Calling the Bricasti M3 “light” and/or “bright” goes against the reviews, as well as my own experience owning one for a couple years (yes, with MDX). It was never light or bright in my system, through a few system iterations. The M3 is ‘warmer feeling’ than the M1 due to M3’s low end performance over the M1, combined with M1 being more detailed over the M3. I also owned Daedalus speakers for almost a decade. I see no synergy issues happening between Bricasti and Daedalus. Daedalus are powerful, sometimes forward (in the good way) and not ‘lean’ but def not fat/round in the bass, so IMO, something like the M3 would have great synergy.
Best DACs under $7,000.00
I'm tentatively beginning the search for a DAC upgrade. Currently, I have Innuos Zen MK3 as a streamer connected via USB to a Denafrips Iris DDC that is connected via I2S to a Denafrips Pontus II DAC. The Pontus II is excellent but I feel it's the one point where I could gain incremental improvement toward that illusive natural, layered, analog end-of-the-rainbow. I simply can't / won't spend above $5,000.00 - $7,000.00 on the DAC. The rest of my system: top-of-line Prima Luna Evo 400 Integrated Amp and a set of Harbeth speakers. Right now, I'm looking at Denafrips Terminator II or Holo Audio May DAC. I've never seen an a/b comparison of these two, but both stand out and have a following. Of course, the unsettling thing is DACs have evolved so much and are still in a blooming state technologically, making it a given that whatever we have today will probably be surpassed by better for less later, like electric vehicles. But that's the nature of the beast. Does anyone have alternative suggestions in this current climate?
Showing 3 responses by jriggy
@tvad, agreed. Excellent wording change suggestion. |
@tonywinga I have no doubt that the Ayon Stealth XS DAC is as good as you say it is. About a decade ago I had an Ayon Triton II KT-88 integrated amp that I LOVED the sonics of. It’s nice to see that Ayon is still around and I’m sure they have good business in their area of the world but the reliability and their ability to repair their own gear has been in question before around here... With that said, I did have a channel go out on my Triton int. early on and I was offered a very very good price difference, from USATube, to upgrade to the just new Triton II at that time. So my experience with them was good. |