[ArmchairPhilosopher]

May I present to you: Mojito

 

[ScottFree]

May I present to you: Mojito

Looks more like a cat.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

I just noticed that Gungnir DS is no longer listed, with MB as the only available option. Interesting.

 

[KoshNaranek]

I just noticed that Gungnir DS is no longer listed, with MB as the only available option. Interesting.

Jason had mentioned that the DS boards were not selling well and have not been in production for some years

 

[ScottFree]

Jason had mentioned that the DS boards were not selling well and have not been in production for some years

Not surprising. I would assume that if you could drop a large chunk of change on a Gungir you could also afford the True Multibit™ card

 

[bboris77]

Not surprising. I would assume that if you could drop a large chunk of change on a Gungir you could also afford the True Multibit™ card

Totally agreed. On top of this, there are other options for people that really want a sigma-delta balanced DAC, namely the Modius.

 

[bcowen]

Here's My Tux cat, Spats AKA Fat B@stard. I promise he's not dead, just spends most of his time in this or similar poses. I promised him I would immortalize him on the web.

LOL! I have a 'poser' too....named Cookie when she was a kitten, but Blimpie would be more appropriate now.

 

[bevanc]

So, @Jason Stoddard @Baldr . I just felt I needed to post this. I was listening to some British indie stuff from the 90’s. Roon is doing its thing, serving up some tracks, picking up some Paul Weller and Kula Shaker. It’s all sounding great on my Bifrost 2/Saga S/Vidar system into Dynaudio Excite X14 speakers. Then Ocean Colour Scene’s ‘Get Away’ comes on. I love this track, nearly 8 minutes of British Indie at it’s best. But, wow, I’ve never heard it quite like this before, the separation, sound stage, power, so much guitar distortion as it nears it’s crescendo. It was so amazing that I kept turning it up. As the last crashing notes fade out, I get yelled at by my wife from the other room to turn it down. Tonight, your products turned a magical song into something from another realm. Truly, thank you.

 

[bcowen]

So, @Jason Stoddard @Baldr . I just felt I needed to post this. I was listening to some British indie stuff from the 90’s. Roon is doing its thing, serving up some tracks, picking up some Paul Weller and Kula Shaker. It’s all sounding great on my Bifrost 2/Saga S/Vidar system into Dynaudio Excite X14 speakers. Then Ocean Colour Scene’s ‘Get Away’ comes on. I love this track, nearly 8 minutes of British Indie at it’s best. But, wow, I’ve never heard it quite like this before, the separation, sound stage, power, so much guitar distortion as it nears it’s crescendo. It was so amazing that I kept turning it up. As the last crashing notes fade out, I get yelled at by my wife from the other room to turn it down. Tonight, your products turned a magical song into something from another realm. Truly, thank you.

This is when you yell back "I can't hear you, the music's too loud."

(doesn't work for me either )

 

[mks100]

Quick question for any Ragnorak 2 owners...

When using speakers (high gain) and headphones (low gain) where do you have the volume set at? Mine is typically ~ 2pm for both. I have Grado HF-3s, Sennheiser HD660s & AudioQuest NightHawks for headphones. Martin Logan ESLs for speakers. Any gain other than low leads to distortion in the right channel for the headphones. Speakers are fine. Thanks in advance.

 

[turtlerod]

Quick question for any Ragnorak 2 owners...

When using speakers (high gain) and headphones (low gain) where do you have the volume set at? Mine is typically ~ 2pm for both. I have Grado HF-3s, Sennheiser HD660s & AudioQuest NightHawks for headphones. Martin Logan ESLs for speakers. Any gain other than low leads to distortion in the right channel for the headphones. Speakers are fine. Thanks in advance.

My set up is very different, My Ragnorok 2's balanced outputs go to two vidars. These two Vidars drive the electrostatic part of my Martin Logan front speakers. The RCA outputs go to a filter and the 65 hz and lower goes to a 18 inch Velodyne subwoofer. The other output of the filter got to a third Vidar in stereo mode for the 65 HZ to 200 hz for the lower part of the Martin Logan front speakers. With this set up I use the lowest gain output and the knob is about 4 pm or 3/4 of maximum.

 

[Varejao17]

Quick question for any Ragnorak 2 owners...

When using speakers (high gain) and headphones (low gain) where do you have the volume set at? Mine is typically ~ 2pm for both. I have Grado HF-3s, Sennheiser HD660s & AudioQuest NightHawks for headphones. Martin Logan ESLs for speakers. Any gain other than low leads to distortion in the right channel for the headphones. Speakers are fine. Thanks in advance.

Generally speaking, unless your are running out of knob, the actual position of the knob is immaterial. The speakers and headphones will have an innate sensitivity (sound volume per "watt" or milliwatt) and the knob position is what it needs to be to output the sound.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Happy to say I scored a Bifrost II (2nd owner) today and initial impressions are "Wow!" Big step up for me from the Modi MB. Lots of listening to do.

I absolutely love my Bifrost II, you definitely made a great choice with your purchase.
But I had to chuckle a little about the part where you said that your initial impressions are "Wow!", just as I have to chuckle every time someone says they can actually hear a difference from one DAC to the next.

Let me explain, don't rage-hit the reply button just yet… ;p

I have pretty good hearing, at least on paper. I'll turn 40 later this year, but I'm still able to hear from about 20Hz to about 19kHz, and I can easily hear a UPS or FedEx truck turn around the corner three blocks down the road while I'm sitting in my office facing out the back of the house with all windows closed, AND tell you which of the two trucks it is.
I can also easily discern the differences in sound between different power amps, preamps, most tubes, speakers, headphones, all that jazz.
But for the life of me, I can't hear a difference between, say, my Bifrost 2 and my Modius, for example. A-B'ing them blindfolded, I honestly couldn't tell you which is which. The only difference between audiophile DACs (by which I don't mean "expensive", but "well made" regardless of price) that I can hear is minute differences in noise floors, but not really in their respective coloration.

BUT!

Keeping everything else the same, I can listen to the Bifrost 2 all day without fatiguing, while Modius makes me want to take a break after two hours. (I even tried this blind, asked someone to hook one of them up for me and hide it under the table, without telling me which it is.)

I have no idea why this is, because A-B'ing them I honestly can't hear much of a difference in how they render their output signal. Especially the upper mids and highs, which is what I feel causes the fatigue for me. Modius doesn't sound harsher to me, Bifrost 2 doesn't sound warmer. Maybe Bifrost 2 is just a tad more accurate in how it keeps both channels synchronized, and a slight shift in timing between the two, which might become more pronounced in its effect at higher frequencies, causes some weird sort of cognitive dissonance for my brain, making me feel like I needed a break after a little while. I have no clue.

So, yeah. That's why I have to chuckle every time someone says they hear an _immediate_ difference between two DACs. There definitely MUST be a difference, there's no doubt about it. But I just can't hear it, at least not right away. Try as I might.

An hour ago, my Gungnir MB got delivered. I unpacked it and put it in its new place on my desk, replacing my Bifrost 2.

Plugged it in, switched it on, set it up in Roon, hit play on one of my favorite reference tracks and OH … MY … GOD!
Where does all this bottom end come from?!?! So lush and smooth yet crisp and whatever the opposite of "in your face" is! The mids? So understated, in the very, VERY best sense of the word! And, oh my, the upper mids and highs, how can something be so very sparkly and yet not even attempt to lacerate your freaking eardrums at the same time?!

If I would have to describe the sound this thing puts out in just two words, I think it would have to be: Utterly effortless.
And not with an exclamation mark, mind you. With just a period. Because it's THAT effortless.

This Gungnir walked into my house, made itself comfortable on my desk, picked a cat hair from its meticulously creased dress pants, threw a friendly smile my way - and then proceeded to blow my mother-forking brains straight across the room.
This Gungnir, it is the George Clooney to my Bifrost's Brad Pitt, my Modius' Matt Damon, and my D90's Andy Garcia.
Nay, scratch that. It's George Clooney and Julia Roberts telling Vincent Cassel that he lost his wager, all wrapped into one.
THAT, folks, is the level of "effortless" that I am talking about.

What kind of devil's work is this, @Baldr?!

This thing isn't even warm yet, and it already blows my Bifrost 2 (and everything else I've ever heard, no matter how "fancy") cleanly out of the water. It took my Bifrost 2 at least a day or two to "find its tone," if you will. I would be more than happy if the sound of this Gungnir stayed the way it is – but man, now I'm seriously eager to find out what this thing might have in store for me over the coming days and week.

My desk setup, just in case someone wants to know:
M1 Mac mini -> USB (AudioQuest Cinnamon, obviously directly, meaning no hub, etc.) -> Gungnir MB -> XLR (Snake Oil Taipan) -> Lokius -> XLR (Snake Oil Taipan) -> Mjolnir 2 (on low gain, matched JJ E88CC Gold Pin tubes) -> braided 8-wire 4-pin XLR -> GoldPlanar GL2000

And for added context; I am almost exclusively listening to classical music (everything early romantics to contemporary, sans opera; usually fanboying for the Berlin Philharmonics).

@Timster, I owe you a mea culpa the size of Texas. You may now have a solid chuckle (or three) on my account, because: Wow!

And guys, this is honestly the first time this happened with any DAC I ever listened to. I swear!

Just, wow…

 

[mks100]

Generally speaking, unless your are running out of knob, the actual position of the knob is immaterial. The speakers and headphones will have an innate sensitivity (sound volume per "watt" or milliwatt) and the knob position is what it needs to be to output the sound.

I remember back in the day anything over 12 o' clock was adding distortion/clipping. More than happy to be misinformed.

 

[StimpyWan]

An hour ago, my Gungnir MB got delivered. I unpacked it and put it in its new place on my desk, replacing my Bifrost 2.

Plugged it in, switched it on, set it up in Roon, hit play on one of my favorite reference tracks and OH … MY … GOD!
Where does all this bottom end come from?!?! So lush and smooth yet crisp and whatever the opposite of "in your face" is! The mids? So understated, in the very, VERY best sense of the word! And, oh my, the upper mids and highs, how can something be so very sparkly and yet not even attempt to lacerate your freaking eardrums at the same time?!

If I would have to describe the sound this thing puts out in just two words, I think it would have to be: Utterly effortless.
And not with an exclamation mark, mind you. With just a period. Because it's THAT effortless.

This Gungnir walked into my house, made itself comfortable on my desk, picked a cat hair from its meticulously creased dress pants, threw a friendly smile my way - and then proceeded to blow my mother-forking brains straight across the room.
This Gungnir, it is the George Clooney to my Bifrost's Brad Pitt, my Modius' Matt Damon, and my D90's Andy Garcia.
Nay, scratch that. It's George Clooney and Julia Roberts telling Vincent Cassel that he lost his wager, all wrapped into one.
THAT, folks, is the level of "effortless" that I am talking about.

What kind of devil's work is this, @Baldr?!

This thing isn't even warm yet, and it already blows my Bifrost 2 (and everything else I've ever heard, no matter how "fancy") cleanly out of the water. It took my Bifrost 2 at least a day or two to "find its tone," if you will. I would be more than happy if the sound of this Gungnir stayed the way it is – but man, now I'm seriously eager to find out what this thing might have in store for me over the coming days and week.

My desk setup, just in case someone wants to know:
M1 Mac mini -> USB (AudioQuest Cinnamon, obviously directly, meaning no hub, etc.) -> Gungnir MB -> XLR (Snake Oil Taipan) -> Lokius -> XLR (Snake Oil Taipan) -> Mjolnir 2 (on low gain, matched JJ E88CC Gold Pin tubes) -> braided 8-wire 4-pin XLR -> GoldPlanar GL2000

And for added context; I am almost exclusively listening to classical music (everything early romantics to contemporary, sans opera; usually fanboying for the Berlin Philharmonics).

@Timster, I owe you a mea culpa the size of Texas. You may now have a solid chuckle (or three) on my account, because: Wow!

And guys, this is honestly the first time this happened with any DAC I ever listened to. I swear!

Just, wow…

Well, my Gungnir MB upgrade queue position, went from 66 to 54 in a day. And that's after sitting at 66 for a couple of months. So, with your Gungnir, and some queue movement, it's finally nice to get the feeling that things are getting back to normal at Schiit. They deserve normal.

Plus, thanks for the Gumby impressions. Much appreciated. I also agree, the Gungnir has killer bass response. Tight, deep, and impactful. It builds a solid foundation for any genre of music.