[jfoxvol]

   
V-CAN was kind of meh. V-DAC is OK. Their X series were great, though! I loved my X-24K DAC with X-PSU and X-CAN V3... my first serious gear.

Yup.  I had a DacMagic.  How little I knew.  Then I found the schiit gear.  All is well now.

 

[45longcolt]

Gonna go out on a limb and predict the next POS will be a streamer - the SchiitStream™! Makes Tidal sound like Schiit!©
 
Not that I really think Schiit will make one, but I'd like them to.

 

[jrflanne]

Just received my Bifrost multibit this AM for my office system. The Bifrost and Valhalla2 replaces the Schiitstack. All I can say is wow. This is some serious DAC action. Everything is smoother with more presence. I can't imagine it getting better with break-in because it is pretty doggone good right now. Nice job!

 

[jfoxvol]

Just received my Bifrost multibit this AM for my office system. The Bifrost and Valhalla2 replaces the Schiitstack. All I can say is wow. This is some serious DAC action. Everything is smoother with more presence. I can't imagine it getting better with break-in because it is pretty doggone good right now. Nice job!

Very nice. Glad to hear.

 

[judmarc]

Don’t believe me? Consider:
 

1. Bifrost Multibit uses a 100% multibit DAC, where the Cobalt 307 used a hybrid multibit+delta-digma DAC—and it’s a multibit DAC we would have swapped a testicle for in 1993 (weeeellll, maybe not literally, but you know what I mean)
2. Bifrost Multibit uses our proprietary time- and frequency-domain optimized, closed-form filter (AKA the “supercomboburrito” filter), where the Cobalt 307 used an off-the-shelf digital filter
3. Bifrost Multibit has 3 inputs, including asynchronous USB 2.0, where Cobalt had only 2—optical and coax

 
And, the big one:
 

1. Bifrost Multibit is built as an upgradable platform, so future changes in USB input or DAC technology don’t mean instant obsolescence, where the Cobalt 307 was never intended to be upgraded—it was a “disposable” product

 
Nah, not the big one.  The big one is I listened to Bimby at RMAF (Stones' "Monkey Man" from Let It Bleed) and enjoyed the hell out of it.
 
Hope you and Mike are both doing well.

 

[KLJTech]

  Something is coming though. Jason confirmed this. So if you are looking for an amp that costs less than Mjolnir 2 and more in the range of Asgard 2 -> Liquid Carbon pricing I think we should all just be patient and see what rolls out

 
I wonder if they would be able to crank up the power output of the Asgard 2 to possibly 2 watts or more into 32 ohms while keeping it fully discrete, "Class A" if they increased the case size to that of the Gungnir. Obviously you'd have a lot more heat, yet maybe the larger case would be big enough to dissipate it. If they could keep the sound quality of the Asgard 2 yet increase the power output I would buy one in a heartbeat. I love this amp (I'm using it right now) but if it had more power for juice-hungry planar's I think I could live happily with it until either it or I died. 

  (of course we'd want to keep the preamp outputs and gain switch...don't care if they stay in the back out of sight to maintain the clean look)...just a thought. 

 

[madwolfa]

   
I wonder if they would be able to crank up the power output of the Asgard 2 to possibly 2 watts or more into 32 ohms while keeping it fully discrete, "Class A" if they increased the case size to that of the Gungnir. Obviously you'd have a lot more heat, yet maybe the larger case would be big enough to dissipate it. If they could keep the sound quality of the Asgard 2 yet increase the power output I would buy one in a heartbeat. I love this amp (I'm using it right now) but if it had more power for juice-hungry planar's I think I could live happily with it until either it or I died. 

  (of course we'd want to keep the preamp outputs and gain switch...don't care if they stay in the back out of sight to maintain the clean look)...just a thought. 

 
What are the power-hungry planars are you talking about? Even with my LCD-2F, I never had to crank my Asgard 2 past 9-10 am on high-gain.

 

[KLJTech]

   
What are the power-hungry planars are you talking about? Even with my LCD-2F, I never had to crank my Asgard 2 past 9-10 am on high-gain.

 
My HE-500's sound more punchy/dynamic (at least to my ears) when driven by the more powerful Lyr than through the Asgard 2, BUT I prefer the Asgard 2 for every other headphone (and IEM) I own. I also use the A2's preamp outputs to my Parasound A23 in my office, so to me it's not only an incredible amp it's an incredible bargain. Please don't misunderstand me, I've done nothing but heap praise on the Asgard 2 on this forum and to anyone else that is interested. I was simply stating a sort of wish list, and wondering if it would be possible to build a true "Class A" Asgard up to 2 watts (into 32 ohms) if it were in a case the size of the Gungnir. 
 
The Asgard 2 in my office replaced a Bryston BHA-1 which is more powerful, so that should tell you what I think of the A2. It's got to be one of the best deals in high-end audio that I'm aware of. 

 

[atomicbob]

   
My HE-500's sound more punchy/dynamic (at least to my ears) when driven by the more powerful Lyr than through the Asgard 2, BUT I prefer the Asgard 2 for every other headphone (and IEM) I own. I also use the A2's preamp outputs to my Parasound A23 in my office, so to me it's not only an incredible amp it's an incredible bargain. Please don't misunderstand me, I've done nothing but heap praise on the Asgard 2 on this forum and to anyone else that is interested. I was simply stating a sort of wish list, and wondering if it would be possible to build a true "Class A" Asgard up to 2 watts (into 32 ohms) if it were in a case the size of the Gungnir. 
 
The Asgard 2 in my office replaced a Bryston BHA-1 which is more powerful, so that should tell you what I think of the A2. It's got to be one of the best deals in high-end audio that I'm aware of. 

The "more punchy" may be due to amplifier topology more than power. In the following chart it can be seen that 126mW is sufficient to drive the HE-500 to 110 dB peaks with 12.6mW for 100 dB average, assuming music with a 10 dB crest factor. That is REALLY LOUD!

 

[Armaegis]

   
I wonder if they would be able to crank up the power output of the Asgard 2 .... keeping it fully discrete ... increased the case size to that of the Gungnir.

 
Um... they have this. It's called Mjolnir...
 
Besides, the Asgard2 can already push out 1W into 32ohms. Another watt is only going to give you 3db.

 

[kstuart]

So, a question on the Multibit DAC Family.
 
If I play a 16-bit 44.1khz file using any of the Multibit DACs, it will be converted to 32-bit and then run through the "megaburrito filter" to become 32-bit 176.4khz.
 
On the Bifrost, it will be rounded to 16-bit 176.4khz and then input to the DAC chips for conversion to analog.
 
On the Gungnir, it will be rounded to 18-bit 176.4khz and then input to the DAC chips for conversion to analog.
 
On the Yggdrasil, it will be rounded to 20-bit 176.4khz and then input to the DAC chips for conversion to analog.
 
It seems to me that for 16-bit audio files, the higher than 16-bit resolution of the DAC chips does not get used (since you have 100% of the 16-bits on all three DACs), and it only gets used for playback of 24-bit audio files.
 
Am I missing something ?   Thanks.
 
(I realize that there are other differences like power supplies, analog output stages, 8x oversampling instead of 4x, etc.)

 

[KLJTech]

   
Um... they have this. It's called Mjolnir...
 
Besides, the Asgard2 can already push out 1W into 32ohms. Another watt is only going to give you 3db.

 
The Mjolnir is a hybrid amp and a bit more expensive than the Asgard. Forgive me for simply stating I'd enjoy a more powerful version of my beloved Asgard 2...obviously I was way out of line. My apologies...

 

[theblueprint]

The Mjolnir is a hybrid amp and a bit more expensive than the Asgard. Forgive me for simply stating I'd enjoy a more powerful version of my beloved Asgard 2...obviously I was way out of line. My apologies...

I'm in the same boat as well haha. I've seen several used Mjolnirs go for $400 and am very tempted. But not being able to use SE and having to buy balanced cables makes me reconsider.

 

[atomicbob]

   
The Mjolnir is a hybrid amp and a bit more expensive than the Asgard. Forgive me for simply stating I'd enjoy a more powerful version of my beloved Asgard 2...obviously I was way out of line. My apologies...

Not out of line at all, but looking at an attribute that may not be responsible for what you want. The "more punchy" attribute you enjoy from the Lyr 2 may be due to the hybrid topology as opposed to achieving more power from the Asgard. Or it could be a difference in output impedance in mating with the headphones. There is more to system synergy than just power available. Imagine the let down that would be experienced if a more powerful Asgard was designed and it didn't deliver the punch for which you were looking.

 

[Baldr]

  So, a question on the Multibit DAC Family.
 
If I play a 16-bit 44.1khz file using any of the Multibit DACs, it will be converted to 32-bit and then run through the "megaburrito filter" to become 32-bit 176.4khz.
 
On the Bifrost, it will be rounded to 16-bit 176.4khz and then input to the DAC chips for conversion to analog.
 
On the Gungnir, it will be rounded to 18-bit 176.4khz and then input to the DAC chips for conversion to analog.
 
On the Yggdrasil, it will be rounded to 20-bit 176.4khz and then input to the DAC chips for conversion to analog.
 
It seems to me that for 16-bit audio files, the higher than 16-bit resolution of the DAC chips does not get used (since you have 100% of the 16-bits on all three DACs), and it only gets used for playback of 24-bit audio files.
 
Am I missing something ?   Thanks.
 
(I realize that there are other differences like power supplies, analog output stages, 8x oversampling instead of 4x, etc.)

The megaburrito filter runs at 32 bits -- the input 16 bit signals have zeros added at the input and are all output as original - that is the same 16 bits followed by zeros.  The megaburrito filter also does 32 bit computations on the original samples and outputs 7 interpolated samples at 32 bit resolution, rounded to 20 bits (Yggy), and 18 bits (Gumby).  For the Bimby, there are the same 32 bit calculations resulting in three interpolated samples at 32 bit original resolution, rounded to 16 bits.
 
So for the Bimby only, there are only 16 bits of data output.  The advantage is the extra sample interpolation with the frequency and time domain optimization.