Impressions
I received a Bifrost 2 from Schiit a few days ago. These are my impressions.
Test setup: Amazon HD → Schiit Bifrost 2 → Rebel Audio RebelAmp → Focal Clear
Test tracks: My standard set, plus rediscovery of The Stone Roses (self-titled first album) – this complex studio confection includes all sorts of panning, reversed, and overdubbed content. It was a landmark of the 1980s, and directly led to the Shoegaze and Britpop genres in the 1990s. I retired it from testing some time ago (as being overplayed), but shouldn’t have. It sounds muddy, flat, and congested on less resolving hardware, but not on my test setup. Good portions for testing include the left-right panning of Bye Bye Bad Man and the rapid movements in Fools Gold. And more.
Habituation, Neural Training, or “Brain Burn”: The Bifrost 2 sounded like trash to my ears for the first hour. I heard a thousand crickets, cicadas, or a loud rainstorm. I’d read other comments about the need for either warm-up or for one’s hearing to adapt. Yes, this is real. My evidence suggests neural training or habituation is the key factor. It sounded downright broken for the first hour and then the first few minutes of several later sessions. It also sounded worse in my left ear for longer periods (this is standard for me). I never turned it off, so it has been fully warmed up from the first day.
I interpreted this as evidence that Schiit’s multibit technology does indeed preserve additional content versus Delta Sigma DACs. Those who are accustomed to listening to music with other DAC technologies may not correctly process the additional content. In my case, the cricket sounds disappeared and led to a more nuanced perception of the music. This occurred over several days and perhaps 10 hours of listening.
Audio Impressions: The Bifrost 2 stands out for several reasons, as compared to my prior daily-driver DACs (AKM 4490 and Burr Brown chipsets). The differences include:
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The Bifrost 2 has much, much greater nuance in reverberations, harmonics, and resonances. This means hearing the vibrations in acoustic instruments, the details of brass instruments, and the fluctuations in human voices. One hears complex changes as a voice fades or as a guitar is strummed. My other DACs tend to render these details as flat additional volume or brightness. Some consider the Bifrost 2 to be warm, but maybe not really. In revealing additional mid range details and clipping the air (versus AKM 4490 especially), the overall tone remains neutral. Note that I’m listening on the neutral to bright Focal Clear, so DAC warmth would offset headphone brightness.
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The Bifrost 2 fails in the direction of dithered roughness rather than piercing brightness. It is relatively technical, but has limits too. Noise and randomness become non-painful sibilance or a dithering (fuzzy harmonics). My AKM and Burr Brown DACs err in the direction of over smoothing plus piercing whines. These are actually much better than my older cheaper (e.g., Cirrus Logic) DACs, as those whined constantly.
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The Bifrost 2 has better control over volume differences and localization than my other DACs, and keeps each instrument or voice in its own lane. This increases perceived detail, and does indeed allow one to hear things for the first time that otherwise would disappear.
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In my setup the Bifrost 2 has solid staging and blackness. These aspects are equal or better than my other DACs but perhaps not unique to this product or technology.