Bifröst are the adaptation of our successful Daedale insulation feet, dedicated to speaker cables. As such, they share some of the principles, but bring necessary specificities.
Concept
Sound is basically about air vibration. The louder the more. The lower the frequencies (basses), the more energy. You can feel it when sitting on your coach. Even at low volume, you can feel with your palm, your body, your stomach that air is moving, even through you. This naturally applies to everything in your room, including your hifi cabinet, your ground… Your electronics are sitting on it. And these vibrating waves are entering your appliances and entering your signal by vibrating boards, circuitry & components. How ? Through the ground, but also through air smashing surfaces. So spikes will not save you fully…
The in-famous piezoelectric effect
This may sound weird or fake, but is simply very basic, and even part of standard appliances all around you. Pressure sensors for weather for instance are basically metal plates. Air pressure on it changes its resistance, and is easily measurable. A delta of pressure implies a delta of resistance… you convert, and you get the value. Even tiny changes in atmospheric pressure have a measurable impact. And if some current goes through that plate, its shape is altered in an homothetic manner by the input wave. So to simplify… the external signal gets internal (embedded).
This principle is highly welcome in capacitor (condenser) microphones – the graal for professional singers. They sing in front the “plate” (effectively two plates with an insulator in between, within a high current field to capture tiny details) and their voice is transferred with high fidelity to the recorder ! Wonderful. It really is.
But in our consumer electronics world, this phenomenon is called “microphony” and is a threat to actual high-fidelity. As your living-room sound waves rebound, they also get out of phase… with various incidence depending on the frequencies. Bass are slow, and are easily destroyed by out-of-phase waves. Trebles get blurred. Mediums get flat and shrinked.
Your speaker cables are somehow to be considered as long antennas, kind receptors for such ambient vibrations. From air, but even more from ground on which they generally passively lay. But if you put your hand flat next to your cables, you will still feel the vibrations. And hands are far less sensitive than circuitry under voltage. You do not know it… but you lose so much bass, air, intimacy.
Design & Benefits
Our Bifröst feet inherit from our Daedale ones, and as such are designed to be a trap for these vibrations, so that they do not back-pollute your speaker-signal. Several physical mechanisms are used : traps, rebounds, damping, and thread insulation. You will notice a tiny nylon wire located in the head of our Bifröst. This acts as a final decoupling feature. Benefits are obvious : you unveil on all frequencies in an instantaneous and dramatic way. Again, the louder, the more effect… but even at sensible volumes
- you feel the low-end extending and punching,
- you hear trebles reaching higher in an effortless manner,
- and your medium gets refined,
- allowing a more carnal incarnation.
- many details emerge from double-bass wood subtelty to cymbals airy vibrations…
We advise to set your Bifrösts after Daedale decoupling. These open the way closer to the source. Bifröst maintain that opening, but cannot create it alone as they sit downstream.
You will notice that Bifröst heads can be opened and closed to receive their target cable. Closing the head provides some further damping, along with some practical convenience. Wire as you move them (or simply perform house cleaning) easily jump wild out of their stands if not “held” by these.
So to rephrase in a slogan, Bifröst are safe bridges for your signal to run from amplifier to speakers.
Versions
Bifröst exists in two versions, which are equivalent sound-wise but are dedicated to different setups.
Bifröst I is dedicated to single wiring – which is the case in most of Hi-Fi setups. It also applies to all cables, like power-cables, digital cables…
Bifröst II is dedicated to bi-wiring – applied in most advanced Hi-Fi setups. We propose here a two-channels design, instead of a single bigger hole. It is better to maintain some distance between wires to refrain electrical fields mutual effects – such as diaphony.
BIFRÖST I
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- Diameter 75mm
- Height 70mm
- Weight 92g
- Cable diameter : 1x24mm – can accept wider by not fully screwing the head
BIFRÖST II
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- Diameter 75mm
- Height 70mm
- Weight 102g
- Cable diameter : 2x24mm – can accept wider by not fully screwing the head
- Cables separation : 5 to 30mm depending on cable diameters.
Note : some Maskhal placed on top of a Bifröst roof will provide some extent in low-medium density & soundstage details
Materials
Many materials are involved in our Bifröst feet. The main one is made of a relatively soft thermoplastic with an important percentage of embedded carbon fiber.
We do not use metal or super-solid materials, as high density is synonymous with high signal conductivity. Metal looks great, metal weighs great in your palm and justify the expense… but metal is an antenna and a duct for vibrations ! And moreover here, further than on the Daedale, having metal in close vicinity of your (alternative) signal acts as a frequency low-pass filter. Like a passive ferrite if you want ; but ferrite beads are filters on DC to remove high frequencies… and are to be banned on AC. Of course, this filter is meant to be high enough… but believe us, you hear the treble-sky falling and narrowing your soundstage when using metal nearby. How do we know ? Well.. our first prototypes were made of metal… like many of our competitors.
Back to our main material. So a relatively soft material for damping purpose, while being able to wear weight with no deformation. Not that needed for speaker wires naturally. But neither for metal anyway… And carbon fiber because these easily vibrate locally and tend to transform this in small heat. Being sealed in our main material, this acts as an active trap to middle to high frequencies. This may sound weird again ? We advise you to check what is done by some of the most famous & uncontested Japanese Hi-Fi connectors manufacturer.
And inside the heart of our Bifröst, we will meet some other materials & techniques to obtain some damping per frequency range.
Etymology
In Nordic mythology, Bifröst is the sparkling path between earth and sky worlds (respectively Midgard and Ásgard).
Usage
A minimum of 2 Bifröst feet : one per channel (left & right). Most important ones are closer to speakers (as “nuisance” source).
Do not let the cable touch the ground. If required, add some Bifröst until your amplifier. A typical Hi-Fi setup will require 2 or 4 Bifröst feet for speaker cables of about 1m to 2m.
Bifröst are warranted for a weight of 5Kg.
Which is no problem for speaker cables…
Break-in
Bifröst feet need to be used under a full nordic moon for 6 hours to deliver their full potential. Okay… Just kidding. This is a passive system. Simply place and enjoy !
Custom Bifröst can be designed and made on demand, thanks to our specific & small-scale model.
Here a version for the RaspberryPi audiophile power-supply (IAN CANADA UCPI Universal Ultracapacitor Power Supply Board for Raspberry Pi). Far more details & silence than with optional spikes. Even a Maskhal on top of the processor provides further details.