Schiit Gungnir DAC - anyone have one of these?

Thanks for the feedback everyone

Spent the week looking at several DAC's - Wadia, Mytek, Chord, all in the $1300-$1700 region and the differences were significant and enlightening, since the only one that I found did not fatigue these ears was the Wadia.

Then I came home and listened to my Dacmagic - and again - no fatigue. BTW my upgraded power supply on the DACMAGIC allows it to perform way above it's snack bracket - I thought very close to the Wadia, but not quite as spacious

I decided to go with the Bifrost + USB + Uber options, since that would bring it closer to the performance of the Gungnir and cost $300 less.

I don't have a requirement for balanced outputs, as on the Gungnir and the differences in Gugnnir/Bifrost power supplies hopefully can be minimized by using a high quality power cable and connectors. This should also enhance it's performance considerably.

There's chatter about DSD options coming for the Schiit DAC's, so hopefully there will be an upgrade for the Bifrost.

My primary source is my turntable, which I have just completed an arm upgrade, so right now I want to keep these costs down.

I will post a review once It's suitably broken in

Thanks again

Well, after reading several posts on the bifrost I figured I would have to wait a while for it to burn in before I would be impressed - WRONG!

As stated above I had previously listened to Wadia, Mytek and Chord.

Well, the Bifrost seems to have most of the punch of the Mytech coupled with the smoothness of the Wadia and a very accurate delivery of music in general.

I originally thought of leaving the Dacmagic in the system so I could do a side by side comparison. No point - the Bifrost is clearly superior in every respect...
- much wider and deeper soundstage and more precise instrument placement.
- improved dynamics - almost as dynamic as the Mytek
- much finer details particularly sibilance control
- much improved frequency response
- very deep low end - organ music is superbly deep and rich

I think the Uber analogue upgrade was well worth the extra

For $520 + $60 shipping I would recommend the Bifrost + USB + Uber to anyone.

For Canadian readers there was an $70 GST and $10 handling fee bringing the total to $660

A couple of posts cited it as having an overly bright sound, but as yet I am finding it very musical - and I have silver interconnects on it.

I have a feeling that my well burned in Furutech power cable is responsible for the smooth performance so far.

Right now I`m listening to some very smooth saxophone and it sounds superb.

If you are in the market for a DAC give this one some consideration, but use good cables - you`ll thank yourself for doing so.

Back to the music

AND - After 200+ hours burn-in it really shines

Much improved spatial detailing that really increases instrument position and isolation from front to back i.e. more air around instruments.

Back to the toons:-)

I purchased the Bifrost 2 days before they released the Über version, so naturally I sent mine back for the upgrade. So I have listened to before and after on my system...the upgrade is well with the 100 bucks I paid, smoother with improved detail, and much firmer bottom end. Very satisfied as you are. I use Signal Cable Magic Digital PC, Black Cat Veloce coax, Atlas Equator MK III IC and mono price optical. Cheers.

This thread has definitely peaked my interest. With such a reasonable price I am going to get the Gungnir and compare it to my Luxman. Besides, how I can resist a company with such a good sense of humor?