[akelew]

Something I'm very curious about is, if the Bifrost 2 is galvanically isolated, why does plugging other things into my Mac mini's USB ports degrade the sound quality? I say this because I was using an Apple brand USB-C to USB-A adapter which I used to make backups to an external HD. I started making backups another way and removed the adapter from the Mac. I immediately noticed that the sound quality had more air with better imaging. With the adapter plugged in, the sound reminds me of entry-level vinyl in that it's rolled off.

It's nice that I got a sound quality boost, but it perplexes me as to why.

The most possible reason i can think of, is that the two usb ports share the same bus within your computer. What that means is, that multiple usb ports might share the same 'link' back to the cpu/main chipset, and so when your doing a backup transfer which is a continuous high bandwidth thing, it could induce jitter in the bifrost 2 because the bus link is being saturated.

So you may have better luck on a different USB port which doesnt share the bus. Another solution could be a PCI USB expansion card which would be more likely to use a different bus.

 

[RickB]

The most possible reason i can think of, is that the two usb ports share the same bus within your computer. What that means is, that multiple usb ports might share the same 'link' back to the cpu/main chipset, and so when your doing a backup transfer which is a continuous high bandwidth thing, it could induce jitter in the bifrost 2 because the bus link is being saturated.

So you may have better luck on a different USB port which doesnt share the bus. Another solution could be a PCI USB expansion card which would be more likely to use a different bus.

Thanks. No way to upgrade a Mac mini like that, lol.

 

[akelew]

Thanks. No way to upgrade a Mac mini like that, lol.

Bummer. Well yeah try different usb ports (front/back too) and see how that goes.

Otherwise, the next best solution i can think of would be setting up a streamer seperate from the Mac. So like buying a Raspberry Pi 4, putting it in a case, and installing something like RoPieeeXL or Volumio on it (Which is very easy and there are guides available). That way you will always get maximum sound quality out of it, and possibly even a base line better sound overall with a dedicated device. You could also listen to it with your Mac off, and control it all from your phone (Or your mac!). Then, you could possibly still use your Bifrost to give your Mac sound, if your Mac has a toslink port you could connect the bifrost to both devices at once and switch between them.

 

[akelew]

Just received my Silver Bifrost 2. It feels so much more substantial then I was expecting. It weights 2-3 times as much as I thought it would. Certainly not complaining it feels great.
Unfortunately won't be able to listen to it for a bit as still waiting for my amp(Soloist 3x) and headphones(lcd-3) to arrive which could be up to a month still. Rough.
-edit- just realised i could go straight from DAC xlr to my powered Adam monitors, so ill give that a go. Will need to control volume in windows but thats okay for now.

 

[Xerosnake90]

Just received my Silver Bifrost 2. It feels so much more substantial then I was expecting. It weights 2-3 times as much as I thought it would. Certainly not complaining it feels great.
Unfortunately won't be able to listen to it for a bit as still waiting for my amp(Soloist 3x) and headphones(lcd-3) to arrive which could be up to a month still. Rough.
-edit- just realised i could go straight from DAC xlr to my powered Adam monitors, so ill give that a go. Will need to control volume in windows but thats okay for now.

The Soloist might be my next substantial upgrade, it seems to pair really well with the Arya that I have arriving on Friday! Cant wait to get them in and see what the Bifrost can do with it.

 

[prismstorm]

New owner of BF2 / Jot2 stack here. What is the consensus on burn-in time on the BF2 vs the warm-up time (from a fresh reboot)? After watching the recent Passion For Sound YT review of Yggy OG, he mentioned that there was practically no difference in measurement and in subjective hearing:

12:31 Warm-up requirements

BF2 gets extremely toasty (much more than the Jot2) after just a few hours, and I have no idea how much power it is draining if I leave it permanently on. I did leave it on overnight for the first 12 hours of ownership, only to wake up the next morning and find out that I did not notice much difference (short-term memory is all but gone after a whole night's sleep). I also figure out that the constant heat must be detrimental to the lifespan of any electronics, so I now I switch both off before going to bed. Do the units get better with accumulative use (overall hours of usage) but not warm-up / temperature time? My ownership is less than a week so would welcome any advice from long-term owners here ~

 

[akelew]

New owner of BF2 / Jot2 stack here. What is the consensus on burn-in time on the BF2 vs the warm-up time (from a fresh reboot)? After watching the recent Passion For Sound YT review of Yggy OG, he mentioned that there was practically no difference in measurement and in subjective hearing:

12:31 Warm-up requirements

BF2 gets extremely toasty (much more than the Jot2) after just a few hours, and I have no idea how much power it is draining if I leave it permanently on. I did leave it on overnight for the first 12 hours of ownership, only to wake up the next morning and find out that I did not notice much difference (short-term memory is all but gone after a whole night's sleep). I also figure out that the constant heat must be detrimental to the lifespan of any electronics, so I now I switch both off before going to bed. Do the units get better with accumulative use (overall hours of usage) but not warm-up / temperature time? My ownership is less than a week so would welcome any advice from long-term owners here ~

Can't advise on performance related to warm up, as im only half an hour in on mine, but i can say that Schiit has advised that theres no reason not to keep it on 24/7, and have seen others commenting that the idle power draw is very low.

 

[akelew]

(Very initial) first impressions!

Windows 11 -> Roon -> Supra USB -> Bifrost 2 (Unison exclusive mode, with dsp volume) -> Bluejeans XLR -> Adam F7 nearfield monitors

I really thought I had kept my expectations in check on this one.. I wasn't anticipating some revolutionary improvement over my (already apparently by measurements a pretty good implementation of a) ESS Sabre dac built into my motherboard. 'All dacs sound the same yada yada'. I kind of viewed Dacs as a means to an end.

But this is a transformation. The clarity, speed, body, soundstage, dynamics, have all really swept me off my feet.

Needless to say i'm pretty happy. Very keen to see how it goes with the lcd3/soloist 3x when they arrive.

-edit-
I am having an issue though Roon keeps crashing on me when playing through the bifrost in exclusive mode.. Havent had this happen before. Did a reinstall, same thing.. Happens every few songs midway..

 

[Xerosnake90]

(Very initial) first impressions!

Windows 11 -> Roon -> Supra USB -> Bifrost 2 (Unison exclusive mode, with dsp volume) -> Bluejeans XLR -> Adam F7 nearfield monitors

I really thought I had kept my expectations in check on this one.. I wasn't anticipating some revolutionary improvement over my (already apparently by measurements a pretty good implementation of a) ESS Sabre dac built into my motherboard. 'All dacs sound the same yada yada'. I kind of viewed Dacs as a means to an end.

But this is a transformation. The clarity, speed, body, soundstage, dynamics, have all really swept me off my feet.

Needless to say i'm pretty happy. Very keen to see how it goes with the lcd3/soloist 3x when they arrive.

-edit-
I am having an issue though Roon keeps crashing on me when playing through the bifrost in exclusive mode.. Havent had this happen before. Did a reinstall, same thing.. Happens every few songs midway..

Kinda makes you realize how measurements don't mean much of anything and that folks telling you all DACs sound the same have no idea what they're on about. Glad you're enjoying it

Sorry about the Roon issue I'm not sure on that. Search the forum I'm sure there's an answer

 

[kumar402]

(Very initial) first impressions!

Windows 11 -> Roon -> Supra USB -> Bifrost 2 (Unison exclusive mode, with dsp volume) -> Bluejeans XLR -> Adam F7 nearfield monitors

I really thought I had kept my expectations in check on this one.. I wasn't anticipating some revolutionary improvement over my (already apparently by measurements a pretty good implementation of a) ESS Sabre dac built into my motherboard. 'All dacs sound the same yada yada'. I kind of viewed Dacs as a means to an end.

But this is a transformation. The clarity, speed, body, soundstage, dynamics, have all really swept me off my feet.

Needless to say i'm pretty happy. Very keen to see how it goes with the lcd3/soloist 3x when they arrive.

-edit-
I am having an issue though Roon keeps crashing on me when playing through the bifrost in exclusive mode.. Havent had this happen before. Did a reinstall, same thing.. Happens every few songs midway..

I don't think we need to install any driver for it as it's UAC2 complaint. Could you check if other players like Audirvana or Qobuz or Tidal are working fine? If other are working fine then we may have issue with Roon.
PS- I'm not Windows user myself but just curious.

 

[akelew]

Kinda makes you realize how measurements don't mean much of anything and that folks telling you all DACs sound the same have no idea what they're on about. Glad you're enjoying it

Sorry about the Roon issue I'm not sure on that. Search the forum I'm sure there's an answer

I keep looking across my room randomly towards my speakers as they grab my attention because of how realistic it sounds and the speed of the sound. Like transients seem to just come in and out of existence with an authority and speed and naturalness that's unlike anything ive heard before. I feel like i can crank up the volume to levels previously uncomfortable without it becoming unbearable. It feels like a whole new layer of music is uncovered, everything is so effortless!

Roon seems to be doing a bit better now. I did a reboot, played around with some settings, and changed windows output to a different device then the bifrost in exclusive mode. All windows sound came through all glitchy through my secondary speaker when set to the bifrost while in exclusive mode, weird.

-edit- Roon issue is a known problem with latest update on windows 11, is being worked on by team

 

[carbonF1]

New owner of BF2 / Jot2 stack here. What is the consensus on burn-in time on the BF2 vs the warm-up time (from a fresh reboot)?

For me, maybe 2-8 hours max (or overnight if I am away for a few days)

BF2 gets extremely toasty (much more than the Jot2) after just a few hours, and I have no idea how much power it is draining if I leave it permanently on. I did leave it on overnight for the first 12 hours of ownership, only to wake up the next morning and find out that I did not notice much difference (short-term memory is all but gone after a whole night's sleep). I also figure out that the constant heat must be detrimental to the lifespan of any electronics, so I now I switch both off before going to bed. Do the units get better with accumulative use (overall hours of usage) but not warm-up / temperature time? My ownership is less than a week so would welcome any advice from long-term owners here ~

Not sure what the reference point for Jot 2 is (if it runs cold) but "extremely toasty" does not sound normal. Mine is generally warm to the touch, but "extremely toasty" for me is Valhalla 2 w/o socket savers after running for an hour. If my Bifrost 2 started running as hot as Valhalla I'd be very concerned.

I do not think leaving it on 24/7 is detrimental to its lifespan. Multiple on/off cycles maybe moreso, kind of like how a car engine goes through most of its wear starting up.

I would like to think that as the capacitors "burn in" the sound improves, but that might be a bit subjective and don't know enough to make a solid argument one way or the other. I just enjoy it for what it is

After watching the recent Passion For Sound YT review of Yggy OG, he mentioned that there was practically no difference in measurement and in subjective hearing:

12:31 Warm-up requirements

Thanks for sharing, I will admit I have a bit of nervosa right now since I switched to running the BF2 using balanced out exclusively and am thinking of upgrading to Gungnir or Yggy. This might help cull some of that (ok, my wallet being empty is going to cull all of it, but still).

 

[MardukSonofEa]

Have other fellow Bifrost 2 owners played with the invert phase button much? I randomly used it on a couple of songs and didn't notice a difference. Curious if anyone has found a track it really makes a positive impact on - or how one might judge which tracks it might work well on.

 

[Luckyleo]

Have other fellow Bifrost 2 owners played with the invert phase button much? I randomly used it on a couple of songs and didn't notice a difference. Curious if anyone has found a track it really makes a positive impact on - or how one might judge which tracks it might work well on.

Hey now! I've played around with it as well. I can't hear a difference. Also, FYI, the invert lite has never come on. So at this point I don't even think about it. I suppose if the warning light ever comes on I'll use it and see if it makes any difference to me.

 

[Xerosnake90]

I find my Bifrost 2 to be much warmer (temp wise) than the Jot 2. I was concerned about it at first but it never seems to get warmer than it usually is. I added a Lokius to the stack as well and with 1/2 tall feet for some venting they stay the same