Review and Measurements of Schiit BiFrost DAC

[graz_lag]

CE is not a certification. CE is a declaration of the mfgr. that the product will comply to EMC and safety standards in case someone dares to question or measure it when there has been an incident. If someone gets injured or a plane crashes the investigators will want to see the paperworks issued by a certified lab. Without an incident nothing is ever checked by anybody, you have to rely on the sincerity of the mfgr that they know how to correctly design and build a product.

Correct

 

[KSTR]

Btw, the mobile version of this forum sucks big time.... for example, where is the damn logout button ?

 

[graz_lag]

Btw, the mobile version of this forum sucks big time.... for example, where is the damn logout button ?

Click on your profile which is on the top, you will see the log out button at the bottom of the available options ...

 

[agjell]

CE is not a certification. CE is a declaration of the mfgr. that the product will comply to EMC and safety standards in case someone dares to question or measure it when there has been an incident. If someone gets injured or a plane crashes the investigators will want to see the paperworks issued by a certified lab. Without an incident nothing is ever checked by anybody, you have to rely on the sincerity of the mfgr that they know how to correctly design and build a product.

I stand corrected. I used "certification" (wrongly) because there are multiple certification companies that can be used to certify if your product is compliant. In those cases a certificate of compliance is issued for the tested product. I notice the certification is not a requirement, though. Maybe it should be? I assume CE-compliance is a preventative measure, to avoid accidents happening in the first place, although it's certainly useful for investigating causes after the fact as well.

 

[Nango]

What a mess again and again those Shiit ... thanks @amirm.

 

[Ralf Stocker]

My rating: Not recommended.

 

[DKT88]

I don't need to pay much attention to reviews of Schiit stuff, I sent them an email a few years ago and told them I'd never buy another damn thing from them.

 

[Samoyed]

No Schiit?

 

[KSTR]

Click on your profile which is on the top, you will see the log out button at the bottom of the available options ...

Strange, there is now profile icon, I only have the "three bars" menu and the home icon on the left, and letter and bell icons on the right, nothing else. Maybe that's a browser issue (Dolphin on Android)...

 

[graz_lag]

Strange, there is now profile icon, I only have the "three bars" menu and the home icon on the left, and letter and bell icons on the right, nothing else. Maybe that's a browser issue (Dolphin on Android)...

See the screenshot of my Opera page ...

 

[sbsj]

Oh Schiit , here we go again ! I bought the Modi 2 and Magni 2 because it says "Made in the USA" . Thanks to ASR I now know better. On the other hand, I have had them for 2 years now , so far no hardware issues. My next dac and amp will be the Topping D50 and Massdrop THX ( if and when Massdrop decides to drop them again and hopefully in quantities enough for everyone to buy one )

 

[Poiuyt23]

Not sure what is to say about the look of Schiit other than if you have seen one, you have seen them all

Not sure but I think Amirm just won the internet by accident....

 

[invaderzim]

There are DACs such as the SMSL SU-8 which run circles around it for half the price. That's both on performance and features such as volume control, balanced output, USB input, etc.

You might get all of those things but you don't get a fun company name that will make your friends chuckle, an irreverent owner and designer and an entertaining site.

 

[mindbomb]

@amirm

It appears this is a pre-2016 bifrost since it lacks usb.

Compared to dacs like the musical fidelity vdac II from 2012, it still seems like a poor result. Schiit mentions that the bifrost has a fully discrete analog stage, which makes it kinda unique for a dac, but it doesn't seem like this produced any tangible benefits.

 

[confucius_zero]

Should we believe schiit users claim bad measurements lead to a more "musical sound" over "analytical"?

 

[amirm]

@amirm

It appears this is a pre-2016 bifrost since it lacks usb.

Seems like it. Question is why Schiit keeps the same name and provides no way to tell version numbers. BiFrost 2 or some such thing would have preserved the brand yet inform the customer properly.

 

[invaderzim]

Should we believe schiit users claim bad measurements lead to a more "musical sound" over "analytical"?

It makes it sound like you are there listing to the music live.

You know, one of those live performances at a street fair with cheap equipment that is poorly setup and pushed way past its limits. It is like being there.

 

[Pillars]

This is a first gen product from Schiit. Original Bifrost non Uber, it is very old. To the tune of 7 years so I'm not sure how much these results can be weighted.

 

[invaderzim]

This is a first gen product from Schiit. Original Bifrost non Uber, it is very old. To the tune of 7 years so I'm not sure how much these results can be weighted.

Looks like it was released in 2011, that is a bit long in the tooth. Probably not a fair test at this point but a good argument for them to put some sort of number after the name so we know just how many generations old it is.

 

[Pillars]

Looks like it was released in 2011, that is a bit long in the tooth. Probably not a fair test at this point but a good argument for them to put some sort of number after the name so we know just how many generations old it is.

Would be good yes because the changes are not slight. The newer version mainboards have some pretty big changes to the layout. Would be interested in a newer DS measurement.