Just got the bifrost multibit. Had no experience with the original bifrost/uber. Came from a John Kenny jkdac32 which I enjoyed, but the battery gave up the ghost.
Keep in mind, this is after a week of ownership, so this is more impressions, rather than hard statements.
Overall, it’s near-edgelessly detailed, stages well, has decent but not bone crushing bass energy, and really very listenable. Compared to my memory of my jkdac32, it has a noticable amount of extra midrange sheen which comes across as extra energy, which can be good or bad, and sounds more precise without crossing over into overanalytical. Again, very listenable.
Compared to my jkdac, it doesn’t sound as "analog" , but the bass is tighter, and the music carries more energy. Doesn’t have as much bite or grunt as my old benchmark dac 1, but doesn’t sound as thin, either. Compared to every dac based on the sabre 9018 chip I’ve heard or owned (w4s benchmark dac2, wadia 121, oppo 105), it sounds more engaging, without sounding less polite. The sabre 9018 chip always sounded a bit mechanical and restrained to my ears, but is articulately inoffensive, and the Bifrost Multi seems to give me what I liked about the sabre 9018 dacs, but with more passion and solid energy.
Someone else in this thread said it reminded them of a Theta, which funny enough, I owned a Theta years ago, and he’s kinda right. Theta had more prominent midbass, and the Schiit untangles the highs far better, but I actually thought of that exact same dac the third day I listened to the Multi. Something about the energy music has coming out of both is very similar...engaging and alive, in a fun way. It’s funny someone else made the exact same parallel. It’s very distinct. I hadn’t heard another dac like that Theta...now suddenly, I get to hear something like it every time I listen to music.
Word of warning. The break in on this product is the 2nd worst I’ve ever experienced in any piece of audio gear I’ve ever owned. The sound goes from overly composed out of the box, to completely shrill and unlistenable in six hours. Takes about 48 hours to find it’s sound. Might still be smoothing out still, or I might be getting more used to it, I don’t know, but a week later, I really like it. But there were times in that first day I went from absolutely loving it, to wanting to pack it back up and ship it back as fast as I could.
Kinda rambled on here a bit, figuring more is better than less, but the short of it for me is this; it’s the real deal. It certainly doesn’t sound like other sub 1000 dollar dac’s i’ve heard, and I mean that in a good way. I’m not in love with it, the way I’m in love with my fallen jkdac32, but I like it a whole lot more than I hoped I would, and more than any other dac I’ve heard in a while.
