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REVIEW: Schiit Bifrost DAC

No - it’s not a mis-spelling - the company really is called SCHIIT

It was calculated and they play on it - but despite their apparent sense of humour, don’t go thinking they are in it for a joke - these guys are deadly serious about hi-fi!

They produce a very focussed line of high quality products, at a fair price, with some interesting design features - and they only sell direct (hence the fair price)

The Bifrost is their mid-line product, being surrounded by the Modi as their entry level DAC and the Gugnir, the top of the line model

I opted for the Bifrost model mainly because I had identified very specific requirements which the Bifrost matched completely, which were….
•24/192 on all inputs
•USB, toslink and s/pdif inputs
•Onboard Mains Power (none of these silly little external supplies)
•Amazing sound (OK - we all want that, but how good could possibly it be?)

The only problem with web-based outfit - who knows how good they are - there really is no possibility of a side-by-side audition.

I did a lot of reading and people seemed to be quite generous with their accolades, so I took the plunge and placed an order.

I opted for the Bifrost with the USB input ($100 extra) and the Uber analogue stage upgrade ($70 extra) for a grand total of $520

Since I’m in Canada I had to pay around $60 for the mid level postage and on arrival, another $70 Duty and $10 handling - Grand Total $660

I placed the order Friday afternoon - within an hour the unit had shipped! The following Tuesday, around Mid day I was signing for the parcel. - now that’s Service!

Once unpacked, I put the little sticky feet on and left the mains lead provided in the box where it belongs!

I found, by way of experimentation with my previous DAC that a good mains supply is paramount when delivering good performance. I had replaced it’s meagre Wal-Wart power supply with a DIY supply providing much more headroom than actually required.

With on-board power supplies the only thing you can hope to improve is the power cable and since I just happen to have a well broken in Furutech FP-314 Ag - a 15AWG α (Alpha) conductor power cable handy, I powered up the Bifrost. Yes, cables make a difference.

I first connected the Bifrost to my iMac via a DH Labs toslink (optical) cable, which I have found to be completely trouble free and very good at data transfer - rated at over 150 Mbps. The interconnects I use are Stager Silver Solids - i meter in length. Interconnects matter also.

I played through several of my favourite audition tracks and right out of the box the Bifrost had already exceeded my expectations.

Prior to ordering the Bifrost I had gone to local stores and auditioned several higher priced DACs, including:
•Wadia 121 decoding computer
•Mytek Stereo 192 DSD DAC
•Chord QuteHD DAC

Now I’m not going to say the Bifrost is better than these three, since they are many times its cost, but it comes very close to two of them and to these ears, was better than the other one.

What I found was that the guys at Schiit are deadly serious about producing high quality audio products
•The bass frequencies go very deep and are very well controlled - my favourite pipe-organ tracks now sound extremely realistic with those low notes that have the unmistakable rumble and the high notes are crystal clear and uncluttered and you can hear them breathing.
•The high frequencies are extremely well behaved - strings seem so much smoother, you can hear the air crossing the mouthpiece on flutes. Reproduction of sibilance is superb.
•Dynamic control across the board is extremely good and a vast improvement to my previous DAC
•The fine details that puts you into the recording venue are there and this is really highlighted on orchestral tracks and live music
•The stage is huge in width, very good in height and cavernous in depth - again pipe organ tracks project way beyond the back of the speakers - I was sitting in a Cathedral.

The musicality is another outstanding achievement by the guys at Schiit. The sound is much more analogue than digital and as the unit breaks in that attribute is just getting better. I have not yet found myself fatigued and I’ve put in several hours listening so far.

What about HD Digital you say?

The bulk of my collection is 16/44 with a few 24/96 tracks and a couple of 24/192, but the Bifrost handles HD tracks with amazing dexterity.

My previous DAC was an up sampling DAC, so everything got up-samlped to 192kHz - and it didn’t do a great job of that.

The Bifrost processes the sample rate it’s given, so whatever you throw at it, that is what gets converted - no up-sampling! The net result is there is no interpolation going on to fill in missing samples and that seems to result a “crisper” presentation. There seems to be more snap in the drums, more whispery textures in the vocals, but strangely, strings seems smoother and not brighter - go figure.

SIDBAR: I use an iMac to stream HD, and the iMac has a silly setting that also up-samples. To avoid this you would need to install BitPerfect - a small program that passes the data at the sample rate recorded - it’s only $9.99 from the Apple Store.

One last item to test - the USB and s/pdif inputs - yep - they work! and they sound no different from the toslink to these ears - so I left the DH Labs USB cable in place.

For the s/pdif input test, I connected my DVD player. To my surprise playing a disk sounded the same as the same track streamed from the iMac.

I could go on about the dynamics of “this track” and the delicate textures of “that track”, but then you would have to know those tracks intimately to understand my rantings.

I will go on record as saying this is an exceptional value for money - and I mean EXCEPTIONAL!

It is very close performance wise to the other units I auditioned and to be quite honest, I think that if I was to hear them side by side and budget was no object, I’d still select a Schiit - maybe the Gungnir instead of the Bifrost, but with the Uber upgrade I think it would also be a very close call.

If you need balanced outputs then the Gungnir would be the model to go for.

So I now have a piece of Schiit on my hi-fi stand and my wife didn’t give me any because it was much less than the competition.

To sum up - The Bifrost is a no-nonsense, no-frills, basic inputs, no remote, get off your backside and select the damn input yourself kinda DAC

If you want frills - go somewhere else - but ya ain’t gonna get an audio experience as honest as this one unless you spend 2, 3, or 4 times the money!

Yes - it’s that damn good!
williewonka
williewonka OP
3,075 posts
 
Photonman - Yes it loads into ram - there is also an indicator on the interface that shows how the retrieval from the hard disk is progressing and where in the retrieved data the current point of playback is situated.

With 16/44 it retrieves the track very quickly and that indicator disappears once it is loaded, but it's more noticeable with hd tracks since they take longer to load into ram.
williewonka OP
3,075 posts
 
And then it all came together :-)

So I've had the Bifrost in the system for 9 days and it's been powered on 24/7.

Yesterday, I played some classical and immediately became very aware of the spatial details this unit is now producing.

Their placement from a depth perspective seems to have become much more precise. It was always very good across the sound stage but now they are more isolated front to back. The whole 3D image is now very detailed and spacious.

These new details also bring a smoothness to violins' particularly soloists that I believed was only possible on vinyl. So I switched to vinyl and listened and there was the same spacious detailing every time.

I went back and forth a few times just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, or an anomaly of the track I was playing, but I was hearing correctly - there is a very analogue feel to the reproduction the Bifrost is capable of

For a long time I've purchased classical only on vinyl just because of that smoothness and spacial detailing it reproduces, often leaving CD recordings that I wanted to try on the rack.

I have downloaded a few classical HD tracks in the hope that I would find a digital format that might get close to analogue reproduction. But even those had me switching back to vinyl - until now.

I never thought for one moment that 16/44 would ever come close to analogue, but the Bfrost has delivered a quality that I had not thought possible.

The quality is very dependent on how the content of the file is transferred to the DAC. I started with just iTunes, then installed BitPerfect and have finally settled on Audirvana. The difference between all three were quite noticeable.

I am also using a high throughput USB cable from DH Labs and Stager Silver Solids interconnects. The power cord is DIY using Furutech 15 gauge cable with floating shield and Vanguard gold-on-copper connectors.

I'm a big believer in good wires - they make or break a units perormance.

I'm not saying this little $520 DAC is as good as vinyl, but if you want a vinyl-ish performance from your digital collection, you might want to give the Bifrost a try.

I've also been in contact with Schiit, asking how the Gungnir (next model up) performs in relation to the Bifrost. Apart from the technical aspects of its design, the bottom line seemed to be that the Gungnir is more natural sounding. For only $300 more it might be advantageous to explore this model instead (kinda wished I had now).

As with all electronics, a burn-in period is crucial in order to attain the best performance - this one appears to take around 200+ hours. This makes the 15 day money back offer by Schiit a bit tight, but then, you might just be keeping it once you've heard it really perform :-)

Back to the music :-)
shsohis
119 posts
 
My friend and I did a blind test using headphones on the same setup. The Arcam rDac came up better 100% of the time on several tracks we tested with. We both took turns on the blind test and both our findings were 100% conclusive after several rounds. The Arcam just sounded more alive while the Schitt seems dull, slow and flat. My friend was visibly filled with buyer's remorse with his Schitt. Unfortunately no 24/192 recording was used though.
williewonka OP
3,075 posts
 
Shsohis - some questions

1. Did the Bifrost have the Uber analogue upgrade?
2. Did you use the standard power cable or an upgraded one?
3. Do you recall what interconnects were you using?
4. Had both units gone through an adequate burn-in process?

I have heard from a couple of sources that the Uber upgrade provides a significant improvement in performance - more life like. I have not heard the standard Bifrost in my system, so I cannot state what improvements might be attained, but the Uber upgrade sounds excellent to me.

Although I was very happy using the Bifrost right out of the box - after 200+ hours of use it really started to strut its stuff.

The capacitance of interconnects can effect a components performance - the interconnects I have tried are in the area of 35-60 pf/meter and both worked very well

As I stated in my review - I am using a Furutech power cable from a dedicated line outlet to the Bifrost- this improves the dynamics and spacial details a lot

I am also using solid silver interconnects - this improves the micro details such as room acoustics.

When I've been faced with less than expected performance from a component I first start with power supply and interconnects before I give up on it.

The Bifrost for me was a leap of faith - one which, to these ears, has exceeded my expectations - maybe it's my ears? - who knows.

All I can say for sure is that there is nothing flat in what I am hearing at present, but Arcam is also very good gear and without hearing one in my system I cannot assess it's performance as you did.

I hope your fried gives the Bifrost a second chance by trying a different power cable and interconnect.

Back to the music
williewonka OP
3,075 posts
 
Shsohis - one other thing I found with the Bifrost is that it presented better dynamics when the data sent to it was at the sample rate of the recording
i.e. it was not up-sampled.

This appeared to be the case for 16/44 and 24/96 recordings from what I could tell

I use an iMac to deliver digital content and did try various settings to confirm this

I have found that Audirvana configured not to up-sample allowed the Bifrost to deliver its best performance to date.

Maybe it would be worthwhile for your friend to take a look at this also

Hope it all works out Ok
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