Bricasti Model 3 DAC

[matthias]

12 hours ago, all300b said:

Thanks.  I think you nailed it with your comment about the expense of good R2R.  I suppose it would be nice to have a dac with great pcm and dsd sections to tailor to particular recordings but the always dsd approach seems much simpler.

 

There is an upcoming Stereotimes review about the Rockna Wavelight (R2R) which will be compared to the Bricasti M3.

Both are in the same price range.

 

Matt

[matthias]

I just read this review of the M3 from June 2020 and I am wondering why they measured high jitter:

 

https://www.scvdistribution.co.uk/files/BR_M3_HiFiNews_June_2020.pdf

 

The jitter measurements seem to be much worse in comparison to the review of the M1 nine years ago.

 

I assume the M3 was reviewed with the MDx board.

 

Matt

 

 

[matthias]

13 minutes ago, barrows said:

I thought that was a curious result as well.  PM does not appear to mention which input this was with either...  AFAIK the M3 uses the same clocking scheme used in all Bricasti DACs (see Stereophile's jitter measurements of the M1 for another reference), so this result seems a bit anomalous.  Hopefully there will be a Sterophile review of the M3 for another data point in reference to jitter levels.  Also the result from PM does not correlate at all with the specification published by Bricasti at their website:

 

 

Agree, 

just wondering why Bricasti publish without comment a link to this review on their FB page.

From the pictures of the review it is clear that the MDx board is used.

 

Matt

[matthias]

OT regarding M3 but interesting:

 

Bricasti launched a DAC in their professional line:

 

https://www.bricasti.com/en/pro/mc1.php

 

It seems to be similar to the M1 but from the specs limited to DSD128 so maybe no MDx board inside?

 

Matt

[matthias]

21 minutes ago, firedog said:

Costs $6000 and doesn't seem to have the separate 1bit path for DSD. For audiophiles, their consumer units would seem more suitable. Unless you don't have any interest in DSD.

 

It is a M1 for Pros, the price is a little bit more than the M3, in my view a bargain.

Maybe the perfect DAC for Brian Lucey 😁

 

Matt

[matthias]

3 hours ago, matthias said:

It is a M1 for Pros, the price is a little bit more than the M3, in my view a bargain.

Maybe the perfect DAC for Brian Lucey 😁

 

 

Maybe someone can shed some light on:

Does the MC1 have the MDx or not?

 

Matt

[matthias]

4 minutes ago, KLH007 said:

From the Bricasti website;  The MDx was implemented in production on all products starting January 2020, and is now available for upgrades. all past D/A converter products are eligible for the MDx upgrade including all versions of the M1, M3, M12, and M21.

 

So the MC1 uses one too?

Do you know why the MC1 does not support DSD256 like the other Bricasti DACs?

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

6 hours ago, KLH007 said:

Matt, I don't know why the different spec, perhaps call Brian Monday?

 

I got feedback from Brian.

The MC1 has MDx and does DSD256, the HP is not yet updated. 🙂

 

Matt

 

[matthias]

6 hours ago, sfseay said:

To me, in my system it make quite a substantial difference.  Worth the $720.00!

 

Please, can you shed some light on with some impressions?

How good is the USB input particularly?

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

1 hour ago, sfseay said:

I prefer the USB currently over Ethernet.  I use USB because the Antipodes Server is said to work best with USB vs. Ethernet.  I haven’t done any comparisons over time but I did compare them a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t hear any difference. 

 

I would say this is pretty interesting because in posts before launching the MDx board Brian Zolner stated that he prefers Ethernet over USB.

 

Matt

[matthias]

7 hours ago, barrows said:

This is one of those cases where the source matters.  @sfseay is using an Innuous Server as the source, and it probably has much cleaner USB output than a normal commercial computer.  The VP of Sonore far prefers the USB input on his Bricasti M21 over the Ethernet input, but his USB source is a Sonore Signature RednuSEoptical and has a super clean USB output.  Sonore's VP found even better performance when he removed the ethernet board from the DAC completely.

Versus USB via a standard commercial computer, I would not be surprised if the Ethernet input on the Bricasti DACs was better. 

 

This makes perfectly sense @Bazinga prefers USB with his Taiko Extreme as well 🙂

 

Matt

[matthias]

On 7/11/2020 at 6:57 AM, mrkoven said:

About 10 hours of listening w/ the MDx so far. It is a great upgrade, definite improvements and refinement compared to previous. Glad I pulled the trigger, especially w/ the intro pricing which ends soon I think. 

 

I have read your great Wavelight thread on Head-Fi.

Do you like now your upgraded M1SE even more than the Wavelight?

Thanks

 

Matt