Looking for opinions on Bricasti M1 dual mono dac and how it compares to the Berkeley Reference dac ....

joeinid

joeinid

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I am hearing great things on Bricasti, especially their dacs. Anyone have a Bricasti? Care to share any thoughts?


http://www.bricasti.com/m1.html


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Re: Looking for opinions on Bricasti dacs and how they compare to Berkeley Reference dac ....

Joe, I heard the Bricasti DAC at a dealer demo. I thought it carried itself very well. I think it belongs in the upper echelon.




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Thank you Le Roy.

It's on the Stereophile Class A rated list.
 
Joe
One local dealer carries Bricasti, MSB and has the Berkeley Reference DAC. From what I have observed seldom is the Bricasti ever used during demos. Until the Bereley showed up it was usually one of the MSB units. I am considering try out the Berkeley unit because everyone who has demoed it has been impressed with its PCM sound. Now if someone is heavy into DSD then you may have a harder choice. They also carry several other DAC's but unless someone wants to hear one of those specific DACs I haven;t seen those in the main systems.
 
The BADA REF with the Aurender N10 sounds amazing with PCM. I still need to convert some DSD's to PCM and try that too.0


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Thank you Jim. I have some DSD but PCM is a bigger part of my listening. I appreciate the input.


still-one said:
Joe
One local dealer carries Bricasti, MSB and has the Berkeley Reference DAC. From what I have observed seldom is the Bricasti ever used during demos. Until the Bereley showed up it was usually one of the MSB units. I am considering try out the Berkeley unit because everyone who has demoed it has been impressed with its PCM sound. Now if someone is heavy into DSD then you may have a harder choice. They also carry several other DAC's but unless someone wants to hear one of those specific DACs I haven;t seen those in the main systems.
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I have been running the Bricasti M1 for over two years in my top system (which for me is like an eternity to keep a DAC!), and have had it upgraded to the recent version which supports 2XDSD and includes a completely new DSP board and OCC wiring. They have just released a new LE version which retails for $10K in the standard anodized black finish which I haven't heard yet but is supposed to be another significant improvement. The company and its owner, Brian Zolner, are top notch and an absolute pleasure to deal with. They are extremely responsive and supportive of their customers, and are offering the LE upgrade to current owners for the $1,000 difference in their price. My dealer also now sells the Berkeley Reference at $16K plus the additional cost of their USB converter and says it's a step up, but other than that the M1 was his reference DAC of choice. It's a very solid performer with an excellent balance of dynamics and musicality, and has received universal praise from virtually every reviewer that has had it worldwide. The picture shown above was with the original middle power supply which was later improved, so here's a picture of later production but before some of the other more recent upgrades.

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Joe, I've owned them both. Both excellent companies and good people to deal with. Products are directly competitive with each other. They do sound different. The Bricasti is warmer of the two. The BADA is more detailed. Associated equipment/system balance is going to be a key. In other words, listen for yourself it at all possible. PM me if you want......
 
Joe

If your main focus is PCM and you are not happy with the GG in that realm I would look at the Aqua La Scala Mk II. I see one in my system in the near future. Until then the Line Magnetic DAC does fine through it's tube output stage with NOS 12AU7's. I have a DSD capable DAC if I ever decide to try it.

http://www.aquahifi.com/la_scala.html
 
Joe, I have had a M1 in my system for a year and a half, which, for me, is a lifetime. In a moment of weakness, I sold it in the first year only to buy it again a few weeks later. I'll leave the descriptions to others (but will say that in my constantly changing system I've never found the M1 to be on the warmer side) and will simply list the DACs it has beat out in direct comparison: Berkeley Reference, EMM Labs DAC2X, Schiit Yggdrasil, Ayre QB-9 DSD and, well, honestly, I don't remember the others. I should mention that I recently bought a Totaldac d1-dual and love it (and in some ways prefer it), but still plan to keep the Bricasti.
 
Thank you everyone.

I love my GG, but always like a little variety. I do plan on getting the GG upgraded eventually. Still unsure of those details, but I am in no rush.

Just wondering how Bricasti would sell against the Berkeley Ref dac. Price is so much better and Berkeley can't even deliver their products, it's pathetic. 6-10 months of waiting is ridiculous.
 
audio.bill said:
I have been running the Bricasti M1 for over two years in my top system (which for me is like an eternity to keep a DAC!), and have had it upgraded to the recent version which supports 2XDSD and includes a completely new DSP board and OCC wiring. They have just released a new LE version which retails for $10K in the standard anodized black finish which I haven't heard yet but is supposed to be another significant improvement. The company and its owner, Brian Zolner, are top notch and an absolute pleasure to deal with. They are extremely responsive and supportive of their customers, and are offering the LE upgrade to current owners for the $1,000 difference in their price. My dealer also now sells the Berkeley Reference at $16K plus the additional cost of their USB converter and says it's a step up, but other than that the M1 was his reference DAC of choice. It's a very solid performer with an excellent balance of dynamics and musicality, and has received universal praise from virtually every reviewer that has had it worldwide. The picture shown above was with the original middle power supply which was later improved, so here's a picture of later production but before some of the other more recent upgrades.
Click to expand...

This was intriguing to me as an M1 owner, I emailed Brian and he was kind enough to elaborate on what the deal is with upgrades:



M1 Limited and Special Edition Products and Upgrades January 2016
Limited Edition
We now offer a version of the M1 that is called the Limited Edition in a real gold finish, there are only a few of them made for customers on special order, with all new packaging and serial #, truly limited and unique. This is one we demoed with great acclaim in 2015 at the RMAF, CAF,CAS and Asian shows. In addition to the standard features of the current production M1, this M1 has a unique sound due in part to the amount of gold that is plated on the chassis parts and feet, for further enhancement we added Stillpoints built in to the feet to cosmetically blend with the design, and some modifications to the power supply and internal wiring that also improve sonic performance. This Limited Edition M1 has a list price of $15000 (depending in the price of gold) and built to order. There is no upgrade to this version.
Special Edition
What is being talked about in the market is not a Limited Edition upgrade but and upgrade to a current M1 by adding some of the improvements in the Limited to a standard or Classic M1, by the addition of the Stillpoints feet and the wire and power mods but in normal anodized finish. To be clearer about this to the market we just launching now a product version called the Special Edition M1. this product has a list price of $10,000 and depending on the serial # of a customer’s M1 and what other work might needed to be done, an upgrade cost of $1000. The unit has to be returned to the factory for rework for this upgrade to fit the new feet and internal rework, this is a factory upgrade only.
Classic M1
This is the standard version of the M1 at current specs, DSD 128 and 384k PCM and current hardware specs less the enhancements of the Special or Limited. List price of the Classic version remains at $8995 with remote.
Considering the variation in customer’s products all upgrades need to be quoted by us and serial # provided to determine what else might be needed or desired to bring the M1 up to spec. The above versions only outline the differences from the current production Classic M1 to Special or Limited.
One should note though that the real Limited Edition is a different sounding unit than a Special, they are not the same, but you get part of the performance from the upgrade to the Special which is notable and we have done a few upgrades to this version as people asked if they can have the same as the limited but without the gold finish.
How does it sound? As mentioned, the gold is very special and has a deeper smoother even more analog quality to it, there seems to no trace of any noise at all, as mentioned it is different than anything else and unique . The Special is similar to a normal M1, but quieter, deeper black backgrounds, more relaxed dynamics with clarity and no loss of detail, just takes it up a notch.
 
I remember seeing the gold version. Can't recall the sound however. Would love to know the internal parts and now they differ between the gold and special.
 
Bobolaclune said:
this M1 has a unique sound due in part to the amount of gold that is plated on the chassis parts and feet
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Just saw this. Really? Shocked to see such snake oil statements from Bricasti (on their website also now).:amazing::disbelief:
 
Anatta said:
Just saw this. Really? Shocked to see such snake oil statements from Bricasti (on their website also now).:amazing::disbelief:
Click to expand...

Shocked? That this hobby and this industry has snake oil salesmen , dubious claims, unverifiable allegations , gullible consumers and is rife with pyscho-acoustic mumbo-jumbo? Now I'm shocked ..... that this wasn't known and accepted as the price of admission.
 
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