DAC’s and streaming equipments upgrade

[Birdy]

Biforst is a good contender and seems to be well rounded from what I have researched with everything sounding pretty good. Also great return policy from Schiit. On the other hand, the D90 seems to have an edge on music separations, extra detailed refinement that’s comparable to more expensive DAC’s and which I was looking for to complement with the Raal Tweeters. It’s hard to justify the actual sound base on just reviews. I do only trust my own hearing =). Not sure if I’m willing to do an AB test of the two since D90 at Apos (seller) charges a hefty 20% restock and return shipping I think. Originally all I wanted was the Bluesound Node 2i, so I didn’t think too much with ABing DAC’s in the D90 range. Haha, already way over stretched the budget, from $1k to $3.8k worth of upgrades and potential AB sound testing cost.

Thanks for your insight.

[Mag_Neato]

No harm, no foul, just different "flavors" between the various dacs. You'd have to really listen, do quick a/b switching, level matched as best you can, etc. to truly pick out all the differences/nuances. Not worth going back since you've closed the deal!

I actually just put a Bifrost 2 in my system to "upgrade" from the built-in Burr-Brown chip dac in my Parasound P5. That is still a really good dac, but I'm really enjoying what a multibit/R2R type dac is giving me in terms of detail, naturalness, and 3 dimensionality. Hearing differences like sounds that were not fully fleshed out and digital sounding becoming actual sounds of instruments, etc. and being better fleshed out. They have a better sense of physical space and of being "in the room" in a certain place in the soundstage. I have listened to tracks the whole way through where before I'd skip through stuff because I was hearing a different rendition of them. I got sucked into the performance.

[Birdy]

Wow, glad you have decided on the Bifrost and found so much joy in sound. Audio listening is seductive and magical. There’s an unlimited combinations of gear to tailor to our taste and fine tune our system. It’s an on-going journey.

[Pogre]

I think if you put a blindfold on those differences disappear.

My experience watching others go down the DAC rabbit hole are that you'll just drive yourself nuts trying to hear inaudible differences between them. It's an exercise in self deception, imo.

[Birdy]

I can definitely see that and how our mind can manipulate a perception. It’s similar to when we do blind tasting with wine. The whole audio hobby can be a rabbit hole, trying to gain settle improvements that maybe only we, ourselves can only hear and that is what makes a person an audio enthusiast.

[Mag_Neato]

Opinions vary!