It’s 31 degrees here today, and my Bifrost 2 feels very warm. Not quite egg-frying levels, but hot. Is that safe? Is it OK to have it in a stack? How much electricity is this thing happily munching away on?
It will get warm, it even has a slight warm up time, shouldn’t get insanely hot though
I’ve had it since Monday and it has been powered on since. I just used a cooking thermometer to take its temperature and it’s 45 degrees on the surface.
Mine stays on 24 hrs a day and has been for 45 days approx… barely above room temp… something sounds weird there…
Its routinely stupid hot here in Madrid (40 C). My Bifrost 2 gets warm ( only run at night) to the touch - can hold hand on …the Asgard 3 get hot to keep hand on and the Jotunhiem gets legit painfully hot to keep hand on.
Temperature concerns aside (I’m sure it’s fine, I’ve just never had an R2R DAC before) my impressions of this DAC might help to inform some people’s purchase, so here goes:
My headphone ownership history (over the last 10 years or so): Sennheiser HD590, ATH-M50x, Grado SR80e, Sennheiser HD58X, Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro, Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro, E-Mu Teak, Audeze LCD-X, Hifiman Arya, ZMF Aeolus.
My equipment history goes something like this: My DAC/Amp progression has gone from using nothing but PC hardware, to using a Fiio E10k, then to using various iterations of the Modi/Magni stack, then to a THX 789 which most recently I’ve paired with the Modius. I have a GS-X Mini on the way which I see very much as my final destination Amp-wise. The Bifrost 2 I expected to be a step up from the Modius, and I’m sure that for some people it is, but my impressions are as follows.
Upon unboxing the Bifrost 2 and plugging it in, I initially felt that it sounded fractionally warmer and fuller in the low end than the Modius, but ever so slightly lacked the same levels of detail retrieval across the full range. I also perceived a slightly reduced sound stage. I wrote all of this off as me not having given the Bifrost time to warm up, as many often report that DACs like this can take a bit of time to reach their full potential.
Fast forward 24 hours, and I decided to A/B test the Bifrost 2 against the Modius by running XLR cables from both, and just swapping the inputs on the THX 789. I made up a list of songs, and I’d listen to each song twice, first on one DAC and then on the other. The entire process took about 3 to 4 hours. In my personal experience, the two DACs sounded more or less exactly the same. Every time I thought I perceived a difference with a particular part of a particular song, I’d pause, swap the inputs, and do a direct comparison, and every time I’d come to the conclusion that there actually wasn’t a difference. I’ll say it again - they sounded the same. 99% identical. Any difference was so subtle that I could genuinely write it off as being my imagination, and if you were to put a blindfold on me, I wouldn’t be able to tell which was which.
Fast forward another 24 hours, I repeated the experiment. No playlist this time, just randomly choosing songs and comparing DACs, sometimes full songs, sometimes sections of songs that I felt represented a diverse set of scenarios. By the end of this session (perhaps another two hours) I came away with slightly different impressions. My overriding feeling is still that these DACs sound more or less the same, but there are very, very subtle differences. The Bifrost 2 feels ever-so-slightly warmer than the Modius, and ever so slightly more ‘full’ in the lower frequencies, whereas the Modius feels fractionally more analytical and detailed. There is a sense of depth to the Bifrost which the Modius challenges with a touch of extra precision in the treble. Beyond that, I have to reiterate yet again - if you blindfolded me and asked me which is which, I would not be able to tell you.
So for me, personally, the Modius seems to represent extraordinary value at $200 considering that I couldn’t separate it from a $700 Bifrost 2. It also has taught me an important lesson about just how subjective the pursuit of the audiophile can be, as I wouldn’t dream of saying that another person couldn’t come along and come to a completely different conclusion about the differences between these two - I’m certain that there are those amongst you for whom the fractional warmth and fullness that I perceived would not only seem like a far more significant differential, but well worth the extra $500.
It makes me think of wine - someone who doesn’t drink a lot of wine isn’t going to be able to make any sense of why one bottle might cost $10, and another might cost $50. That person could taste both, perceive a difference between them, but wouldn’t necessarily agree that those differences are worth $40. Conversely, some people develop an appreciation of wine over time which allows them to understand the differences between those two bottles, and to them the $40 difference would be justified. It’s all subjective.
To me, the differences between these two DACs are almost imperceptible, and I don’t see the $500 difference as being worth it due to the existence of the Modius. This is all just my personal experience, and if you own a Bifrost and love it, that’s awesome. If, however, you’re a person who’s looking to step up from a cheaper DAC with the expectation of significant, noticeable differences that are proportionate to the extra expense, for me personally, you’re 95% of the way there with a Modius, and every percentage point above that is potentially subjective and undeniably expensive.
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Thanks for the nice honest sharing of your experience…
I often have experienced the same conclusions over a variety of audio gear…but there are thousands of others that will fight you to the death over the diffrences they claim to experience…
All is good…like you say if you have a Bifrost 2 and love it thats fine…and I do by the way…
Some will look at the specs and just want the satisfaction of having a spec wise better chip, a more technological interface, etc…its all good.
Glad you like the Modius, as you I think its a wonderful value for sure
Enjoy the music!!
Alex
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You’re quite right Alex. It comes down to the individual’s ability to perceive the subtle nuanced differences between high-end audio technologies, and furthermore, the value they attribute to those differences.
I think the danger is that there will be some people who aren’t as far along in their audiophile journey who will look at forum posts and reviews, and will expect to see significant differences and improvements in sound quality by spending significant sums of money. The thing is, it can be the case that the ability to perceive those differences and improvements is something that money can’t buy.
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Quite true…only experience, and even then physical and/or psychological factors can influence or corrupt perceived differences. Such a personal hobby, so find what works for you at the price to enjoyment ratio that’s right for you.
I will have to say the Modius and Bifrost 2 testing was a strange experience for me. Largest noticeable changes were with my LCD X and Diana Phi… Anything else like my koss, Klipsch, Blon B20 did not have a large impact. The only thing consistently for me was the layering and separation was easier to notice on the Bifrost than the Modius, which for a lot of music I have noticed doesn’t make a difference.
But for those that listen to obscure EDM, well recorded acoustics, and soundtracks there maybe a noticeable difference… But only if you look for something. As M0N recommends (and I learned as well) spend a few days/weeks with a single piece of gear exclusively and then do some A/B testing. Truth is, there is a lot of music that won’t make a difference. For me, the Bifrost 2 with the GS X Mini or the RNHP made a substantially more impact but still, only 2 headphones of mine do the differences truly stand out.
And most importantly… if you’re happy with your gear… STOP! Being content with what you have is more valuable than drooling over what you don’t have.
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I like the Steve Guttenburg listening method.
At least initially don’t try and quantify or describe differences, just listen for a week or so, then swap back and see if you miss it.
The Bifrost 2 was a pretty big step (for a DAC) over the $100 and $200 DAC’s I have here, I do not have a Modius so I can’t give apples to apples. Having said that I was using $1000+ Headphones and $500+ Amplification when I first listened to it and I wouldn’t suggest upgrading a DAC until you’ve moved up in headphones and amplification.
The big difference in DAC’s isn’t in tonality, there is some of that at the extremes, I find ESS based DAC’s to generally sound harsh/“tizzy” in comparison the AK DAC’s in the entry level, but it’s subtle and you have to listen for it.
The big differentiator to me with the Bifrost 2 over the cheaper DAC’s was in the staging, instrument separation, improved mid range timbre and a smoother treble delivery.
I don’t think any of those have very much to do with it being R2R/Multibit FWIW.
I hear similar distinctions on mid tier SS Amps, I think a lot of it is the ability to still reproduce/resolve small signals while reproducing large signals. Which probably has at least as much to do with the output section as it does the DAC technology.
But go with your ears, if there is little difference to you then the value isn’t there, and I liked your wine analogy.
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Yup its a crazy hobby and many roads to drive down…novices to engineering experts in audio “stuff”.
One consensus seems to be the thing that matters most is the transducer is the most important and significant thing in the chain…never really got much of a dis-agreement on this one…
Followed by the source material itself…
Having an amp that can handle the “load” attached to it over a range of frequencies and changing impedances…
Once you get a modem like a Modius or Bifrost 2…your 99% there IMO with gear…then its that headphone and source material…
Enjoy the music, while you can!!
Alex
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Honestly if you have a second setup, get a Modius. They do work surprisingly well and I do not blame anyone for thinking of the Modius as a “babyfrost”.
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Keep in mind that this has now become your bottleneck, personally I would wait until you get your gsx and see if your opinion of the bf2 changes. Either way, agree with most things that have been said here, if you feel it’s not worthwhile in your setup, let it go and just enjoy what you have
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The Bifrost2 is on my second setup, but I’ve heard a lot of positive things about the Modius.
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Wait until the matching amp comes out!!
:>)
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Poly, I completely agree and relate to your analysis, I had the same experience with staging and instrument separation, I noticed it immediately. I really enjoy my BF2/Spout100 stack…
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“If you’re happy and you know it close your wallet!”
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What is a good bit depth and sample rate to select in windows? I don’t know too much on the subject. I know the Bifrost 2 has an 8x oversampling filter that I would like to utilize.
The general consensus is 24/96 being plenty. We’re humans, not bats. 
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