Bifrost 2/64 Unveiled

July 22, 2022, Valencia, CA. Today, Schiit Audio announced the immediate availability of Bifrost 2/64, a substantial improvement on the original Bifrost 2, introduced almost 3 years ago. Bifrost 2/64 includes a new analog card with higher performance and hardware-balanced topology, as well as a new optional NOS (non-oversampled) mode. Bifrost 2/64 costs $799, a $100 increase from the original Bifrost 2. Current Bifrost 2 owners can order the Bifrost 2/64 analog card for self-installation for $300.

 

"This is a big change, and an across-the-board improvement," said Mike Moffat, Schiit's Co-Founder and head of digital development. "It takes Bifrost 2 into a hardware-balanced topology, with one DAC per phase, like Yggdrasil and Gungnir. It sounds better. It even measures better. It gives owners more options--our digital filter or NOS. There are a ton of new tricks in here that take our True Multibit architecture to a new level."

 

Bifrost 2/64 replaces the original Bifrost 2's two Analog Devices AD5781 D/A converters with four Texas Instruments DAC8812 D/A converters. This allows Schiit to dedicate one converter to each individual phase, the "hardware balanced" configuration that Mike refers to. This pushes performance higher than the previous Bifrost, despite each D/A converter having less bit depth.

 

"It's our best-performing True Multibit DAC yet, at least on the AP," said Jason Stoddard, Schiit's co-founder and head of analog development. 

 

But Stoddard says one thing is even more important to him than measured performance: the fact that customers can easily upgrade their own Bifrost 2s if they want. 

 

"Bifrost 2 is a completely modular DAC," said Jason. "If a customer wants to upgrade, we simply send them a slide-in analog card and an SD Card with new firmware. Swap the analog card, plug in the SD card, turn it on to install the firmware, and you're done. No need to send the DAC back to us."

 

The Bifrost 2/64 is now the standard and only Bifrost 2 model. It is available now at schiit.com at $799. Owners of previous Bifrost 2s can order a hardware and firmware upgrade for $300 on the site.

 

 

Founded in 2010 by Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat, Schiit has grown into a leader in affordable high-end audio, with a wide range of products spanning DACs, headphone amplifiers, and preamplifiers, from $49 to $2599. 

 

Denise Martin, [email protected]