[AnalogEuphoria]

4(?) 16bit TI chips is better than the 2 18bit chips - that sound right?

so sound unheard....is upgrading worth it or is it more of a lateral move just to accomplish balanced? or are we going to be wishing for 'old school' Analog Devices bifrost 2's in a few years? On face value, the AD chips cost more than the TI...

Honestly I think its something that they had to do more than they wanted to do, Jason explains how hard it is to get parts if at all. I say hang on to that AD version BF2 if you enjoy the sound.

 

[cgb3]

Schiit is asking $300 for the upgrade board, but only $100 extra for the new model.

It seems to me Schiit is screwing it's loyal customers. I'd spring for $150, maybe $200.

My next amp won't be Schiit.

 

[Lvivske]

Honestly I think its something that they had to do more than they wanted to do, Jason explains how hard it is to get parts if at all. I say hang on to that AD version BF2 if you enjoy the sound.

yeah i got the necessity part, easier to deal with 1 chip across 2 SKUs even if there wasn't a long backorder

still curious if 4 is better than 2; enough people do seem to like that combo on the LiM over the OG...Jason in his interview said B264 has more mid-range detail

 

[EagleWings]

Jason in his interview said B264 has more mid-range detail

Hi, could you please link me to this interview?

Nevermind, I found it. At 13:00 in the video:

 

[duncan4791]

Schiit is asking $300 for the upgrade board, but only $100 extra for the new model.

It seems to me Schiit is screwing it's loyal customers. I'd spring for $150, maybe $200.

My next amp won't be Schiit.

The cheapest price I could find for the TI8812IBPWR from Mouser on a reel of 2000 for $14.18 each. Times 4 is $56.72 plus the cost of all the other parts. Common pricing is 5 times the parts cost which easily reaches $300. As a standalone product you will pay the total cost of manufacture.

For the whole Bifrost 2 consider that the old price already includes the cost of the old analog card. Subtract the parts cost of the old card from the new one gives the delta change for the analog cards contribution to the final price. Add in increased costs for the transformer and metal and you can maybe justify the new $800 price. Question is how much margin will Schiit sacrifice to keep the sales of the Bifrost up verses Dennafrips Ares II or a Topping?

 

[Lvivske]

For the whole Bifrost 2 consider that the old price already includes the cost of the old analog card. Subtract the parts cost of the old card from the new one gives the delta change for the analog cards contribution to the final price.

well technically the cost went down because the bulk price on AD5781 is $30-40 per (assuming they stocked)

 

[duncan4791]

well technically the cost went down because the bulk price on AD5781 is $30-40 per (assuming they stocked)

Isn't $60-80 the pair slightly more the $56 for 4? The price difference isn't much in our calculations, so call it break even, the extra $100 may reflect other increased costs or some really expensive opamps.

Best.

 

[JerryLeeds]

Whoever gets the first upgrade audition just let the rest of us know the possible % SQ increase

 

[MacMan31]

I'll wait for others to do the upgrade and give their impressions before I decide to upgrade or not.

 

[Lvivske]

the NOS firmware is all the way live:

https://www.schiit.com/firmware

 

[Neweymatt]

Whoever gets the first upgrade audition just let the rest of us know the possible % SQ increase

Yeah, looking forward to impressions from the early adopters.
Although from Jason's comments there seemed to be unanimous agreement among Schiit's own test group that the improvement is noticeable so I may wind up getting this sooner than later. Just need the $AU to recover a bit vs $US...

 

[cgb3]

The cheapest price I could find for the TI8812IBPWR from Mouser on a reel of 2000 for $14.18 each. Times 4 is $56.72 plus the cost of all the other parts. Common pricing is 5 times the parts cost which easily reaches $300. As a standalone product you will pay the total cost of manufacture.

For the whole Bifrost 2 consider that the old price already includes the cost of the old analog card. Subtract the parts cost of the old card from the new one gives the delta change for the analog cards contribution to the final price. Add in increased costs for the transformer and metal and you can maybe justify the new $800 price. Question is how much margin will Schiit sacrifice to keep the sales of the Bifrost up verses Dennafrips Ares II or a Topping?

A very interesting cost analysis.

What I see is my Bifrost purchase of 2/19/21, for $771.55 (including shipping and state tax), will become a ~$1,200 DAC with the upgrade.

Worth it? I don't know. I'll listen to the golden ears comments, and decide.

For a price of $200, I'd have an order in.

 

[theveterans]

Waiting for impressions from NOS mode on the AD5781

 

[Lvivske]

I'm going to use the moment to test out NOS without any distractions, then once I get bored (and if the reviews from others are good) I'll hop on

I'll probably crack in a week

 

[Ripper2860]

I just hope all this NOS talk doesn't make me NOSeous.