Terrific review Rob! Having just come off an intensive comparison of my own with two mid-price DACs, I can relate to everything you write here.

Very nicely done Skylab, thank you for that. The Bifrost is the best DAC I have had a chance to hear and own, I am very happy with it. As I read through your review I had the same feelings, despite not being versed in many other DAC offerings.
M

Nice review Rob. Thanks.

Yup. Another very fair, measured review, Rob. Thanks very much for this. For me, the Bifrost is a keeper. The first DAC in a long while to remind me that, as THE source, DAC's are plenty important.

The people that designed and created this quite famous. I almost bought one the Sumo Amps in the 80's NEVER could afford anything by Theta though! I hope to have this shortly and I am sure I will enjoy it thoroughly. Thanks for a thoughtful and fair review!

Skylab, as another Bifrost owner I absolutely agree with your descriptions. From reviews of the Van Alstine, looks like a similar sort of DAC (no frills, "punches above its weight," fairly but musically presents what you feed into it) at a higher price point.
Kimba, I've owned a Theta Pro Basic II DAC for 20 years, and the Bifrost sounds better. (Guess that's to be expected for a computing-intensive operation like digital-to-analog conversion.) The Theta's now in my office system. So enjoy listening to the Bifrost!

Thanks for the review Skylab!, I always wait for your reviews very informative

Again Rob well written and very informative. Nice job as always.

Thanks for the review. Awesome!

great review and bonus points for mentioning dream theater's new album

The folks over at Stereo.net mentioned that they thought the Bifrost was noticeably "superior" when used with the audiophillo via spdif vs built-in usb. Wonder if you have any experience with that approach.

The folks over at Stereo.net mentioned that they thought the Bifrost was noticeably "superior" when used with the audiophillo via spdif vs built-in usb.
Audiophilleos run $550 and $950. Then there's either Toslink (say $60 for good glass cable) or coax (mine, which I bought used, is $280). So for total cost of $960 - $1580 (adding Bifrost w/o USB) you can have a unit that sounds better than a $450 Bifrost. Not shocking. For those prices I'd be looking at other DACs or waiting for the Schiit statement DAC.
I tried the Bifrost with Musical Fidelity V-Link, and the Bifrost by itself was much better. So the Bifrost's USB input is no slouch.

Excellent point judmarc. I guess my question was directed more at skylab or somebody (unlike myself) who has several dacs and is looking to get get a step up from what already sounds good. I don't have any dacs atm other than the one in my cheapish headphone amp. Still some of the well respected reviews over in OZland suggest if your budget is $1k, get a Audiophilleo and a $450 dac-it's that much of a game changer. I'm still doing research on my upcoming dac purchase and just thought someone with Skylabs expertise would have tried this or similar devices.

Great review! I read up on various units, including the HRT, and as a vintage aficionado (read cheap and cheerful) I had to get it right for my first DAC to complement my assortment of wav and flac files of every variety from 16/44.1 to 24/192. Bifrost handles them all well, no artifacts, and presents a very listenable product without USB implementation (I cheaped out). My computer has a toslink fiber optic output so I could do without the extra cost. I accidently plugged mine in already switched on, and I was jawdropped when the music flowed after the rig popped on. I'm considering their statement DAC when the bucks materialize. Again, great review! I'll be keeping the bifrost, no schiit.