Currently trying to decide between the Asgard 3 + Bifrost 2 and the Jotunheim 2 + Modius (running balanced). My main headphones are a pair of LCD 2f. Does anyone have experience with the second combo?
I’m mainly trying to see here if the benefits of running balanced would be more beneficial than the benefits that come from the Multibit design in the Bifrost. Also concerned about adding excess thickness/warmth to my LCDs which are already on the rich/warm side. I’m coming from just running out of my MacBook and previously owned a chord mojo along with a pair of Sundaras (both sold). I listen to mainly classical, accoustic, prog rock and some prog metal. I know that the Asgard + Bifrost is a more common combo and the wait on getting a Modius right now is something to take into consideration.
Also would like to say thanks to anyone who helped me narrow this down in the “purchase advice” thread.
I have experience with all that you mentioned, either owning or hearing them at the Schiitr. Modius Jot 2 isn’t a stack that I’ve tried, but what I’d probably recommend over BF2 Asgard 3, especially for someone concerned with adding excess warmth.
I also don’t normally see the BF2 Magnius stack very often, but it could work for you.
The Jot 2 offers a lot of versatility, which is helpful in dialing in your sound.
Going from least to most richness:
BF2 Magnius ~ Modius Jot 2 XLR out
BF2 Asgard 3 ~ Modius Jot 2 SE out
Where, in my opinion, the modi multibit just blows the E30 away in terms of soundstage. This is really convincing me that I need to go for a Multibit DAC. But what is confusing is whether I’m hearing the difference between Schiit vs. Topping’s sound sig., Multibit vs. DS or something else entirely (like volume).
I went from an E30 to Modius (DS to DS) to Modi Multibit, noticing an improvement in sound with each step. However, I don’t have a need for balanced and USB.
Some go for the features of the Modius. I preferred the sound of the Modi Multibit.
Briefly, I don’t believe it’s volume. Topping (all DS) leans more analytical. I believe the Modius, Modi Multibit, and Bifrost 2 are excellent performers, especially at their price points. I would evaluate your short term intended gear pairing (building systems rather than making discrete selections), and consider longer term possible moves also.
But I would add a little of my own experience, which is only 1 year into this hobby.
I have been doing a lot of listening between gear that has both balanced and single ended to make decisions about what to do. A lot of that gear is Schiit.
My observation is that once any ground loops are sorted out, the only difference I can really hear that is anything more than minute, is simply gain. Some balanced outputs provide more power and put your volume knob in a different place. But unless you have a ground issue or a long cable run, I personally cannot hear any difference in the sound quality.
I suggest not spending a lot of extra money chasing balanced. Right now I am running single ended out of a BF2 into a Loki+ into a RAAL HSA-1b and it sounds amazing. AND, I can switch between the balanced out straight into the same amp with zero delay. There is a gain increase with the balanced, but after adjusting for that, I cannot hear a qualitative difference. I thought when I set that up I’d use the balanced for “purity” and the SE with Loki for when I wanted to be a slut and didn’t care. With the Loki adjustments turned off, I hear no difference. Of course, I tested this also without the Loki in the middle with the same result. They sound equally good to me.
That is a long winded way of saying the SE out of the BF2 is at the very least really, really good. The BF2 is a great DAC, I’d choose the amp with the sound quality you want regardless of SE or balanced.
Also @mikecheck95 tomorrow I receive a Jotunheim R with MB DAC built in. I’ll be comparing it to the BF2 as objectively as I can. I have compared the Modi 3+ and the Modi MB before, and have owned a Rg2 and Jot 1 both with DACs built in so I am starting to get a good sense of the Schiit DACs from BF2 down. I’ll report back if I hear anything profound between the MB DACs later next week. What I can safely say, is all my listening of those devices up to now suggests Unison USB is a good thing.
Meta: why is it so hard to say “I like this” and feel confident about it with this hobby (or life in general)? Like tonight, I have a spare raspberry pi and I ordered a hifiberry spdif add on and I put it all together I’ve compared dlna to the rpi to a modi multibit over toslink and I can’t hear a damn bit of difference between that and usb. And instead of saying, “well, that experiment didn’t gain me anything,” I’m thinking, “I’ll never have a hifi system I can hear sbaf laughing at me .” Zomg I don’t use the balanced out on my bifrost either. Sometimes (most times) I want powerful solid state.
I don’t mean to turn this into a confessions thread. It’s really easy in this hobby to let perfect or some shiny object be the enemy of “holy shit this is really fucking awesome what I have today.”
Amen and YES! Me and my SE LOKI+ with +3db bass boost could not agree more. I am bobbing my head and tapping my foot and loving life. My listening is balanced, even if my output isn’t!!
I get very skeptical about cables that cost more than some people earn in a year. Here we don’t see a lot of deals on Audioquest, it’s Prix Fixe, except you don’t get any choice. I’ve found some research on anisotropy in copper, but much of the literature seems to be with other than those pure molecules that AQ says makes their cables directional. It’s almost like looking for “q drops” finding the grains of truth related to their marketing.
Indeed, the only caveat is that I think there are dacs that are XLR out only (happy to be wrong) but I thinks that’s quite uncommon. If you only have SE inputs on an amp then you’re gonna be disappointed. I’m trying to recall the dac I saw that was only xlr out, it’s vexing me.
Just curious… Maybe someone can help me here. I get a bit of noise via USB from my computer (gaming computer / performance build) with my Asgard 3 w/ AK DAC. I can hear the noise if I turn the volume pot all the way up. The nigly bit is I can’t hear the noise via USB from my laptop. So I know dead silent is possible. I’ve purchased an Ifi iDefender that is suppose to remove ground loops. Using that did nothing to remove the noise, so maybe I"m not dealing with a ground loop here?
I guess next step is removing my video card and seeing if that is causing interference somehow. As the RTX 3070 just draw an insane amount of juice… I actually just realised that is probably my next step in diagnosing the noise, something I should do before I ask this forum, haha.
Just tried that, it’s just as loud in the front USB ports. Maybe even louder. I think it might be my graphics card. Because I can move windows around in my computer and scroll down webpages and the frequency changes.
It’s not your GPU per se. It’s the poor implementation of the USB power rails on the mobo. Somewhat PSU, but mostly Mobo. A high quality Mobo can still do this poorly. I had a $500 AUD Mobo in my current build, suffer same problem.
Generally the front USB ports run off a different area of the motherboard, often different power from PSU too. Can sometimes fix the issue.
You can try the iFi idefener in tandem with the ipurifier. That cuts the power rail from the USB, and helps clean up the signal. Sounds like dirty power still interferring with the signal runs too in your case.
If you try optical SPDIF and you still hear the problem, then check networking. When I unplug all wifi and all powerline network adapters from the adjacent side of the house, my cheap amps prone to noise go silent. Otherwise they can sometimes pickup electrical interference.
Ok, that you so much for that information. Sounds like I got a bit of testing. Yea, sort of a bummer to hear about the power and motherboards, but that is understandable.
Stupid question. But my motherboard has Optical out, how do I go from that optical into my Asgard3 which only has USB and RCA? Thanks!
.” Zomg I don’t use the balanced out on my bifrost either. Sometimes (most times) I want powerful solid state.
