Schiit Bifrost 2/64 vs. Topping, Yggdrasil, Modi Multibit and Gustard R26

I murdered my electricity bill so that you can choose the right sub-$1k DAC. And you get to laugh at me because I failed my own DAC blind test vs. the Gustard. Here's Schiit's Bifrost 2/64 DAC -- the only DAC I know of that you can upgrade in 30 seconds with just a screwdriver.

Yes, near half the video is an introduction and background to the tech, as well as the features. This is because many people find my videos who don't know anything about audio.

The written review has also been published here:

Schiit Bifrost 2/64 versus:
Schiit Bifrost 2 OG
Schiit Yggdrasil A2 (what is now the OG)
Schiit Modi Multibit 2
I may earn a commission from purchases made via the above links.

------------
Support my work, get free audio guides, advice, and previews of my reviews:
------------
00:00 Introduction, Background & Features
08:02 Remote control
09:09 Sound compared to Bifrost 2 OG
11:23 Sound vs. Yggdrasil A2/OG
12:47 Sound vs. Topping D70 Pro Octo
17:01 Sound vs. Gustard R26
18:07 Thoughts on Value
19:22 Finally

[Currawong]

I murdered my electricity bill so that you can choose the right sub-$1k DAC. And you get to laugh at me because I failed my own DAC blind test vs. the Gustard. Here's Schiit's Bifrost 2/64 DAC -- the only DAC I know of that you can upgrade in 30 seconds with just a screwdriver.
Yes, near half the video is an introduction and background to the tech, as well as the features. This is because many people find my videos who don't know anything about audio.

Schiit Bifrost 2/64 versus:
Schiit Bifrost 2 OG
Schiit Yggdrasil A2 (what is now the OG)
Schiit Modi Multibit 2
I may earn a commission from purchases made via the above links.

[johnm]

I have the Bifrost 2 and the 2/64 upgrade PCB. The BF2 was my first audiophile DAC and was greatly impressed by it. I could use it for hours without any fatigue at all. The bass had a slightly exaggerated fullness to it, but found the presentation very enjoyable anyway. The soundsatge had a good sense of depth too.

Being very impressed with Schitt's mult-ibit I decided to give R2R a go and got a Denefrips Pontus II. This was a significant step up on the BF2 and I felt it did pretty much everything a couple of notches better, in particular the width and depth of soundstage and more precise and textured bass.

I moved the BF2 to my B system. Wanting to upgrade it to be a true balanced DAC I got the 2/64 upgrade. This gave noticeably higher detail retrieval than the OG but at the expense of sounding slightly forced and edgy for my taste so I reverted back to the OG for a while. After deciding to give the 2/64 another try but now using the NOS feature it all changed. I used external up-sampling to 24-bits 96kHz. This took the Bifrost to a new level that significantly narrows the gap with the Pontus II. The Pontus II is still ahead overall in refinement, but the Bifrost 2/64 in NOS mode with external upsampling is a worthy challenger.

For my ears I just don't like the proprietary digital filter in the 2/64, however the 2/64 is a well worthwhile upgrade from the OG when the digital filter is bypassed by running NOS mode, and some other good up-sampling method is used.

[s.daniel]

Great review. I’m getting ready to pull the trigger on a new dac and I’m a Schiit fan and the bifrost is on my short list with the geshelli 3…and gunger 2.

[lmflazyjai]

I have an original bifrost 2 as well as the /64 module, as well as a topping d70s. Paired with my Magnepan LRS and a pair of Vidars and a Freya+, I actually prefer the original module as it strikes the right balance of clarity and warmth. The /64 module brightens the music up, and the topping even moreso (even tho the d70s is alot less analytical than the original d90), both increasingly on some tracks to the point where it may be fatiguing to some ears on long listening sessions.

On my Dynaudio Audience 52's and SimAudio i-5080, which is pretty old, somewhat warm gear by comparison, the topping brings the clarity and seperation up a few notches to make it better compete with newer systems. The bifrost 2 original just smooths everything over, possibly verging on too much.

I'd say the speakers in this case make much more of a difference than changing out the DAC. Swapping DACs is somewhat noticeable, but I'd say it's more of a tweak to the sound than a massive change in system characteristics.

[joshhartley]

I upgraded to the Bifrost 2 from the DAC module in my Jot 2 and felt it was well worth it. I then upgraded to 2/64 and thought it was another step in the right direction for both headphones and speakers; especially my speaker tube amp, seems to be the right setup for me atm.

[cowboyflipflopped]

Thanks for the information and evaluations. I recommend playing around with the low-pass filtering on D/s DACs that allow you to change it. I find that using a minimum phase filter on my Fiio K9 AKM gives it a more analog feel, slightly similar to an R2R dac, in that the treble is slightly rolled off at the very top. Of course, the DAC chips inside upsample before processing and applying low-pass filtering, so that there's no possibility of audible distortion. But comparing minimum phase to linear phase low-pass filtering is quite interesting. I'd love to see you review the K9 AKM, if you ever get a chance.

[evshrug]

Thanks for making a “shareable” video with history and tech explanation, plus time stamps for the people who are already familiar 👍👍

[pcm]

Great review (as usual) and great viewer comments! I'm considering the 2/64 and this will help greatly in my decision. Thanks all.

[stevewadham]

Thank you for this video. It was very helpful to get this kind of insight into audio technology. It has always been a leap of faith for me to upgrade whatever one has already to the next level but this has helped greatly. I have a Modi+ into an Asgaard and then a Naim 100 on my desktop. A pair of Dynaudio Emit 10 and a pair of Audioquest headphones to finish. Sounds great but maybe I can up things with a higher spec DaC ? I am also loving the Marc Ribot album. Many thanks.

[mtnmankeith]

I’ve been using the chord mojo 2 as a desktop dac for a year and I don’t think I could go without chords crossfeed feature. Works so well with old recordings and some new. Be nice it more DACs would add crossfeed for headphone listening.

[medonkrs]

Very nice review. Thanks for the effort!!

[CoffeeXmusic]

Awesome video! Much needed as I’m looking for a dac for my setup. Currently deciding between bifrost 2/64 and R26.

[Reeeepicheep]

Great breakdown, thanks for putting this together. I own 2 OG Bifrost 2s. Tried and returned the 2/64 module, too digititus for my taste--deviated from the OG's warm, smooth, and full-bodied R2R musicality. Probably bested only by the OG Yggy within Schiit's DAC lineup (though I've not heard one).

[curtiscroulet]

I have a Schiit Bifrost 2/64. I also recently purchased a Topping E30 II ($150 US), because I wanted to experiment with DSD recordings. Schiit DACs don't support DSD. Since I bought the Topping, I haven't used the Bifrost. When I was using the Bifrost, it was powered on 24/7, as is all of my audio gear. Because it was "on" all the time, I can't comment about the warm-up issue described by Currawong. My impression when I hooked up the Topping (which uses one AKM4493S delta-sigma DAC chip on each channel) was that it was a bit more forward sounding than the Schiit Bifrost 2/64. The Bifrost was a teeny bit smoother, more mellow sounding. I won't claim that I would hear the difference in a double-blind test, however. I've heard nothing objectionable about the sound of either DAC when using a coax connection from my Bryston BDP-pi streamer. I have 85, 000+ files, mostly FLACs, mostly classical music, on a WD Passport hard disk drive, which is plugged into the Bryston streamer. I also occasionally stream music from Qobuz. I feed my very few DSD recordings to the Topping DAC from a laptop computer using USB. I ran into problems using the USB output from the Bryston streamer. I got occasional "glitches" that sounded a bit like a mis-tracking CD. I thought this was a defect of the Unison USB input of the Schiit DAC, but I found that it also occurs with the USB input of the Topping. So I conclude that it's the Bryston streamer that causes the problem with USB. One thing I really like about the Topping DAC is that it has a digital display of the sample rate of the input. The Bifrost only has LEDs that show that it's turned on and what input is being used. I can see the sample rate and bit-depth on my cell phone and tablet with Bryston's Android app, however. This may not be important to other audiophiles. Now, I need to address the matter of DSD. I've bought several recordings in both their DSD and PCM versions. DSD from NativeDSD, and PCM from Presto Music. I've also tried both 192/24 PCM and 44/16 PCM of the same recordings. It's hard for me to hear the difference between any of them. DSD is perhaps a very tiny bit smoother on massed violins and chorus, and there is, perhaps, a tiny bit more "air." One thing that's definitely, objectively, true about DSD is that it takes humongous amounts of disk storage space. The higher the DSD rate, the more space it uses. A 512 file is twice as big as a 256 file . A DSD512 file is 93 times bigger than a 44/16 file (CD redbook standard) of the same music. For the minuscule improvement in sound quality, I can't see myself accumulating a library of DSD downloads.

[SallyMcCracker]

FYI, Per Jason's last stream - it sounds like Bifrost 2+ or Bifrost 3 is in the works. Bifrost now needs the forkbeard upgrade which won't be possible without an all-new motherboard. They're considering a trade-in program similar to what they did with Yggdrasil+. However that's yet to be determined.

[GavinHodgson]

Great video and sequence to the intoduction

[valkyrieorion]

Love the sound of the 2, and the detail of the 2/64. My biggest gripe has been 2, 2/64, Hel 2e all seem to just not have stable USB in seeing my computer(s). This has been across over 3 or 4 pc's and macs and I would go weeks with no issues then not able to get them to detect unless turning off/unplugging, doing a rain dance. And then go weeks again with no issues. But I will say I hear lots of people who don't have these issues either. But my "schittier" dacs like the built in dac on my quad amp, fiio k5, smsl ao300 amp never do this. But the Bifrost 2/64 in my opinion blows them away.

[asan]

Thank you for the review! Happy New year!

[in]

It may sound funny but my (relatively inexpensive) $300 DAP covers all my music needs.

At bed it perfectly drives my full size headphones Ananda Nano listening to Qobuz, and on the go it perfectly handles the IEM Truthear Nova. That lovely DAP is Hiby R6III

[Snowbird-vl]

Currawong, as always, thanks for your good work. I have an upgraded Bifrost 2/64, an Yggdrasil OG and, as of a couple of days ago, the new Gungnir 2. While still early days, I am very impressed with the Gungnir 2. 40-50% better than the Bifrost. Much more detail and a bigger soundstage while still maintaining a more analog sound than say the RME ADC. Very close to the Yggdrasil in performance. Schiit will sell a lot of these, but some will come at the expense of the Yggy.