Schiit Bifrost 2

Pretty easy - if you’ve ever built your own PC the “Autonomy” interface for the cards is very similar to plugging in a PCI-e card into an available port. It’s definitely a little more awkward than that though because the cards face down and you’re inserting them horizontally unless you turn the case down. Personally, I would open the top plate of the unit (easy to do, just four screws and it pops off) to help visualize alignment - it would be more of a pain if you tried to insert the card with only the rear port’s opening to help you see what you’re doing.

I have seen one report I think here of someone having the female end slightly off alignment and they had to work to get the 2/64 card in when they upgraded from OG, but might just be a fluke, never seen anyone else mention an issue.

edit: lol didn’t notice any replies before I hit submit - I guess you at least have confirmation from multiple people

 

I bought a pair of 1 GB single mode 10Gtek media SC converters. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XZ6CV6W?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1, but I can't get a connection to my Raspberry Pi. The Pi has a 1GB ethernet port, but my home ethernet is only 100. Can these converters auto convert from a 100mbps input to a one gb output? Do I need a multimode converter or maybe a converter that only does 100mbps?

 

Doesn't the Pi take 100mbps? How were you listening to music before?

 

The pi works fine when directly connected with the ethernet, which is 100mbps. Something about using the pair of 1 GB media converters is not working right, though. I didn't know if I needed my ethernet to already be running at 1gb speed for the converters to work

 

No idea. You'll have to research it. Report your findings in case someone else runs into this problem.

 

Many 1Gbps ethernet ports are set to auto-negotiate to 100Mbps if that is all that is available. When you say your "home ethernet" is 100Mbps, what is outputting that signal to the FMC? If it is a router/modem/etc., it may be as simple as going into the the firmware/OS/settings for that unit and changing the speed/duplex setting to 1Gbps from 100Mbps for the connected ethernet port, even if your incoming service is incapable of 1Gbps speeds. Ethernet ports are only concerned with maximum bandwith, not your actual internet up/down speed.

 

Check the orientation of cable, RX goes to TX and vice versa

 

So update regarding the crackling sound: it appears to actually have something to do with interference as well as sample rate. I had a small globe lamp next to my tube amp and DAC and when I turned it on: crackling sound. I moved it to a shelf. Then just now, I put my charging iPad on top of my DAC. Crackle city. I removed the iPad: crackle goes away. Or I leave the iPad and unplug the charger: crackle goes away.

I had know idea this stuff could be so sensitive to what's next to or on top of it.

 

Do you have the DAC plugged into the same outlet or power strip as your charger/lamp? I guess it could be EMF, but since you mentioned the crackle going away when you unplug the charger, it sounds more like a mains/grounding thing. Try to separate the DAC’s AC connection as much as possible from other stuff, if only via a separate strip or outlet, and see if that effects the crackle.

 

I always assumed that Unison USB was the best input for the Bifrost and that a good clean USB source like a USBridge Sig had to be a winning combo. I've had this combo for years and I've been satisfied with it... but recently I have found myself with a spare Pi2AES lying around and decided to test that hypothesis.

Lo and behold: Pi2AES over coax is quite a bit better than the USBridge/Unison combo. Smoother, better detail retrieval, and better sense of space.

One of these days, I'm going to mod my Bifrost 2/64 with a BNC coax input instead of RCA... one of my audio pet peeves. I've done this to an older Audio-GD DAC with impressive results.

 

I've had the 2OG for a few weeks now and this is the first DAC that sounds significantly different. I'm a speakers-first type of listener and I've had a handful of D/S DACs over the years. They've all sounded fine but rather uninspiring and flat, and very similar tbh. I know topology isn't the EABA but this is my experience nonetheless..
It's given me quite a lot of what an AN Meishu Silver loaner got me. "Substantial" would best describe what I'm hearing. Not the most sparkly thing ever but it surely makes most music much more enjoyable.
I was considering an Yggdrasil LIM but reading experiences on this forum particularly made me go for the BF. 2/64 upgrade seems interesting but not imperative. So thanks.

 

Have you experimented with different/better power supplies for the USbridge? I own both of these devices (as well as Yggdrasil) and even with Unison, a better PSU improves things a bit.

 

This was my experience as well - every <$1000 dac I listened to was D/S based, and they all had a more similar sound to them, including a general sense of unnatural (especially in the treble). The BF 2/64 was the first one I heard that gave me a natural tone and timbre across the board - it just sounded so much more right. I know these are the intangibles that can't necessarily be measured easily, but the are the most important aspects to me, personally. Detail and clarity are all well and good, but when the music sounds like a processed copy of the recording, it just loses my interest. Since getting the BF 2/64, I listen for hours now, and don't lose interest like I used to.

 

Yes, for a long time I powered the USBridge with an iFi iPower X but recently upgraded to a proper LPS. I am powering the Pi4 with the same LPS, and the Pi2AES hat is powered by the 15V output on the Topping P50 that otherwise powers my ethernet fiber media converters.

 

Which LPS are you using?

 

Nothing special https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HDGCP3V?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

Curious as to whether you perceive a positive difference between the iFi PowerX and the LPS. I have a PowerX on one of my Pi2AES (using the 5v mod)... but I see the LPS you linked is less expensive, so I can see using it on another system...

 

I didn't hear anything super obvious, but I didn't do critical before and after listening tests either. It also wasn't long before I hooked up the Pi2AES and switched to that. My speaker system where all this resides is also a lot less sensitive than my headphones to these kinds of things, and not (yet) room corrected.

 

Born again
Some weeks ago it hit me hard: why contribute to global warming burning all those HQPlayer SDM CPU cycles when all I listen to is 16/44 PCM anyway? God knows I had answered that question to my friends before, but that faithful day I woke up as a multibit convert.

Previously my journey of self-discovery had led me to building my own Soekris dam1121, selling it for a Denafrips Ares II, selling it for a Singxer SDA-6 PRO. On the latter I had been experimenting with HQPlayer's closed-form filter, which I liked, and made me ever so curious about Schiit's Real Deal megacomboburrito filter.

So a Bifrost, Gungnir or Yggdrasil it would be - but which one? Oh yeah and in black. I read the the Gungnir's must be the best-sounding in black because those especially are more unobtanium than on Avatar. Yggdrasil yes/no... tough choice... lots of money for something I'm not sure about... no stock with Schiit Europe... not going balanced either... let's have a taste of Bifrost 2.

And so my journey continued, importing a B-Stock Bifrost 2/64 and buying a second-hand OG analog card.

Chain
iMac Deezer HiFi 16/44 FLAC > BF2 Unison USB
BF2 (SE) > Eufonika H5 KPCU > Beyerdynamic T1.2
BF2 (SE) > Eufonika H7 KPCU > Beyerdynamic Amiron Home
Power filtered with Audiolab DC-Block & Dynavox X1000B
Chi-Fi interconnects & Amazon Basic USB cable (no cable believer here)

All auditioning in OS. Some small excursions to NOS not documented here, because it didn't immediately improve anything for me and I was in for the MCB game anyway.

Impressions: Bifrost 2/64
First listen: Oh. Disappointed. A bit grainy. Not sure what the fuss is about. Might want to leave that SDA-6 around. You never know.

Two days in: WOW - what a difference. This DAC has such a distinguishable signature that if anyone says they cannot hear that, they must be either hearing-impaired or taking in music from on-screen APx555 output like Tank reads the Matrix. Not something I could have said of my previous DACs, differences between which were must more subtle.

Let's start with The Good. The BF 2/64 is wonderfully holographic. Eerily so - in a good way. Acoustic instruments and vocals are enveloping in a way I have not experienced before. I can tell you, this is addictive. Problem of audiophilia: now I've heard it, I cannot unhear it. I love it. I want it.

Another thing which is A+ is the way it keeps staging and separation even in complex musical passages. I'm talking progressive rock and metal when a hundred instruments and polyrhytmics typically get compressed to a single wall of sound, even on very good DACs. Not the case here. This is the first DAC where I can peer into the complexity where I want. It's all there. Probably due to that amazing envelope and holography.

Last highlight is the well-struck balance between bass quality and quantity. There's slam, but there's also bloom. Simply wonderful.

You could say that the signature is V-shaped, which can sound exciting and full at the same time. In the treble area, cymbals are the best I've heard so far. Amazing treble.

Which brings me to The Bad: the incisiveness. The sibilance. Oh man. I imagine it can be fine on speaker systems or darker headphones. But paired with my Beyers which are known for their sibilance anyway, it is SO distracting. Unnatural. Ear-piercing, even. I'm talking about vocals in particular.

Really. Paired with my Beyers, this is not going to work out. So I put in the second-hand OG analog card which I by now had gotten into the mail.

Impressions: Bifrost 2 OG
So this is with an OG card and the latest firmware. The OG card is a BFM3, a red one, with the Würth Elektronik capacitors, and (I think) two Zener diodes across the LDO.

Aside: when I had my BF2 opened up, I also took the chance to take a look at the clocks on the Unison USB card. My experience is that clock quality significantly impacts sound quality. The clocks are unlike I've ever seen before, tagged Bxxxx with one B1090 or B109O and the other B14WN. Could not find them online. They seem to be standard 7.5 x 5 mm packages, with standard soldering pads, but their packaging is black epoxy like an IC and not the aluminium like an XO. Weird!

This one's gonna be a bit shorter probably, as I'll compare to the 2/64 impressions above.

Comparatively, The Good is that the incisiveness and sibilance has returned to normal Beyer levels.

Sonically, it's definitely a different flavour. Less exciting, more liquid, more laid-back. Warmer. Cymbals are less pronounced. More old-skool multibit whereas the 2/64 takes it into new directions? Your preference, your choice.

But I find myself suffering. I've heard the 2/64 holography and cannot let go. Yet this OG doesn't have that. Don't get me wrong. It's a fine-sounding DAC that I could have easily lived with. But it's not the "holy shit Batman" experience where you immediately hear something special going on. It's just very nice. But not as holographic. And I find myself hitting walls of sound easier.

Where to go from here?
First world problems. Rationally I know the 2/64, Beyers and me would not have a long-lasting relationship. And the OG does sound very nice. But yeah. Schiit has pulled an Inception on me and implanted this taste of holography. I'm searching for it. That holography, without the sibilance. And I find myself thinking: could it be an Yggdrasil LIM?