Thanks! Looks like it’s a no-brainer then.
I no longer own my BF2 and enjoyed my time with it. It would be informative to hear if there are any ears, systems, genres that prefer the NOS mode.
I’m not sure how to get it into NOS mode. I don’t see a switch. And there is no readout but the lights.
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Schiit’s instructions for entering NOS mode are shown on the product FAQ page:
Wait a sec, NOS mode?
Yes. Press and hold the front button for over 2 seconds, release it, and your Bifrost 2/64 is in NOS mode. This is indicated by a slow “breathing” pulse on the selected input.
I’ll try it this weekend.
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That’s a good question.
Once I figure out my sound preferences, if I decide that I should upgrade the BF2 I have at home, I’m thinking about buying the BF2/64 and moving the BF2 to work. But until then, I’m going to try to wait until the Lyr+ before making any more purchases.
Regards,
Vic
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If I were designing a NOS mode indicator, instead of slow breathing, I would go for a hysterically funny pattern on the input.
I’d have a little video screen showing a guy breathing from a “nitrous oxide” mask:
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Hmm, appears to be without the NOS. More like the slow breathing indicator.
I did find the instruction plainly buried in the faq. Right before the discussion of the megacomboburrito filter. Sometimes I think these guys at Schiit are joking.
Agree and disagree. Yes, if you do not hear an immediate difference between two components then there is probably no important difference to discover with A-B testing. But … if you do notice something different, A-B testing can help you start to determine which component you prefer.
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I’ll tell you exactly how that will work. You buy the 2/64 and move the original 2 to work. A month or two later you buy the upgrade and upgrade the BF2 at work.
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Two days in with the 2/64 and I still can’t hear any difference between OS and NOS modes. I’m running Tidal master quality lossless to the 2/64 to a MZ2 to a ZMF Atrium. The chain seems pretty solid so I should be able to decipher any sonic changes, but so far… nada.
Anyone else hearing or not hearing a difference?
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Nice chain, which should be able to reveal audible differences. Let’s see how this unfolds.
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Probably depends on how many people send their BF2 back to Schiit for the swap-out, which I would guess may not be too many. Schiit could get more back, if they want them, by offering a little something like $50 off the upgrade, they do it for you, and they keep your old card. Then a garage sale version of BF2 for around $500 for us poor teachers would be nice. 
It makes me wonder what happens with Gungnir. The current version seems a little too close to BF2 to justify an extra 50% on the price, but I also can’t imagine Schiit not having a DAC somewhere in the $1k to $2k range. I would love to see them move to a DC input and offer differing outboard PS options at several different price points. (That way I could maybe buy the cheapest version and run it off a battery pack.) Maybe also add more sophisticated crystal-based clock management.
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Gotta ask – pun intended?
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I’m not an expert but if I was doing anything sound-quality related via Tidal I’d not include MQA in the equation.
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Nice catch! Not specifically intended, but likely in my subconscious.
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I doubt they want to dedicate the staffing required to do this so focusing on easy to change modularity is a smart step for them and a selling point to a lot of people. if I still had my BF2 Id jump at this new board.
And who knows, there may be certain chains where the original board is preferred. To be fair, I havent seen any comments stating a preference for the original yet.
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I had a different thought: Simplify the original BF2 chassis by deleting the remote, including only USB input, and using a budget wall-brick instead of the internal PS. The BF2/64 sells for $799, so maybe bring the retail price down to $499 or $599. They might then sell an empty chassis for the old BF2 gen 1 boards at $250 or $299.
Or, maybe other Schiit products could take the BF2 DAC card as an optional upgrade.
I have no knowledge of their internal costs, market data, or research. This could be a great or terrible idea.
Upon getting the BF2/64 upgrade, I think the Gungnir goes away. The Chinese competition is growing and I think the DAC market is maturing. Per my initial impressions of the BF2 (above, last year), the BF2 always sounded a tad rough. I thereby thought seriously about upgrading to the Ygg. With the BF2/64 I have no motivation to try the Gungnir (and for my common use cases/ears) less justification for going to the Ygg.
Just sell a simplified empty chassis to end users. A board swap takes <5 minutes.
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It would be great to be able to throw the OG BF2 board in a new chassis and have a spare DAC to use in another system. Not sure if this is feasible, but it sure would be a nice option.
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That’s an interesting thought. Selling a chassis without a card would allow one to have an extra DAC but the pricing for that, between buying a new card and an “empty” chassis, might be pretty much equivalent to simply buying a complete DAC.