Schiit (MultiBit) Bifrost

1) It could be the Bifrost Multibit usb input. Test this by - try it on another machine (could be something about Bifrost Multibit in conjunction with that usb port (low power, who knows), and ideally also try an optical or coax, to determine if the rest of Bifrost Multibit is functioning.

2) No, USB audio drivers generally just need to get the job done, they don't do it any better than any other (in principle). But, that said, sometimes drivers don't install correctly, and then all bets are off. That was the only reason I was suggesting the driver uninstall/reinstall.

 

i open the case to see inside the dac as i was doing a visual i did notice on the multi board it was missing the two screws to hold down the board.
now without the 2 screws does that affect the grounding of the board and will that affect the way it sounds?????

 

I don't think the screws will matter much. Just make sure the boards are snugly in place.

I strongly suggest doing what @lm4der recommended. Try to use a coaxial/optical input. If you happen to have a Bluray/DVD player, try hooking that up to your Bifrost Multibit and tell us how it sounds using those inputs.

 

@nick, you're going to get much better support by visiting the manufacturer's Help & Support page. Nick (Schiit's support specialist) is great.

Doing so has the added benefit of not cluttering up an impressions thread with personalized tech support back-and-forth.

 

U probably got a bad unit. My first moby had similar problem then died completely. Contact schiit.

 

here are the screws that are missing . i know motherboards on pc those screw hold the mb down and grounds it

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yep 24hrs helped, it sounds smoother more open and less grainy

 

^^ THIS ^^

Seriously, try contacting Schiit's customer service. They are the best authority to determine whether you have a defective / damaged unit. Also, their stuff has really great warranty coverage.

Often, posting on forums for tech support is sadly more effective than contacting the manufacturer, but I assure you that is not the case with Schiit. They have real, intelligent, well-compensated humans doing their support, not minimum wage outsourced call-center contractors like most gadget companies.

Also -- if you *did* find an actual, reproducible compatibility / driver issue, you'll be helping everybody by making Schiit aware of it so they can fix it in a revision.

 

Guys, any of your Bifrost Multibit owners here, also own Modi Multibit?

Did you get a chance to compare how different all these DACs, both running the same DAC, but implemented differently?

I own both of them...and I hearing that the Bifrost Multibit is warmer, sounded less incisive, has a wider soundstage.
I'm comparing it with Fidelio X2 and ATH-M40 on Vali 2 and javs dac-1 overture (on analogue input) and it seems like a consistent behaviour.

 

A quick search for "Bifrost Multibit Modi Multibit" results in three pages of results, across several threads, discussing just that.

I did a direct comparison, in an assisted-blind fashion, here. The first post in that thread gives the full details of the test setup, since it was essentially the same as my all-Bifrost comparisons.

 

I tried both on the Joti and I agree, the Bifrost Multibit is definitely warmer. I also thought the bass was very prominent but a bit uncontrolled.

 

Problem is, I wasn't sure if the 'loosy' bass is a problem with my amps/transducers not being able to manage the quantties of bass out of Bifrost Multibit n can't drive deep n still maintain control.
The x2 does seem to work with the Modi Multibit though

Torq I appreciate your leads n definitely your reviews.
I've been following most if not all Bim/Mim discussions(thst includes yours of course).
in my situation I am using very different headphones from most(sabfers) so I was just thinking of sharing my experiences.

I don't know what the dislike was for. I got that cos I'm a thread digger?

 

I think the Joti is capable of handling the bass, and I did compare with a Paradox, which should have been able to handle the bass as well. But maybe speakers can handle it better than any headphone.

 

Hey guys, just received a black (mmm sexy) Bifrost Multibit to pair with my Mjolnir 2 / HD600 (and soon to be HD650).

After about an hour of use A/Bing against my Apollo Twin's balanced DAC out I'm a bit bummed to not really hear a difference, if any, but am reserving my judgements until:

1) the Bifrost Multibit has warmed up at least 24 hours (as stated above)
2) my balanced HD600 cable arrives *dodges empty beer bottle* as I only just acquired the Mjolnir 2

The SE output actually holds up pretty well compared to my Woo Wa6 (I prefer the Woo by a slight margin) so I'm really excited to see what happens when my balanced cable shows up.

 

Does anyone in the South Florida region have a Bifrost Multibit I can audition? Just trying to get a feel for what this dac sounds like

 

Have you spent the hour switching back and forth? I would caution against doing that (forget the "no long term auditory memory" protestations).
I suspect you're already rather familiar with one of them; what I'd do is take the Bifrost Multibit and spend some quality time with it, couple of hours minimum, couple of days would be best, until your brain gets used to it and learns to detect its peculiarities. This will take care of the warm-up factor as well (and don't turn it off in between sessions).
Then A/B at will, though again be cautious of instantaneous switcharoos... I wouldn't be surprised to see a "no diff" if that's how you approach it.

 

So your approach to abx is to not do abx....

 

Extended ABX (as opposed to instantaneous ABX), following @baldr's experiences.

My personal thoughts on the matter is that instantaneous ABX induces a state of strain on the brain (think switching between two languages constantly when you speak, say every other phrase is in the other language) which can't possibly help with detecting subtle nuances. So yeah, doing switcharoos with 20sec samples within one hour is unlikely to be of much use unless you have considerable experience with the gear and with doing such experiments (and you're good at it)...

 

Hi,

I would like to share some of my experience and also strange problem which I solve regarding Schiit Bifrost Multibit. Hopefully it might be useful for other people who might runs into the same problem. After reading and lurking on SBF for quite while now I decided to buy Bifrost multibit as an upgrade to my internal dac of my Jotunheim. I was excited to be receiving my Bifrost Multibit last week but ran into a strange background noise problem.

Power filter > PC (win10) > Bifrost Multibit (rca) > Jotunheim

After connecting up Bifrost Multibit into my system, I got a strange noise which I couldn't get rid off. I got noise only when USB is connected to Bifrost Multibit. Jotunheim has been dead quite until now so I couldn't understand the problem. The strange thing is that noise persisted even after I turned off Bifrost Multibit. Only when removing the USB from Bifrost Multibit did the noise disappeared. I have tried different USB port at the back of my computer, and it was no help. Reinstalling the driver didn't help.

Then I remember reading somewhere about Schiit USB decrepifier solving issues with noisy USB and it being similar to a typical USB hub. I remove the USB from the back of my computer and plug it into a factory hub at the back of my monitor and it solve all the noise problem.

Just thought I would share for those running into similar strange background noise problem.