Bricasti M1 DAC vs PS Audio Direct Stream DAC

Ozzy, how are you connecting your 2 Amber Regens (just one to the other?). And can you give a link to the LPS you are using (if it isn't the stock power supply). Thanks.

So I bought a bricasti M1. It replaces my wadia 581. First I tried the wadia 781 GNSC and the S7i. Both very good players but not wat I was looking for. My dealer advised me to try the bricasti. My wadia 581 doesn't have digital out so I tried it with a 30 year old rotel cd player. This combination outperformed the wadia 518 in almost every way! All the positive things that are already said in this topic so I won't repeat that. Only thing I missed was soundstage depht and width. My dealer told me to be patient and let the M1 furher burn in 24/7. Yesterday it had 150 hours burn in time and I listened that evening. Unbelievable. The soundstage opend up and I heard a depth I've never heard from wadia regardless the model. And then I know there is more to come because the burn in needs aprox 400 hours. I was looking for a better cd drive and searching for it I found a review of a ripper/streamer and the reviewer claimed that it outperformed every drive he knew including wadia, mark levinson etc. The manufacture is a Dutchman with a small business. I called him and I am going to listen tonight. The ripper/streamer has a dedicated psu. So far with the rotel as cd drive I am very happy but the reviewer stated that the ripper/ streamer was very analoge sounding and thats wat I am looking for! I know this reviewer and he has tested and owned a lot of high end stuf. I'll keep you informed....

Here' s the link to the review:http://www.hifi-advice.com/AAZ-ReferenceFlow-review-1.html

I am purchasing an M1 next week and would like to thank all who have contributed to this thread. I made sure I did my due diligence in the paper reviews I studied and the personal interviews of MSB, PSA, and Bricasti reps at RMAF.
I am very excited to finally put a stellar piece into my system which should really help elevate my sound to the same level of the remaining gear.
Thanks to all of you for your personal experiences and exchanges to those who were also helpfully informative via messaging.

For Bricasti M1 DAC owners only: If you connect your Bricasti M1 DAC to a pre-amplifier (any pre-amp), you need to turn the M1 volume control to ZERO since this allows the full signal to be sent to your pre-amplifier. If you reduce the volume on the M1, you cause more bit reduction meaning you lose sound quality. If you connect the M1 DAC to a power amplifier (this is what I am doing), you FIRST must measure your M1 volume settings. You measure the number where the sound is the loudest you listen to (mine was -15 to -20db) and the softest you listen to (mine was -35 to -40 depending on the recording). I discussed these settings with Bricasti and they said the goal is to have the M1 CLOSE to 0db front panel attenuation on the most dynamic recordings, this is mostly found in symphonic recordings and DSD ones.

You have two options. Option #1 is to move the internal PCB jumpers, they are right next to the XLR connectors, 3 pins so just move it over to the other 2 pins. This adjustment activates the two screws on the back of the M1 DAC for manual adjustments. If you WANT to change the level though, you will need a 1k-0dbfs tone and an AC voltmeter to read the voltage otherwise you cannot level match them. In most cases there is too much analog gain in systems and to get the M1 direct optimized this has to be adjusted, once done it really provides the BEST analog signal path and yields the most transparent sound with perfect level control with no side effects from added cables or resistor ladders in the level controls of the hi end preamp, all of which have an effect on the sound. This will get the digital attenuation at the minimum amount needed and the result is the best of both. Please be careful since some older M1 DAC's do NOT have internal jumpers (please call Bricasti to review).

The 2nd option (this is what I am doing) is to keep the M1 DAC the same (no changes) and adjust the power amplifier so that it accepts a higher incoming signal meaning you can move the M1 DAC volume control closer to zero. After conversations with Bricasti, Hypex and the James, the builder of my Hypex NC400 bridged mono amps, he is going to remove R141 from my Hypex NCore NC400 bridged mono blocks, thus lowering gain by 14 dB, requiring 14 dB higher M1 volume setting for same playback level. NC400's 14 dB allows 7 dB greater bit resolution than the M1's 7 dB. This is more complicated than I expected but everyone thinks it will work fine. As I understand it, you have to balance the M1 DAC to the power amplifier in order to achieve your M1 volume settings CLOSE to 0db. If it does not work, additional changes can still be made to the Hypec amplifier and/or the M1 DAC. In summary, for normal operation, the Bricatsi M1 DAC has a digital attenuator so minimizing the amount of attenuation is ideal, therefore setting analog gains is critical for best performance. I think I got everything. cheers, Howard