[madwolfa]

  ARE THOSE MULTIBITS DACS FATIGUING?

 
Not as fatiguing as some people trolling around....
 
But to answer your question - no, I don't find my Bifrost Multibit fatiguing at all. Also my belief is that it's mostly a "property" of a transducer, rather than any accompanying electronics.

 

[madwolfa]

  how many hours you can listen to?

 
Hours? Not sure I have that luxury working from home in a same room with a 1 year old. 

 

 

[sheldaze]

BTW, I got answers from both members of my area group. Quite fascinating in fact - and I hate to quote people without their permission. But in this case it's easy, because the answer I'm going to tell you is one you've probably heard before:
 
Use your own ears.
 
The answer truly depends on what you're hearing, because in truth some people will find it more fatiguing and some people will find it less. My personal answer, the less, may have been due in large part to the upgrade. Meaning the sound of the Gungnir may have inherently been less fatiguing than the sound of the Bifrost, with no regard to processor change. And then when I finally did have the opportunity to buy the Bifrost with Multibit, I found it "meh" - I was not listening for the Multibit upgrade at that point, which was clearly there. Instead I was listening for the Gungnir sound, which was clearly not. I had already become accustomed to, and expected, the sonic differences that the Gungnir provided to my HiFi speaker system, and the Bifrost did not change those things I had become used to hearing.
 
I'd love to tell the world to just go out and buy the Multibit, because I personally do think it's the best thing since sliced bread! But in direct answer to your quite reasonable question, I cannot say what you will hear 

 

 

[aamer23]

for me the MB upgrade is huge which ever product you buy based on budget and/or value for money requirement.
 
when I tested BiMB SE VS Yggy SE not much between them however as soon as you went balanced Yggy was best 
 
without question however with one caveat it was in a system that was not mine so for me I will stick with BiMB. Just do 
 
what fits your budget and then enjoy the music and forget what is better or not. I am sure at some stage the Schiits will release 
 
BiMB version 2 and that will be better still so Bifrost posse will have an affordable upgrade path in the future

. Power amp was Raggy through Alpha dogs 

 

[schneller]

  for me the MB upgrade is huge which ever product you buy based on budget and/or value for money requirement.
 
when I tested BiMB SE VS Yggy SE not much between them however as soon as you went balanced Yggy was best 
 
without question however with one caveat it was in a system that was not mine so for me I will stick with BiMB. Just do 
 
what fits your budget and then enjoy the music and forget what is better or not. I am sure at some stage the Schiits will release 
 
BiMB version 2 and that will be better still so Bifrost posse will have an affordable upgrade path in the future

. Power amp was Raggy through Alpha dogs 

I am greatly intrigued by your comment as someone who only needs SE output.
 
Anyone want to support or refute? 

 

[aamer23]

My feeling is that Rag and Yggy were designed from the ground up to be balanced that is why their best result comes from balanced operation. i would love know if anyone has had the same experience or  strongly disagree

 

[sheldaze]

  My feeling is that Rag and Yggy were designed from the ground up to be balanced that is why their best result comes from balanced operation. i would love know if anyone has had the same experience or  strongly disagree

I think purrin stated that you lose 0.86 of a percent (that is less than 1 percent) by using the single-ended outputs of the Yggdrasil versus using the balanced.
 
I have switched from single-ended to balanced, but I also switched systems. My unbalanced system was an older pre-amp/amp configuration. My current system is integrated balanced. Though I like my current system more, I cannot say there was tremendous difference in moving from unbalanced to balanced on the Yggdrasil. If you asked me instead about the Oppo BDP-105, that would be an entirely different story. The single-ended output was horrible - the balanced output is so much better.

 

[mjcp]

My current DAC is a Weiss Minvera (Weiss DAC 2).  I am considering the yggdrasil and gungnir MB.
 
- Is either or both an upgrade to my current DAC?
 
- Is the yggdrasil worth the extra $1,050 over the gungnir multibit?
 
Thank you

 

[landroni]

  My current DAC is a Weiss Minvera (Weiss DAC 2).  I am considering the yggdrasil and gungnir MB.

 
- Is either or both an upgrade to my current DAC?

 
- Is the yggdrasil worth the extra $1,050 over the gungnir multibit?

 

 
My understanding is that going from Bifrost MB to Gungnir MB to Yggy you get increasing transparency, whereas the other way around you get a more euphonic presentation. So ultimately it will go down as preference. If you're more the analytical type or need studio-like transparency Yggy would be the better bet, and if you're after casual listening then Bifrost/Gungnir MB might be better suited. YMMV. Whether Yggy is worth the extra $1,050 over the Gungnir MB for you, is probably a question you alone may answer depending on what value you place on the reported differences.

 

[aamer23]

the other mjor consideration is SE vs Balanced if you are SE then save your money and get the bifrost MB it really really good

 

[TheTrap]

  the other mjor consideration is SE vs Balanced if you are SE then save your money and get the bifrost MB it really really good

 
Well I bought the Yggdrasil even though I only use the SE outputs and honestly, I don't see what all the fuss is about balanced since balanced runs are pretty much pointless when the run is less than 1 metre.
 
In any event, the Yggdrasil is definitely a joy to listen to compared to my Yulong DA8 which is frankly, very fatiguing for me to listen to. You just don't really want to listen to it for more than 1 hour at most. It almost makes it so that the DA8 can be considered a scam. But YMMV of course

 

[sheldaze]

  the other mjor consideration is SE vs Balanced if you are SE then save your money and get the bifrost MB it really really good

No.

 

[aamer23]

No.

My experience with my system so yes

 

[sheldaze]

My experience with my system so yes

I am tired of the SE outputs of the Gungnir and Yggdrasil being slammed.
 
My first experience was in using Gungir Multibit in my SE system. I later upgraded Bifrost to Multibit, with the intent to use it in my stereo speaker system. But I found the sound to be considerably less satisfying, to my ears. So I sold the Bifrost.
 
I was recently at a small meet, at a person's home, where we used DAC-19, Gungnir Multibit, and Yggdrasil, all running SE. There were no issues with the SE output from the Gungnir or Yggdrasil. This is why I say, SE versus balanced is a non sequitur for a decision to choose which DAC one would like to use in their system. The SE is not gimped. Choose your sound based on the DAC, not the connections.
 
I will not comment in this thread again.

 

[landroni]

Originally Posted by sheldaze /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
 
I am tired of the SE outputs of the Gungnir and Yggdrasil being slammed.

 
My first experience was in using Gungir Multibit in my SE system. I later upgraded Bifrost to Multibit, with the intent to use it in my stereo speaker system. But I found the sound to be considerably less satisfying, to my ears. So I sold the Bifrost.

 
I was recently at a small meet, at a person's home, where we used DAC-19, Gungnir Multibit, and Yggdrasil, all running SE. There were no issues with the SE output from the Gungnir or Yggdrasil. This is why I say, SE versus balanced is a non sequitur for a decision to choose which DAC one would like to use in their system. The SE is not gimped. Choose your sound based on the DAC, not the connections.

This review by @hodgjy of Gungnir MB arrives to much the same conclusion:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/schiit-gungnir/reviews/14228
"3. The unbalanced outputs are not crippled at all. Several are reporting the Gumby's unbalanced outputs "clearly" lack behind the balanced ones. This is false. My Teac HA-501 is a single-ended amp, but can accept both unbalanced and balanced connections. I tried them both when using the Gumby. So, I had either the Gumby or the Teac do the summing. I could tell no difference between the connection type, and assuming my Teac isn't a piece of junk (it's not, it's a fabulous amp), it's because there isn't a difference at the human hearing level. Obviously, use balanced if you have an amp that receives them. Otherwise, use unbalanced without any fears at all.

 
I didn't pause the music and crank the volume to maximum to listen for any noise or hiss. That's a fruitless endeavor because it's way past listening volumes. I won't do this test, either. At listening volumes, and even above where it starts to hurt, I could hear no difference between connection types."