This is my non review of the Multibit upgrade to the Bifrost ('Bimby'), in which I don’t try and describe to you how it sounds. I think reviewing audio equipment must be like trying to describe sex with smoke signals. Unless you actually experience it for yourself, it’s just a bunch of pointless puffing. Instead I’ll tell you how it feels, which is brilliant.
Listening to Bimby I can’t hear what the second cellist had for lunch, and I can’t determine their spatial position relative to the violinist. Probably because I don’t listen to classical music and more thruthfully because either descriptions like that are bollocks and hyperbole, or my listening just isn’t that refined (which I’m willing to concede is plausible) or because I’m usually not paying that much attention to the music.
To understand why I’m not paying that much attention to the music, I need to tangent a few degrees. My Schiit stack sits on my desk at work and for the most part I listen to music in order to tune out my co-workers and general office background noise. My co-workers are awesome, and this isn’t a middle finger at management or a solitary sulk, it’s just my way of being able to concentrate so that I can get stuff done. I feel I need to make a reasonable attempt at being productive given I’m being paid and there’s a firm desire on my part to remain employed so I can provide for Wifey and the soon to be 2.2 kids (one is two and clearly the head of the household, one is on the way, and the .2 is furry and likes to wash the taste of cat food away by licking his butt.)
I’ve been listening to my my original Bifrost and Asgard 2 for a couple of months, and it’s been performing admirably and isolating me from the aforementioned distractions. As a baseline the Bifrost and Asgard is like a Honda Accord – It meets all of my expectations, is perfectly serviceable, does what it says on the box, nothing more or less. I have no complaints.
Pay attention now because we’re back to the interesting bit.
Bimby is utterly failing at allowing me to concentrate at work. It’s ruined my productivity, and I love it. The first album I played (Rush – 2112) did it’s job and I was able to focus on work. This is most likely because I was working to a deadline and had gone deep into 'the zone'. A ferret is using my ankles as a grinding stone for his teeth and I’m not going to notice deep. Then I put on some Doors (L.A. Woman). At some point I found myself sitting up - I had exited the zone and could feel my heart racing. The kind of heart racing you get from standing in front of the stacks at a live gig, where the sheer volume displaces enough air that you can feel it reverberate through your chest and you feel thumping bass comes up though the floor, though the soles of your feet* and out your mouth as you scream along with the band. Which incidentally I don’t recommend as a spontaneous action appropriate for an office environment.
I found myself foot tapping and head bobbing. Which I hate because I’m male, middle class, white and uncoordinated. I think God have us head bobbing and foot taping to make up for the fact that when taken as a class of people, we can’t dance. And I didn’t care. I was lost in the music. I could feel the music, and it was wonderful. I’ve never experienced that outside of a live performance.
My verdict? Bimby: More attention grabbing than an an ankle biting ferret and highly likely to render you oblivious to anything else.
This review was based on the following stack:
- Schiit Bifrost Multibit
- Schiit Asgard 2
- Beyerdynamic T5p
- Spotify Premium on a Mac Book Pro, connected via USB
* Unless you’re in the Pony nightclub in Melbourne, in which case the flooring (at one point it may have been carpet, if the carpet was shaved down to the underlay) reverts from it’s mostly solid form to a slightly more squishy form as the years of spilt drinks, vomit and other bodily fluids liquify with the changing air pressure and body heat. You still feel it in your toes, though it’s more sticky and makes you want to shower.
Note: The purchase price is actually the upgrade price from Addicted to Audio in Melbourne.
Listening to Bimby I can’t hear what the second cellist had for lunch, and I can’t determine their spatial position relative to the violinist. Probably because I don’t listen to classical music and more thruthfully because either descriptions like that are bollocks and hyperbole, or my listening just isn’t that refined (which I’m willing to concede is plausible) or because I’m usually not paying that much attention to the music.
To understand why I’m not paying that much attention to the music, I need to tangent a few degrees. My Schiit stack sits on my desk at work and for the most part I listen to music in order to tune out my co-workers and general office background noise. My co-workers are awesome, and this isn’t a middle finger at management or a solitary sulk, it’s just my way of being able to concentrate so that I can get stuff done. I feel I need to make a reasonable attempt at being productive given I’m being paid and there’s a firm desire on my part to remain employed so I can provide for Wifey and the soon to be 2.2 kids (one is two and clearly the head of the household, one is on the way, and the .2 is furry and likes to wash the taste of cat food away by licking his butt.)
I’ve been listening to my my original Bifrost and Asgard 2 for a couple of months, and it’s been performing admirably and isolating me from the aforementioned distractions. As a baseline the Bifrost and Asgard is like a Honda Accord – It meets all of my expectations, is perfectly serviceable, does what it says on the box, nothing more or less. I have no complaints.
Pay attention now because we’re back to the interesting bit.
Bimby is utterly failing at allowing me to concentrate at work. It’s ruined my productivity, and I love it. The first album I played (Rush – 2112) did it’s job and I was able to focus on work. This is most likely because I was working to a deadline and had gone deep into 'the zone'. A ferret is using my ankles as a grinding stone for his teeth and I’m not going to notice deep. Then I put on some Doors (L.A. Woman). At some point I found myself sitting up - I had exited the zone and could feel my heart racing. The kind of heart racing you get from standing in front of the stacks at a live gig, where the sheer volume displaces enough air that you can feel it reverberate through your chest and you feel thumping bass comes up though the floor, though the soles of your feet* and out your mouth as you scream along with the band. Which incidentally I don’t recommend as a spontaneous action appropriate for an office environment.
I found myself foot tapping and head bobbing. Which I hate because I’m male, middle class, white and uncoordinated. I think God have us head bobbing and foot taping to make up for the fact that when taken as a class of people, we can’t dance. And I didn’t care. I was lost in the music. I could feel the music, and it was wonderful. I’ve never experienced that outside of a live performance.
My verdict? Bimby: More attention grabbing than an an ankle biting ferret and highly likely to render you oblivious to anything else.
This review was based on the following stack:
- Schiit Bifrost Multibit
- Schiit Asgard 2
- Beyerdynamic T5p
- Spotify Premium on a Mac Book Pro, connected via USB
* Unless you’re in the Pony nightclub in Melbourne, in which case the flooring (at one point it may have been carpet, if the carpet was shaved down to the underlay) reverts from it’s mostly solid form to a slightly more squishy form as the years of spilt drinks, vomit and other bodily fluids liquify with the changing air pressure and body heat. You still feel it in your toes, though it’s more sticky and makes you want to shower.
Note: The purchase price is actually the upgrade price from Addicted to Audio in Melbourne.
