Bifrost 4490

Yeah, I'm interested in that too. Seems like Schiit has something coming down the pike for Modi. I may not wait and just pick up Bifrost 4490.

 

You're looking for a second Bifrost?

 

I think marv has been hinting towards a Modi 4490. His posts have spoken of a reDACted3, and he also stated that he listened to a 4490 and it was great, but won't give out any more info.

 

Yes I pieced that together but am not interested in blowing up anyone's spot, as they say

 

Yeah... well, as you know, I have the Bifrost Multibit. But I need a 2nd DAC for my work rig... I can either buy something better and let Bifrost Multibit trickle down to the office, or just buy lower-fi for work... I just have a really hard time coughing up $800+ for a piece of gear. I guess I'm a cheap bastard.

 

Ha! I've never gone over $350 for a single piece.

And staying in that range, I've gotten the Bifrost Uber, Ember II, and HE-500. Not too shabby.

Like others here, I'm debating Bifrost MB v 4490. You can guess which way I'm leaning

 

I have the original Magni Modi stack for a move around the house kind of rig. I use my Wyrd with it too. Sounds better than without it. Cheap pricing for good sound.

 

Someone had similar impressions of the 4490 vs MB on head-fi. Interesting!

 

Quite a few people, actually.

I didn't trust them, because...well...yeah.

Jury is still out, but like others I'm very eagerly awaiting impressions from The Alchemist.

 

Alchemist, no pressure or anything, BUT ALL OF US WILL BE BASING THEIR PURCHASE DECISIONS BASED ON YOUR ANALYSIS. So relax!

 

I have to agree with @jexby - They are both great DACs. I want you all to please keep in mind that these will be my own personal impressions, I cannot guarantee that my experience will be the same as yours. However, I will post my impressions as best as I possibly can. No doubt there are going to be differences between them, but sometimes DACs can be difficult to hear these differences (unless making a major upgrade to like a Gungnir Multibit or Yggdrasil for example where the differences are immediately apparent.

The only thing I can promise you all is that I will do extensive A/B/C testing and post my findings. As always my philosophy is - if you have the opportunity to listen to the gear yourself, do it as each individual is their own best judge.

As stated in an earlier post, each day, I am more and more intrigued by the Bifrost 4490 - I can almost bet that the 4490 is nothing to sneeze at.

 

Btw since when did we get a 4490 loaner???

@The Alchemist haha nothing to sneeze at. Before ordering 4490, I was actually super nervous that there would be no substantial gains over the Uber. But after a quick listen, even when cold, I immediately ate my words.

 

We haven't yet - I have a friend of mine loaning me his - it isn't an SBAF loaner.

If we have not received a Bifrost 4490 loaner for SBAF members by the time the SBAF T-shirts go on sale, if we can make enough profit from the t-shirts, it may be something I will be looking into to get us a 4490 loaner for our members out of the T-shirt sales.

 

Just ordered a 4490 after ordering the MB version earlier this week. Hearing a few folks saying they like the differences of the DS more than the MB so just in case I'm one of those people, I'm happy to save some $$. Gonna test them both and see which I want to keep, or maybe one will go in the main 2-channel setup and the other to my office at work. Either way, my wallet hates me right now. I don't see how you guys do it, especially when you're buying equipment costing thousands of dollars, not hundreds. ;o)

Was orginally eyeing up some used Audio-gd DACs but the form factor is too large. I like the smaller size of the Bifrost, especially for an office setting.

 

The trick is not wasting money on side-grades. Unfortunately it usually ends up costing $$ figuring that out, since not everyone hears things the same way and generally hype is overpowering. But I think SBAF provides a more honest/balanced opinion of gear and is a good hype-check.

Gungnir Multibit is my last stop (for a long while) on the DAC side; starting with Bifrost and hearing for yourself the difference between the 2 versions is the smart play. I probably should have done that first but I have no regrets (of course wallet does).

 

Not spending money on side grades is both key and very difficult. Thank goodness for a site like this where some common sense and perspective can be injected into a conversation.

 

How does one define a side grade, exactly, or what would be some common examples of this

 

People would probably argue specifics, but let's saying buying the DT880 and then later selling them and buying the HD600 because you prefer the sound.

They're both, arguably, in the same class, so you haven't really moved up the headphone chain any. You would have saved money by figuring out you prefer the HD600 in the first place and going straight to that.

Then, when you do upgrade, you actually go up the chain rather than to another comparable product...