Bricasti M3

I’m debating getting the Bricasti M3H vs. either the Mola Mola Tambaqui or the (yet to be released) Boulder 812.

my user Casey’s for inputs of Roon over Ethernet & computer USB, and headphone focus including hard to drive headphones.

would value any advice or insight anyone may have…!

Yes, I think you can hook the M3 w/ network renderer to your router via ethernet, and download the mconnect app for streaming Tidal and Qobuz. 

Does any one have a Auralic G1 or G2 to compare the network card sound with. Is the card all you need to be your main digital music player for Tidal and Qobuz.

I’ve had the M3 for about 6 weeks, so it’s good and broken in! The M3 is my first dac so I can only compare it to an Oppo 203...which is no comparison really!! I think it’s sounds great in my modest system. It would definitely be the highlight!! I would say it’s very musical! Sometimes I catch myself going holy crap  that sounds good!! I have the network card and have been running Roon in to it over Ethernet and using it with USB as well. Its hard to tell the difference sometimes. I upsample to Dsd 128 and then I’ll play it straight up and both are great! I just added some GIK panels and that definitely helped the room! Its a great looking machine and the remote is a chunk of aluminum. I liked dealing with the guys at Bricasti, and that ultimately led to the purchase! I’ll try to answer questions if someone has one!!

@musicman159 could you elaborate on the aspects that differentiate the chord and bricasti?

Last night I tried the M3h single ended headphones output with IEMs and it is death quiet which means the noise and output impedance is really low. This is great to match any kind of headphones.

Here is my previous post corrected. I tried to edit it but the system not allow edits after 30 minutes so I delete it to correct it and re-post it.

I own a Bricasti M21, pair of M28s and in another system a M1SE.
I got the M3h (headphones amp option). I can say that the M3 DAC sounds similar to the M21 which is more transparent and detailed than the M1SE without loosing any musicallity.
The M1 is a dual mono DAC in the analog section. That is why it has 3 individual power supplies (one for the digital section and one for each analog channel). The M3 is a smaller box and has just 2 power supplies (one for digital and one for both analog channels).
The rest of the implementation including the network card is the same as found in other Bricasti DACs.

Sorry, yes. I meant without loosing musicality.
Thanks for pointing that to me. BIG MISTAKE on my part.

Also, yesterday I tried the headphones output with a HiFiMan HE1000se and Final D8000 headphones. Both are planar magnetic and not easy to drive. The M3h drove them with ease and sound fantastic. I have a Chord Hugo TT2 as a loan which is a great DAC and headphones amp in the price range of the M3. Both sound fantastic out of the same headphones but I am personally inclining to the M3h sound plus the Chord TT2 does not have the ability to connect directly to the network.

@musicman159 You wrote:  "more transparent and detailed than the M1SE without being musical"  

Is there a typo there??

No experience with the M3 but I have an M1 and can state that Bricasti is a great company to deal with. They resolved an issue with my M1 incredibly fast and fwiw the M1 is a great DAC. 

Bricasti M3 DAC Upgrade Options:

Network Player Card + $1,000.00
Remote Control + $500.00 

I think the Bricasti M3 DAC headphone option is $800 but this needs to be confirmed. 

Great.  Please do!

I receive the M3 with Network module tomorrow!! I loved that they are an American company out of Massachusetts. I'll post my thoughts in a few days. Brian at Bricasti has been great and answered all my questions promptly! If I remember correctly he said it's the best thing they've built. My comparison will only be to an Oppo 203. I'm stoked to say the least!!

Not a review, but a little bit of commentary on the sound of the m3: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55857-bricasti-model-3-dac/

Yeah - such a draught seems hard to explain. Most manufactures seem to seed pre-production models to reviewers such that a new product launch is accompanied by review press.

I haven't even been able to find a single review out there.  Weird.

Are there any end users who bought this new DAC? Your thoughts?
Seems like a nice alternative.

I'd love to hear it too!! Especially because I hear the price is going up very soon!

Would love to hear some opinions if people have gotten an M3 in their systems...

Please see this Bricasti M3 DAC article from the Home Theatre Review:

"If you don’t have $10,000 to drop on a DAC, though, rest easy. Or at least easier. Bricasti just announced the release of its new Model 3--a more affordable solution that nonetheless delivers decoding of PCM up to 384 kHz and DSD128, as well as DoP (DSD over PCM), with fully differential architecture and a balanced analog level control circuit.

More details directly from Bricasti Design:

The Model 3 digital to analog converter offers an incredible array of performance in a more affordable price class. Highlights include two fully differential conversion channels, separate conversion for PCM and native DSD, and a balanced analog level control circuit, making the M3 suitable for all applications. Internally the M3 utilizes two independent linear power supplies for the analog and digital processing to ensure low noise and superior isolation.

The M3 utilizes two independent linear power supplies for the analog and digital processing to ensure low noise and superior isolation. A newly designed chassis made from robust CNC milled aluminum in sections insures superior thermal characteristics, excellent vibrational damping and shielding from RF.

The M3’s digital design employs precision DDS clocking that lowers jitter to extremely low levels, insuring a pure digital signal path without the use of sample rate converters, this combined with superior digital filter design, and Native DSD conversion yields a state-of-the-art digital audio path. The M3’s high speed low distortion analog path features a bypass able preamp class analog level control allowing the M3 to be used to drive the power amps directly, with no bit loss for optimal analog performance.

The M3 comes standard with USB, AES, Toslink and SPDIF interfaces and can be ordered with an optional remote and optional network streamer interface which allows the M3 to become a DNLA UPnP compatible network player. The M3’s player supports sample rates up to 384k PCM and DSD128 as DoP.

Available for immediate delivery. Price is $4,995".

https://hometheaterreview.com/bricasti-design-releases-model-3-dac/

The Bricasti M3 DAC was just released and reviews should be coming shortly. It looks very interesting especially priced at $4,995 and not the higher price of the Bricasti M1SE. Based on the above, it states the M3 can be ordered with an "optional remote and optional network streamer interface". What is the cost for these options?

I'm interested as well. How does it compare to the M1?