[EmiG310]

  Hello Head Fi I read the boards often but am new to posting. I have both the Bifrost 4490 and Modi Multibit and would like to contribute my opinion on how they compare. I posted this in the 4490 Bifrost thread but feel it is appropriate here as well.
 
I prefer the sound of the 4490 Bifrost. The Bifrost sounds cleaner, more expansive, wider, smoother. But even if the Modi Multibit is grainier and more closed in, it does best the Bifrost in one area: the bass feels growlier, the treble attacks harder, the sound has more "impact." But, the 4490 Bifrost is so smooth, so wide, so easy to listen to that even if the edges of the music can sound a touch glossed over when compared to the Modi Multibit, I would still consider it the better DAC.
 
However, to the people reading this seeking guidance on which to buy, here is my advice to you: the Modi Multibit is a phenomenal DAC that will leave you wanting for nothing. I think, if your budget will not allow for a bifrost/asgard (or valhalla or lyr) combo, buy a Modi Multibit with a Magni or Vali and don't think twice.

 
Interesting thoughts. I have both the 4490 and the Mimby and I listened to both on my near-field studio monitor speakers, going through just a passive volume control (JBL Nano Patch). I found that the sound stage has a big hole in the center with the 4490. It's a very 2 dimensional sound stage compared to the Mimby. The other thing I noticed is that instruments sound more whole and full, instead of lacking filling with the 4490. I've also found that the cymbals and brushes sound more grainy on the 4490 than the Mimby, and this could be because the 4490 has higher "resolution" of the audio, but to me the Mimby sounds way more realistic like I'm sitting across from real instruments not digital audio. That's the best way I can summarize it is that the multibit sounds more realistic. I don't know how much of this is due to the pure multibit because my hunch is that this has a lot to do with Schiit's advanced time-domain burrito filter. Either way, to me the Mimby was a clear winner and I ended up scheduling to upgrade my 4490 to multibit which I've already shipped in. Crazy Schiit! 
 
Btw - for me the difference is much more perceivable on speakers than headphones.

 

[EmiG310]

  Anyone here left the dac on all the time? its so hot

 
I used to put my Mimby under a Vali 2 and it was getting very hot. I was also having audio issues with weird static and ringing noises periodically. I have since sold my Vali 2 and it no longer runs hot and also does not have any audio white-noise or ringing anymore. I would highly recommend that if your mimby is hot to the touch you relocate it. I don't think a fan is necessary but it seems to absorb any heat that is generated nearby, and this could be causing audio issues. I now leave the Mimby on 24/7 and it's barely warm to the touch.

 

[shutterbox]

   
I used to put my Mimby under a Vali 2 and it was getting very hot. I was also having audio issues with weird static and ringing noises periodically. I have since sold my Vali 2 and it no longer runs hot and also does not have any audio white-noise or ringing anymore. I would highly recommend that if your mimby is hot to the touch you relocate it. I don't think a fan is necessary but it seems to absorb any heat that is generated nearby, and this could be causing audio issues. I now leave the Mimby on 24/7 and it's barely warm to the touch.

 
My Mimby runs really warm. 
Hot, I'd say.
 
feels like 45-50degC, in a room of ambient temp 30deg. I'm not sure if that's a safe operating range.

 

[theveterans]

Bimby doesn't even get above room temperature despite sharing the same DAC board as Mimby (not the transformers, USB module, etc of course). I guess the Bimby's heatsink is plenty enough to cool the DAC board inside whereas there's not enough surface area to cool Mimby to its "safe" operating temp. IMO, DAC shouldn't get close to very warm temperature since it'll wear out the components quicker due to hotter temps. Just look at the first gen Audioengine speakers where the amp just dies after a while due to excessive heat.

 

[Tuneslover]

I used to put my Mimby under a Vali 2 and it was getting very hot. I was also having audio issues with weird static and ringing noises periodically. I have since sold my Vali 2 and it no longer runs hot and also does not have any audio white-noise or ringing anymore. I would highly recommend that if your mimby is hot to the touch you relocate it. I don't think a fan is necessary but it seems to absorb any heat that is generated nearby, and this could be causing audio issues. I now leave the Mimby on 24/7 and it's barely warm to the touch.

My Mimby gets fairly warm under my V2 too. I just have them sitting beside each other and that seems to keep it much more reasonable in temperature but still mildly warm.

 

[earnmyturns]

My Mimby gets fairly warm under my V2 too. I just have them sitting beside each other and that seems to keep it much more reasonable in temperature but still mildly warm.

Separators are your friends. I use these, but you probably can use anything convenient you may have around. They are enough to keep my Bimby at barely above room temperature even though the super-hot Asgard 2 is stacked above it. 

 

[SAllison87]

Hey guys! Wow I didn't think my opinion would be such heresy!

I'm using an original Lyr with 6N1P tubes. Both DACs hooked up to a SYS. Listening with Senn HD650 and Hifiman HE400i.

I listened again and stick with what I said, except now I think I am warming up to the Modi's sound! The 4490 Bifrost sounds smoother and wider, while the Modi Multibit sounds more impactful with growlier bass, more shimmery tighter highs yet grainer vocals. If I were to make an analogy, the 4490 Bifrost sounds like a classic film with dynamic noise reduction applied. Like, everything looks cleaner and smoother, but the film looks a bit glossy while the Modi Multibit may look grainier but also more natural. I hope that makes sense! Both are fantastic DACs, and I am completely floored with how good the Modi Multibit is considering its price and size.

I think that the best thing to do if you're considering to buy one or the other, is to buy both and take advantage of Schiit's 15 day return policy. Spend a couple weeks with a DS and a R2R DAC and decide for yourself what suits you best. Both are great technologies with different sounds. Your "audio palate" is your own and you won't know what you like best until you hear for yourself.

 

[ColtMrFire]

Hey guys! Wow I didn't think my opinion would be such heresy!

I'm using an original Lyr with 6N1P tubes. Both DACs hooked up to a SYS. Listening with Senn HD650 and Hifiman HE400i.

I listened again and stick with what I said, except now I think I am warming up to the Modi's sound! The 4490 Bifrost sounds smoother and wider, while the Modi Multibit sounds more impactful with growlier bass, more shimmery tighter highs yet grainer vocals. If I were to make an analogy, the 4490 Bifrost sounds like a classic film with dynamic noise reduction applied. Like, everything looks cleaner and smoother, but the film looks a bit glossy while the Modi Multibit may look grainier but also more natural. I hope that makes sense! Both are fantastic DACs, and I am completely floored with how good the Modi Multibit is considering its price and size.

I think that the best thing to do if you're considering to buy one or the other, is to buy both and take advantage of Schiit's 15 day return policy. Spend a couple weeks with a DS and a R2R DAC and decide for yourself what suits you best. Both are great technologies with different sounds. Your "audio palate" is your own and you won't know what you like best until you hear for yourself.

How long have you been playing music through the Modi multibit?

 

[Psalmanazar]

   
Interesting thoughts. I have both the 4490 and the Mimby and I listened to both on my near-field studio monitor speakers, going through just a passive volume control (JBL Nano Patch). I found that the sound stage has a big hole in the center with the 4490. It's a very 2 dimensional sound stage compared to the Mimby. The other thing I noticed is that instruments sound more whole and full, instead of lacking filling with the 4490. I've also found that the cymbals and brushes sound more grainy on the 4490 than the Mimby, and this could be because the 4490 has higher "resolution" of the audio, but to me the Mimby sounds way more realistic like I'm sitting across from real instruments not digital audio. That's the best way I can summarize it is that the multibit sounds more realistic. I don't know how much of this is due to the pure multibit because my hunch is that this has a lot to do with Schiit's advanced time-domain burrito filter. Either way, to me the Mimby was a clear winner and I ended up scheduling to upgrade my 4490 to multibit which I've already shipped in. Crazy Schiit! 
 
Btw - for me the difference is much more perceivable on speakers than headphones.

Yep Bifrost 4490 is artificially wide with lots of bloom and weird treble. Japanese treble meets Chinese bass on the colored AK4490 chip. It's the AKG K712/K7XX of DACs

Yeah speakers (even cheap powered near fields as long as their internal amps aren't hyper-compressed) pick out DAC flaws much more easily. If you use some planar or electrostat headphone that always sounds compressed, then DACs do not really matter nearly as much as on good dynamic headphones or speakers.

 

[Tuneslover]

Separators are your friends. I use these, but you probably can use anything convenient you may have around. They are enough to keep my Bimby at barely above room temperature even though the super-hot Asgard 2 is stacked above it. 

I tried a couple of wooden strips between the Modi MB and my V2 but due to the light weight of the Vali2 and all of the cabling going into and out of it makes it kind of unstable on top of the Modi. I'm okay with the more secure side by side setup. I do appreciate your input though, thanks.

 

[yage]

... the Modi Multibit sounds more impactful with growlier bass, more shimmery tighter highs yet grainer vocals...

 
I don't own the Bifrost 4490, but I do generally agree with what you're hearing from the Mimby. Bass is indeed tight, though I find it to be lacking a little body compared to some of the other sources I have on hand. I also feel there's a slight push to the upper midrange / treble that makes the tonal balance a bit more forward - as if someone nudged a 'vibrancy' control up a bit. It's not quite gelling with me on music, but it seems to work well with movies on my speaker setup, so that's where I've had it for the past couple of days.

 

[SAllison87]

Yage, funny you say that because the Mimby is currently in my living room home theater system and the 4490 Bifrost is in my bedroom system

 

[SAllison87]

Ok guys, I tried another experiment tonight that I think you will all find fascinating. My conclusion of this experiment will go against the grain here, but all I can say is, this is what I did and what I heard. First a little about myself and why I bought these DACs in the first place.
 
I am a vinyl collector. I do most of my listening on turntables, and my hunt for a DAC stems from a desire to get my digital set up to sound as good as my vinyl. Due to the crappy way digital music is mastered these days I believe that if you really want the best sound you have to forget all this DAC stuff and get yourself a turntable; the best mastering jobs are found on vinyl. However, there are some great sounding CDs out there, mostly from the early days of CDs and from audiophile mastering companies like Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. Plus all of the wonderful sounding vinyl rips that can be found on the net. I want these files on my computer to sound as enthralling as listening to a record and when I bought my Bifrost 4490 I felt like I had achieved that. But I also read about Schiit's R2R tech and was really curious about it, so I bought the Modi Multibit to see how it compares.
 
Since my goal here is to reproduce my well-mastered digital files in the same quality as my turntable, I tried something: I hooked my computer up to my turntable and ripped one of my records. Then I put the needle back to the start of the record, hooked up the turntable and 4490 Bifrost to my SYS and synched my vinyl rip with the actual record. What I heard was what sounded to me like the same thing. The 4490 Bifrost reproduces what was playing on my turntable accurately.
 
Then I removed the 4490 bifrost from the SYS and plugged the Mimby in. Again, synched the vinyl rip with the turntable. What I heard was not the same. Compared to the vinyl spinning on the turntable, the Mimby sounded sharper, more impactful, basically what I described before.
 
So, my conclusion is that the 4490 Bifrost is providing me an accurate representation of the recording, while the Mimby is coloring the sound, albeit in an exciting way. I think both of these DACs sound incredible and am happy to own them both!

 

[Floss99]

Will be a few days before I can set this up.

I strongly like the stagedac. It 'won' an intensive, 3-way comparison I did in 2011, level-matched. Qualities I appreciate are that it's neutral, uncolored and gets out of the way of the music. Fairly typical of well-implemented wolfson circuits it tracks subtle vocal dynamics very well.

However, given that Yggy is a completely different experience from any other dac I've heard, I suspect stagedac will be significantly outclassed on the aspects you mention. We shall see...

Thats intersting, look forward to hearing your impressions!

 

[Keirapc]

Hey guys! Wow I didn't think my opinion would be such heresy!

I'm using an original Lyr with 6N1P tubes. Both DACs hooked up to a SYS. Listening with Senn HD650 and Hifiman HE400i.

I listened again and stick with what I said, except now I think I am warming up to the Modi's sound! The 4490 Bifrost sounds smoother and wider, while the Modi Multibit sounds more impactful with growlier bass, more shimmery tighter highs yet grainer vocals. If I were to make an analogy, the 4490 Bifrost sounds like a classic film with dynamic noise reduction applied. Like, everything looks cleaner and smoother, but the film looks a bit glossy while the Modi Multibit may look grainier but also more natural. I hope that makes sense! Both are fantastic DACs, and I am completely floored with how good the Modi Multibit is considering its price and size.

I think that the best thing to do if you're considering to buy one or the other, is to buy both and take advantage of Schiit's 15 day return policy. Spend a couple weeks with a DS and a R2R DAC and decide for yourself what suits you best. Both are great technologies with different sounds. Your "audio palate" is your own and you won't know what you like best until you hear for yourself.

I think the hd650 explained many things. U cant know how Delta Sigma perform grainy and digital glare on a HD650. Of course Bifrost is smooth when using with hd650. By the way turn table is not a reliable source, unless it worth at least 10k$