Schiit Bifrost Uber Analog Upgrade

[TEH725]

BTW, I want to thank Sceleratus for his upgrade instructions.  Putting the board in and re-attaching it with the center screws made lining up the LEDs a snap.  It didn't take 10 seconds to get them to pop back in the holes.
 
I did have one additional instruction and that is to make sure when you are taking the center screws out during disassembly that you have some way to support the main board.  I kinda held it up with my other hand so it didn't drop.
 
One question for anyone who has done the upgrade.  Was there a small washer on one of the standoffs that you attach the center screws to?  When I unscrewed one of the screws, I heard a click and later when I had to board out, I found this small washer.  If so, which post does it go to?
 
Not sure its a critical piece, but I hate when that happens

 

[sceleratus]

Quote:

 
Just because there're a few semiconductors in it doesn't mean you have to go and call it names .....

He's just a bully.

 

[sceleratus]

Quote:

BTW, I want to thank Sceleratus for his upgrade instructions.  Putting the board in and re-attaching it with the center screws made lining up the LEDs a snap.  It didn't take 10 seconds to get them to pop back in the holes.
 
I did have one additional instruction and that is to make sure when you are taking the center screws out during disassembly that you have some way to support the main board.  I kinda held it up with my other hand so it didn't drop.
 
One question for anyone who has done the upgrade.  Was there a small washer on one of the standoffs that you attach the center screws to?  When I unscrewed one of the screws, I heard a click and later when I had to board out, I found this small washer.  If so, which post does it go to?
 
Not sure its a critical piece, but I hate when that happens

If there was one in mine, I sure missed it.
I just did the shake test.
Thankfully it was quiet.

 

[sceleratus]

Quote:

BTW, I want to thank Sceleratus for his upgrade instructions.  Putting the board in and re-attaching it with the center screws made lining up the LEDs a snap.  It didn't take 10 seconds to get them to pop back in the holes.
 
I did have one additional instruction and that is to make sure when you are taking the center screws out during disassembly that you have some way to support the main board.  I kinda held it up with my other hand so it didn't drop.
 
One question for anyone who has done the upgrade.  Was there a small washer on one of the standoffs that you attach the center screws to?  When I unscrewed one of the screws, I heard a click and later when I had to board out, I found this small washer.  If so, which post does it go to?
 
Not sure its a critical piece, but I hate when that happens

awe shucks, thanks for the Kudos....
 
Don't forget "tos".  He took all the photos and annotated them.
That takes some time.
 
Team effort.

 

[HK_sends]

Quote:

He's just a bully.

True that!

  Oh...wait...you meant me!?!
Nahh!!
 
Cheers!

-HK sends

 

[Grado77]

Just wanted to say thanks Sceleratus for the thoughtful help.Appreciated!
 
Unfortunately, the problem still exists and I have tried everything I know. I have a ton of audio gear in my home and it's only when I use the Bitfrost that ground loop hum is an issue. I am going to keep troubleshooting the issue and have contacted Schiit. I want to get this setup working normally.
 
The chassis grounding yielded nothing although that was a good idea.
 
Direct from my Schiit Asgard and Lyr user manuals:
 
I hear hum through the headphones, what do I do?
You may have a ground loop. To fix a ground loop, try a three prong to two prong prong AC plug adapter on the amp or the source.
 
There is no disclaimer of hazards or damage, so does that statement mean there will be no hazard or damage? That all goes back to my question.....Is the grounding of 2 units sufficient because of the rca interconnects?
 
If I only need the 2 to 3 prong adapter, I can return the HumX and fill my wallet back up.
 
BTW, I receive my Gen2 USB card tomorrow and will re-install the Uber board at that time. I concur with everyone else that the Uber board sounds better.

 

[sceleratus]

Quote:

Just wanted to say thanks Sceleratus for the thoughtful help.Appreciated!
 
Unfortunately, the problem still exists and I have tried everything I know. I have a ton of audio gear in my home and it's only when I use the Bitfrost that ground loop hum is an issue. I am going to keep troubleshooting the issue and have contacted Schiit. I want to get this setup working normally.
 
The chassis grounding yielded nothing although that was a good idea.
 
Direct from my Schiit Asgard and Lyr user manuals:
 
I hear hum through the headphones, what do I do?
You may have a ground loop. To fix a ground loop, try a three prong to two prong prong AC plug adapter on the amp or the source.
 
There is no disclaimer of hazards or damage, so does that statement mean there will be no hazard or damage? That all goes back to my question.....Is the grounding of 2 units sufficient because of the rca interconnects?
 
If I only need the 2 to 3 prong adapter, I can return the HumX and fill my wallet back up.
 
BTW, I receive my Gen2 USB card tomorrow and will re-install the Uber board at that time. I concur with everyone else that the Uber board sounds better.

Dang,  I was hoping that would fix it.
 
Yes,  in many cases a 2 prong adapter fixes the problem.  Although unlikely it could cause a dangerous situation.  Thinking... that's has to be remote because you would get shocked from the other equipment enclosures.  Thusly, the voltage or potential must be very small and only detected by the Bifrost if it's very sensitive.
 
The fact that Schiit was aware of the possible problem leads me to believe it's sensitive.  I am sure they will cover you in the event it breaks due to using a 2 prong adapter.  Again, the voltage/potential has to be very small, so I don't think there is a danger.
 
Since this potential across the ground is small, it's going to be harder to track down.  It really would be great if you could find the source.

 

[Lee Harvey]

I received my Uber and USB upgrade boards on Wednesday.  It's great that others served as guinea pigs when it came to taking the Bifrost apart and putting it back together. 

    I had no issues with getting the LED's lined back up in their holes and getting everything back together.   When I plugged the Bifrost back into my 2-channel rig I was really disappointed.  The bass was boomy,  the highs were not there and the midrange was sucked out.   I also purchased a Modi last week to play with and it was totally blowing the upgraded Bifrost away.  The Modi has really came into it's own after about 100 hours of music playing through it.  It is probably 85% to 90% as good as the Pre-upgraded Bifrost.  So, I took the Bifrost and moved it over to Windows 7 machine after I downloaded upgraded USB drivers from Schiit.  I let it run with music playing through it from Wednesday evening to this morning to see if it had done any settling-in.  This morning the upgraded Bifrost is back to sounding as it should.  Plugged it back into the 2-channel rig with a MacBook feeding it instead of a Windows box.  I would agree that the Uber board makes a 15%+ improvement over the original board that was in my Bifrost.  As for the analog boards in the Bifrost I would say the the Uber board is more of a 3rd generation for the unit.  Looking at Schiit's site they still have pictures of the board with through-the-hole transistors.  Mine which I got back in January was all surface mount components.   Which was almost a total rework of the original board.  Now the Uber board is almost a total rework of the 2nd generation board that arrived in my unit this year.  Also the USB board is a 2nd generation rework of the original board.  The only change I can find with the new board is that voltage regulator(?) in the right corner next to the USB port being wired differently and the small green wire jumper on the processor chip.   I don't know if this really warrants $100 over the board I already had in the Bifrost?  The jury is out on if I send the upgraded USB board back for a refund.   If all the change did was to make 176.4Khz files playable its not really worth that.  HDtracks generally only makes 96Khz and 192Khz files available in Hirez.  Is there 176.4 tracks out there to purchase?  I plan on letting the Bifrost run over the weekend to see if it sounds any better on Monday.   I feel that the Bifrost took a month of being powered on to settle in to it's final sound profile.

 

[Grado77]

Quote:

  The jury is out on if I send the upgraded USB board back for a refund.   If all the change did was to make 176.4Khz files playable its not really worth that.  

 
Thankfully I ordered my Bitfrost within the 30 day grace period and get the free upgrade. There s no way in H-E-Double hockey sticks I'd pay that much for the USB upgrade. Uber though, is very much worth it.

 

[ddcpitt]

Terribly dumb question, but am I doing something wrong with regards to these last three screws? I took out all the other screws on the top and bottom with no problem at all. These last three will just not budge. Anybody have an idea what the problem is?
 

 
Best Regards,
Dan

 

[sceleratus]

Quote:

Terribly dumb question, but am I doing something wrong with regards to these last three screws? I took out all the other screws on the top and bottom with no problem at all. These last three will just not budge. Anybody have an idea what the problem is?
 

 
Best Regards,
Dan

Hi Dan.
 
Make sure the 4 black screws on the back have been removed.  (Might have missed these.)
Next the 2 clam shells should slide apart.
All the center screws hold the PCB board to the bottom enclosure.

 

[sceleratus]

If the clam shells are apart, Those fasteners should not be torqued down hard.
 
With a large handle screwdriver and the Largest Bit that will fit the screws you should be bale to crack them loose.
90 degree angle, goodly downward pressure and a little controlled ..... I'll call it a snap/twist.  They should not be hard to get out.

 

[Pritolus]

Quote:

 
Thankfully I ordered my Bitfrost within the 30 day grace period and get the free upgrade. There s no way in H-E-Double hockey sticks I'd pay that much for the USB upgrade. Uber though, is very much worth it.

 
I don't want to come off as a ****** here (though I probably will), but I wish to point out that it's named Bifrost, not Bitfrost. Only one t.
I know it's stupid, but things like that bother me! Maybe I should seek help?

 
Edit: Wow, didn't expect Head-fi to consider dou-che as profanity... I know it's not nice calling someone that, but still?

 

[Grado77]

No worries.....my old eyes have been seeing another "t" in there.....B-I-F-R-O-S-T.......yep, that looks better for sure 

 

[anson67]

Thanks to everyone for the detailed instructions.  I managed to upgrade my Bifrost fairly quickly and painlessly as a result!
 
Now, the old board I had is versioned at 1.11 and is basically a single sided board with the processor really the only surface mounted component:
 
 

 
I noticed earlier in the thread that someone's stock board is actually much more similar to the new one in construction in that it has more surface mounted parts, is dual sided, and the processor moved to the same position as the uber board.  I meant to make note of the version on the uber board I received but I forgot to.
 
I'm definitely happy with the results, but I wonder how many versions of the stock board have shipped already and if they actually have noticeable sonic differences between them?
 
EDIT: I'm referring to HK_sends v2.30 stock board in post #45.