Schiit Bifrost 2

Yea when I re-read his assertions they are not convincing, and the logic (e.g. the linking of IMD with "euphonic" - the character of BF2 apparently) rests on...what? Mere "audiophile" generalizations as near as I can tell.

I sometimes put on my robes and climb the mountain of digital audio engineering and maths looking for that ecstatic "ah ha" insight and knowledge. I usually come rolling back down the hill worse than before

I hear ringing, anyone else hear ringing?

 

My bifrost rockin' and solid since the firmware was applied "properly" earlier today. Thanks for that Jason. I was looking for a way to determine a successful update and now I know.

Oh, btw...my name is Matt. I'm autistic AND ghey.

 

I might try this DAC once I know the kinks are ironed out. I've only used ASIO drivers, so I'm wondering how I would bypass Windows mixer/volume?

 

Continue to use ASIO (or WASAPI exclusive mode) with your music player.

 

That's the pretty light show I was referring to. Very obvious that something different is going on. I used the official SD Memory Card Formatter and although it didn't provide options for FAT32 or 32kb cluster size, that's exactly what it gave me (and displayed when it was done).

Insertion was a bit rough (and you can't really use lube), but once it's in you know it (right side up with contacts facing down as Jason said). About 1/3 of the card still sticks out from the chassis.

 

Thanks for this video! I thought I had performed the update correctly but after seeing this I knew it hadn't gone through because the "lightshow" was the same as a normal boot. This time I used a special FAT32 formatting tool and it worked like a charm!

I think it might be helpful to link that video to the firmware page on the web site just so that folks will know about the different sequence during an update.

 

For MacOS users, here is how you can format a MicroSD card to Fat32 with 32kb cluster size.

Insert the card and from the command line type this:

diskutil list

Locate the “Identifier” for the card. In my case, it was “disk2”.

To format the card, it needs to be unmounted using “diskutil”. Here is the command:

diskutil unmountDisk disk2

You will get a message telling you if that was successful. If it is, here is the command to format the card Fat32 and 32kb clusters with the name “Bifrost”:

sudo newfs_msdos -F 32 -c 64 -v Bifrost /dev/disk2

You will be asked to enter your superuser password. That is normally the password of the main account setup as an admin account.

When done, unmount the card again using this command:

diskutil unmountDisk disk2

Remove the card.

Now you have a MicroSD card formatted to Fat32 with 32kb cluster size.

 

Tried formatting a 256GB card to fat32 but B2 still wouldn't see it.

8 eurobux for a 32gb one from the Dread Pirate Bezos sorted that issue.

 

I have both Gungnir Multibit A2 with Gen. 5 USB and Bifrost 2. I didn't notice any significant difference between them when using SE outputs with Project Horizon III and ZMF Verite. I received my DSHA-3F several days ago and have been doing comparisons between DACs using balanced outputs. I wish I could say I don't hear any significant difference but I can't. In balanced mode piano on Gungnir Multibit is much better and classical music is much more engaging. So yes, as it was mentioned here several times, in balanced mode Gungnir is still better DAC and will get even better with Unison.

 

What inputs were you using during the comparison?

 

I used USB input from my computer. Foobar2000 as a player with WASAPI exclusive mode.
For some reason Gen 5. USB works just fine in "event" mode whereas Unison works good only in "push" mode.

 

I don't know where I read it but some major manufacturer was seriously criticizing foobar's WASAPI plugin for having a broken "event" mode, whereas "push" works perfect. IIRC: the RME ADI-2 bitperfect test fails in "event" and is fine in "push".

 

I had some issues with "event" mode as well and emailed customer support about it. Going into the advanced options > playback in Foobar2K, I tweaked the WASAPI buffer settings (down to 10 from 25) and that cleared everything up.

 

Thought it necessary to mention that I found the cause of this clicking and it was the Safari browser rather than the Bifrost 2. Listening to the same tracks through the same source (e.g., Bandcamp) on Firefox there's no clicking. Oddly though the clicking isn't present with the Modi Multibit on Safari. I have absolutely no idea why this might be, but my suspicions are limitations of the Safari browser.

 

Why the heck would you run Tidal from the browser? Download the app.

Edit: referring to your previous post where you said Tidal was your player. Were you using the browser for that as well?

 

Fair point - Tidal is through the app but I couldn't recreate the clicking on Tidal (probably worth just ignoring my chain description in my initial post which was maybe misleading - sorry for that.) At time of writing the clicking only happens through Safari with the Bifrost 2. It's worth mentioning that Safari is also posing problems with YouTube - in that YouTube pauses for no reason.

I wanted to clarify it on the off-chance that someone else experienced it and remove any nervosa that it might be a Bifrost problem which I am pretty sure it isn't because it works flawlessly on everything else.

On a separate note, for any DSHA-3F owners out there, I am finding a particular synergy with it and the Bifrost 2 which takes the already stellar clarity, bass, layering, and wow factor of the amp and dials it up a notch or two (at least over the Modi Multibit.)

 

Ok thanks that makes more sense. Issues heard through a browser IMO are going to be highly suspect - there are way too many potential things that could affect it.

 

I haven't had any issues with Tidal and Chrome (W10 for OS) on my BF2, which is a replacement unit (post-blown caps, shipped a week ago Wednesday so with the newest firmware + good caps).

Would be good for any fellow BF2 owners to mention firmware status when reporting hiccups from now on, and probably to refrain from reporting them if you haven't done the update, IMO.

 

This DAC has no right to sounding this close to Yggdrasil A2! It is quite the amazing little gem.

Can't wait to see an Yggdrasil 2 and Gungnir 2 with the same kind of improvements .

VERY well done, @schiit & @baldr