New Schiit Bifrost Multibit!

I have been impressed with the performance of the Bifrost so far,although not all of my CDs were recorded well.The bass is actually a bit lower and more impactful than my vinyl set up.The mids and sound stage are quite good with the DAC and seem to be on par with the vinyl.My main question is whether there is listening fatique with digital vs vinyl.More time listening will tell.I need to update my equipment listed.I am driving Magnepan 1.7's with a rebuilt McIntosh Mc275 rather than a mc240.I also have two M&K powered subs.
 
Drillher - initially I found the bass to be somewhat shy on the BiFrost MB also. Give it some time … it takes quite a long time for the Bass to really fill-in and completely "break in" on the BF-MB. Now that I've had mine running for more than a month, I find very little (if any) difference in the bottom end straight of my TT vs. the same LP's recorded on 24/96 AIFF files played back through the BiFrost MB. I wouldn't say that the Bifrost MB's Bottom End is "state of the art" but it is very good and the overall presentation of the BF-MB is musical and easy to listen to. The "edge" will also soften and pretty much go away after the unit is well broken in also. If it doesn't, try some different digital cables as I find noticeably different sounds out of the BF-MB using different types of cables. It doesn't seem to like tos-link very well and for USB it really needs a filter of some sort (In my set up) to smooth out (iFi, iUSB is what I use). It seems to sound the best overall with coax (currently using a Twisted Pair Designs true 75 ohm coax to good effect). Overall (IMO) the BF-MB sounds "more analog" and "more correct" than the other DAC devices I have tried in this price range, so hang in there and enjoy the burn in and tweaking.
 
Schiit seems to be making very good quality products. I think they are made in the U.S.

Yes, very good products and made in the U.S. I have a little trouble getting past their sophomoric "tongue-in-cheek" product names, etc. But, the product is very good.
 
The bass from the Schitt seems better than my vinyl set up actually.I 'm trying to figure out where the weak link is,but that's a different matter.What type of USB cable do I need to go from my laptop into the DAC once I start to buy music from a site?
 
The bass from the Schitt seems better than my vinyl set up actually.I 'm trying to figure out where the weak link is,but that's a different matter.What type of USB cable do I need to go from my laptop into the DAC once I start to buy music from a site?

I've had good results with two USB cables: AQ-Carbon and Pangea USB-AG. I'm currently using the Pangea USB-AG, but the AQ-Carbon sounded very good with the Bifrost MB when I took the BF over to a friend's house. I've also tried the Pangea USB-PC. The USB-PC sounded good, but added a tiny bit of harshness that I didn't care for. I'm sure there are many USB cables that will work well.
 
I am still running the Bifrost Uber (haven't upgraded it yet) and find the unit to be a bit bass-shy compared to some other DAC's I have on hand. I'm glad to hear this is not a problem with the MB version.
 
You guys might be on something here.
I have downloaded the picture of Bitfrost Multibit from the official Schiit website and I noticed that some the output capacitors seem to be missing - labeled C15 and C16 on the board. Those seem to be designed to be film capacitors but right now there are only some ceramics in there (C19 and C20).

That might affect the tonality - not sure if the are just part of the ultrasonic filtering or the actual coupling to the output, I cannot see the other side of the board.

Another parts that seem to be missing is C41 and C42 that seem that would go over the smaller C35 and C36.

It would be interesting to see if the boards that you had received have those caps installed or not.
For a comparation, I looked to the big-brother Yggdrasil and that one has film-caps in place (the red rectangular blocks). And also it has bigger filtration electrolytic caps on the power rails and that might help too.

Schiit_Bitfrost_MB.PNG
yggdrasil.PNG
 
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So that's a picture of the multibit board, right? Not sure if any multibit users are reporting shy bass. I'm still using the older uber board, and that's where I am noticing it. Of course, I am comparing to DAC's built to a much higher price point.
 
I had no idea that the USB cable could make a difference.

I have a friend that uses an Audioquest Jitterbug at each end of his USB cable and reports an improvement. Some folks are also using the Uptown Audio Regen. I would just start with a decent quality USB cable and go from there - especially if you are only running it a short distance.

Do you have the option of using a coaxial toslink output? May want to compare that to USB as well.
 
Well, Schiit sells USB cables too. And the Wyrd USB de-crapifier (USB regeneration). I would also maybe try using a dedicated USB board for audio, separated from the other USB devices attached to the computer (mouse, keyboard, etc).
I personally don't use any USB connections for my audio, so I cannot say if they are worth of anything or not. I prefer to burn my own CD's and listen trough my CD players.

This way I am not messing with the added jitter from SPDIF or USB communication overhead.
 
Well, Schiit sells USB cables too.

It's worth noting that the USB Cables Schiit sells are actually made by Straightwire and are really nice. That's what I'm using with my Bifrost MB.

- Woody
 
Ive never used the Schiit USB cable, but I would imagine that its a good one that works well with the Schiit Dacs. Theoretically, so long as the cable construction is proper, the USB cable shouldn't make much of a difference. But …. there do seem to be some very minor differences in sonic presentation with different USB cables. I didn't say it makes sense. I've not found that such differences (plus or minus) equate to cost either. I should get one of the Schiit USB cables and try it out - may be a heck of a good deal.
 
My wife's observation was that vinyl sounds "warmer" than the digital.I still don't have 10hrs.on the Dac.I will do A/B comparisons with vinyl once the DAC has more playing time on it.
 
I "ordered" my multibit upgrade from uber on 1/5 and I am 12 out of 34 in line. Did any one else have this long of a wait?
 
It is clear that a lot depends on the quality of the CD that I run through the MB DAC.I have some very good sounding CDs.and some where the vinyl is much better than the CD.
 
So any accounts of this thing "weirding out" when sample rates change or whatever? I just cancelled my order to maybe switch from paypal to debit. Thought to do research since they are backordered anyway.
 
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