[jfkaess]

I originally owned a Modi 2 - Magni 2 stack. After a couple years i upgraded to a Bifrost 1 (with AK4490 chip) and an Asgard 3. When the Unison USB upgrade for the Bifrost 1 came out, i sent it in for the upgrade. For the past 4 years or so i have not done any further updates/upgrades.

A few months ago i finally decided it was time to upgrade to the Bifrost 2/64 even though i was happy with the Bifrost OG with the Unison USB upgrade. I've only had it up and running for a few hours, but my first impression is that i made a good decision. (Whew!)

Here is my audio chain:
- all my music is files i've ripped personally from CD's at 44/16, or vinyl i ripped 15 or so years ago before i got rid of my turntable, or digital files i've purchased (mostly 96/24) i have about 22,000 files
- my music is on my 2020 iMac 27" intel based mac
- i play my files using Jriver Media Center 31 for bitperfect output via USB (cheapest audioquest USB cable) to:
- my shiny new Bifrost 2/64
- through a pair of 1 foot RCA Kimber PB&J interconnects i bought back in the 90's i think
- to Asgard 3
- through Hart Audio headphone cables i just got a few months ago because the Focal Clear cables were getting so kinked up that they were aggravating my OCD
- to Focal Clear OG

I'm 67 and i've been buying audio equipment since the late 70's. I like to think i'm an audiophile, but it's always been much more about the music than the equipment for me. I've gone years at a time without upgrading anything, but i'm pretty picky and thorough about choosing when to upgrade and what to upgrade.

All that is background to hopefully give you some trust in what i'm saying here. I watch tons of youtube reviews of audio equipment as well as reading reviews here and elsewhere. I don't have the audio vocabulary for expressing what i hear as some people do, but i'm gonna give it a shot:

I was prepared to be disappointed, because honestly, i've been skeptical of the magic multi-bit stuff i've been hearing and reading from Jason and Mike at Sciit. It seems more akin to voodoo to me than to solid electronics. (Many, many years ago in the mid 70's i earned a B.S. in electrical engineering).

I was not disappointed. In fact i was more surprised than i expected. I can say that with conviction. After a few hours of listening, this is what i've heard:
- the noise floor is black. Complete silence to these 67 year old ears, definitely quieter than the Bifrost 1
- the soundstage is intimate (in a good way). Right now i'm listening to Diana Krall (her album Love Scenes) and it sounds like she's sitting in my lap singing. The presence is palpable. I know that gushing about how wide the soundstage is seems to be a required thing, so i switched to the hi-res 192/24 Sir Simon Battle's Berlin Philharmonic Beethoven Symphony #1 to check. The soundstage is very well placed. I can pinpoint the positions of the different instruments. I can't say that i'm hearing the widest soundstage of all time, but it is clear, solid and well formed. Also, the Focal Clear are not noted for their wide soundstage.
- finally, the clarity (detail?) of what i'm hearing is a very noticeable improvement from the Bifrost 1, which wasn't bad to start with. The clarity of the sound stands out more than any other thing i've noticed so far.

Summary: going from the Bifrost 1 OG with Unison to the Bifrost 2/64 was a noticeable improvement. I'd recommend going from any Schiit delta-sigma to the Bifrost 2/64. I've not listened to any of the other Schiit multi-bit DACs (modi, modius or DAC cards), so i honestly can't give an opinion on whether the Bifrost 2/64 would be a noticeable improvement, but i suspect that it might be.

 

[creativepart]

@jfkaess, I'm a bit older than you (73) and have been through a lot of equipment in my life - as I'm sure you have been as well.

Looking at your system, I think there are areas that you could easily take your sound quality to another level without spending a fortune. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to make a suggestion about your system.

The standout area that jumps out at me is outputting your audio files/streaming directly from your iMac to your DAC. You could be far better served using a network streamer to send music files from your iMac. I too use an iMac (newer M1) and I used to use a 27" Intel iMac to directly feed my DAC like you do now. The problem is your iMac is electronically noisy and that noise is passed to your DAC via the USB cable.

Network streamers are super easy to setup, and don't cost an arm and a leg. Personally, I've got a great streamer, but it's not cheap. I have heard really good things about other less expensive streamers that just might elevate your sound another notch. Streamers such as the WiiM Pro $199, the iFi Zen Stream $399, etc. More complicated RPi4 streamers can be put together for $160 to $300 but are kind of DIY. More expensive streamers - $600-$1.200 offer great sound with more features and apps, etc. After those prices points the sky's the limit. Better streamers not only have more features, but offer better galvanic isolation between the streamer and the USB output, lower noise, reclocking and better power supplies.

You'll be surprised how feeding that good DAC a super clean USB signal via a network streamer can really open up the quality of sound from your system.

Hope this helps

 

[jfkaess]

@jfkaess, I'm a bit older than you (73) and have been through a lot of equipment in my life - as I'm sure you have been as well.

The standout area that jumps out at me is outputting your audio files/streaming directly from your iMac to your DAC. You could be far better served using a network streamer to send music files from your iMac. I too use an iMac (newer M1) and I used to use a 27" Intel iMac to directly feed my DAC like you do now. The problem is your iMac is electronically noisy and that noise is passed to your DAC via the USB cable.

i've spent several days watching many youtube videos about music streamers to see what they do and why i might want one. I've decided to NOT go down that road for two very specific reasons:

1) You propose a solution to a problem i'm not experiencing. Yes, computers generate noise. However, the Schiit Unison USB input has been specifically designed to address that issue and completely isolates the noise from the signal coming in on the USB data stream. I listen critically, and i'm not hearing any computer type noise in my music, and i know what computer noise sounds like when it gets into audio from my years using Windows computers before moving to Macs, and from my years prior to getting a Bifrost with Unison USB input.

2) This reason is the true desl breaker for me: using a music streamer means i have to use the App it comes with to choose what i want to listen to. I use JRiver Media Center, and i have more than 22,000 songs and about 30 playlists crafted to my penchant for how i want to listen to music. Let me explain:

Most people choose an album or artist when they want to listen to something. I do that occasionally if for instance i'm just in the mood for some Van Morrison or something. However, for me that is not the norm. I have assigned a genre to every single song in my library and also assigned a rating to every single sing of between 2 stars (do not play in any playlist, only for when listening to an album, for things like live song introductions, etc) 3 stars for songs that are just ok (about 60% of my library, 4 stars for songs i really like (about 30% of my songs) and 5 stars for a song i like so much that i'd be happy any time it plays because it's so awesome (10% of my songs). I also have JRiver track when i've listened to any song.

My playlists are built mostly by genre, rating and when i last listened to a song. For instance, i have a playlist for instrumental jazz which shuffles a list made up of 3 star songs that i haven't listened to in the past year, 4 star songs i haven't heard in the past 3 months and 5 star songs i haven't heard in the last month. i have sinilar playlists for folk, rock, blues, classical, etc. Those playlists automatically update and shuffle the list every time i select one. There is NO other app i've ever found that can do this the way JRiver does with the exception of Apple Music. I really, really wanted to get Roon and their NUC because it can actually stream my music in a way that i can listen to it via my phone in the car or out in the real world, but as powerful and expensive as Roon is, it is completely album and artist based. It will not allow me to build the kinds of playlist i have now.

As i said in my original post, for me, the music is the most important thing, and i'm not going to do anything which would keep me from listening the way i can with the playlists i have now.

 

[creativepart]

2) This reason is the true desl breaker for me: using a music streamer means i have to use the App it comes with to choose what i want to listen to. I use JRiver Media Center,

I can understand you don't want to explore this route - but I don't have to use a specific app with my streamer and most others don't need an specific app to operate either. JRiver Media Center will work with many different streamers using the DNLA network protocol.. You still may not want to use a network streamer, but that's not the reason to decide that.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Network