I’ve had the pleasure of listening to gear including amps, headphones and dacs that all make me think “OK YEAH, I can now see myself putting more money on thid over everything else” most recently with an amp however if I had to spend more on one piece of my gear over the rest, I think it would still be the DAC. Yes, having a less capable whatever else will still bottleneck you and debatebly because I’ve always put so much attention to headphone and amp by the time I was ready for a dac upgrade it made the biggest difference but still DAC BABYYYYYY. hahaha.
Also yes! That was one of the biggest things I noticed when comparing the modius and bifrost, the amount of low level and bass information. Everything else you mentioned too was pretty accurate based of my memory! Just an all around improvement
I mean if you could do that, yes, but like, that’s a pretty massive jump especially if someone is only running something like an asgard. I’d say at least get a nicer more suitable amp first, and then move to yggy if you can. But while I would want to do that, some might not want to even invest that much into their whole chain lol. I would say either find used bf2 if you can never find it feasible to put that much into a chain, or if you can actually afford it used yggy do that and skip bf2. I’d skip the gumby altogether. But it’s all going to come down to how much people actually want to invest in the hobby in general. Even if a used yggy is (imo) more bang for the buck than a new bf2, it’s still an entirely different price category that some people may never want to get into
It will depend on the sound that soothes of course but I have owned a Asgard 3 and BF2 for a couple of years now and even though I have “stepped up” to something else on my main, I have moved the A3 and BF2 to my sim rig to pair with my Adam T5V’s. Basically the BF2 might be the pillow under my head when they bury me! It is that good for the money! Main setup is the Denafrips Pontus 2 DAC and Bryston BHA1 amp. To me they are similar but a step up. Just my 3 cents.
I feel similarly, though I feel like the jump up to the Pontus II was more significant for me than the jump up to the Bifrost 2. I really like both DACs a lot and plan on keeping both for a long time.
Used BF2s have been seen for $500-600 USD. That info may persuade or dissuade you. I was recently thinking of grabbing a second BF2, but decided to jump on a lesser known dac. That info may persuade or dissuade you.
I just got the chance to audition the Yggy LIM in my setup after using the BF2 as my only DAC for the last couple years, so I thought I could weigh in on the topic. In my modest setup, Quicksilver>ZMF Auteur, I found the BF2 to get me 90-95% of the way to the Yggy LIM. The biggest difference to my ears was the extra detail I heard in the bass when using the LIM. I still find the BF2 bass presentation very satisfying, so for me the extra expense is not worth it. I’ll be sticking with the BF2 for now.
I’m on my 2nd run with a BF2 and I also have a Yggy A2/Unison (now called the OG). Sound signature wise the Yggy OG and BF2 are definitely in the same family for sure, there’s no mistaking that Mike Moffat Schiit house sound, but they are different in the same, to me. How I hear them, the Yggy OG has more treble extension and space, greater stage, better with the dynamics and is more resolving than the BF2. The BF2 is not as forward as the Yggy so comes across a bit smoother to me. Both DACs hit hard and have strong bass, but are very much distinguishable and if you were truly looking for that BF2 sound but with added technicalities - you might want to stay with the BF2 or give your head some time to adjust to the OG.
I will mention that it has been said to me that actually the Yggy LIM is the closest in “sound” than either the OG or MIL, and if I really wanted an “advanced” BF2 that LIM might be something to give a listen to, but that is just one opinion and I’ve not heard an LIM to comment.
If anyone with BF2 is curious about Unison vs DDC + Coaxial, the ddc is better. Tested for hours until I felt bad for the BF2 for the amount of switching.
I’m using Douk U2 Pro with 5v psu. Before I buy the BF2 I used it with Modius and that was a success (blacker background, better stage & imaging, less harsh etc.)
And now with BF2 and its also better, most notable things: images better separated (this was easy to notice), smoother treble and better sibilance control, and the space just breathes more. These are few percentages improvements but it adds up.
This is very interesting. Ive used the BF2 with only usb and the only time i found it to be “too much” was with the BHC, which is part of the reason why i was looking for a new dac. Its bombastic nature tended to get in the way of itself, but i love the timbre and the heft it gives the bottom end.
I was going to try a tube swap next but maybe a coax out from the lumin would be better. Man its just such a pia to move it from the desktop and try these.
I’ve tried to compare my BF2’s Unison USB input versus the coax at one point. I have a iFi Zen Stream feeding my BF2 for the record. I had trouble distinguishing any clear differences with my setup (Quicksilver Headphone Amp and ZMF Auteur).
I am using USB currently and might attempt another comparison now that I have a Meze Elite. It’s a higher resolution headphone, so it might be easier to detect whether I prefer USB or coax moving forward.
My setup with the Yggdrasil doing DAC duty is absolutely on point tonight. I have not listened to this chain for a while but I decided to work it this evening and with the tracks I’ve been playing tonight - WOW.
I didn’t notice until Delta9K mentioned it in the Violectric thread, but apparently the Bifrost 2 can also take the Bifrost 2/64 firmware update, which enables a NOS mode on the original Bifrost 2:
I might play with running the BF2 in NOS mode (or even NOS+HQPlayer) whenever I get around to it, but I’d definitely be interested to hear from anyone else who updates!
It’s usually the case for NOS vs OS, NOS DAC’s tend to have a slightly more “grain” in the treble (not in a bad way), but they tend IMO to sound more “immediate”/dynamic as well.
OS takes the edge off the treble, and can be a win, but can also sound overly smooth at times.
They do have very different overall character, I think it’s one of those changes pretty much every one hears.
