I am alone on this but I will say it anyway…
The BF2 is marginally better than the SMSL SU-8, but to me it wasn’t worth the huge price differential.
If you have the money to splurge though, why not?
On the upside, it works well and has a killer warranty.
I hear you. I have Been resisting doing the test because I really didn’t want to tear up the cable plant just for a test, especially since I really enjoy the way the S-8 stack sounds. But if I don’t do it I will always wonder about it, so I reckon I am gonna give it a shot and see how it goes. If it only produces a marginal improvement things won’t go any further. If however the improvement is dramatic, I will mull options. I have heard good things about the Little Bear switch, so that might be a good way to go.
I am doing that right now. People are looking at me funny, though, so maybe I should stop… 
Use a set of Y-cables and you can get at least two amps running.
I use a dac with SE and Balanced outputs…
So the balanced goes to an am that has balanced inputs…this is one.
The RCA outs go via a set of y splitters…amp 2 and amp 3.
Then the preamp out of one of them goes to a speaker amp, this is amp 4.
Then the dac I have has an internal headphone linestage “amp” and this is number 5.
No switch needed and I can easily listen quickly with 5 different amps.
Voila…
Happy Camper here…
I was using Y cables out of my DAC and feeding four amps (2 Via RCA and 2 via XLR). I then bought some switchers (RCA and XLR), so that I could run up to seven amps. I am now thinking of getting rid of one amp and the switchers and just going back to the split cables. Since I don’t plan on running more amps, the extra gear (cables and switchers just doesn’t make sense). I am just over-complicating stuff and the wire management is truly ugly! 
Yes it can get ugly fast…
Raptor got his around the same time as me and figured its time I share my thoughts in 1 place rather than separate replies on reddit
Thoughts on the Bifrost 2 vs. Topping E30
First impressions:
bass felt punchier and more defined, sound had a bit more clarity in the mix. Had the same impression on a second amp.
No idea if the USB input is any better, people online say its better, havent felt like buying cables just to test, since USB is my preferred input anyway. I never noticed USB noise in the signal on either device, as far as I’m concerned this is a wash since I dont have a noisy source that needs a fixin’
Reviews online said the balanced output was better than single ended. This is false. Bought cables to test in a volume matched A/B scenario, zero difference in Placebotown.
Then since my setup got dismantled I decided to try and do a better A/B test on my integrated amp using Airplay optical as the source, and just plugging back and forth. 2 seconds lag but fair enough of an assessment
Soundstage definitely shifts wider, E30 was more narrow. Felt like the bass was hitting me in the forehead, then with the Bifrost it shifted below/behind my ears. Might have also been more resolving, where you can hear more of the actual string on a bass guitar, for example, or just the percussion. Cool improvement.
More smoothed out and less fatiguing. The amp in particular is a real force and I found it has a certain “electric” intensity on the highs that can be fatiguing over time and force me to roll off the treble to compensate for it. I found with the Bifrost that effect was lessened. No pain.
Is it worth it? It’s an upgrade. It’s not $500 better. I concluded it was more like $100 better, but chalk this up to just how I value DACs in the chain. It was helping the sound but not like $150 in new NOS tubes will do to a improve a sound. Probably not like going from a $250 to $750 or $500 to $1000 amp or headphones, either.
It’s an appreciated improvement but at over 3x the price it’s not exactly a revelation. I still had to sit there and assess what was better in the A/B scenario, it wasn’t jarring. Over time, assuming I never need to upgrade, the improvements will be appreciated, and I like that my sound is meaningfully better. It just comes down to how much you value diminishing returns in the sound plateau. That said, Youtube reviewers are full of it with the superlatives.
edit: All observations were made with Sennheiser HD800’s
@Mat Nice job on your assessment. I think for me it was more pronounced because I am using the Frost for my headphone rig, and I think things are more critical there.
To build on this a little bit I did the test this weekend where I re-cabled everything so that the Frost was now driving the DA-8S / speakers and the SU-8 was driving the TA-20 for the headphones. So let’s start on the speaker side.
There was an immediate overall improvement in sound quality when listening to the speaker setup through the Frost. Sound stage was wider and a little deeper, and I thought there was better overall refinement and a more natural quality in the sound. However, I liked the way the SU-8 delivered the lower end just a little bit better, while pretty much holding its own in other areas. So while noticeable for sure, not dramatic enough where you say “This has to stay like this”.
The dramatic improvement came on he headphone side. Listening to my phones over the SU-8 was good, but lacked that enveloping response and fullness that the Frost delivers. Just multitudes better in every respect.
So the net result is that the setup will stay put; The SU-8 will continue to drive the speaker setup and the Frost will run the headphone rig. When the SU-8 has depreciated enough I will go ahead and replace it with something better. I think part of the deal for me is that I think I enjoy the more natural and complete sound of a multi-bit/R2R implementation over a chip implementation. This means I am gonna have to save up for the next purchase! But I am in no rush, as the SU-8 is doing just fine. It pairs with the DA-8S very well, and honestly in my current environment I can’t do much better without really pissing the neighbors off, so I am set for now. I am glad I did the test, though. I learned quite a bit from it.
I only have headphone rigs.
So I have been playing around with my Bifrost 2 for quite a while now and have found there are actually a couple ways to get a subtle but audible increase in quality. One of the most obvious being to follow what the heads at Schiit said themselves about using short usb cables on preferably a usb 3 or 3.1 jack. Which to my ears I have found to actually be true when it comes to perceivable time distortion in the upper end of the spectrum at least. The second less obvious one, is seemingly to set the Bifrost to one of its maximum sample rates, be it 32bit - 192000hz or 176400hz. For my purposes I chose the ladder. These are the only two sample rates than can be used to set the Bifrost into NOS mode (Disables its internal oversampling method) And instead utilize your own oversampling method of choice for lower sample rates. In my case, I chose to use a version of the “Sound eXchange resampler” custom made into a plugin for foobar2000. I set the target sample rate to what my windows settings are currently set to. To my knowledge this specific resampler utilizes your specified sample rate with 32-bit float calculation to get the job done.
@Doegiz That is some nice work. I’m feeding my Frost via digital coax, I decided to get away from USB. And it’s incredible. But tonight I tried the Unison USB module for the first time. I got an Audioquest Cinnamon USB-C to USB-B cable and I’m using my cell as a streamer. This cable is super nice, btw. I’m gonna get another one and feed the U2 Pro via the laptop’s UCB-C interface. But yeah, the cell displayed a headphone symbol and went into some kind of HiFi mode as soon as it saw the Frost. Can’t get any easier than that!
I am very impressed with how my trusty old LG V40 performs in this capacity. I have tested both the home Wi-Fi and the LTE network to stream Amazon Music HD and it sounds fantastic. No EQ or anything, and it’s fantastic. This now gives me an alternate source should something happen to the PC. The mobile Amazon music app is really cool, too. It adds interactive features that the PC version doesn’t offer. So it’s fun to use. Honestly, though, I’m really impressed by how good it sounds. I love this DAC, man.
So I decided to look into this a bit more. Not so much about the Frost’s oversampling technique itself, just the resampling plug-in bit. I had no idea this DAC did that either, btw. As it turns out, there are two resamplers that come with Fubar, so I tried one from RetroArch.
And no, you are not insane! There was a noticeable overall improvement in the sound the minute I initiated it. Very cool tweak. Thanks for sharing that. I like tinkering with these things…
@Raptor168 Very interesting re the V40 and the Amazon HD app. I bought a Kindle fire
10 a few months ago on sale, partly because the web said it can play Am Hd music. I have tried it w. Spotify so far and have discovered that the usb output is 24/96,according
to my dac screen. That’s without an additional player and sounds quite good. Plan to try the Am. app too.
I was really surprised at how good this phone does in an audio delivery role. I have this cool little holder that props the phone up just right so it looks like the system’s control head, which is essentially what it is at that point. The way the app presents the songs and content is really cool, too. And though there is no EQ, the sound quality is incredible. I have been playing around with amp/headphone combos and I am still trying to figure out which one is my favorite. I guess those combos will be my EQ! With 2 amps and 4 headphones to choose from (5 if you throw in the Lagoons), that is a lot of different sound signatures. Don’t need EQ at that point! Want a certain sound? Combine this headphone with that amp, and BOOM! yer good to go. I’m lovin it!
I have recently revived an old iPad that my Wife retired after getting her new Surface Pro and have been wondering what that machine might do in this capacity. I’m not an Apple guy, but I have heard that these things deliver excellent audio. So this might a rabbit hole I go down in the future.
@Raptor168 Yeah I have an old LG g5 which outputs at 24/192 by default! Almost bought a V20 back when. Glad you’re having such fun, and that you’re eclectic tastes
include classical music. SO many miss out on that tremendous array of tone colors…
sometimes just because of the term. Important to expose kids early to classical as just
another (gorgeous) genre of music. PS I am pretty eclectic too and try new things often.
PPS Would love to have a bifrost for my Asgard…someday, lol.
I see what you did there, pretty clever
Nice spot there, Heimdall 
I’m glad someone noticed. I was feeling right proud of myself for it hahaha
32bit - 192000hz or 176400hz. For my purposes I chose the ladder. These are the only two sample rates than can be used to set the Bifrost into NOS mode (Disables its internal oversampling method)
AFAIK this is inaccurate, there is no way to disable oversampling on the Bifrost 2 and the 192/176k tip applies to the older model
You’re claim is accurate as not long ago I had already realized that this may have only applied to the original Bifrost, however my point still stands that these settings I played with do may a difference, albeit very minor. Whether or not you choose to believe that is your call. Only your ears can say on that one.
