When Schiit Audio released the Yggdrasil DAC in 2014, announced the year prior, the unusual revival of Mike Moffat’s DAC ideas, in required the use of industrial R2R DACs, as audio DACs of that type were no longer being made. With the other alternative being custom build boards using precision resistors, Schiit Audio took a path that saw them putting the expensive DACs on everything from amp accessory cards up to their sub-$3000 flagship.
Sitting in the middle of what is now a 5-tier line-up: Multibit card, Modi Multibit, Bifrost, Gungnir and Yggdrasil, the Bifrost 2/64 is the current iteration of the Bifrost 2 that allows the end user to upgrade the primary components of the DAC — the USB and DAC board, simply by buying them and slotting the new ones in.
Contrast this to a relatively similarly priced DAC like the Topping Centaurus, which the company has tried to cram as many features in as possible, including Bluetooth and programmable PEQ settings, along with a fancy menu and screen-based display system.
This being the second Bifrost the company has sent me (so that in the future comparisons can be readily done as new models come out) the 2 and 2/64 differ only in that the batches of metal used for the simple, yet cleverly-formed cases look slightly different, a consequence of insisting on using local manufacturing where possible, and keeping the price of the chassis as low as sensibly possible.
In contrast with their Chinese competitors, this leads to a brutal simplicity to the designs, which extends to the remote control. A small slab of aluminium out of which a recess has been milled, the remote is actually a small, black circuit board that can be lifted with a finger nail out of its slot, or via poking a paper clip or similar through the hole in the rear, it being held in only by magnets.
To its detriment, the hieroglyph-like symbols over the LED-based lights are so small they are only readable close-up, both on the box and the remote, which will annoy people with poor eyesight or whom intend to use multiple inputs while in a system far from their listening chair.
You get three inputs on the Bifrost — S/PDIF, TOSLINK, and Schiit’s custom “Unison” USB implementation, which is programmed on an electrically isolated PIC controller, rather than using a commercially available solution. No AES, or, for that matter, I2S, for which every manufacturer has their own implementation. All inputs are limited to 24/192 kHz inputs, so fans of high-res up-sampling may be disappointed.
To that end, however, a 4-second press of the input selector will put the Bifrost in NOS (non-oversampling) mode for those that wish to use external up-sampling or just don’t want digital filtering. Regardless, the DAC is only 16-bit, utilising a quad of Texas Instruments DAC8812 chips for conversion.
An original Bifrost 2 can be upgraded to the 2/64 version for US$300, a process which requires only a micro-SD card for the automated firmware install, and a screwdriver to remove the boards, which can be fairly easily swapped. One useful things about the upgrade is, if you don’t like it, you can always put the old boards back, and newer firmware currently supports the older boards.
Listening Set-Up
Not unlike other Schiit multi-bit DACs, the Bifrost is best used after some warm-up, and some days of being left on. This is due to resistors changing their value as they change temperature. Cold, the Bifrost sounds a bit wonky, and I did most of my evaluation after it had been on for some weeks, and even months.
As I usually do, I run DACs via USB directly from my 2012 Mac Mini Roon server, which has a relatively poor quality USB, as well as via S/PDIF from a Kitsune Tuned Edition Singxer SU-1.
As with other DACs here in $500-1000 price range — the Topping Centaurus and D70 Pro Octo, the Bifrost benefitted from being fed a better source than directly via USB, though the Unison USB input did do a good job, with no hardness or harshness to the sound, only a slightly lower sense of musicality, suggesting a quality implementation.
The Old Versus The New
Unlike the original Bifrost 2, the 2/64 loses the slightly warmer and more rolled-off sound of the original, which made it not always a good synergistic match with some gear, and instead provides a more neutral and clear presentation of the music. Initially, this sounds better, especially with the matching Jotunheim 2 headphone amp, but causes the DAC to lose some of the character which made it unique.
For example, the original Bifrost 2 makes instruments in high-quality jazz sound a bit bloomy, whereas the 2/64 has them sound more distinct. Female singers sound a touch held-back with the original, and more “free” with the 2/64.
When paired with the Jotunheim, the original Bifrost gave me the feeling I used to get from old hi-fi set-ups, before manufacturers made everything sound bright. The 2/64 brings more clarity, and especially with the Lyr+ tube amp and a neutral tube, sounds more neutral, as opposed to warm.
While having more depth and detail to the sound compared to the Modi Multibit 2, compared to the 4-figure DACs I usually listen with, including the Yggdrasil, there is still a slight thickness to the music, where it doesn’t have the ability to delivery the subtle nuances to notes as the more expensive DACs can.
Closer than before to being a "Mini Yggdrasil"?
Such was the similarity that I saw at least one person suggest that the original Bifrost was a “mini Yggdrasil”, however with the clearer tuning of the 2/64, I’d suggest that the description is now more apt that before.
Running both out of the SU-1 for simplicity (and because it sounds a bit better than Unison USB), the soundstage playing “Marc Ribot y Los cubanos postizos” is more open, and instrument nuances are more clear from the Yggdrasil. In comparison, guitar plucks are a bit more “one note” with the Bifrost, whereas with the Yggdrasil you hear the harmonics more clearly. Similarly, the echos from the notes around the recording venue are more distinct from the Yggdrasil, and unlike with the Bifrost, you can hear the waves of decay of the notes.
Listening to Sky by Yungchen Lhamo through Focal’s Utopia (2022) headphones, the brushing of the drum is more distinct and separated with the Yggrasil than the Bifrost. Note decay likewise has a smidgen more clarity from the Yggdrasil, a difference that shrinks using the SU-1 via S/PDIF to the Bifrost vs. via USB.
An Unexpected Chord
I happened to have a Chord Qutest on hand for review, which I had purchased locally in proxy for a patron, and though to compare it to the Yggdrasil and Bifrost. Roon objected to having everything hooked up via USB and decided to glitch, so I ran the Schiit DACs via S/PDIF, and so that the Qutest wasn’t at a disadvantage, powered it using an iFi iUSB 3.0 hub.
Amplification was the Master 9 again, with the two Schiit DACs using the balanced XLR inputs, and the Qutest using RCA, which was a bit tricky as the Bifrost was then quieter, and at the time I didn’t think to set the Qutest to a higher voltage mode. However, after some testing, I could get the volumes matched closely enough.
In this set-up, switching between the Chord and Schiit DACs was a weird experience. Rob Watts has made it his goal to as accurately as possible reproduce music with the correct timing, and thus most accurately reproduced space, and this was noticeable when switching, as I could feel a shift in the space of the soundstage which is hard to describe.
The Qutest has a deeper, and slightly narrower image, which, after the Bifrost, feels almost tunnel-like in comparison, and may be related to the RCA input of the Master 9 which is converted to balanced internally, but also because the Qutest was still 1 or 2 dB quieter. But overall, I concluded that both Schiit DACs are slightly less distinct in how they present the soundstage than the Qutest.
The Qutest was more distinct in how it presented instruments, at least in terms of where they are in the soundstage. In the past I’ve observed that better imaging can make the soundstage seem narrower, as having lost that blur or smear that is filling out the soundstage beyond the instruments, they end up sounding more distinct, rather than spread.
The Gustard R26 and Topping D70 Pro Octo
At this point, the near doubly expensive Gustard R26 was up, and I set them up into the Master 9 with the R26 via it’s built-in LAN and the 2/64 via coax from the SU-1 as before. Once again, not knowing which DAC was plugged into which input, I observed that one sounded more full and engaging, and the other thinner and more “analytical”. Guessing which was which, I was wrong: The full and engaging DAC was the Gustard, and the Bifrost 2/64 was more analytical, albeit with a more open and relaxed soundstage.
When I set the Bifrost up to compare to the Topping D70 Pro Octo (both using the S/PDIF input from the SU-1) I was surprised at how difficult it was to tell them apart. With the 2/64 warmed up, and both going into the Master 9, listening to a variety of classical music, the 2/64 has the edge with more air around instruments, and the D70 having a faster note decay, resulting in a marginally more “flat” sound.
At first, switching to the 2/64 mid track, the soundstage seemed narrower, but like with the Qutest, I felt this was from more clarity, and less “smear” between notes, with slightly better definition of individual instruments.
The D70 also has that characteristic I’ve observed from most ESS, AKM, and in this case, Cirrus Logic DACs, where it seems to give the same colour to every instrument, whereas the 2/64 allows them to stand out on their own, with their own character better.
Switching to the USB inputs to compare, the difference seemed to vanish, and I didn’t feel I could distinctly compare between them.
In the end...
Schiit Audio’s Bifrost 2/64 sits at a steady $799, unlike its rivals, that tend to start at $999 and drop down over time. Also, unlike other brands, that constantly churn out new models with more features to keep up a sense of hype, Schiit makes a product and sticks hard to the design and price where possible. Only the recent introduction of their Forkbeard remote control system has upset that.
It is also manufactured in the USA, with the case, circuit boards, and many parts manufactured there as well. So, while it has lost a bit of the character which makes it unique in its second iteration, it remains a solid DAC at the price, and one that I could easily enjoy listening with through a Lyr+ or Jotunheim, or even higher amps such as the Mjolnir, the general lack of colouration making easier to get good system synergy.
Rating
While it doesn’t have fancy features its competitors have, which might otherwise count against it, the Bifrost 2/64 does have the longevity factor, with the ability to be upgraded to newer versions for 3/8ths of the original price, something no other rival can do, and it does this while being assembled in the USA from as many US-made parts as possible.
With a competitive and pleasant sound and quality electronics, it only loses half a star for the design using hard-to-read symbols for the inputs and remote.
