The person who had the bone stock Yggy burned it in and A/Bed with the fully burned in MSB Analog DAC. He uses the top of the line Coincident speakers, preamp and amp and a bunch of $4700 Hi Fidelity cables.....a very revealing system.....he said the Yggy was just as detailed.....you don't believe him? I believe what you say about what you hear when you A/B. He has no agenda....he sold the Yggy because it was not as musical....but he would not try any of the mods that I suggested because he was to fearful. So far the stock Yggy has beaten all DACs it has been A/Bed with except that MSB and a $10,000 TotalDAC......but these guys did not listen to the simple but very transforming mods that my friend did to his Yggy and shown on my site. And these mods are just the beginning!!!!! But fear will keep most (99.9%) from doing these mods. Men are so stodgy....wish there were more woman in this game...they would be more experimental and open.
Anything can be modded to sound much, much better...Never saw a compenent that was as good as possible stock. I am not the only one who could do this.....there are lots of serious tweakers out there.
How do you know a Directstream will "blow the doors off" the stock Yggy let alone a modded one when you have never heard one......sounds like you are very, very scared. The fear of loss.....it runs us all. I prefer the "lets see what we can do with this to make it super" mode myself. A lot more fun!
Please give up the fear....enjoy the ride. If the modded Yggy turns out to be much better than the stock Bricasti then you could sell the Bricasti for much more than a modded Yggy would cost....then there is no loss....in fact, you would pocket some money. There is no end to this game....whatever product (especially digital) you covet today will eventually be yesterdays toy....."Who wants yesterdays papers?....who want yesterdays girl(DAC)?....no body in the world".....please sing along....dance too. Its all dust in the wind. We are eternal love. We are not our toys.....they are just tools to experience more love. The tools change....the love remains...always. |
JH901, ask ALRainbow. He has 2 Lampi B7s (one is a Headdac) and a MSB Platinum stack and a DS. I think he plans to get a Golden Gate HeadDac in the future
I did read that he said Yale bested Pikes Peak! |
As I said above.....my friend in Pocoima would love to A/B his modded Yggy with a Bricasti or a Yale DS DAC or other super DAC like an Empirical or Lampy. I can get you in touch with him....An A/B in the same place with both warmed up (he can leave his DAC at your place for a few day, even) will definitely tell us which does what. Anyone in SoCal want to play? |
Rick,
A fully broken in Golden Gate playing PCM and better still DSD...wouldnt be a fair fight, no matter what mods are in the Yggy. It would not be pretty. |
M1, DirectStream (Yale), Modded Yggy, GG, Overdrive SE, etc...
Will the upcoming Chord DAVE wipe them all out?
-Josh |
Have you seen the technology in the Yggy? Apparently not. This is one serious machine. Yes, it needs tweaking.....you could even put a Lampizator output stage on it (personally a fan of zero feedback class A fet buffers). The Golden Gate is in another whole price point. Bring over your "regular" Lampy and I bet it will be very scary....for the Lampizator owner, that is.
The sky is the limit for a modded Yggy. You have not heard anything yet!
The next great DAC will be obsolete in 6 months no matter what it is......I am sure the "DAVE" will be one great machine....it better be for that kind of money. |
Rick, I have a Big 7 and all that is raved about the Yggy, choke regulation etc is old hat in the lampi. GG is same circuit with extreme parts. All that tweaking you speak of is basically stock in a Lampizator. Lampi is built by a tweaker, dont forget.
The DSD is unmatched in digital playback...go ask Bruce Borwn, or Elberoth...Hahaha
It totally destroyed the Hugo(and my own Qute EX). Until you hear one properly setup, you wont get it. Nevermind, I understand. |
I went from a PS Audio Perfectwave DAC II to the PS Audio DSD to the Bricasti M1. Digital is moving at a fast pace and there is no doubt that there are better/different sounding DACs coming out every couple of months. Reading post have become part of the hobby and it's a joy to read about new components. It feels great to read and not want! |
If I have learned anything on this thread, and I have learned a lot its that the Transport is so very important to how the DAC performs.
I have seen the performance of my Bricasti improve with every transport change / upgrade / tweak I have made.
I really had no idea of the true significance the transport's role plays with supporting the DAC until I started this thread and all you guys opened my eyes to it and educated me and gave me great idea's.
Take any two DAC's and the transport many times is the difference between them when heard in different systems.
That said the Bricasti with a nice Transport solution in a digital system that is nice and revealing is where its at for me.
I have learned a lot form this thread and I want to give back and offer some advice and show some of the things I have done that have worked great for me.
Here is some of the transport changes and improvements I have made that I am very happy with. These changes now has my system and my Bricasti performing at a very high level and I thought you guys may want read this. I certainly can highly recommend them...
I started with a computer as a transport and was using JRiver and added JPlay and then after I added the great USB Cable the Tellurium Q Black Diamond and that was a nice bump in SQ.
I then went with the SOtM SMS-100 Ethernet to USB unit and that was a nice bump in SQ.
I then went to a Audiophilleo AP2 and that was another nice bump in SQ.
Then I added the Audiophilleo Pure Power Battery pack to go with the AP2 that was a huge bump in SQ. HUGE... It actually blew my mind. It made my Bricasti so much better it was really an eye opener for me.
I was then running my Audiophilleo AP2 w/Pure Power Battery connected directly to the BNC input on my Bricasti because one of the benefits of the AP2 is there is no need for an extra Coax digital cable as it can connected directly to the DAC with no cable needed. My friend told me no way, not to do that. That a decent coax cable with be a nice improvement. Even though it can connect direct to the DAC a BNC to BNC digital coax cable will offer nice improvement because that will help attenuate the noise from the BNC Connectors. Sure enough he was right and here was another real nice bump in SQ. I went with the very reasonably priced Black Cat Silverstar 75 BNC to BNC digital coax cable and it is excellent in this application and offered definite SQ improvement and more than I would have ever thought.
The next step was to take it to another level. I now went with the versatile, evolving and ever improving Auralic Aries w/ dual Femto clocks and streamed via Ethernet from the files that are on my computer. So I ran my great Tellurium Q Black Diamond USB Cable from the USB out on the Auarelic Aries to my Audiophilleo AP2 w/Pure Power Battery. Then from my AP2 w/PP I ran my Black Cat Silverstar 75 Digital cable from the BNC out of the AP2 to my BNC in on my Bricasti. The combo of this Aries, TQ USB Cable, AP2 w/PP, BC-SS75 Coax to Bricasti has been very impressive and this transport solution is great and has made my Bricasti much better.
Oh but there is more. I bought a desktop HD computer monitor replacement power supply. The power supplies on computer monitor screens have very good filtration so as to not affect the pixel quality. I used this to power my FIO's internet modem and wireless router. This was another bump in SQ.
I realized streaming via Ethernet was not the way to go with the Auralic Aries after some reading. Too noisy even with the PS upgrade for modem/router. The Aeries has a USB out to connect to an external hard drive but there are 2 problems with this. 1.) if you use a self powered External Hard Drive the power of the hard drive will corrupt the usb bus and degrade SQ. Better solution but still not great is get an external hard drive powered by the 5V from the USB cable of the Aeries. Even though this is a better solution it is still not the ideal solution because the power from the Aeries liner power supply is not as clean as we would like it to be and that affects the sound from the External Hard Drive. Here is where a creative solution comes in that works great.
I ordered a custom made USB cable that splits the cable in two. One leg is for the 5V power and the other is for the Data that carries the delicate music file. I run the data files from the Solid State External Hard Drive and the power leg to unit that is made to re-charge cell phones via 5V cell phones. This will run the hard drive for hours and even when its plugged in and recharging its still super quiet.
I have clean battery power on both ends book ending the Auralic Aries. The Auralic Aries being wireless and offering many streaming options and being plastic for the wireless can by a little noisy and that is where AP2 w/pp takes up the slack and cleans that up nice. There maybe better streamers or servers out there but doubtful for this money. This is a genuine / high tech / high performing solution that works outstanding and pushed my DAC to a level that I didn't think was possible. The thing reflects clearly every little change or update I have made and hopefully it can help you too.
I just wanted to share this with you guys as it is our DAC thread and it has improved my digital performance 10 fold and if it can help you in one way or another than my taking the time to share all this was worth while. Just trying to help my other fellow digital comrades and as always comments, criticism and feedback are not only welcome they are solicited.
|
Another former Directstream owner here, I really don't have anything good to say about it.... Other than I owned it 5 months too long. |
Coli - curious to know what you replaced your DS with. TIA |
Hi, I am evaluating the Benchmark DAC2 right now, I will also have a Metrum Pavane "soon"... |
07-18-15: Coli
Hello,
Interesting input and thanks for sharing. I switched from the DirectStream to Bricasti but I loved my DirectStream and I had to spend to a lot more money to better it. I had owned the Ayre QB-9 before it and really liked that DAC but found the DirectStream was a big improvement. I must say now I bet if I had a better transport when I owned the DirectStream I bet I would have better appreciated it. The transport changes the DAC soooo much.
Do you like the DAC 2 better than the DirectStream?? |
I have not tried firmware before Pike Peak, but after 5 months, Pike Peak sounded VERY wrong....
What I did noticed was that if there was any input jitter, it would effect the sound of the Directstream. Pretty funny considering that PA Audio advertise the DS as having no jitter!
I ended up buying a Mutec reclocker/convert that solved input jitter once and for all. I was using Jplay before that which also helped but to a lesser degree.
Yale beta sounded a lot better than Pike Peak, there's actually bass coming out now! Sigh.
Yale beta still sounded wrong/incorrect.
On the other hand, Benchmark DAC2 at least sounds correct., so yes, the DAC2 is infinitely better than the Directstream already. Sigh again. Oh, with the DAC2, my speaker sounded like subwoofers on certain programs!
Right now, I really want Metrum to send me a working Pavane, the one I got/sending back is damaged in shipping, only 1 channel working, but I can already tell it was special... |
07-20-15: Coli
Thanks for the response. Yes I agree the DirectStream or any DAC will yield much better results with an improved - cleaner incoming signal. I found the same with the Bricasti that every little change upgrade before it or after shows nicely.
If you could find a nice and clean used Bricasti I couldn't recommend it any higher to you as a former Directstream owner I love mine.
I never heard of the Mutec before but that seems pretty awesome. Have you tried any others that you could compare it to?
I am really really enjoying my new addition of the Auralic Aries w/ duel Femto clocks and their linear power supply in concert with the Audiophilleo AP2 reclocker with Pure Power battery pack but that Mutec looks cool and was wondering how it would compare to my solution or others out there??
My solution was a total game changer for me and I bet an even much less expensive DAC would sound much - much better. The combo is about $2500 which considering how much it improved the sound and what a comparable server would cost its a great option. It vastly improved a $9,000 DAC so me it was a great buy indeed.
How much is the Mutec?
Thanks |
I'm not sure if Mutec got their USB version out yet, I'm using the MC-3+ Smart Clock with AES in to optical out. $700 off ebay I think. I haven't really compared it with anything else since it works 100% for me already :)
There's an interesting option of syncing to a 10M clock, but I don't think I'll try that, too expensive. |
Fsmithjack,
Will the Femto clock work with the Bryston BDP-2? Knowing what you know now, do you regret spending so much money on the DAC? |
Coli- I don't know. Is it really the case that R-2R is the only way? For example, the COS Engineering D1 is a newcomer and compares straight up to the Pavane in the 6moons review. How could that be!?
So we're in a situation where there are some PCM only R-2R, PCM only delta sigma, some DSD only, some DSD only with PCM converted on the fly. There are FPGA chips (both proprietary and off the shelf), various filtering implementations, power supply designs, and unique analog stage approaches. Oh, and then there are the various USB inputs and even a few integrated (or stand-alone) disc spinners. Finally, there are certainly some twists I failed to mention. Whew.
Isn't it more likely that the best overall engineering will rise to the top irrespective of design approach?
Regards, Josh |
I don't know to be honest, I'm trying to lower the DAC cost myself because I might want to go multichannel again. I definitely am not going to buy 2 $4000 DACs.
I had this song, with PLII and surround speakers, there was this moving sfx mixed in that was amazing! Could never reproduce it with just 2 channel.
I might try some high end processors and see if they are good enough now that the rest of my system are freaking amazing now... |
Hey Ricred1
No I don't regret it at all. I actually appreciate my investment in my Bricasti M1 even more now as it keeps improving as I improve the equipment around it.
Speaking of improving the equipment around my Bricasti M1 I have gone on a system re-fit and improved the transport that I listed above but I also upgraded my Speakers, Amps and Speaker Cables.
For speakers I went with a 103db high efficiency pair that is a unique design the Rethm Saadhana V3 Speakers (2015). It blends a single, full range driver design that connects direct to the amplifier via speaker cable (which I also upgraded) because there is no crossover just a direct connection. This makes them image like nothing I have ever heard and they sound so natural and resolving yet relaxed and can be driven by just a couple high quality, clean watts. This crossoverless single driver has its bass augmented by built in bass modules. These modules are in the bottom of the speakers and are made up of 3x 6.5 inch high efficiency paper drivers and are driven by their own built in 205 Watt FET amps per speakers.
Before these speakers I traded my Ascendo's and a bunch of other gear I had and got a great deal and bought a new pair of Sonus Faber Guarneri Evoltion's. I did not like these that much even though they have great write ups. I traded the Sonus Fabers for these Rethm Saadhana V3 Speakers and I couldn't be any happier. They are MUCH better than the Sonus Faber Guarneri Evoltion IMO.
I also have a 3.5 Watt amp being built right now: a
Triode Labs 2A3S-FFX Custom build with these options:
- Upgraded Hashimoto trannies
- Mundorf Silver in Oil Coupling Caps for 2A3
- Mundorf EVO Oil Coupling Caps for Input Stage
- Mundorf MLytic Power Supply E Cap
- Furutech Rhodium IEC
- Cardas Rhodium RCA
- Cardas Copper Binding Posts 0-4-8-16
- Audio Consulting Silver Input Wires
- NOS Premium tubes
I chose to upgrade my speaker cables also because with no crossover they are the only thing that connects the amp to the voice coil in the speaker. This direct connection seem to make quality speaker cable important. I went with:
HiDiamond D8 3m Speaker cables w/Furutech Rhodium Plated Locking Banana FT-212(R).
Can't wait to get this amp im my system. I wanted to list my recent changes to speak to your question if I regretted my Bricasti purchase and what it has done is make all my other improvements better. What good speakers and good amps need is the best source you can give them. I know there are better than the Bricasti but for the money and with a solid transport it performs at a very high level. Especially now that I am surrounding it with performance comparable equipment.
The duel Femto clocks are built into the Auralic Aries and I think the Aries and your Bryston are both transports and not sure if they could work together. I can say the Tidal streaming that the Aries offers is amazing. Its basically the NETFIX for audiophiles except rather than movies it has hi-res loss-less audio files. Great stuff...
|
Alright, I've been listening to the DAC2 for awhile now. This thing destroys the Directstream at 1/3rd the price.
For the first time, a hi-res track actually sounded better than the CD version.
I also have a hi-res track that sounded worse than the cd track on the DS, on the DAC2, still sounded worse. Whoever made that needs to be fired. |
Coli...So which is it? Are you blaming the DS for the poor quality of sound or is it the recordings used in your evaluations? Two wrongs don't make a right... |
Hello Coli,
It just goes to show how system synergy and individual preference come into play. Everyone likes and hears things different. I keep reading how the Yale upgrade has been fantastic. Glad you are enjoying your BM DAC2. I have heard a modded DAC1 a ways back and liked it a lot but it was driving by tubes which seemed to be a good match for that DAC. |
Aolmrd1241: pretty much everything sounded bad on the Directstream at low volume. If you want to hear thin/flat sound, the DS is the goto DAC.
The other DACs on the otherhand sounded good with most recordings, except a few. Eg: ceui
My brief time with a broken Metrum DAC, on the other hand, made even crap songs sound good. |
Aolmrd1241: to add more details, with the Directstream, hi-res and CD quality recording sounded pretty much the same, heck even AAC and lossless sounded pretty much the same. Flat and thin.
On the DAC2, hi-res sounded "better" than cd quality. The most obvious is the increased resolution of complex splash sound.
With that said, I am not recommending the DAC2, it is just a point of comparison. The DAC2 also has a hint on thinness to it, just nowhere near the thinness of the Directstream.
The R2R NOS Metrum DAC on the other hand, even in it's broken state, sounded natural, and wonderful, and unlike anything I've ever heard before. I should have it back in a few weeks time, then I can comment more. |
Coli- meantime, would you mind sharing an idea of what your music collection is like from both a content perspective (jazz, rock etc) and a quality perspective? As to quality, how serious has your effort been to acquire the best mastering work for a given title? Cheers, Josh |
Jh901,
Can you tell where I can get the best mastering work for current "smooth jazz", if it's even possible. I usually just purchase from Amazon. |
Hi Ricred1 - I can't comment on "smooth jazz" as I'm not a fan. There are quite a number of jazz CDs/SACDs originally recorded on analog tape in the 50s to 70s which have superb sound quality. In any event, this discussion would be way off topic here. I just wanted to get an idea of what source material Coli favored. Regards, Josh |
My collection is basically all digital lossless (flac, wav, tak, ape, blah blah), majority is CD quality instrumentals, vocal, ethnic, and lots of original soundtracks (OSTs on a good DAC is heavenly).
Lately, I've been getting a ton of hi-res recording at 96khz mostly, mora.jp, some 48khz and a little 192khz. I've also tried DSD iso at several gig a piece, eg: Suara DSD on the Directstream, didn't sound good either.
Right now I'm testing the Emotiva XMC-1, this thing sounded so good that I'm not sure if I should keep it and go multichannel again or stick with the Metrum when it get's back... |
I found that on the Directstream, I listened mainly to piano/vocal over and over.
Now I realized why, complex music sounded like crap on the Directstream so I ended up avoiding them over time.
I have categorized playlists containing all the songs I liked in the past 10 years give and take a few years, so during DAC comparisons I played the different songs, and it became very obvious that the past 5 months with the DS was a HUGE mistake. |
Coli,
Did you have a chance to listen to the newest Yale firmware upgrade? |
Coli,
With respect... I can see how you or anyone can like something better than something else regardless of what other people think but this is much too good of a DAC and certainly has a universal level competence that is far above your experience with the product.
It is just too well engineered and too robust a product to match the results you have had.
I am inclined to think you had a defective unit with reverse polarity on one of the inputs or outputs or some kind ground issue or something that made it perform much below its well documented abilities???
Even if you had the worst match with cables or other equipment it should at worst still be decent.
It's to bad because to mention any Emotiva digital product as performing better than a Directstream is really telling.
You had to have had a defective unit.
Emotiva has some decent amps with pretty good build quality and especially at their impressive price points.
Myself in that budget I would prefer an old beat up but good working Krell, ARC, CJ, Threashhold or something but some people like the warranty and don't want to deal with CAP replacement so I get it. Their digital is another story. None of it could even come even remotely close to a non-defective / proper working Directstream so I am sure it must have been defective?
Myself , I would tend to think even a defective Direststream if it could spit out any signal I would take that over Emotiva digital! You should have sent that Directstream back to Colorado. It would have been worth it... |
I highly doubt that you are alone in your views, Fsmithjack. Something is way, way off with Coli's audition. Hopefully, we can get this thread back on track. -Josh |
I don't often post such things, but 'dis guy... 'dis guy caused me to write today. I've also posted much the same on Computer Audiophile.
Disclaimer: I own and enjoy a PS Audio Directstream (Pike's), and have for some time.
I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there's a cat on Computer Audiophile who has been wailing the same tune for quite a while, username is "ilok". Hmmm, "Coli" == "ilok"?
In a fit of anti-evangelistic fervor, Coli/ilok has been trashing the DS as well as PS Audio as a company, which I think is categorically unfair, both to PSA and to anyone who might be considering purchasing the DS.
Look, Colick, we've all made mistakes when building systems. It's part of the hobby. Many people have made far more expensive mistakes, some of which involve sparks and smoke. (Don't ask me how I know this.) As has been mentioned on CA, the DS may have been defective. The DS may have been dropped from on high. Who knows? But, at any time did you contact PS Audio to see if their support personnel might have actually been of help? I've always found PS Audio to be highly responsive to any questions or issues.
Evidently, you chose instead to replace most/all of your surrounding system before giving up on the DS without ever contacting PSA. Odd approach, actually. It probably wound up costing far more to replace your system than to return the DS.
This seems like a classic case of projection. The responsibility which you cannot accept for yourself gets projected outward on to something or someone other, in this case PS Audio. Clearly, it's not their fault, and to suggest that they were dishonest (stated by "ilok" in CA) based on your one experience is a rather sad reflection of your state of mind.
I think that most people can see through your statements, seeing them for what they are. Time to grow up and move on, admit your mistakes, rather than bad-mouthing others. |
Well put, Rhanson739. Hopefully, this thread won't suffer from trolling any longer.
-Josh |
I hadn't known of any other posts on CA so that's interesting?
Not sure this is the same person but I can say first hand from my experience that I have owned the DirectStream and I was fortunate or unfortunate (depending on perspective..lol) to have heard it in my system when I was on a system - speaker-go-round and heard it with a half dozen different pairs of good speakers.
Combined with the different speakers was also different cables, in different rooms, with different amps and preamps. All sounded different as the speaker has an awful lot of impact on the sound of a system but with all the different combo's (not all were the best synergy matches either) the Directstream was always fantastic and that wasn't even with a first rate transport but with a computer as the source which I now know is not an ideal source. You guys taught me that here on this thread.
Its just too good a piece to not be defective and perform like that. I also considered there could be some ax grinding going here as well but I always like to give the benefit of doubt but it wasn't adding up either way... |
Sorry to interrupt all the stomping on the PSA DSD, but I recently loaded the Yale beta software and this is the Goldilocks upgrade: everything now is just right. Pikes peak was awful -- to the point of un-listenable! 1.2.1 was good but not great. The Yale version does nothing wrong, so Hippocrates' concerns are assuaged. It is eminently natural and easy to listen to, especially on vocals and acoustic music. eerily realistic. So I for one am a happy listener.
Neal |
The official Yale non-beta OS is to be released around noon today. |
From the sounds of it, Yale Final should be quite good. Downloading now for a listen later. |
... And it was good. Much better than the Yale beta. |
That Yale sounds awesome!!
I liked the Pikes Peak but its seems I'm in the minority on that ones though. Maybe because I was running it in an all tube system?
What about the Yale do you guys think makes it a lot better than Pikes Peak? I'm kinda curious? Thanks |
Yale final is killer. It takes the DS to the next level. Much more natural sound...micro and macro dynamics are the best yet. Inner detailing is beyond reproach.Smoother treble but still lots of detail. The best thing is Ted Smith still has lots of magic left in his bag. |
Since I'm auditioning amps right now, I put Pikes back in because I was more familiar with the sound. That lasted about 10 seconds. Yale is back up, now.
Over the past couple of weeks, every time I put Yale beta in, I went back to Pikes. It just wasn't engaging for me.
The difference between Pikes and Yale final, for me, is it brings in a huge level of detail, but not in a sharp or fatiguing way. To go from Yale to Pikes to Yale again can be an education. Try it when you have a few moments... I'd be interested in other peoples' findings. |
Any hopes we can get some comparisons between the Bricasti and Yale (final)? Have Bricasti hardware (or software) updates completed or are they expected to refine from time to time?
- Josh |
The Bricasti is a totally different animal...
I think the way the PSA Directstream is set up for all these changes via downloaded software updates is very cool and it is brilliant from a consumer marketing standpoint.
Once things get a bit stale or something else comes out or just for the heck of it they can just come up with a catchy name and offer up a new update via the their resident mad scientist. Ted gets his Field-‐Programmable Gate Array code writing hat on and bamm everything changes. Very cool...
Bircasti takes a very different approach. Being grounded in pro audio they have a different take on it. A lot of their approach to their M1 DAC came from their development of their world beating recording studio M7 Reverb Unit. It is universally accepted as the worlds very best reverb. With designing the reverb they did a ton of digital phase filter work with passband slopes, stopbands, passband ripple, stopband attenuation, delay and all the other fun stuff that allows the worlds best recording studios to use their M7 Reverb in a recording studio room the size of 12x15 and make it authentically sound like it was from a gigantic 16th century auditorium.
All that work was then focused on a consumer based DAC product built around 14 outstanding proprietary Linear Phase and Minimum Phase Digital Filer technology. They farmed some of this great filter design out to their former co-worker buds from Levinson and Lexicon down in CT.
The M1 features a robust menu of 14 different propriety Linear Phase and Minimum Phase Filers. These are killer and allow you customize the sound to your specific individual system. They had earlier on just offered the Linear Phase filters which were great but when they released their Minimum Phase Filers as an update it was a total game changer. They are awesome and really give the owner of a highly resolving system great versatility to custom tailor the sound.
For myself at first it was nice but when I finally settled on my filter preference and that seemed to be that. I was happy. Well then I changed out a lot of other equipment in my system. When doing so all of a sudden these other filters sounded very different and it was great.
I have recently gone through an exorbitant amount of system changes in my system that is not the norm for me. I have new speakers, new speaker cables, a new amp, new digital cables and a new transport so the changes I have made have been substantial.
With each change each filer offered something different. Having this DAC has been a god send. In a very resolving system these are not subtle differences either. They really change and tailor the sound. The stage moves, the runs higher, the bottom tightens, etc etc. Great stuff really. The more I have gotten used to the DAC and my new equipment the more I have come to appreciate this DACs genuine versatility.
They are both great DACs and both approach things quite different and I enjoyed them both but as far as digital goes you will need to prey this Bricasti out of my dead hands. It is amazing! I am glad to hear the PS Audio guys have a great new update that has improved their DACs as well... |
Fsmithjack- great stuff! Appreciated. The M1 evolved quite a bit on the hardware side too from the time it was first introduced. Wasn't it? I wonder if they are done looking at possible hardware enhancements. Those filters have a lot of R&D into them I bet.
- Josh |
Fsmithjack,
Did you ever get to hear the DS DAC with the latest firmware? |
Sabai
I have not heard the Yale yet. I'm sure its great as everyone seems to love it. I would def like to hear it sometime soon. |
The Yale is awesome!
Much deeper with a natural sounding soundstage. Now the frequency response at the extremes is so natural. |
I was at the California Audio Show and spent some time with Brian from Bricasti. He was very helpful and I agree the Bricasti M1 sounded very nice. I plan on listening again on Sunday and also plan on listening to my M1 at my local dealer.
I then discovered, that if I wanted to, I could use the Bricasti M1 as a pre-amplifier and replace my integrated amplifier with a power amplifier. Or, I could keep the integrated amp and use the Bricasti M1 as a DAC (and not a pre-amp). Several people have already recommended I do this but I am researching (my only source is my MAC Book Pro computer).
Does anyone use their Bricasti M1 as a pre-amp into your power amplifier? How does this sound? Does it make any sense to do this? Any comments would be appreciated. |
