[SunByrne]

Been a while since I've posted, but I'm in the market for a DAC in the $400-500 range for my study. (TOSLink input, not USB.)
 
I've heard so many good things about the Bifrost, especially with the Uber upgrade, but I've always been a big fan of NAD and I was wondering if anyone has had a chance to A/B these two? It might be too early since the NAD only just came out, but I'd love to hear from anyone who has heard them both.
 
Thanks in advance!

 

[nicdub]

This should be an interesting thread, looking forward to the comparison.

 

[derbigpr]

- changed impressions. I tested a new example, and it's much better than the old. I don't know whether the first one was pre-production, had old firmware or was simply different, but new D1050 sounds very good.

 

[nicdub]

I auditioned the NAD D1050 with Beyerdynamic T1. All I can say is I didn't like the way its headphone out sounded. Very laid back and flat, poor dynamics and not enough power. Loud enough, sort of, but no authority... I would definitely not buy it to use with a hard to power headphone. That said, I have no clue how it performs strictly as a DAC, but seeing how much of the money you're paying went into making the device look fancy (and it does look and feel very expensive), and if you don't need the headphone output, I would skip it, because I doubt the DAC itself can't be as good as other 500 dollar dedicated DAC's.

Thanks for the impressions!  I'm a bit surprised that more people haven't commented on this thread, as the Bifrost and D1050 are of similar price.  I'm a fan of Schiit products in general, and would be pairing the NAD with the Vali or Magni, depending on which it sounds better with.  Seems like the few reviews I have read of the D1050 state it's best quality is its musicality, or rather, that it produces a more "fun" sound, but this is at the expense of detail retrieval.  I'm curious derbigpr if you felt the same way?

 

[JerseyD]

Has anyone else heard both of these $500 contenders?

 

[pdrm360]

NO ONE !??

 

[Greggo]

Yeah... I wish the D1050 was getting more traction around here.  I listened to a couple of Bifrost at a small headphone meet-up around 9 months ago, but I don't think either of them had the Uber upgrade.  One was into an Asgard and the other was going into a Bottlehead Crack (no speed ball).  Both sounded really good to me as I tested them with Shure SRH-1540 (tried at the meet) and Senn HD-700 (owned for a few months at that point, still have them and love them).
 
Anyways, audio memory is a really bad thing, so I am not really attempting to help the OP here with meaningful subjective data points, just passing through...  What struck me about the Bifrost was how clean and tidy everything seemed, nothing in particular jumped out, and though I didn't get the sense of a tremendous sound stage or deep resolution, I was also listening through amps that I was not familiar with, so I have no basis to help drive to ground what was the Bifrost "sound" versus the contribution of the amps or headphones in this particular case.  It just sounded very good overall and I knew right away that the Bifrost owners have good reason to be happy with their purchase.  I still don't know what I don't know... I haven't heard any of the real high end stuff yet and I am very curious to say the least.  I have heard many high end to super high end stereo systems through the 90s and up to 2010, and back then I had decided that for me, there was nothing special going on above the 2k price point for DACs.  Things have certainly changed to some degree, and I have yet to get caught up on the state of the industry in this regard.
 
I ordered the D1050 around four months ago on blind faith... never heard it, saw a couple of good reviews and decided to take a chance.  From the moment I turned it on I felt like I had made a great decision.  Listening to one right now, and I love it on the Focal Studio Pro more than anything, with BeoPlay 6 and HD-700 also sounding good and, from memory, having a slightly meatier sound than I remembered coming from Bifrost.  Now for me, this is comforting because that is the kind of sound signature I prefer, but again, memory sucks.  I really wish I could A/B a pair myself but I am currently neck deep in a very serious DIY speaker project so funds are tight.
 
I have been thinking about a Bifrost Uber and a Lyr 2 as a potential upgrade for me, but I am concerned that the Bifrost would be more of a side step than a step up in this case, I don't know.  I could go crazy and go for the Schiit reference stuff next year, grab an Oppo HA-1 at the end of this year, or something else.  I only want to add one more rig just for grins, not because I think I am really missing anything.  My goal is to have around a dozen headphones ranging from entry level to high end (with HD-700 and maybe an HE-560 being as high up as I go) and then be able to listen to them on my own little "review studio" where I go from Samsung Note 3 to Dragonfly 1.2 to NAD D1050 to ??? some final rig.
 
So come on guys, someone out there must have access or know somebody that can run a few comparisons for us?  If not, maybe there will be a headphone meet in my neck of the woods again this fall/winter.  If so, I will be sure to go and bring the D1050 along for some direct comparisons.