John
Schiit Audio are making good on their promise of the Bifrost and Gungnir DACs being modular and fully upgradable.
First up, the Bifrost gets a new Uber analogue board. This apparently lifts the ‘sonic and measured performance’ of the Bifrost by borrowing the discrete, direct-coupled gain stage from the Gungnir. The Uber board can be ordered with any new Bifrost for US$70 or purchased as an upgrade to existing units for US$100, for which Schiit are fully prepared. Their all-new upgrade scheduling system promises to keep turnaround times to a minimum.
Secondly, BOTH the Bifrost and the Gungnir can be fitted with Schiit’s second generation USB board. It plugs the 24/176.4 hole (a bugbear of mine) and Stoddard and Moffat claim it will out-shine several external USB-S/PDIF convertors (of which I’ve been a strong proponent). That sounds very promising indeed. Nice to see a manufacturer make a song and dance about USB quality in a budget unit. This Gen 2 USB board ships with all new Bifrosts and Gungnirs for US$100 or can be had via the upgrade programme for US$150.
Further Information: Uber Analog Upgrade / Gen 2 USB
