Bricasti M3 In the house
I see that Bricasti M3 page now says DSD 256 over DoP. Does this mean they've updated their digital input board? I also don't get how DSD 256 can be supported over DoP. Also, does anyone know whether M3 volume control is active or passive? |
@rsf507 thanks for the kind words. I was told by the dealer it has the latest upgrade to the main board; He also said that the M3 with revision surpasses the M1se and comes extremely close to M21, But I have not heard any other Bricasti DACs so I’ll take his word for it; Honestly, I can’t imagine whatever gains there are left to render that would allow me to appreciate the music more than this piece does now. I’m equally blown away by the sound quality and being able to leave USB behind. |
Hey Guys, I have in-house the M3 for review for the Stereo Times and find it superlative in its performance. The one sent to me has the latest board, I'm assuming that dpac996 also purchased one with this upgrade, it's a great combination of terrific pure timbres/tonality and overall dynamics that make the music become more lifelike as it flows into the room with an ease very much like analog displays in a system. Bricasti Design's build quality is beyond reproach and another killer part of the M3 is it's analog volume control which comes very, very close to the performance of my $6,500 preamplifier. To answer rsf507 question regarding how close the M3 with the new board comes to M21's performance, its pretty/pretty close. This DAC is not expensive, but how much more you would have to spend to out perform it, would be an extreme %, indeed. |
The M3 is a game changer for me; I compared extensively USB to ETH; Result: No more USB; In general, I have been up and down the USB link for 2 years. I dislike USB as an interface for high end digital audio--way too much involved to make it sound right; Just my opinion, please don’t shoot me, lol; Bricasti’s Ethernet renderer implementation is superb. Not one dropout or issue as a Roon endpoint, or via its native UPnP streamer option (which I have been using a ton for direct streaming from Qobuz); I have it down stream on the "B" side of an EtherREGEN and the rest of the network on the "A" side; I ran a test and with a live Qobuz stream (44.1/16bit): I disconnected the Ethernet cable and music played for 43 seconds perfectly. Makes for nice network elasticity to buffer this deep; Also renders upstream buffers that may be in other servers and streamers a bit overkill. The DAC is very enchanting and has immense musicality- the top end detail, extension, and sheer refinement is exceptional; I am hearing new information. Amazing amount of musical sophistication and performance in one very compact and beautiful chassis. Case work is topnotch, milled from AL stock for very low vibration. The mounting feet they deployed are quite substantial too; Coming off the Chord TT2 the M3 portrays a noticeably wider soundstage, and significantly more space to the musical "throw"; It seems spherically bigger, IOW. The inner dynamics and subtle shadings are incredible. It is very natural and real sounding. Voices are pure and transparent. I could go on and on but i’m cutting it short. I’m just head over heels for this thing. Mega respect to the Bricasti team on this product! I tried a few different power cords with it, and wound up with an Audience AU24SE-HP; Just a wonderful synergy. Other cables: Triode Wire Labs American Digital, Nordost Brahma, IsoTek Optimum, Shunyata Venom NC-10; Supporting cast: Preamplifier: Luxman C-900 Power amplifier: Luxman M-900 Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Confidence 50 Speaker cables: Triode Wire Labs American Power cord amp: TWL Obsession Power cord pre: Nordost Brahma System Pics: https://imgur.com/a/OV8bIJ7 |
My Ayre Codex DAC was excellent, but the unit was getting old and I wanted to try something else. At that time Bricasti, just announced the M3 DAC. After several phone calls with my retailer, and Bricasti, I purchased the M3 DAC in January 2020. It took time for the M3 to break in BUT it was light years BETTER than the Ayre Codex DAC. Please note this is a 2-channel home theatre system. My LG OLED TV connects to the M3 DAC and then balanced XLR cables to my SimAudio 340i integrated amplifier that connects to my PMC Twenty5.21 speakers. I like this system very much and highly recommend you consider the Bricasti M3 DAC. The addition of the Bricasti M3 DAC substantially improved the sound quality of this system. I used the DH Labs Glass Master Toslink Cable from my LG OLED TV to my Bricasti M3 DAC. |
Currently I’m running it directly from the Zenith’s network streamer output. The EtherREGEN is out for now; I want to get a clean perspective on it for a week this way; I did some initial testing, and preferred the Ethernet connection but it was done in very short order so not a conclusive test. Ill try the EtherREGEN in different spots too. one thing is for certain, though, this M3 is fantastic and a significant step above the Chord TT2 in my system which surprised me because the TT2 is pretty darn good as is ( I had M scaler with it and did not like it); |
