New, mid-price Schiitt Bifrost DAC on the way

[Feanor]

My Bifrost is currently back at Schiit Audio being fitted with the Uber Analog upgrade -- I can't hardly wait to get it back since I'm having to make do with my previous, cheapo SMSL SD-1955, which while great for $60, ain't in the same league as the Bifrost. (See my concurrent post about rolling opamps in the SD-1955 HERE.)

The Bifrost, both standard and upgraded versions, are reviewed in the August '13 Stereophile by Jon Iverson. Iverson said, "the Biforst has the highest ratio of value to price of any product I've reviewed".

[harley .guy07]

Now that's the Schiit (I know corny). But I have also heard great things about the Shiit products and Paul McGowan of PS Audio just wrote a piece about Schiit products and how good they are for the money and he knows the guys that started the company. I believe it is Jason Stoddard from Sumo, and Mike Moffat of Theta so Schiit has a good pedigree. I would have probably looked at them as a possible product back when I bought My PS Audio Digilink 3 but after buying that piece then trading it in for the NuWave I love the PS Audio sound. But would love to hear the Schiit and see how it compares to some of the other dacs out there under 1k. I really like the option to change out the USB card on the dac so if things change or you want to add another capability to it later they might offer another USB card so that can be done. And I like the ability to do upgrades to it as well.

[Feanor]

.... I really like the option to change out the USB card on the dac so if things change or you want to add another capability to it later they might offer another USB card so that can be done. And I like the ability to do upgrades to it as well.

In fact they are (already) offering in a USB upgrade for the Bifrost and the Gungnir DACs.

The only improvement they mention is the ability to handle 176.2 kHz sampling rate. I don't have any music that rate. I did get the original USB with my Bifrost and it works very well, plus I generally use S/PDIF coax, so I won't be upgrading.

[Feanor]

Bifrost now UPGRADED to Uber Analog!

I sent my Bifrost to Schiit Audio for their recent Uber Analog upgrade, $100 installed (plus shipping). You can order the board and install it yourself for $70, but I think the small extra charge & shipping cost is worth it. See HERE.

The Uber Analog is the single-ended version of the analog section of the higher-priced Gungnir DAC. It's all descrete and without capacitors in the signal path. I'm pleased with the results and recommend it although the improvement over the base version is fairly subtle. The character of the sound remains the same, i.e. excellent transparency and PRaT, but no tube-type warming.

Sterephile recently review the Bifrost and Bifrost Uber, see HERE. John Iverson, the reviewer said, "Regardless of price, the Schiit Bifrost is a carefully designed and beautifully built DAC. I can see its appeal. In fact, the Bifrost has the highest ratio of value to price of any product I've reviewed.".