Brinkmann Nyquist DAC - technical jewel with marvelous sound

Aescalpius said:
Hi Kuoppis, good point, I do remember reading about the design and implementation of the ESS Sabre DAC chip in the Nyquist, thanks for reminding me. I also now recall the story of the screws, I’m pretty sure their ears are better than mine ;-)

As an anecdotal aside regarding good ears; I spent a year selling high end audio in the mid-80s and I found that it was the men who did the shopping most of the time and then brought their wives/girlfriends in for the final approval. Usually, the women heard the sonic differences more easily than the men. My wife picks up on things very quickly, although she lacks the “audiophile vernacular” to describe what she hears. She instantly knew the Nyquist was significantly better, as soon as she walked into the music room. It took zero convincing to get her to agree to the purchase, even though she knew the cost. I’m happy that my wife shares my love of music, it makes this hobby much easier to pursue :-)

I think that your faith in Brinkmann is well founded. I”m looking forward to hearing the MkII module when it becomes available. Any idea how much it’s going to cost?

You are at the Munich show? Lucky you! Did they do an A/B comparison of the Mk I and Mk II modules or was it just the Nyquist with the Mk II module on demonstration? I suspect the latter, most companies would want to put their best sonic foot forward at such venues.
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I was in Munich, but just for a day. And heard the mk2 module at the show. But there was no time for comparisons and I’m not sure whether they offered that in the first place.

But when I will receive the mk2 module I will do some 1:1 comparisons and report back. That will be exciting.


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Kuoppis said:
Hi Aescalpius, I don’t personally think the DAC chip in the Nyquist will change any time soon. Reason being is how the chip is used in the product.

In the Nyquist the ESS Sabre chip is only doing the very basic A/D conversion, nothing more. Most of its advanced features have been switched off. All the sound related processing is being done in the custom Brinkmann sound processing portion of the DAC. The benefit of this particular chipset is the number of DACs per channel, which allow minimizing of any digital harshness. That’s also why the DAC does not sound like an ESS DAC.

My confidence is based on knowledge about how meticulous the R&D process at Brinkmann is. There is an anecdote about the two key developers testing the mk2 DAC module and getting different sound results from two different units. An investigation showed that the difference was caused by one supplier having mixed some screws in a batch delivered to them. As a result one screw attaching the DAC board to the chassis in one of those two DACs had a slightly different metallurgical consistence. They heard the difference.

And what I already heard in Munich was very promising, I’m looking forward to my Nyquist mk2 DAC module.


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Kuoppis,

I am also very interested in reading your finding when you will receive your MK2 module. Indeed, I recently tested the NAGRA HD DAC against the Nyquist and found the NAGRA superior with "NON MQA" music, and on par with the Nyquist with MQA files. So, if the MK2 version really improve the Nyquist sound quality I will do the plunge since the Nagra cost twice the Nyquist.

In the mean time, since I will need to find the perfect music server/streamer for my next DAC, I would like to understand why in your big ring you have an Aurender N100H and also a Synology NAS + Roon ? do you make different usage of each one ? which server/streamer solution will you recommend if I want only one server/streamer ?

thanks in advance for your advices.
 
bmichels said:
Kuoppis,

I am also very interested in reading your finding when you will receive your MK2 module. Indeed, I recently tested the NAGRA HD DAC against the Nyquist and found the NAGRA superior with "NON MQA" music, and on par with the Nyquist with MQA files. So, if the MK2 version really improve the Nyquist sound quality I will do the plunge since the Nagra cost twice the Nyquist.

In the mean time, since I will need to find the perfect music server/streamer for my next DAC, I would like to understand why in your big ring you have an Aurender N100H and also a Synology NAS + Roon ? do you make different usage of each one ? which server/streamer solution will you recommend if I want only one server/streamer ?

thanks in advance for your advices.
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bmichels,

That is a very interesting comparison indeed. The Nagra HD is about as good as digital gets, I remember you told the Nyquist held its own against it with MQA in your comparison.

Based on what I have heard about the mk2 DAC module it will improve transparency and detail retrieval w/o adding any harshness. As such my guesstimate is it might indeed give the HD DAC a run for its money.

I’ll report back as soon as I receive the mk2 module and let you know how the Nyquist has improved. Will be interesting.

PS: The Aurender was there first and stayed because Roon was not able to identify MQA files. Now that Roon caught up last week, the Aurender is going to the Summer House. Fits nicely, as my DAC there does not support MQA and the Aurender will unfold.


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Hi,

allow me to chime in. I am just back from Munich and also met Bob Stuart and the MQA team. The new ESS chip will help manufactures to implement MQA with less horsepower needed in the DSP. There is no sound quality advantage. Since we have a powerful DSP and can do all MQA algorithms in it already, there is no advantage for using this new chip.

Regards
Matthias
 
Matthias said:
Hi,

allow me to chime in. I am just back from Munich and also met Bob Stuart and the MQA team. The new ESS chip will help manufactures to implement MQA with less horsepower needed in the DSP. There is no sound quality advantage. Since we have a powerful DSP and can do all MQA algorithms in it already, there is no advantage for using this new chip.

Regards
Matthias
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Thanks Matthias, that was kind of my understanding as well: in the Nyquist the ESS Sabre DAC chips (two of them I believe) do the pure D/A conversion and pretty much everything sound related is handled by the in-house DSP.


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Matthias said:
Hi,

allow me to chime in. I am just back from Munich and also met Bob Stuart and the MQA team. The new ESS chip will help manufactures to implement MQA with less horsepower needed in the DSP. There is no sound quality advantage. Since we have a powerful DSP and can do all MQA algorithms in it already, there is no advantage for using this new chip.

Regards
Matthias
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Matthias, while you are commenting here... Huge congratulations!

e3e55d91a05b148778faa22d765f2ef2.jpg


I just saw it, a brand new review of the Nyquist in the June issue of Stereoplay Magazine. They crowned the Nyquist their new DAC reference, outranking the outstanding Nagra HD DAC. It is now the reference in two of the three main German audio magazines (third one has not tested yet).

Very well done indeed.


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Matthias said:
Hi,

allow me to chime in. I am just back from Munich and also met Bob Stuart and the MQA team. The new ESS chip will help manufactures to implement MQA with less horsepower needed in the DSP. There is no sound quality advantage. Since we have a powerful DSP and can do all MQA algorithms in it already, there is no advantage for using this new chip.

Regards
Matthias
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Hi Matthias, thank you very much for the "inside" information. Also allow me to congratulate and thank you for your brilliant design and implementation of the Nyquist DAC. I'm looking forward to hearing the Mk II module! Keep up the great work :-)
 
Hi

I am new to the forum and about to order a Nyquist MK11. I do not want to hijack the current thread, but I would like to ask a new Q? Has anyone had experiences with SGM 2015 Sound Servers out of Monaco? I have read several rave reviews from highly respected reviewers, and having communicated with the company owner, I understand that are. Just in the process of launching a version 2.

Thanks
 
Stilllooking said:
Hi

I am new to the forum and about to order a Nyquist MK11. I do not want to hijack the current thread, but I would like to ask a new Q? Has anyone had experiences with SGM 2015 Sound Servers out of Monaco? I have read several rave reviews from highly respected reviewers, and having communicated with the company owner, I understand that are. Just in the process of launching a version 2.

Thanks
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Hi Jerry, can’t go wrong with a Nyquist Mk2 I would say [emoji3].

Have not come across SGM 2015 Sound Server before. Do have a pimped-up Synology for music myself and an Aurender for another system.


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Kuoppis - does the Nyquist buffer streaming (eg from Tidal)? I am in Singapore and it turns out (me plus 4 friends who stream from Tidal have this experience) that Tidal in Singapore is very unreliable. Apparently there is a possible fix (change the DNS of the router, which I will try very soon). My Lumin buffers, but not enough to get a reliable stream all the time. Even assuming that changing my DNS fixes this issue, I like the idea of a component in my chain which buffers.
 
AJR said:
Kuoppis - does the Nyquist buffer streaming (eg from Tidal)? I am in Singapore and it turns out (me plus 4 friends who stream from Tidal have this experience) that Tidal in Singapore is very unreliable. Apparently there is a possible fix (change the DNS of the router, which I will try very soon). My Lumin buffers, but not enough to get a reliable stream all the time. Even assuming that changing my DNS fixes this issue, I like the idea of a component in my chain which buffers.
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I assume it might have some memory and do, but you do get better sound if you’re buffering on the NAS.

I do have a 256 GB SSD in my NAS for buffering only and another for RAM. Anything that is played back goes first on an SSD and is then played back from there. That’s also how an Aurender works.


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Kuoppis said:
Matthias, while you are commenting here... Huge congratulations!

e3e55d91a05b148778faa22d765f2ef2.jpg


I just saw it, a brand new review of the Nyquist in the June issue of Stereoplay Magazine. They crowned the Nyquist their new DAC reference, outranking the outstanding Nagra HD DAC. It is now the reference in two of the three main German audio magazines (third one has not tested yet).

Very well done indeed.

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Interesting observation: Since the very favorable review in Stereoplay only a couple weeks back I see a lots of Nagra HD DACs on sale. Some even stating they’re selling due to switching to the Nyquist.

Interesting what a positive review in a well respected publication can do (or vice versa).


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Kuoppis said:
I assume it might have some memory and do, but you do get better sound if you’re buffering on the NAS.

I do have a 256 GB SSD in my NAS for buffering only and another for RAM. Anything that is played back goes first on an SSD and is then played back from there. That’s also how an Aurender works.


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How about streaming from eg Tidal? Or is a transporter (eg a Lumin U1 or Aurender) needed for that with the Nyquist?
 
AJR said:
How about streaming from eg Tidal? Or is a transporter (eg a Lumin U1 or Aurender) needed for that with the Nyquist?
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Nope, none needed. It’s a complete package.

The Nyquist is both, a streamer and a Roon endpoint. E.g. Tidal works directly into the Nyquist from an Aurender or from just a NAS with Roon Core, as I am doing it nowadays.

Works like a charm.


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I wonder is DEEZER is also integrated (or usable) with the Nyquist ? In this case, which app is used ? Are the Lyrics, which are available through DEEZER's iPAD app still available when used with the Nyquist's recomended app ?
 
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