[bryceu]

Some cool new products in the store right now! Might have to finally upgrade the old Mimby to a Bimby

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Some cool new products in the store right now! Might have to finally upgrade the old Mimby to a Bimby

There is no Bimby. There is only Bifrost 2.

@Jason Stoddard, very exciting new products. The Bitfrost 2 is now probably my next buy for the office.

Question though, any plans on an upgraded/cheaper Jotunheim?

We're always working on something new, but upgrading Jotunheim in any meaningful way is very difficult. The Jotunheim R that we're doing for Raal headphones (direct drive for ultra-low-impedance ribbon headphones) uses the Nexus™ topology, but also ends up costing a lot more due to matched parts, heatsinks, current sensing and thermal shutdown (stuff really only needed for this insane application), and shorter runs. If we can figure out how to do a Nexus Jotunheim 2 in the future and hold the price, sure, but it ain't gonna happen overnight.

Bottom line, Jotunheim already provides insane, insane performance (have you seen the 170+ pages of AP reports we have on it on the site?)

 

[Rensek]

Was Bifrost going to be a tube DAC at one point? From the description tab of the Bifrost 2 page.

 

[domes]

Wow! What a great Schiit day! I was not expecting a Bifrost 2! Great chapter on the explanation and I laughed out loud on this part...

“Then why didn’t you say something?”

“You were all-fired on killing all upgradability, what am I gonna say?” Mike asked. “I knew you’d come around eventually. I’ll add the USB card back in, and we’re good.”

“Yep,” I said.

And again, for a while the birds chirped and the unicorns farted, and all was well.

But eventually, doubts crept in.

 

[porchwizard]

This is such a great example of the "you just can't win" paradox the Schiit folks have to face. For years people brow beat Jason because the front LEDs were too bright, or were the wrong color. So here is a solution that preserves the functionality (the internal chassis LED still produces light that's visible to the customer), is subtle due to the indirect nature of the lighting which should prevent complaints about brightness, and actually reduces cost which helps keep the product affordable for us.

Aaaaand people still aren't happy.

Well... there was, apparently, no consideration for the cottage industry of light dimming stick-on manufacturers that has grown up around Schiit products...

 

[Smithington]

I'm still struggling to get a perfect distribution. There's often two streams or side channeling in the early phases of the shot. Nevertheless, these visual indicators of a less than ideal distribution of grinds in the portafilter has not adversely affected the taste. With the case of my most recent acquisition, El Progreso, 19g in and 45g out gave a rather pleasant shot that did not overwhelm as sharply as perhaps some of my previous 22g in and 29g out did. I imagine it's because EK43 is able to grind finer.

https://www.vervecoffee.com/collections/single-origin/products/el-progreso

I am aware, after several inner shower screens and one screw from the Breville Dual Boiler broke, that choking the machine is probably not a good idea, but if I can achieve 9 bars (900 kilopascals) of pressure by dialing the grind finer and the dosing down, and have found the flavor profiles decent. This morning, of course, was more dilute than I'm used to, so perhaps that explains why I found it a touch blander than I expected. One has to adjust expectations.

I may be taking El Progreso to work for French press and pourover, which Breville SmartGrinder Pro has been demoted to. Apparently Square Mile Coffee's recent Honduran espresso is very nice, so I'm excited about busting it out for the home rig. https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/mujeres-de-hichozal

Square mile are an awesome roaster. Have you also tried https://jamesgourmetcoffee.com/ or https://www.hasbean.co.uk/ ? Both excellent and I hope they also post to your location.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Was Bifrost going to be a tube DAC at one point? From the description tab of the Bifrost 2 page.

Duh. Ficced.

 

[ashirin]

Bottom line, Jotunheim already provides insane, insane performance

Jotunheim is actually my favorite Schiit headphone amp (I'm not really counting Rag 1 or 2). I know most people prefer Lyr 3 but I love the weight that Jot lends to music. So a better version down to line would be great but I would have literally no hesitation getting it now. The idea of pairing it with a Bifrost 2 is drool worthy. It would be a tough sell to go that route when the built-in multibit card is $500 less than Bifrost 2, but one can dream anyways.

 

[PioBeer]

Congrats, Jason and Mike! was not expecting a new Bifrost what-so-ever. This sounds like an absolutely killer DAC. Want one real, real bad

 

[Ableza]

The tubes are what you use to order your Bifrost 2.

 

[JoeWhip]

The new Bifrost looks fantastic. Too bad we Yggy owners who use Mac have to wait till January 2020 at the earliest for the new Unison USB.

 

[PioBeer]

So, if I'm getting this right, there will likely be a modi 4 with Unison USB sometime in 2020?

 

[RCBinTN]

I bet it feels odd to have 200+ folks editing your web site information ...
Or maybe you're used to it, eh Jason?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

So, if I'm getting this right, there will likely be a modi 4 with Unison USB sometime in 2020?

LOL. Ask Mike about that one.

I do know that the current Unison implementation is more expensive than the C-Media solution, but a lot of that is in the isolation. I didn't feel the need to hit everyone over the head with the whole "galvanic isolation" thing, because that seems to be sleeping at the moment, and I don't like to contribute to nervosa. But, in Mike's terms, the current implementation of Unison USB is electromagnetically and electrostatically isolated (like Gen 5) via transformers. Wider adoption of Unison USB would probably mean we'd have to do a version where we lose the transformers, like our current C-Media USB used in Modi, Fulla, and the DAC cards.

 

[RCBinTN]

I was thinking to order a Bifrost 2 to tide me over when my Gumby is at home-base for the Unison upgrade.
But, now, I'm thinking ... why wait? Get the Bifrost 2 now and A/B 'em until January. Ohhh what a thought