Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound

**Kuoppis** · May 28, 2018, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by bmichels

Any first listening report of the MkII version yet ?

I am excited to know how the MKII version improve on the original version !

will it beat the NAGRA HD DAC...for half the price ;-)

Not sure when the new module will arrive, but I am excited as well.

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**Aescalpius** · June 6, 2018, 08:36 PM

Well, after getting a thorough listening report from my dealer who was in Munich and has installed the Mk II module in his own personal Nyquist at home, I decided to take the plunge and order one. Due to geographic and time constraints, I was unable to hear it in his system. Nonetheless, I trust his ears and his integrity. Will report my findings after I've had a chance to evaluate the new module in my system.

**Audio 1** · June 6, 2018, 08:59 PM

Originally Posted by Aescalpius

Well, after getting a thorough listening report from my dealer who was in Munich and has installed the Mk II module in his own personal Nyquist at home, I decided to take the plunge and order one. Due to geographic and time constraints, I was unable to hear it in his system. Nonetheless, I trust his ears and his integrity. Will report my findings after I've had a chance to evaluate the new module in my system.

What were your dealer’s comments regarding the MK II vs. the original?

**Kuoppis** · June 7, 2018, 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by Aescalpius

Well, after getting a thorough listening report from my dealer who was in Munich and has installed the Mk II module in his own personal Nyquist at home, I decided to take the plunge and order one. Due to geographic and time constraints, I was unable to hear it in his system. Nonetheless, I trust his ears and his integrity. Will report my findings after I've had a chance to evaluate the new module in my system.

Congrats, good to hear. Great choice.

I just heard yesterday that my Mk II module is this week in burn-in and will be sent to me early next week. Looking forward to comparing notes when I have had an opportunity to listen to it for a while.

When will you receive your Nyquist?

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**Aescalpius** · June 7, 2018, 07:43 PM

He reported a much deeper soundstage along with imaging that was so good he could no longer tell where the speakers were located. He also said that the bass pitch was more well defined yet did not imbalance the overall presentation. He said that it was, overall, better in every way compared to the Mk I module. For my ears, it's hard to imagine the Nyquist getting any better than it already is. But, I guess I'm in for a treat when it arrives :-)

**Aescalpius** · June 7, 2018, 07:44 PM

Thanks Kuoppi, I already own a Nyquist, this is just the Mk II module. Love my Nyquist and I'm looking forward to the upgrade!

**Kuoppis** · June 7, 2018, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Aescalpius

Thanks Kuoppi, I already own a Nyquist, this is just the Mk II module. Love my Nyquist and I'm looking forward to the upgrade!

Ok, excellent.

Received the tracking number yesterday, the Mk II module will arrive on Monday. Very excited.

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**Kuoppis** · June 11, 2018, 04:33 AM

This morning the postman came bearing gifts: Brinkmann Nyquist DAC Mk II module.

It looks otherwise pretty much the same, only that it has a blue cover and the Mk II insignia.

Careful now, open-heart surgery on the Nyquist: was actually a breeze, no soldering, just loosening two screws. Then old module out, new one in. Total effort with detaching cables, removing from rack, exchanging module and putting it back again, approx. 10 minutes if that. And the Mk II DAC module has to be enabled in Roon as a Zone again, as it is a new DAC.

Et voilà: Nyquist Mk II, brand new.

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**Kuoppis** · June 11, 2018, 05:09 AM

As part of the customer service Brinkmann already burned-in the Mk II module. So after letting it settle for a couple of hours I could immediately start listening.

Initially I planned to do an elaborate comparison between the Mk I and Mk II with old module out, new one in, swopping back etc. But it would be of no use, seriously.

As you might have noticed, I really liked the original Nyquist. But the Mk II hits one out of the ball park. Completely magical.

So what do I hear?
- much more detail, immediately and very obviously
- neutral in the best possible way
- ease and effortlessness
- not the slightest bit analytical
- vastly improved sound stage
- simply a lots more music

What do I not hear?
- a DAC

The Nyquist has completely disappeared from system. It’s just not there anymore. Now it’s just music, unbelievable.

Closest comparison I’ve heard: MSB Reference in Munich with all the goodies. Pretty similar sound signature, me very, very much likey.

To be honest, ordering the Mk II I was not entirely sure what to expect, as the original was already great. But after hearing the MSB Reference in Munich, I was silently hoping for something similar and this is just so perfect. High expectations way exceeded, thank you Brinkmann Audio.

So, in case you have an original Nyquist, don’t go to get an upgrade. Run as fast as you can!

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**AJR** · June 11, 2018, 07:00 AM

Kuoppis - that sounds fantastic. Very happy for you. I think modularity for upgrades without upgrading the whole DAC is the way forward.

**Mike** · June 11, 2018, 08:23 AM

Cool! Love the modularity of the new DAC's like Brinkman and MSB. You can tell by looking closely at the two boards there are some changes in the circuitry. Have you tested any MQA albums yet?

**audio.bill** · June 11, 2018, 08:37 AM

Congrats on the upgrade! Curious to know whether they changed the ESS DACs from the older 9018 to the 9038 as part of this upgrade. Of course the specific chips being used only play a part in determining overall performance with implementation details contributing a large factor.

**Kuoppis** · June 11, 2018, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by audio.bill

Congrats on the upgrade! Curious to know whether they changed the ESS DACs from the older 9018 to the 9038 as part of this upgrade. Of course the specific chips being used only play a part in determining overall performance with implementation details contributing a large factor.

Nope, the new chip only makes decoding easier for simpler DACs. In the Nyquist the chip only does D/A conversion, sound processing is done outside the chip.

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**Kuoppis** · June 11, 2018, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by AJR

Kuoppis - that sounds fantastic. Very happy for you. I think modularity for upgrades without upgrading the whole DAC is the way forward.

Fully agree, that is the way forward.

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**Kuoppis** · June 11, 2018, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

Cool! Love the modularity of the new DAC's like Brinkman and MSB. You can tell by looking closely at the two boards there are some changes in the circuitry. Have you tested any MQA albums yet?

Agree. It is great to essentially get a new DAC w/o having to change the whole thing. Cost wise also a huge difference.

Listening to Kenny Barron now, sounds great. But I must say regular PCM also sounds great, so I am currently not so bothered.

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**mdzaki** · June 11, 2018, 01:24 PM

congratulation kuoppis....I cant wait to receive mine...enjoy

**joeinid** · June 11, 2018, 04:17 PM

Welcome to the forum, thank you for joining.

**Kuoppis** · June 11, 2018, 08:54 PM

Originally Posted by mdzaki

congratulation kuoppis....I cant wait to receive mine...enjoy

Thanks Zaki, very kind.

This is a surprisingly good upgrade, you’ll like it.

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**Stilllooking** · June 13, 2018, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Thanks Zaki, very kind.

This is a surprisingly good upgrade, you’ll like it.

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Hi

I have a shiny new Nyquist MKII sitting in my audio rack. How long will it take to “burn in” and should I leave it on all the times to speed up the burn in process.

Thanks

**Matthias** · June 14, 2018, 05:58 AM

Hi "Stillooking",

our products usually run for a week in the factory before being shipped. As a rule of thumb, in a new environment burn in takes about 72 hours. Please leave the Nyquist on for 3 days. Playing music helps, especially when you switch between DSD and PCM. I usually just put roon or tidal to radio mode.

Best
Matthias

**bmichels** · June 14, 2018, 06:01 AM

Originally Posted by Stilllooking

Hi

I have a shiny new Nyquist MKII sitting in my audio rack. How long will it take to “burn in” and should I leave it on all the times to speed up the burn in process.

Thanks

I am happy for you. I am sure you will enjoy your new toy.

Please let us know how it sound and to which previous DAC you had you can compare it ( I am still hesitating between the Nyquist mk2, the dCS Rossini (the DAC/player since I have 2000 CDs), Esoteric N-01 and the Auralic Aries+Vega G2 !)

**Kuoppis** · June 14, 2018, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by Stilllooking

Hi

I have a shiny new Nyquist MKII sitting in my audio rack. How long will it take to “burn in” and should I leave it on all the times to speed up the burn in process.

Thanks

Congrats, great news! Can’t go wrong with the Nyquist.

How does it sound out-of-the-box?

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**nonesup** · June 14, 2018, 02:01 PM

Hi Kuoppis.
What is the price of the MKII module?

**Kuoppis** · June 14, 2018, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by nonesup

Hi Kuoppis.
What is the price of the MKII module?

I think it might depend on your location, but in Germany the upgrade is €800,-.

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**nonesup** · June 14, 2018, 02:12 PM

Wow!!
Great price, it seems that the Brickmann guys are doing well not only technically, but commercially.

**Kuoppis** · June 14, 2018, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by nonesup

Wow!!
Great price, it seems that the Brickmann guys are doing well not only technically, but commercially.

I think it is a smart move.

Upgradeability is really key. I maybe I need to test their new preamp as well. Brinkmann announced a new version of their preamp, the Marconi Mk2 in Munich.

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**Stilllooking** · June 15, 2018, 01:53 AM

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Congrats, great news! Can’t go wrong with the Nyquist.

How does it sound out-of-the-box?

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I am awaiting the arrival of a Wireworld Ethernet Cable and a Wireworld Toslink Supernova 7. Once this arrive I will be in a position to respond further.

Thanks

**Kuoppis** · June 15, 2018, 02:10 AM

Originally Posted by Stilllooking

I am awaiting the arrival of a Wireworld Ethernet Cable and a Wireworld Toslink Supernova 7. Once this arrive I will be in a position to respond further.

Thanks

Cool.

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**Stilllooking** · June 23, 2018, 10:30 AM

Good Morning

Still waiting for the arrival of the Wireworld cables, but the Nyquist II is already singing with a $20 Best Buy plastic Toslink cable. Can’t wait to receive the Wireworld Ethernet cable and supernova 7 Toslink. In the meantime, I have another question for the group. I am using the standard router that came with my cable package. Would there be an easily identifiable benefit to using a better router and if so what brands do you recommend?

PS. I am currently using a Bluesound Vault which scans CD’s to its hard drive, streams and has a basic DAC. As you can easily imagine the opportunity for improvement is huge.

My next step is a high end streamer and I am currently thinking Aurender or the Nucleus+Roon. Would also welcome additional comments on this subject.

Thanks

Jerry has

**AJR** · June 23, 2018, 10:53 AM

Following on from this, I would also love to know if it is possible to get a better router - have heard a separate power supply makes a big difference. Not sure how to go about that though and what I have read (albeit limited) hasn’t been clear.

**AJR** · June 23, 2018, 10:54 AM

Am also thinking Nucleus +. Will need it for my MSB I think.

**bmichels** · June 23, 2018, 05:23 PM

I am thinking MELCO or ZENITH Innuos server to avoid the music data to pass through the pollution of the Switch and the rest of the network.

Indeed, ZENITH and MELCO server have 2 ethernet ports, one going to the switch/routeur/internet, and the other going directly to the Streaming DAC. Thus the Audio data do not have to go through all the network, and also the MELCO or ZENITH server will act as an Ethernet filter to clean the Ethernet flow from internet to the DAC.

I find this brillant !

**Kuoppis** · June 24, 2018, 12:42 AM

Jerry, on the router I would say bandwidth is the most important. Just make sure it supports a high bitrate and you should be fine.

From my experience the storage or NAS is more important, as it potentially introduces all kinds of noise into the audio chain. I just went from an Aurender to a dedicated NAS with a Roon Core a couple months back and am very happy with the results. But a mom&pop NAS won’t do, if you want to run a Roon Core on it. You need to make sure it has a powerful enough processor and all the RAM you can get. And you need a dedicated SSD to install the Roon Core on and cache your music library. I do have a separate SSD for Roon and for the cache. Roon puts any album you play on on the SSD cache for playback, so you do not have to play your music from a rotating disc which would introduce rumble and vibration (an Aurender does the same). Advantage of a NAS is you do not have to pay ridiculous amounts for simple storage, as with an Aurender, Melco or Baetis Audio etc. I do have 24 TB (18 with RAID on the main drive), you can’t even get anything close to that with a music server. A Nucleus is basically a dedicated NAS for Roon, there just are less options for customizing.

Also, it makes sense to invest in high quality Ethernet cables between router/ NAS and router/ DAC, as you will immediately hear the difference. I use AQ Vodka and find them quite good.

Andrew, I also do have a linear PSU powering my NAS and am using a Shunyata cable + power filter to feed it. For that I had to have a 4-PIN connector cable custom made to connect the LPSU to the NAS. I find replacing the inbox wallwart gives the music a better jump factor and better dynamics.

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**bmichels** · June 24, 2018, 02:39 AM

http://www.innuos.com/uploads/cms/do...-04%20_WEB.pdf

the way to go ... if you want the best of the best :-)

**Stilllooking** · June 24, 2018, 11:46 AM

Kuppois and Bmichaels

i thank you both for your thoughtful and well informed recommendations.

I have ordered the Wireworld Starbright Cat 8 ethernet cable which I believe is roughly comparable to the AQ Vodka, so I think I am good on that front.

I wonder though if there might be a way to obtain consensus between the two somewhere different approaches to the Server and NAS. I look forward to others chiming in on your recommendations, and I sincerely appreciate your recommendations.

Cheers

Jerry

**Kuoppis** · June 24, 2018, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by Stilllooking

Kuppois and Bmichaels

i thank you both for your thoughtful and well informed recommendations.

I have ordered the Wireworld Starbright Cat 8 ethernet cable which I believe is roughly comparable to the AQ Vodka, so I think I am good on that front.

I wonder though if there might be a way to obtain consensus between the two somewhere different approaches to the Server and NAS. I look forward to others chiming in on your recommendations, and I sincerely appreciate your recommendations.

Cheers

Jerry

I think it really depends on whether you would like to run Roon or not.

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**bmichels** · June 24, 2018, 12:38 PM

Well, MELCO cannot run ROON Server but... the Zenith ( starting with the «*cheap*» 2000$ version ) can run ROON Server, so... you can use the Zenith as a ROON Server + ROON End-point (and connect it through USB to the DAC) or run ROON Server on the ZÉNITH and use the Nyquist as the ROON End-point.

**Kuoppis** · June 24, 2018, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by bmichels

Well, MELCO cannot run ROON Server but... the Zenith ( starting with the «*cheap*» 2000$ version ) can run ROON Server, so... you can use the Zenith as a ROON Server + ROON End-point (and connect it through USB to the DAC) or run ROON Server on the ZÉNITH and use the Nyquist as the ROON End-point.

Ok, interesting. How much is a 10 TB version of the Zenith?

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**nonesup** · June 24, 2018, 01:03 PM

My experience is that the Server is not in any way irrelevant. The change of a NAS Synology with Minimserver to a Melco improved the sound clearly. The existence of a direct Ethernet port between the server and DAC eliminates some of the digital noise, but again in my experience, not everything. The switch is still the DHCP server and is in continuous communication with the DAC, decrease the noise in the switch with an improved one, an LPS source and connect it to the ground and the sound will improve.

**Kuoppis** · June 24, 2018, 01:06 PM

Agree, the server is very relevant. Also NAS does not equal to NAS, there are huge differences.

I replaced my Aurender with a pimped-up NAS.

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**Stilllooking** · June 24, 2018, 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Agree, the server is very relevant. Also NAS does not equal to NAS, there are huge differences.

I replaced my Aurender with a pimped-up NAS.

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Hi

Please keep the discussion going re: Innous vs other options and what constitutes a Pimped up NAS?

My intent is clearly to go with Roon.

Thanks

Jerry

**Kuoppis** · June 24, 2018, 02:00 PM

Hi Jerry, I think Nonesup makes a good point about importance of the server. One key reason I went the NAS route is ability to stream via Ethernet, as it offers some advantages.

The NAS I am using is described in detail earlier in this thread, if you browse back a little. You might also want to check with Wisnon, as he has also some interesting views about how to set up a good music server.

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**mdzaki** · July 4, 2018, 06:24 AM

just received my nyquist today...with mkii ...very excited ...any idea how much hours it needs for break in ?

**UltraFast69** · July 4, 2018, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Hi Jerry, I think Nonesup makes a good point about importance of the server. One key reason I went the NAS route is ability to stream via Ethernet, as it offers some advantages.

The NAS I am using is described in detail earlier in this thread, if you browse back a little. You might also want to check with Wisnon, as he has also some interesting views about how to set up a good music server.

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Nonesup also mentions the switch which made a difference in my system

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**Kuoppis** · July 5, 2018, 03:04 AM

Originally Posted by mdzaki

just received my nyquist today...with mkii ...very excited ...any idea how much hours it needs for break in ?

Hi Zaki,

This is what Matthias commented on the topic:

Originally Posted by Matthias

Hi,

our products usually run for a week in the factory before being shipped. As a rule of thumb, in a new environment burn in takes about 72 hours. Please leave the Nyquist on for 3 days. Playing music helps, especially when you switch between DSD and PCM. I usually just put roon or tidal to radio mode.

Best
Matthias

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**Kuoppis** · November 21, 2018, 03:25 AM

Yet another one, this time from Poland:

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**Kuoppis** · March 4, 2019, 11:45 AM

It looks like Alex Gorouvein from Mono & Stereo enjoyed his time with the mk2.

https://www.monoandstereo.com/2019/0...streaming.html

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**UltraFast69** · March 4, 2019, 11:35 PM

Good to hear the Brinkmann is still taking ground. I still enjoy mine very much, with zero regret!

**Kuoppis** · March 5, 2019, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by UltraFast69

Good to hear the Brinkmann is still taking ground. I still enjoy mine very much, with zero regret!

Same here, fits my purposes very well.

I have recently tested quite a few high end pre and power amps in my system and have yet to find a component it does not harmonize with.

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**Kuoppis** · March 13, 2019, 02:48 AM

Golden Ear Award 2019 for the Nyquist from German top audio magazine Stereoplay.

And yes, they measure. Extensively. Quite nice.

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Thread: Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound

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Re: Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound

Re: Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound

Re: Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound

Re: Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound

Re: Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound

Re: Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound