[Br777]

I've had my bifrost (non usb) for about two weeks now  (order 437) and I've used it nearly every day.
 
I'm not capable of giving a "review" of this dac, but i'll make a few comments.
 
Rig:  LCD-2 r2,  RSA SR-71B balanced out, ipod touch 4th gen/equ app, pure i20 digital transport ipod dock, or computer w/foobar wasapi and easy-q - both using an optical cable
 
Does it sound better than my ipod with LOD - YES
Does it sound better than the ipure's dac  - YES
Does it sound better than a Cypher Labs Algorhythm Solo - YES
Did the Cypher Labs Algorhythm Solo sound better than my ipod LOD - NO
 
Do I feel this dac was reasonably priced - YES
Do I feel this dac performs above its price point - YES
Do I feel most of my other audio gear was reasonably priced - NO
 
Does Schiit audio offer some of the best customer service I've had in any market - YES
Am I happy i made this purchase - YES
 
Are there any flaws, or cons i have found with this dac - NO
Am I curious as to what that clicking sound (does not come through the headphones) is every time the music starts or stops? YES
is it bothering me - NO
come on there must be something that you dont like - ok, ok, I admit it, the light in the front that highlights the audio input method is too bright for me, but i just covered it up with blue tak. 
 
phone photo: ;-(
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Coupe]

Quote:

wonder if its safe to put the Lyr close like that....  Considering thats a SS amp and shouldn't get as hot. Would look sexy though.  Still prefer Leeperrys solution =3.

The Asgard runs EXTREMELY hot.  It runs like a tube amp.  Schiit says there is no problem stacking the Asgard, as long as it's on top.  You can verify with them, but I wouldn't see a problem with the Lyr.

 

[Coupe]

 

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

 

 
Am I curious as to what that clicking sound (does not come through the headphones) is every time the music starts or stops? YES
is it bothering me - NO
come on there must be something that you dont like - ok, ok, I admit it, the light in the front that highlights the audio input method is too bright for me, but i just covered it up with blue tak. 
 
phone photo: ;-(
 

 

The clicking noise is your DAC relays switching.  It might be for input frequencies, not sure exactly.
 
 
 
 

 

 

[Anathallo]

Those two made me chuckle pretty good hehe.
 
Nice summary, Br777.  I like concise posts - no need to be so verbose with qualitative words that mean nothing.
 
Quote:

...
Did the Cypher Labs Algorhythm Solo sound better than my ipod LOD - NO
 
...
 
Do I feel most of my other audio gear was reasonably priced - NO
...
 

 

 

[bwahacker]

OK, we've seen some good shots of the front, but what about the back?  
 

 

[leesure]

Quote:

OK, we've seen some good shots of the front, but what about the back?  
 

Hard to listen to it if you don't give it any 1's and 0's.  Where's your digital cable?

 

[bwahacker]

 It's semi-hidden by the blue, but if you look closely at the power cables, you will see there is a third line that disappears into the blue (the optical cable is black).
 

 

[scootermafia]

The vast majority of DACs including every one that I've owned click like that when they get a lock on the signal.  You should be worried if they don't.  

 

[allenwijaya]

has anyone compare bifrost with dacmini?
 
*put aside the amp function from dacmini.

 

[DarkAndroid]

so for those who have gotten a chance to use the Schiit Bifrost and also have heard the NuForce Icon HDP, do you think the Bifrost is a better value sound quality and functionality wise than the Icon HDP? I am looking for a serious upgrade from my E7/E9 which though sounds good has been underwhelming in some respects and I want to get it right this time...coincidentally both the USB Bifrost  and Icon HDP cost $449, but one notable difference is that the Bifrost can do 24/192 on USB, while the Icon HDP is limited to 24/96 ON USB, though can do 24/192 on optical and coaxial...thing is, can the human ear even tell the difference between 192khz and 96khz sampling rates? I'm not so sure, but since I plan to use this this thing with my computer in conjuntion with an external blu-ray drive and some blu-ray discs do contain 24/192 audio, I guess it does matter.

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

so for those who have gotten a chance to use the Schiit Bifrost and also have heard the NuForce Icon HDP, do you think the Bifrost is a better value sound quality and functionality wise than the Icon HDP? I am looking for a serious upgrade from my E7/E9 which though sounds good has been underwhelming in some respects and I want to get it right this time...coincidentally both the USB Bifrost  and Icon HDP cost $449, but one notable difference is that the Bifrost can do 24/192 on USB, while the Icon HDP is limited to 24/96 ON USB, though can do 24/192 on optical and coaxial...thing is, can the human ear even tell the difference between 192khz and 96khz sampling rates? I'm not so sure, but since I plan to use this this thing with my computer in conjuntion with an external blu-ray drive and some blu-ray discs do contain 24/192 audio, I guess it does matter.

What's more important to you, 24/192 or a built-in amp?

 

[DarkAndroid]

Quote:

 

What's more important to you, 24/192 or a built-in amp?

well I have the SRH 940, M50 and HD 598, all which are relatively driven easy and do not need much amping if any at all. I think the E9 is a good amp, but the E7 DAC is what is bottlenecking my setup at the moment. So I guess I would say 24/192 is more important to me at the moment, because even I dont really need it now, the need may arise in the future. If the DAC can not drive any of my headphones or speakers adequately, I guess I could always connect it to the E9.

 

[ocswing]

 
Quote:

well I have the SRH 940, M50 and HD 598, all which are relatively driven easy and do not need much amping if any at all. I think the E9 is a good amp, but the E7 DAC is what is bottlenecking my setup at the moment. So I guess I would say 24/192 is more important to me at the moment, because even I dont really need it now, the need may arise in the future. If the DAC can not drive any of my headphones or speakers adequately, I guess I could always connect it to the E9.

Well the Bifrost doesn't have an amp or headphone out included so you would have to hook it up to your E9 to use with your headphones. You could plug your headphones straight into the Icon HDP if you wanted.

 

[DarkAndroid]

Quote:

 

Well the Bifrost doesn't have an amp or headphone out included so you would have to hook it up to your E9 to use with your headphones. You could plug your headphones straight into the Icon HDP if you wanted.

Wow...I've been checking out this DAC for a while and the whole time I was looking at them I never even noticed that it doesnt have an HP out....just RCA it seems. I would need an adapter if I wanted to connect headphones to it, and by doing so possibly introduce another potential bottleneck in the sound chain.

 

[ocswing]

 
Quote:

Wow...I've been checking out this DAC for a while and the whole time I was looking at them I never even noticed that it doesnt have an HP out....just RCA it seems. I would need an adapter if I wanted to connect headphones to it, and by doing so possibly introduce another potential bottleneck in the sound chain.

Going with an adapter you also wouldn't have a physical volume control which I really wouldn't recommend. Best bet would be to go RCA out to your E9 if you wanted to go with the Bifrost. But yeah it goes back to the question of which is more important to you, 24/192 or an integrated headphone amp?