[Alexnova]

So since I'm not getting the Gungir, I won't know on the Bifrost Uber?

 

[hodgjy]

Jitter gets blow out of proportion.  Yes, it's real.  It can be measured.  But, most people will never hear it.  Also, many audiophiles consider vinyl records to be the best sounding recordings.  There's no physical way that even the best LP players can spin the record at constant velocity, so there will be variations in the sound.  Can we hear that?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But, that's the analog equivalent of jitter.  No one seems to be too worried about that.  I certainly don't care too much about jitter.  I trust my moderately-priced DAC takes care of as much jitter as possible.

 

[kothganesh]

Quote:

Jitter gets blow out of proportion.  Yes, it's real.  It can be measured.  But, most people will never hear it.  Also, many audiophiles consider vinyl records to be the best sounding recordings.  There's no physical way that even the best LP players can spin the record at constant velocity, so there will be variations in the sound.  Can we hear that?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But, that's the analog equivalent of jitter.  No one seems to be too worried about that.  I certainly don't care too much about jitter.  I trust my moderately-priced DAC takes care of as much jitter as possible.

Jay,
 
that was great info. I've been driving myself up the wall thinking about a need to upgrade my DAC (to be read as spend more). Your point is hence well taken. Sometimes a poor recording is a poor recording period and my mind plays games like "...if only I have a better DAC, a balanced DAC etc etc ". I suppose the Bifrost is a good enough DAC to take care of most of the perceptibly-imperceptible jitter. 

 

[joebobbilly]

Quote:

So since I'm not getting the Gungir, I won't know on the Bifrost Uber?

If you're even considering balanced in the future, I'd say go for gungnir. If you find one used, it will only be marginally more pricey than a new bifrost uber. Although to be fair, I haven't heard the bifrost uber... but I have done A/B comparison between bifrost and gungnir feeding into the same amp and the gungnir was a the clear winner.

 

[Aaron94]

So can anyone tell me if a Mini Toslink connector will fit in and work with a dual SPDIF 3.5mm headphone jack, or do I need some kind of adapter? I need to know before I order the cable on Amazon just so I dont have to go through a return process.
 
Also is there an audible difference between glass and plastic toslink cables?

 

[Erukian]

Quote:

So can anyone tell me if a Mini Toslink connector will fit in and work with a dual SPDIF 3.5mm headphone jack, or do I need some kind of adapter? I need to know before I order the cable on Amazon just so I dont have to go through a return process.
 

Yes, they work great, at least on my macbook pro.
 

Also is there an audible difference between glass and plastic toslink cables?
 

 
Debatable, especially with digital cables.
 
I would side with plastic because afaik, the spec was designed for a single piece of plastic, not for running the optical signal down a bunch of strands of thin glass. I haven't seen any proof that glass is better.

 

[Aaron94]

Thats all I needed, Ill just get some $10 toslink to mini toslink cable off Amazon to use with my Asus > Bofrost.
 
Thank you!

 

[hodgjy]

Bo knows DACs now, too?  

 
Quote:

Thats all I needed, Ill just get some $10 toslink to mini toslink cable off Amazon to use with my Asus > Bofrost.
 
Thank you!

 

[bearFNF]

Quote:

Bo knows DACs now, too?  

 

heh...

 

[UmustBKidn]

Quote:

Hoping someone here can help me.
 
Awhile ago I made a thread asking about how I would connect a Bifrost to my laptop, and I got a few answers that I thought were correct, but now Im realizing they werent. Hopefully within the next few weeks I will be getting an Asgard 2/Bifrost stack to be used with my laptop. Now on the side of my laptop, just above the headphone jack, there is a label that says S/PDIF. Now to my understanding that is a digital output, one that can be used with the Bifrost. But what I dont understand is how I would do that, when I made the thread awhile back someone suggested me a Toslink to Mini Toslink cable, but now that Ive looked at it Ive found at that not only will the optical not work here, but the Mini Toslink is not a 3.5mm jack. 
 
So does anyone know of a cable I could use to connect this laptop to the Bifrost, something like a Digital Coaxial to 3.5mm cable? I really need and appreciate any help give.
 
If it helps my laptop is an Asus N56VJ-DH71.

 
I could not find the exact user manual on the Asus website, but I found one similar...
 

 
What strikes me about this particular setup, is that somehow the Asus laptop detects whether the 3.5mm jack is being used for powering headphones, or connecting to an S/PDIF input? I suppose I would question how well that setup really works. I know Asus is a darn good company, I own their products and am pleased with them. I'm just a little curious about a dual use jack like that, especially one that gives you both an analog output, and a digital output, and manages to figure that out by itself.
 
I guess the only reason you're doing this is so you don't spend the extra $100 for the USB port option on your Bifrost? That would just let you plug into a USB port and not have to worry about the dual use headphone jack. I also wonder if you're losing any audio quality by virtue of this setup. It is unclear to me if you're getting the same kind of digital signal over this jack that you'd otherwise get with the USB setup.
 
I donno, but if it were me, and I was spending this kind of money on quality gear, I'd pop for the USB port option on the Bifrost. Just sayin'.

 

[solserenade]

For what it's worth the 1/8" output jack on all the MacBook Pros are also dual-use - both stereo analog and digital optical output.

It seems to work. Cheers.

As you probably know, the typical plug has the signal on the outside metal surface of the entire shaft and tip, while optical has a single "light beam" right down the center core, not even utilizing the surface.

Ha, kind of makes me wonder whether there are cables that do both!

 

[Richsvt]

Well I just stepped into the Schiit now. I pulled the trigger on a M&M combo for a new desktop system I am building. Can't wait to hear how they sound. Wanted a very low cost, low profile system that can deliver some punch.
 

 

[MattTCG]

Very nice start!! 

 

[GeirOve]

Ive just bought a Asgard, will pair it with a Hegel HD11 DAC and Sennheiser HD600. It will arrive in the post this week.. Im looking forward to it

 

[qbroid]

The lyr is good for my Q701