Audio GD DAC 19 vs Bifrost Multibit

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by TheIceman93, Dec 21, 2016.

  1. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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  2. mrflibble

    mrflibble Friend

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    It is my thinking that the science of how we "hear" music may be incomplete, or misunderstood. After all, science is a work-in-progress, and not written in stone. For me, there is no conflict between objective measurements and subjective listening. If there is a discrepancy, perhaps it is because the science is lacking rather than the listener imagining things. There could be attributes of the music we hear (or that our brain interprets) that are not being measured or are being measured incorrectly.

    Conversely, what we hear is also dependent on our perception. A proportion of what we think of as reality, is actually interpolated by our brains. So maybe, we are "imagining" attributes of the music that aren't confirmed by measurements. This could still be explained by science, however, but it would be the science of the brain and its interaction with music, rather than just the science of sound.
     
  3. Comzee

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    I always found the M7 has an enormous weight to the instruments v.s. run of the mill D/S DACS, but I never really understood the syrupy meme.
    I found M7 slightly sibilant before DSP, and annoyingly sibilant after DSP. Directly compared to my Yggdrasil, eh.
     
  4. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    NOS does worse things than roll off. The Holo Spring DAC has pretty good treble and for someone who has been blasting metal (rock before that) since I was at least twelve, I still notice the immediate roll off, inferior staging. and overall out of of phase whackiness on NOS DACs when ABing. It's not even "less treble"; more like "softer treble and weaksauce cymbals". I can tell something is up with minimum phase oversampling filters compared to other DACs and filters too on stuff like Wolfsons with selectable filters and the Grace M9XX. Twin guitar rock (Thin Lizzy) / metal (Slayer) and orchestral music sounds very off on NOS and the annoyingness just builds up the longer you listen.
     
  5. aamefford

    aamefford Nothing like chamberpot coffee

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    Kinda back to the OP. I had the DAC19 10th anniversary edition for a little over a year. I liked it quite a bit, as it exhibited some characteristics I generally go for - a bit warm, a bit softer in the treble. Over time, I found that I noticed the looser, bloomier bass more, and liked it less, and wondered if a bit more detail retrieval were possible. I ended up selling it to try the Bifrost Multibit. I did not have them side by side.

    @Torq's post pretty much nails the sound signature of the DAC19, except I'll add "charmingly so" as I still kinda feel that way about it. The Bifrost Multibit on the other hand, is tighter in the bass (no comparison really), and much more accurate to the actual sound, attack and decay and tonal qualities of the recording. Cymbals sound pretty much like cymbals, pianos pretty much like pianos, voices as they should. I guess the Dac19 has quite a bit of color, and the Bifrost Multibit, much less so.

    So, why'd I buy a Bifrost Multibit when the Modi Multibit is purported to be as good or better? Aesthetics. It is an appropriate size, and was available in black......
     

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