[Lvivske]

With wasapi there's no need if there is a "direct connection" to the dac. Whatever source material I play it auto switches. If I play a 16/44 file then a 24/96 it auto switches and can hear the dac "clicking" over.

I use Apple Music so I'm bound to whatever the system output is, no isolated mode or whatever, so have to pick a one size fits all

 

[Rattle]

Yeah well I would probably set it to whatever source material is manually. I guess you could try upsampling... The BF2 basically does that anyway with red book quality material. I use Jriver and my own lossless file rips.

 

[SnowRang3r]

I use Apple Music so I'm bound to whatever the system output is, no isolated mode or whatever, so have to pick a one size fits all

On MacOS this is true. But on iOS or iPadOS it automatically switches. The new iPad Air (or any iPad Pro) with USB-C is a great way to get Apple Music directly to a DAC bit perfect.

Can use an iPhone too but then you need the Camera connector kit… wish everything was just USB-C.

 

[Rattle]

Bit perfect is always the way to go IMO. If it can be done. I don't use apple or stream so I don't know lol

 

[Smoothstereo]

Question about bitrate, but does everyone here just set their audio to 192k with the Bifrost, or is there anything else to consider? Read a thread on another forum about certain DACs having better filters for lower rates

or do you guys just shoot for bit perfect and lock out at 44.1?

I use Android phone for source via usb to BF2 and I use USB Audio Player Pro app to play my cd ripped 44.1khz 16 bit wav files. I let BF2 upsample music to 8x rate with good results. Less fuss for me since all my music files are the same format and quality.

 

[Lvivske]

I use Android phone for source via usb to BF2 and I use USB Audio Player Pro app to play my cd ripped 44.1khz 16 bit wav files. I let BF2 upsample music to 8x rate with good results. Less fuss for me since all my music files are the same format and quality.

how do you mean, BF2 upsampling 8x? BF does 24/192 max

 

[Smoothstereo]

how do you mean, BF2 upsampling 8x? BF does 24/192 max

If you feed a 44.1khz music file to BF2, the dac will inherently upsample/oversample it 8 times, in this case 352.8khz. This is what I gathered from the forums.

 

[Lvivske]

If you feed a 44.1khz music file to BF2, the dac will inherently upsample/oversample it 8 times, in this case 352.8khz. This is what I gathered from the forums.

This actually is good info for my question, started searching and read:

> Bifrost Multibit features an NOS (non-oversampling) mode for inputs with sample rates of 176.4kHz and 192kHz, where there is no digital filter applied.

So in my position where I have to set system audio, 176/192 would give me NOS on the DAC, and other options below would have the DAC upsampling the remainder (through a filter)?

I could have sworn 96 sounded better than 176/192 to me earlier, which I found very weird because if it was placebo I figure my brain would convince myself that the higher number is better and I'm awesome and can hear the better, higher number; but I couldn't figure out why the less sexy number that was messing with my OCD was telling me to stick with it lol. Maybe it was the internal filter & hardware upsampling.

 

[SnowRang3r]

This actually is good info for my question, started searching and read:

> Bifrost Multibit features an NOS (non-oversampling) mode for inputs with sample rates of 176.4kHz and 192kHz, where there is no digital filter applied.

So in my position where I have to set system audio, 176/192 would give me NOS on the DAC, and other options below would have the DAC upsampling the remainder (through a filter)?

I could have sworn 96 sounded better than 176/192 to me earlier, which I found very weird because if it was placebo I figure my brain would convince myself that the higher number is better and I'm awesome and can hear the better, higher number; but I couldn't figure out why the less sexy number that was messing with my OCD was telling me to stick with it lol. Maybe it was the internal filter & hardware upsampling.

That’s just for Bifrost Multibit.

Bifrost 2 does 8x oversampling (aka 352.8 or 384khz). So since it only takes 176.4 or 192 in everything in is oversampled.

 

[RickB]

That’s just for Bifrost Multibit.

Bifrost 2 does 8x oversampling (aka 352.8 or 384khz). So since it only takes 176.4 or 192 in everything in is oversampled.

This is why the rBrain filter in Audirvāna Studio does not sound good (to me) with the BF2.

 

[Lvivske]

That’s just for Bifrost Multibit.

Bifrost 2 does 8x oversampling (aka 352.8 or 384khz). So since it only takes 176.4 or 192 in everything in is oversampled.

right, so anything below 192 is oversampled to some stupid high number through their hardware / filter?

 

[Alcophone]

right, so anything below 192 is oversampled to some stupid high number through their hardware / filter?

No, anything, including 192.

Edit: for Bifrost 2, everything is upsampled to 352.8 (from 44.1/88.2/176.4) or 384 kHz (from 48/96/192).
For Bifrost Multibit, everything below 176.4 kHz is upsampled to 176.4 (from 44.1/88.2) or 192 kHz (from 48/96).

 

[Lvivske]

No, anything, including 192.

then what was meant by "it only takes 176.4 or 192 in"

 

[Alcophone]

then what was meant by "it only takes 176.4 or 192 in"

That the input sample rate is limited to 192 kHz and lower, even though internally it supports twice that.
The same is true for Gungnir Multibit and Yggdrasil. Kind of funny that the Yggdrasil has an unused 8x LED that would be quite useful if it suddenly supported 352.8 / 384 kHz input signals.

 

[Neweymatt]

Digital EQ can mess with timing information and other digital distortion (non-linear) which can result to less optimal SQ while analog EQ are dependent on how good its implementation. The digital signal is converted to analog without being altered prior to Schiit's burrito filter hence the generally superior SQ with setups that have analog EQ as preamp

Personally if I could make things sound how I want with software, I absolutely would - more precise control of bands, no dealing with interference noise, and save myself hundreds of dollars

In my experience I tried this. I really did. I sat around and fiddled with knobs on my Loki+ until it got where I was happy, then bypassed it and tried to fiddle with EQ sliders until I was happy. Hours later, A/B tested and there was no comparison, my "best results" on software (that I thought sounded good for hours) sounded awful and hollow compared to the Loki. I tried to re-create the settings on the Loki but with different Q-factors it would never be identical so settled for doing what sounded best to my ears. (eqMac on MacOS allows control of q-factor and every band you can think of, but its a monthly subscription so hard pass for me)

Thanks to you both for commenting on AnalogEQ vs software, this has led to an afternoon of playing around with both my Mac and iPhone as sources to the BF2, and trying to A/B the Mac with and without SoundSource EQ app running. In every case, I'm using Tidal in exclusive mode (and really enjoying Primal Scream's Vanishing Point)

End of the day, I can't hear any difference with or without SoundSource in the chain on the Mac, except of course if SoundSource has any EQ's enabled, in which case I get whatever 'colour' I'm after. I didn't actually purchase SoundSource for EQ, rather I find it really useful as a switch for multiple audio inputs into whatever outputs I like. I'm working at home a lot these days, and likely for as long as I can foresee, so being able to have find control of source audio from Tidal, Apple Music, bandcamp, browsers, or whatever along with Zoom, Teams, Meet etc is very very handy. Anything I want to hear in my IEMs/HP, I just set the output to Bifrost2 Unison USB and all is Good in the World.

Maybe I need to get a hardware analog EQ like a lokius at some stage to really test it out, but for now I'm not sure I need to spend those $$ there...