Schiit Bifrost or DACMagic Plus? - Page 3

congrats,

I think you made the right choice on thr amp/dac combo. For the cost,they area fantastic duo.

I'm hoping the HD-650's aren't mush.

I like acoustic.

Edited by Iamnothim - 11/18/12 at 5:45pm

I'm ready for Friday.  

 

 

1962

 

 

1969

 

Edited by Iamnothim - 11/19/12 at 3:50pm

My kit arrived.

Burning it in.......

 

The Amrex did not show up yet.  Right now it's the stock JJ's

So as not to be redundant my limited thoughts on the cans is posted on the HD650 burn in thread.

I have no headphone systems to compare to my kit. That said here a a couple of snipits.
Bifrost. I'm running TosLink using Amarra HiFi on a MacBook Pro mini.

Biforst is much easier to setup DM Plus .
There is an interface button on the front. Period, no information.
After reading Schiit's product info, decided not order a USB port and use the TosLink instead.
This makes the Mac the clock source. As the documents point out the sampling rate is limited to 96kHz. I don't think and detectable sonics are sacrificed. flac/Aiff cuts are amazing

The HD650's sound great..... Im hoping for epic after 200 hours of burn in .
That sound is also directly related to the Bifrost. Very very good. White / Silence is stone dead quiet. You can't experinc that in room speakers due to ambient noise.

Schiit Lyr. This box is a grizzly. It eats. It runs. It attacks. I can't see anything killing it.
One third of a knob for rock cuts. One quarter for most everything else. I am detecting 10% more musical attributes in some cuts. Paul Simon "Graceland". I knew there were percussion clicks. Now they are distinct wood blocks that sound like ping pony balls. I love this amp.

WhenI have time I'll rip the DM Plus out of the rack and replace the Bifrost in the headphone kit.

Jason,

 

I can't say enough about the Bifrost.

What a great DAC.

 

Then there's the Lyr.  Epic

I did a quick little side by side comparison / test

 

Constants:

MacBook Pro retina

Amara HiFi software

Schiit Lyr

1969 AMPEREX ORANGE GLOBE TUBE 6DJ8 ECC88 TUBE DIMPLE GETTER

Sennheiser HD650  70 hours use

Paul Simon Graceland.

 

Variables:

A)  Schiit Bifrost

      Optical SPDIF to the MacBook Pro 96kHz

B)  Cambridge Digital DacMagic Plus

     USB2 to the MacBook Pro  192kHz

 

Bottom Line.  I found the Bifrost to be much "sweeter" than the DM+.  It was much easier, pleasant to listen to.  Thats the best way I can describe it.   I was very surprised.

 

The DM+ is for my room system.  I don't know if the comparison would be noticeable in a room environment.  I'm going to keep things status quo for right now and put the DM+ back into the room system.  It's using the balanced XLR's to the pre-amp.  I can't imagine it would make that much of a difference.

 

I am very happy with my kit as it stands.

 

 

I am so glad you like that Schiit. They really are a great tandem. Now you have to try the better Schiit.!!

I was so close to buying the Mol and Gun, but I am going to wait to see what the (statement) gear is, as I am still very satisfied with the Lyr/Bifrost.

The guy next office to me just brought his odac/o2 combo in. I have heard alot of hype about them, but that's all it is. The Schiit kills it. Only listening through his phones though. (HD598).
 

I'm sorry I couldn't provide a more thorough comparison. I'm ADHD and wanted to return what I liked better. Straight away I wanted to get back to the Bifrost.

I'm also very satisfied with the Bifrost/Lyr and now I'm getting into tube rolling. I'll swap cans long before I consider changing the amp/DAC. IMO you'd need to spend a significant amount of money to hear any change. At least with my tired ears.

Quick question. Can I use the phono RCA outputs of the dacmagic plus to connect to a tube amp like the project sunrise ii? Or do I need to get Xlr to RCA

That's what they are there for. There are both RCA and XLR analog outputs that will connect to your AMP/ Pre-AMP.
I use the XLR outputs to my multi chan surround amp and the RCA' to my whole house AMP

Cool thanks for the input

HAHAHAHAHA! Somewhere, Julian Hirsch is rolling in his grave. LOL i agree, listening is what should matter the most. many love the sound of tube amps despite higher levels of distortion and lower S/N ratios. specs don't tell you how a unit sounds. two units could have virtually identical specs, yet one sounds clinical and the other lush.

 

i'd still like to see some more reviews here of the bitfrost, especially talking about sound quality with comparisons to other gear. i was looking into the 2x priced yulong D-18, but keep getting put off by it's descriptions of excessive warmth & forgiving, and after comparing the more detailed and treble extended sound of my panasonic class D receiver's internal DAC over the thicker and warmer sound of my sony DVD player, i'm leaning towards a more detailed and clinical sound which is what the bitfrost seems to sound like at a nice price too.

 

if anyone could comment a little more about the bitfrost's sound, especially against japanese consumer gear, as in how much of an improvement it makes, i'd appreciate it. even $300 is a big investment to me as i paid less for my energy RC-10s on closeout. i'm looking for a reasonable amount ease, transparency and imaging without grain at a reasonable price. at the moment, i'm liking the bitfrost based on the very few reviews i've read so far. i'm surprised there aren't a dozen reviews for it here.

The XLR outputs on my DM+ went sketchy on me.  not even 90 days old.

It was in my room system. I sent it in for a replacement.

 

I hooked up my Bifrost in it's place.  Magnificent.  A  Lot  Richer.

 

So when it arrives I'm going to sell it for another Schiit.

Now.... Bifrost or Lyr?

I am using the Asgard with HD598 and I love the combination.  The Asgard provides the low end punch the Senns need.  My source is a high-end Denon universal player with SACDs and DVD-As or CDs.  My question is this:  the DAC in the Denon is rated pretty well - would I notice much difference if I inserted a Bifrost in the signal path?  Other's experiences with Denons would be appreciated.  Thanks much.  Great thread on a great product!