New Schiit Bifrost Multibit!

I had a Bifrost Uber for 5 weeks before I had it upgraded to Multibit. I had mixed feelings about the Uber. On Hirez material it was outstanding, less so on Redbook resolution. Bad sounding recordings were almost unlistenable. It seemed to emphasize everything that was bad in the recording, especially highs that were too hot. The Multibit sounds nothing like the Uber.

Overall the Multibit sounds much more refined than the Uber. The Multibit has incredible detail without being analytical. Instruments occupy a very specific place in the soundstage. Even the most complex musical passages are easily unraveled. I think that the upgrade to the Multibit version is entirely worthwhile.

The Audiocircle thread that was linked in a past post has a lot of good information and there are some comparisons between the Uber and the Multibit.

-Dave

OK, thats it. I'm off to Schiit's website to order my MB Bifrost upgrade.....
 
My fiance bought me the MB upgrade for my birthday. I thought the queue would be longer, perhaps that the whole upgrade process would take a while.... I shipped it the next day and had it back in 8 days.

I'm so looking forward to hearing it, but I started a whole reno project in my living room, won't have my system up and running for at least 5 days..... it's killing me!
 
OK, thats it. I'm off to Schiit's website to order my MB Bifrost upgrade.....

I'm so looking forward to hearing it, but I started a whole reno project in my living room, won't have my system up and running for at least 5 days..... it's killing me!

I think that you will be very happy with the upgrade. Looking forward to your impressions.
 
Does the Schiit have another DAC on board for higher resolution material, or does it transcode everything to go through the 16-bit Analog Devices "ladder DAC"

Curious what they're doing with 24/96 for instance
 
They truncate it to 16 bit, probably dithered for higher quality. Samplerate can stay the same.
Anyway, knowing that none of the existing DAC's on the market can deliver more than 20 bit of REAL performance (THD+N values) and that even more, none of the headphones or speakers on the market can deliver more that 14-15 bit or real performance, this reduction not an issue.
What you gain with a multibit DAC is a more natural response to the musical transients.

Look at those THD+N values:
14 bit = 84dB = 0.006%
15 bit = 90dB = 0.003%
16 bit = 96dB = 0.0015%
18 bit = 108dB = 0.0004%
20 bit = 120dB = 0.0001%
 
I've had about a week with the Multibit and find I like it quite a bit, for the longest time I've been frustrated that my digital music wasn't on par with my other sources, but we've reached parity. Some tweaks when the new Mini arrives, perhaps Amarra as well and hopefully the excellence in audio quality will be on par with the excellence of ease of use of a digital server.
 
Would I be better off with a M.B.vs.a used PS Audio Nuwave DAC?

Short of hearing both and choosing based on which sounds better (I can't say having never heard a NuWave), I would say that the Multibit will still be up-gradable in the future which has certain advantages.
 
driller …. I've not heard the NuWave, so I can't give a solid comment. I will say that the BiFrost MB is a special piece of gear with a sense of "rightness" that eludes most digital in this price class. I have heard direct comparisons in my system between the BiFrost MB and the Audio Metrum Musette and the Grace m920. The "you are there" quality of the BiFrost (especially on vocals) bested both of these higher prices units. The Musette and the Grace both had tighter and seemingly more accurate Bass (but all were good). The Musette threw a more "realistic" and slightly better defined soundstage and the Grace offered more detail especially evident on complex orchestral music. But vocals sounded "small" on the Grace - which was very odd.
All of that having been said, when I don't have more expensive units on hand to directly compare the BiFrost MB to, it is always satisfying to hear the "rightness" of sound that many of us associate mostly with quality analog sources. As good as the BiFrost is (and it is great)… I'm itching to hear a Gungnir MB and a Ygadrassil MB - as I can imagine that with multiple DAC chips (and even better ones) and with fully discrete analog sections that they must be even a cut above the Musette and the Grace? Personally, I think that Schiit is onto something with their execution of the MB DAC's. Every time I listen to one of my CD's or Hi-Rez files I am amazed at how "different" they sound through the BiFrost MB DAC … placement in the sound stage, harmonic structure, attack envelopes, etc. just sound "right". I listen to far more music now that I have the BiFrost MB … and that tells me a lot. I'm not saying that it is the "end-all" of affordable DAC's as I've not heard them all. But, it is a very nice sounding piece of gear. Better than I had expected when I ordered it.
Please note that I run my computer USB feed through an iFi iUSB before entering the BiFrost MB and I do find that this improves the BiFrost's USB sound a bit. CD play from my player via co-axial is also stellar and very enjoyable. Virtually all of my CD's are listenable and enjoyable now - whereas many of them were not pleasant with previous DAC's.
 
I've tried a lot of expensive DAC's and most are nothing to write home about. To many use the same $2 chips and OEM filters
 
I ordered the Bifrost MB yesterday.I plan to play CDs via a coax connector.I have never down loaded music.What are some websites to buy music to down load?Should I down load only high resolution files? Thanks,

Dave
 
Dave, for that DAC, you should only look only at "lossless" compressed files. You can also create your own files from the CD's that you already own.
FLAC is what I use because is widely recognized by many software players due to it's free (non-proprietary) nature - even MS finally caved in and decided to added native support in Windows 10. Android devices have support for FLAC since Android version 3.1.
 
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I ordered the Bifrost MB yesterday.I plan to play CDs via a coax connector.I have never down loaded music.What are some websites to buy music to down load?Should I down load only high resolution files? Thanks,

Dave

Enjoy the Bifrost MB … Pretty sure you will like it a lot. I found that it took about 10 hours to really "burn-in" and steadily improved (slight changes) over the next 20-30 hours.

HD Tracks has a lot of hi-rez files that you can download. There are also a number of record labels that you can download directly from (on their websites). Reference Recordings is one, and there are many others. Personally I download in AIFF format at either 24/96 or 24/192. I use AIFF because its a lossless format (but eats more storage) and it makes it easy to export to iTunes for synching to the wife's iPad. Some offerings are only available in 24/44.1 or 24/48, but I've found that those tend to sound excellent also. There is a very slight gain in "air" and soundstage depth/width with the higher bit-rates (24/176 and 24/192), but 24/96 is excellent sound quality.

I'm not sure which player you will be using (I use jRiver), but make sure that all of your computer and software settings are properly set to output the resolution that you desire. The first few weeks that I had my rig set up I was listing to everything in 16/44.1 and didn't realize it! That's because my computer audio device setting was set to output everything at that resolution. Once I fixed all of that in computer device settings and in jRiver I realized what I had been missing. 16/44.1 is very good, but sending the higher rez signal to your DAC takes things to the next level and things get bigger, better and smoother.
 
The Bifrost MB arrived yesterday.It sounds very good right out of the box.I'm using my NAD CD player as a transport and running a coax into the DAC.What aspects of the sound should improve after 10 hrs?
Dave
 
Probably the bass and maybe some stereo separation.
This happens to all electronic devices that have electrolytic capacitors inside, takes a while to be completely "formed", it's a chemical reaction (basically it's the oxide layer that improves) that happens when they are powered on. Usually the low frequencies (bass, power supply filtration) are the ones affected.
 
The Bifrost MB arrived yesterday.It sounds very good right out of the box.I'm using my NAD CD player as a transport and running a coax into the DAC.What aspects of the sound should improve after 10 hrs?
Dave

If I recall correctly the main changes were that the highs became more "liquid" and less dry. The midrange also expanded a bit (soundstage increased in size and width). The Bass also improved steadily over the first few hours and continued to improve over the first 4 or 5 days that I had the unit powered up.
 
The Bifrost MB arrived yesterday.It sounds very good right out of the box.I'm using my NAD CD player as a transport and running a coax into the DAC.What aspects of the sound should improve after 10 hrs?
Dave

So Dave, judging by your equipment list, you are obviously an experienced analog listener. What is your initial impressions with an external DAC? Do you really hear a significant difference? Not hearing any difference is a valid response. I'm just curious to know what your impressions are before the rest of us start telling you what we hear and color your initial impressions......
 
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