Schiit Bifrost 2 & Jotunheim 2 - No Sound (!)

[Baasha]

Hello All,

Just joined this forum. I just received my Bifrost 2 and Jotunheim 2 from Schiit a couple of days ago and just managed to set it up today.

I've connected an optical cable from my PC to the Bifrost 2 and then using balanced XLR cables, I've connected the Jotunheim 2 and then out to my headphones (Sennheiser HD800).

The problem I'm having is that I get no sound at all! I selected "Digital Output" in Windows Sound Settings to no avail!

I have another Schiit stack for my other PC - the Mjolnir 2 and Gungnir Multibit also connected via toslink and that works perfectly fine - my music has never sounded better.

Can anyone please help? Really frustrated right now.

 

[MaxBuck]

Aside from my having no clue what either of these components is supposed to do based on their whimsical Norse names, I would recommend reading and re-reading the owner's manual. (Note: I myself own a Modi.)

You may suppose this wisdom was obtained from a failure on my part to do that myself at one time or another. You may be correct.

 

[mSpot]

You can narrow down what's going on by swapping components between your working and non-working systems. I would start by seeing what happens if you swap in the Bifrost, and then the Jotunheim into the working system.

 

[Baasha]

It turned out to be a Realtek driver issue in Windows! Updated it about a week ago and it somehow disabled my optical output from the motherboard! I removed Realtek and now everything works as it should!

Now, on to listening to this setup!

 

[cinemakinoeye]

Now, on to listening to this setup!

I would like to read your impressions of this combination. I currently have the Jotunheim 2 and considering if the Bifrost 2 should be my next acquisition? Right now I'm using the Jotunheim 2 with the USB Multibit card, but I also want to use Coax and Optical sources, so I'm considering various DAC options. The combination of the two sure looks good on your desk.

 

[tvrgeek]

Happy Asgard owner here. Thinking about a Vidar.
I was also looking at the March amps, and the Schiit DAC/Pre stack would seem an appropriate front end. However, with the short cable runs in a home system, I really see no need for diff cabling. I get no noise on my cans just using the Asgard and my main speakers are dead silent. If running miles of cables in a studio or some fancy HT, then I get it, but it seems to me a market demand for consumer goods based on a false assumption that if better for pro, must be better for home.

Cine, how about just an external USB-PCM-S/PDIF converter-switch as you already have a good DAC? I bet someone makes one.

 

[cinemakinoeye]

[...] Cine, how about just an external USB-PCM-S/PDIF converter-switch as you already have a good DAC? I bet someone makes one.

I see there are quite a few USB => S/PDIF boxes, but I don't see any S/PDIF to USB, and I want to preserve my USB connection for the Mac, so I guess I could run get a Modi or similar box and run the SE out into the SE input on the Jotunheim 2 and be done with it, a much cheaper solution that adding a fancy DAC, especially since for critical listening I already have a Mac as the source via USB into the Jotunheim 2 (with the Multibit card) and that sound as clean as anything I've heard. Any more thoughts on this?