Schiit Bifrost Multibit - Customs ????

[shibashis]

This...

You guys are overthinking it.

I walk in with lots of items and have never paid much customs duty for most items and especially electronic items. I even got a 22" iMac for my parents with no duty.

Just say nothing to declare and go through the green channel.

Even if you do have to pay, its still a lot cheaper than local D&D prices. 36% is actually very reasonable all things considered like getting the latest items.

In fact I got all my Schiit DACs direct to India instead of picking them up on US trips. They are truly VFM for what they cost and what they deliver even with duty added.

What is VFM for you may not be so to someone else.
A $400 or $850 DAC will not be VFM for most I am sure! Add to that the shipping and customs and the actual cost of a Gungnir could easily be 80K!

 

[akstorm]

Well its 649 in Europe, so no point, if it was the same price I might have been able to help. If you get it delivered to Germany from us (no idea of customs here) and its economical, I can still help, only might take a little longer to reach you (June maybe)

 

[regeHA]

What is VFM for you may not be so to someone else.
A $400 or $850 DAC will not be VFM for most I am sure! Add to that the shipping and customs and the actual cost of a Gungnir could easily be 80K!

By VFM I mean nothing else compares in that budget. It has nothing to do about the price point.

I have the Schiit Modi 2 Uber, cost me 14K (landed Indian price) and its a steal and VFM even though its 4K more than the US price (at current exchange rate, back when I bought it was closer to Rs. 8500 so I paid nearly 7K more and still consider it VFM). Nothing compares in that price range. Seriously, I've heard enough entry level DACs and nothing at 15K INR comes close to the Schiit Modi 2 Uber.

I've heard better DACs than Schiit... much better in fact, but they also cost $10,000 and a whole lot more. My reference to Schiit being VFM is they give 90-95% of the performance at 20-40% of the price.

Hopefully you can agree that is VFM.

 

[shibashis]

Oh no, do not get me wrong. Modi Uber is most definitely VFM, no question about that. Schiit is in that price point the most popular and go-to brand for sure, there are others of course. If you put VFM in that context then possibly yes.

 

[Nags]

Hi vikram, uploading customs invoice provided by fedex for modi2 uber DAC, purchased from schiit website and received approx in 10 days..hope this helps..

 

[vikramdesigner]

they charged you u 4k extra for $180 product, mine will go for full toss :sad::sad::sad::sad:

 

[srisaikat]

they charged you u 4k extra for $180 product, mine will go for full toss :sad::sad::sad::sad:

Only Govt. Postal service (EMS /USPS) can guarantee least amount of duties to my experience. Else, find a friend who can carry it personally. However I always prefer Borderlinx due to impatiencelicklips.

 

[techboy]

Get an Asus Essence One Muses Edition instead. It is a $900 DAC/AMP (DAC first) that costs about 53k in India.

Headfonia.com and others reviewed as the best DAC under $1000 beating brands like Burson Conductor, Violectric V800, Fostex etc.

And the above DACs are at the same level of the Gungnir Uber.

The reason people don't rate Asus highly is because they take it for granted. Because it is easily available in India.

Had Asus been imported and sold like Schiit in India, this DAC would cost at least 1 lac. And would still be a bargain at that price.

There are people who consider it one of the best DACs under $1500-2000 or so.

The amp is nothing special but definitely decent considering it is a free add on.

And then you also get balanced out and an unbalanced line out.

Steal for the price.

If the Bifrost Multibit costs $660 shipped, it would end up being $900+ with customs. Approx 35-40% on shipping as well.

So about 60-65k or so.

DISCLAIMER

I'm only conveying you the opinion of other reviewers and users online.

I don't believe different DACs sound different. And I've tried lots of different/expensive/free/cheap DACs and most sound more or less the same regardless of the technology.

What I said above was the research I did years ago. If you believe in audiophile magic, then that is the DAC to go for.

IMO DACs are no longer needed. A Fiio or IFi or Schiit Fulla or just an iPhone is indistinguishable from the Benchmark DAC2 under DBT conditions.

But that is what I know. I won't force it upon you.

Personally, if I had to go the conventional Audiophile way, I'd go with the Asus Muses.

If I was a bit more sensible I'd go with an IFi DSD2 Micro (38k) because it is feature rich and versatile and unlikely to sound very different from anything else out there.

But if you go by popular reviews, IFi doesn't hold a candle to the Asus Muses.

I have shared both sides with you. The objective and the subjective.

The rest is up to you.

 

[Fantastic]

By and large most DAC's sound quite nice. However with very good speakers and amp and a good source , DAC's do sound different in subtle ways. If you listen carefully , you can hear that easily. But for general listening and if you are not picky, most DAC's made nowadays sound quite nice.
So if you don't hear any difference between DAC's it's a good thing as you can get away by buying something pretty low in cost and maybe save money for your music collection.

If you 'can' hear the difference, it is unfortunate as it can burn a hole in your pocket !

By the way the Emotiva Stealth-DC1 cost just over Rs 46K including customs and shipping from Amazon.com . Lucky guys got it for just around Rs 37 K between October and Dec 2015 ! They dropped the price by $100 . But it's back up to $499 now I think. But the Stealth-1 seems to be not on Amazon right now ! Very nice DAC.

 

[techboy]

By and large most DAC's sound quite nice. However with very good speakers and amp and a good source , DAC's do sound different in subtle ways. If you listen carefully , you can hear that easily. But for general listening and if you are not picky, most DAC's made nowadays sound quite nice.
So if you don't hear any difference between DAC's it's a good thing as you can get away by buying something pretty low in cost and maybe save money for your music collection.

If you 'can' hear the difference, it is unfortunate as it can burn a hole in your pocket !

By the way the Emotiva Stealth-DC1 cost just over Rs 46K including customs and shipping from Amazon.com . Lucky guys got it for just around Rs 37 K between October and Dec 2015 ! They dropped the price by $100 . But it's back up to $499 now I think. But the Stealth-1 seems to be not on Amazon right now ! Very nice DAC.

You're fooling yourself if you can hear a difference.

Have you ever done a DBT or ABT which was level matched used a multimeter as well as with a decibel meter (just one of the two isn't enough). And it has to be level matched to within 0.1 DB at most, between the extremes.

I'm sure you haven't.

The line out for every DAC is always different. By 0.5-2+ DB or so. Even using different cables or cables of different lengths can change the sound level.

 

[Fantastic]

You're fooling yourself if you can hear a difference.

Thank you very much ! You are very polite and very young !

 

[techboy]

Thank you very much ! You are very polite and very young !

Nevertheless more experienced than you. I'm sure you've not ever participated in a single DBT test. Or have you?

 

[raghupb]

Nevertheless more experienced than you. I'm sure you've not ever participated in a single DBT test. Or have you?

Let's not hijack the OP's thread and intent.
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[techboy]

Yes. That is why I suggested the Asus Essence One Muses. Subjectively it is a step up from the Bifrost.

And it costs less. Has more features. And comes with 3 yrs local warranty.

So it is something he can consider as well.

 

[music4mhell]

Get an Asus Essence One Muses Edition instead. It is a $900 DAC/AMP (DAC first) that costs about 53k in India.

Headfonia.com and others reviewed as the best DAC under $1000 beating brands like Burson Conductor, Violectric V800, Fostex etc.

And the above DACs are at the same level of the Gungnir Uber.

The reason people don't rate Asus highly is because they take it for granted. Because it is easily available in India.

Had Asus been imported and sold like Schiit in India, this DAC would cost at least 1 lac. And would still be a bargain at that price.

There are people who consider it one of the best DACs under $1500-2000 or so.

The amp is nothing special but definitely decent considering it is a free add on.

And then you also get balanced out and an unbalanced line out.

Steal for the price.

If the Bifrost Multibit costs $660 shipped, it would end up being $900+ with customs. Approx 35-40% on shipping as well.

So about 60-65k or so.

DISCLAIMER

I'm only conveying you the opinion of other reviewers and users online.

I don't believe different DACs sound different. And I've tried lots of different/expensive/free/cheap DACs and most sound more or less the same regardless of the technology.

What I said above was the research I did years ago. If you believe in audiophile magic, then that is the DAC to go for.

IMO DACs are no longer needed. A Fiio or IFi or Schiit Fulla or just an iPhone is indistinguishable from the Benchmark DAC2 under DBT conditions.

But that is what I know. I won't force it upon you.

Personally, if I had to go the conventional Audiophile way, I'd go with the Asus Muses.

If I was a bit more sensible I'd go with an IFi DSD2 Micro (38k) because it is feature rich and versatile and unlikely to sound very different from anything else out there.

But if you go by popular reviews, IFi doesn't hold a candle to the Asus Muses.

I have shared both sides with you. The objective and the subjective.

The rest is up to you.

Any comment on Chord mojo ?
is it same like a candle in front of asus or vice versa ?

 

[panditji]

You're fooling yourself if you can hear a difference.

Have you ever done a DBT or ABT which was level matched used a multimeter as well as with a decibel meter (just one of the two isn't enough). And it has to be level matched to within 0.1 DB at most, between the extremes.

I'm sure you haven't.

The line out for every DAC is always different. By 0.5-2+ DB or so. Even using different cables or cables of different lengths can change the sound level.

Techboy, I also believed the same thing as you till I heard some differences myself in a DAC shootout.. Sure we had not used any volume matching equipment and we did not blindfold ourselves but we all came to the same conclusion... If you are so confident, then I would be interested in a DBT assuming you have all the tools since you have done so yourself....

I am in Faridabad and we can always take anybody's reference system in and around Delhi ....

 

[techboy]

Any comment on Chord mojo ?
is it same like a candle in front of asus or vice versa ?

I'm just stating what Mike at Headfonia.com said. Go ask him.

 

[techboy]

Techboy, I also believed the same thing as you till I heard some differences myself in a DAC shootout.. Sure we had not used any volume matching equipment and we did not blindfold ourselves but we all came to the same conclusion... If you are so confident, then I would be interested in a DBT assuming you have all the tools since you have done so yourself....

I am in Faridabad and we can always take anybody's reference system in and around Delhi ....

I do not have the tools.

But i did do some DAC blind tests without proper matching. This included different DACs from 40k to 150k+. And the differences were minor, if at all.

This included DACs from Benchmark and Musical Fidelity and others.

The amp was McIntosh. Speakers were Sonus Faber.

And I have since compared the iPhone DAC with other expensive DACs and the differences have been tiny, if at all.

Besides, there have been countless studies done by various people that all say the same thing. Some DACs do sound different if they aren't adequately transparent. The others are too close to tell apart regardless of everything else.

On the other hand tiny differences in speakers are very audible.

 

[techboy]

Any comment on Chord mojo ?
is it same like a candle in front of asus or vice versa ?

Mike preferred the Chord to the Element and the Alo to the Chord.

But people at SBAF find the Chord Mojo terrible. While many others find it pretty good for a portable setup. Some even find it the best portable combo under 500 or even higher.

That is the problem. There isn't much of a consensus unless people are together. In which case everybody says the same thing.

When there is no knowledge of the other person's views, there is no consensus.

Just like Mike didn't find the iFi at the level of the Chord or Burson. But another reviewer found the iFi much better than the $2000 Burson AMP DAC!

IMO if you have the Chord Mojo. Don't sell it. Don't upgrade. Don't change. Focus on your headphones. The amp DAC will set you for life.

 

[vikramdesigner]

Oh god, this thread is going somewhere.

Anyways thanks for the suggestions. i'll consider all these points and choose one .

Good news is that my uncle is coming from US within a week.

lets see which one to get.

Thanks guys