down more to personal preference than technicalities. It's really not close.

I'd put the Bifrost Multibit ahead of the 4490, but not by so much that the price difference is worth it to me. Perhaps that means my ears are crap. If so, I'm glad that they are. It's keeping cash in my wallet

 

For those that were interested in seeing how these comparisons line up with Chord's Mojo, I posted some thoughts in a new thread (I let the moderators decide if that's better off being consolidated into this thread): "Stacking Schiit Up and Finding One's Mojo".

 

The USB board is now on it's way to @BrettMatthews and the Uber board to @Neal.

Nothing fancy on the shipping, just mailed them, so will probably take a couple of days. Please let me know when you get them.

 

Much appreciated, thanks again!

 

Here's a HF review that essentially mirrors the findings in this thread and this other one:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/815368/happy-as-a-pig-in-schiit-introducing-modi-multibit/915#post_12830570

In short, Bifrost 4490 is bass-happy and with a "troweled over" characteristic ('velvet' sound?), whereas Modi MB is "more live-like" creating a "realistic sound of the instruments and ambience". And yet another confirmation that there's precious little to detect between Modi MB and Bifrost MB.

 

What tubes do you use with the Vali 2 in this setup?

 

Just the stock GE 6BZ7 at the moment; at least I think it's a GE - it's definitely the stock tube though.

It'll be a little while before I delve into the appropriate thread here and start looking to play with other tubes in it (not because I'm non-interested, it's just low priority compared to everything else I've got going on at the moment).

 

Thanks again to @Torq for the Uber board. Thought I'd share my thoughts here as well.

My chain is PC->optical->Bifrost-> Vali 2->HD650/TH-X00 PH/HD600. Note that I have not heard any of the Schiit multibit offerings yet.

The 4490 has a bit more extension on both the top and bottom, and a slightly larger sound stage. But I get why Torq called the 4490 artificial and the Uber natural, and I completely agree. It's subtle, but the Uber is just a bit more tonally pleasing and realistic.

The 4490 does have a 'wow' factor with certain tracks that the Uber lacks, but right now I am preferring the Uber by a slim margin. I will update this if my thoughts change when my Joty gets here.

In conclusion, I should probably get a Gungnir Multibit...

 

Also, regarding Vali 2 tubes, I found a sizeable difference between the stock tube and others (much greater than the difference between the Uber and 4490).

It's possible my stock tube was particularly bad, but I found the EH 6922 to be a decent upgrade and the PhilIps PCC88 and RCA Clear top 6CG7 to both be substantial upgrades.

 

After adding Jotunheim to my chain, I'd like to revise my earlier opinion. I'm now preferring the 4490, and have to decided to seal up my bifrost with it. The uber does beat it with female vocals, but for most other things I'm giving the 4490 the edge now.

 

Bifrost 4490 Upgrade Review

Skip to paragraph 5 for listening impressions.

Our original Bifrost DAC was ordered in October 2012 making it four years old as of now. It is connected via a standard optical digital cable to our Pioneer KURO TV. The TV in turn is connected via standard HDMI cables to our PC and to our Sony BDP-S790 Blu-ray player. TV source is a Silicondust HD Homerun Prime digital tuner box receiving its signal from Comcast via cablecard slotted into the HD Homerun Prime. Output is via Cat 6.0 cable to our TP-Link AC1900 router and thence to the livingroom HTPC via TP-Link AC1000 powerline adapters. CD collection (approx. 800 discs) is ripped to a WD hard drive using dBPoweramp software in .wav format. The Bifrost feeds a 60-watt/channel Rotel amp the model number of which i can't remember offhand. The speakers are old Magnepan MG10's with a Velodyne 10-inch subwoofer. The room is about 22 ft. by 12.5 ft. open on that side into a smaller dining area.

The original Bifrost has two main strengths: a rhythmic foot-tapping presentation and a lower cost (at the time of purchase) compared to three other DACs i auditioned. Tonally well-balanced, it's only musical shortcoming is a modest amount of digital "grain" in the upper mids and treble. Perfectly acceptable at low and medium volume on all types of music and TV / movie sound, we find that rock and blues still sound pleasing at higher volumes while violins and operatic voices are best kept to medium volume. Any other shortcomings may be described as sins of omission in that the original Bifrost gets to the heart of the music very nicely, but it doesn't plumb the depths of the finest detail, instrument separation, soundstage, and precision at very high and very low frequencies. In summary, we have enjoyed the results while finding it easy to ignore its shortcomings.

Recently, i ordered the Bifrost 4490 upgrade board and it arrived a few days later . Installation is simple. Put on an anti-static wrist strap and clip it to a metal ground point or metal chassis. Remove a bunch of small screws from the top and bottom of the case, keeping track of each screw's location because they're not all the same length. Slide the chassis out of the case and remove two screws holding the original "daughter" board in place above the main board. Gently prise the original board up and off, and replace it with the new 4490 board. Replace the two retaining screws. Hold the case up vertically with the front panel facing downwards. Drop the loose input selector button into the round hole on the front panel. Still holding the case vertical, slide the chassis fully into the case. Now lay the case with its top face down and replace a bunch of screws, followed by flipping the case right side up and replacing the final four screws. Reconnect the power cable and signal cable(s) and you're ready to go.

Audio electronic equipment in general has a long-ish break-in or burn-in period before it settles into what will be its longterm characteristic sound. When it comes to DACs and amplifiers i always allow at least 100 hours of break-in time before any serious listening. (Loudspeakers may require 200 hours or more break-in time.) We left the Bifrost 4490 running all the time for five days during which it played lots of wide-ranging classical music at low volume plus two or three hours of TV shows or a movie each night. We left it on all night playing classical at low volume. There were occasional two-hours intervals when the Bifrost was resting with no signal input, but mostly it was play, play, play.

LISTENING:
Overall, the sound is markedly smoother and clearer; it is a significant improvement. Voices now stand out more from the background. Female operatic voices are more present, more articulate, and the high C's are thrilling with no noticeable grain. The soundstage is larger in both width and depth with individual instruments more easily heard. There is finer detail than before. Upper mids and treble are crisper with no shrillness or grain except for certain recordings where some distortion is evident on every sound system. Massed and solo violins are a treat. Bass power and slam have improved as have the very highest frequencies. Rhythm and pacing are better than before, lending an appropriate urgency to the flow of the music. Rock, blues and reggae sound similarly engaging. When we crank up the volume it's hard to resist jumping up and dancing 'round the room. OK, that only applies to certain albums and the addition of a couple of drinks, etc. The point is that the foot-stomping impetus is better than before and we like it a lot! In short, this is the best $70 audio upgrade in the known universe. Now kindly excuse me while i pour a wee dram of scotch, have a quick puff, and put on Roxy Music's The Main Thing ....

 

You should really introduce yourself in the new members thread.

 

Mods, can we move this out of @Torq's thread and to the Bifrost 4490 thread?

 

I just stumbled upon this thread (and its related cousins).

Yet more to digest…

I look forward to reading the rest of the 'related' cousins.

JJ

 

@Torq I was looking closely at your Bifrost mainboard pic, this has the old cirrus chip as the coax/toslink receiver. Also searched around some more for the current version with the AK4113 chip, they're always covered up by the USB board. Just wondering if you or anyone has a pic of that, or has a link to one.

I'm curious to see if schiit's using external XO's ... the moby does not, it uses it in basic PLL recover the clock from spdif stream mode.

related post: Modi Multibit i2s input mod

 

Yep, and that shot is from my original 2012-era Bifrost.

I don't have a picture handy. I do still have the new Bifrost MB used in this evaluation however (and purchased right before it was done), so when I get a chance I can take it apart and snap a picture of the board.