[commtrd]

Using J River 19 with Mj/G and leaving bit rate set to automatic. I did get the USB upgrade done on Gungnir and all is well. I suppose I could play with that some but always busy with price bar studies and market analysis so long as it sounds good I don't fool around with it. Guess that indicates I am not a true hi-fi-er. ;0)

 

[KLJTech]

 
 I use JRiver 18 with a Gungnir and like you I want nothing done to the signal. I leave the bitdepth alone as I haven't heard any reason to not do so. Love the Gungnir. I was very tempted by the new Oppo as I needed a headphone amp, but the Gungnir is just so pleasing to me that I just ordered a Schiit Asgard 2 and I'm good.

 
You're going to enjoy the Asgard 2, that's what I'll be using with the new Gungnir but I've had the Asgard 2 for a couple months and I absolutely love it. 

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
You're going to enjoy the Asgard 2, that's what I'll be using with the new Gungnir but I've had the Asgard 2 for a couple months and I absolutely love it. 

 
Good to hear, and I can assure you that the Gungnir will knock your socks off. I had an Audiolab 8200CD with the vaunted Sabre DAC chip which I sold to fund my Gungnir. No regrets at all. The Audiolab was quite nice, but the Gungnir is in my view quite a bit more capable and refined. Just now listening to Adham Shaiki - Peace to the Middle East, very sweet.

 

[KLJTech]

I've been listening to the Gungnir for the past couple hours through speakers (B&W 805's) and the past hour or so with the Asgard 2 driving the HE-500's and B&W P7's and it sounds incredible.
 
I've been listening to "Arne Domnerus - Jazz At The Pawnshop 24.88" (Love this album) and while I've always heard things being moved on tables in the background now its almost stunning how much detail is coming through perfectly clear. It would simply be a neat trick if one only noticed more small goings on in the background, but there's more presence to instruments...thus far it sounds more convincingly real than my other DAC's. So far I'm impressed. 
 
I've got my Asgard 2 sitting atop the left side of the Gungnir...I guess this way the transformers of both pieces are on the same side (both power cables on one side), but I actually chose that side due to my cables between the Gungnir and A2 being a tad too stiff to make the sharper bend to place the A2 on the right side. 

 
 
I've got to say that I've yet to regret (far from it) any purchase from Schiit Audio...they're quickly becoming my favorite brand of audiophile/music lover gear. Now, as far as speakers go I don't think they're going to catch my two favorites in that category...B&W and Magnepan. 

 

[JoelT]

  I've been listening to the Gungnir for the past couple hours through speakers (B&W 805's) and the past hour or so with the Asgard 2 driving the HE-500's and B&W P7's and it sounds incredible.

Cool! Thanks for the early impressions/thoughts. Do you feel the treble is too present at first listen? There seems to be quite a few comments regarding burn-in. My Gungnir is supposed to arrive on Monday, and I'm definitely stoked to hear it. 

 

[KLJTech]

To me it doesn't sound like too much treble through speakers or headphones. I generally listen at first (to see if anything is majorly wrong) and then let some music play through a new piece of gear for a few days before truly giving it my full attention. This way I won't simply get accustomed to its sound during this time.
 
I too have heard many say that it can take several days for the Gungnir to reach its full potential...I don't know, this is my first Gungnir but thus far I'm very impressed. That Asgard 2 is getting pretty warm/hot to the touch along the sides, I know many others stack this gear so I have to assume that I can't harm either piece by doing this. Sure is a sweet sounding combination.
 
I think you're going to love the Gungnir!
Best of luck.

 

[JoelT]

  To me it doesn't sound like too much treble through speakers or headphones. I generally listen at first (to see if anything is majorly wrong) and then let some music play through a new piece of gear for a few days before truly giving it my full attention. This way I won't simply get accustomed to its sound during this time.
 
I too have heard many say that it can take several days for the Gungnir to reach its full potential...I don't know, this is my first Gungnir but thus far I'm very impressed. That Asgard 2 is getting pretty warm/hot to the touch along the sides, I know many others stack this gear so I have to assume that I can't harm either piece by doing this. Sure is a sweet sounding combination.
 
I think you're going to love the Gungnir!
Best of luck.

Thanks. Yeah, that makes sense. I plan on doing the same - i.e. listen to it a bit when I get it, to ensure sure it's not completely "off" and then let it run for burn-in. 
 
What other DAC's do you own? I've only used considerably cheaper DAC's, so I suspect it will sound pretty stellar to my ears. Enjoy!

 

[Sonic Defender]

I am going to stand my Asgard up on an end like a reviewer at 6 Moons did to maximize how much heat is dissipated. I would think stacking class A gear ontop of one another a great deal of heat for the units to contend with. 

 

[madwolfa]

  I am going to stand my Asgard up on an end like a reviewer at 6 Moons did to maximize how much heat is dissipated. I would think stacking class A gear ontop of one another a great deal of heat for the units to contend with. 

 
I think there's no issue in stacking Asgard 2 on top of a DAC like Bifrost or Gungnir. 

 

[KLJTech]

  Thanks. Yeah, that makes sense. I plan on doing the same - i.e. listen to it a bit when I get it, to ensure sure it's not completely "off" and then let it run for burn-in. 
 
What other DAC's do you own? I've only used considerably cheaper DAC's, so I suspect it will sound pretty stellar to my ears. Enjoy!

 
The DAC's I'm mainly comparing it to is the Bryston BDA-1 and Benchmark DAC 1 USB, both pretty nice DAC's in my opinion. I was very interested in the newer Bryston BDA-2 but its more than I'd like to spend right now and there appear to be some similarities between it and the Gungnir. I certainly have a great deal of  respect for Mike Moffat and Jason Stoddard...Mr. Moffat was the man behind those great Theta DAC's that I wanted but couldn't afford at the time. 
 
I like the Benchmark DAC1 USB a lot too yet I prefer the sound of Schiit's headphone amps to the one built into the DAC1. There's a lot of very nice sounding digital/audio gear out there now, but I don't know that anyone is offering as much for the money as Schiit. 

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
I think there's no issue in stacking Asgard 2 on top of a DAC like Bifrost or Gungnir. 

 
Perhaps, but at least for me no need to take a chance so I'll avoid the heat sandwich.

 

[KLJTech]

Those of you that are using the Gungnir with JRiver MC (I'm using 19.0.128), in the Control Panel of JRiver are you using "Schiit Audio Device WASAPI" or some other setting? 
This is what was selected automatically after I installed the Windows 7 USB drivers from Schiit. (using Windows 7 x64)
 
Thanks in advance for any input you may be able to provide. 

 

[madwolfa]

  Those of you that are using the Gungnir with JRiver MC (I'm using 19.0.128), in the Control Panel of JRiver are you using "Schiit Audio Device WASAPI" or some other setting? 

 
I have no experience with JRiver, but it sounds right. Unless you wanna use ASIO or something.

 

[JoelT]

  Those of you that are using the Gungnir with JRiver MC (I'm using 19.0.128), in the Control Panel of JRiver are you using "Schiit Audio Device WASAPI" or some other setting? 
This is what was selected automatically after I installed the Windows 7 USB drivers from Schiit. (using Windows 7 x64)
 
Thanks in advance for any input you may be able to provide. 

Yeah, WASAPI is what you want (rather than direct sound): http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/WASAPI
 
Giving my Gungnir a first listen right now (using "Schiit Audio Device WASAPI" as well)...really impressive!

 

[KLJTech]

  Yeah, WASAPI is what you want (rather than direct sound): http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/WASAPI
 
Giving my Gungnir a first listen right now (using "Schiit Audio Device WASAPI" as well)...really impressive!

 
When I installed The Gungnir's USB driver WASAPI was automatically selected by JRiver but I wasn't sure if most users prefer to use ASIO or not.
 
I've always used WASAPI (in JRiver MC 19) with my other USB DAC's yet I thought I had read somewhere that the Bifrost and Gungnir are meant to be used with its ASIO driver. I could my be mistaken...it wasn't on this forum.
 
I listened to the Gungnir and Asgard 2 late last night for about 20 minutes or so with headphones and the music sounded incredible. I much prefer to have a DAC and headphone amp stack rather than having the headphone amp built into the DAC. Schiit Audio is certainly kicking ass and taking names right now.