I'd do the Bricasti made in USA and just a wonderful co to deal with. Should be able to get an M5 for around 2k. Yes I own their M1 and super happy.
Bricasti M5 or Lumin U1 Mini or ?
I recently made some upgrades to my desktop setup, which sadly gets more use due to a downstairs tenant's bedroom being directly below my larger "living room", which currently serves as the TV watching area. I'd love to use the larger room as my main listening room, but unfortunately that wouldn't be great for the tenant, and certainly would not pass muster with wife. The room in question is a small, oddly shaped spare bedroom/office. Spending the majority of my music listening time in there has really caused me to appreciate and enjoy the nearfield listening experience. Originally, I was hoping to build a dedicated music tiny house/mancave/shed in the yard, but have put that on hold until lumber prices come to back down to earth. So for now, I have a pair of Harbeth P3ESR XD speakers driven by a Hegel H120 Amp, connected to an RME-2 DAC FS via Balanced XLR. I listen to physical cd's on an Audiolab 6000CDT Transport , stream with Qobuz, through a Small Green Computer Roon Core, going through a EtherREGEN network switch. At the moment my streamer is a Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra. One of the reasons I bought the Hegel was on the promise of it being Roon Ready, but that hasn't happened in forever, so I have everything going through the RME as far as DAC duties are concerned. I love the Hegel and want to keep it, but I'm having my doubts on it ever being Roon ready. So I'd like to bring the streamer up to par with the rest of the system, and am looking at either the Bricasti M5 or the Lumin U1 Mini. I listen to 99% instrumental electric & acoustic jazz with some classical chamber music thrown in. As you can see, I'm not big fan of vocals. Obviously, either choice has me using the RME Dac. I'd love to get opinions/advice on which of these streamers is the better choice, or is there something else in this price range that is even better. Roon Ready is a must. Thanks for your time & energy.
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I am a big fan of the M5. It is built like a tank and is just a superb roon end-point. I have a few customers using this and it is at its very best when connected via AES or Digital Coax. An interesting alternative that is very good is the Chord 2Go/2Yu combo. It has wireless features but is at its absolute best as a wired Roon Endpoint and is at its very best when connected via BNC or Digital Coax. They are both very good connected via USB. |
Some use nano pi, some raspberry pi. I use a raspberry pi4 as a Roon bridge to my DAC through USB. I don't see the hardware making much of a difference in a streamer if their software implementation is proprietary it might affect the sound. I don't think it's well known on this site how many music streamers are based on these little pi boards. SkylightPaycard |
I’ve only tried one streamer which is what I own, but I do question statements that streamers don’t make a difference, as wouldn’t the claim be true with CDP and Transports which in my experience they do. With the BS Vault 2 which I own, it’s easy to hear the difference between Qobuz or Tidal to the same CD I’ve ripped to the internal hard drive, which every time the hard drive copy sounds better which definitely has me wanting to hear if there are streamers that are closer to say CD without spending silly money? Glad this discussion started as I’m looking at both the Lumin and Bricasti. I also have a RME ADI fs2 DAC with a Teddy Pardo PS which really helped the Bluesound, which is a great product for the money but I feel it’s the weakest link in my system. I’d have to hear the U1 Mini, but I’m sure I’d have to forgo the switch power supply for a linear supply so now you’re up to the cost of the M5 which already has a LPS. Haven’t subscribed to Roon so that would be an extra expense whereas not required on the Lumin. The Lumin does sound easier to navigate out of the box, but wouldn’t the Bricasti with Roon be as easy? |
So I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Bricasti M5. There were a few factors that pushed me over the edge. I like the fact that the M5 is basically handmade in the US, by a company that has been around for a long time, with a stellar reputation, known for commitment to quality and superior customer service. I was fortunately referred to a dealer by another forum member. The dealer kept things in my price range, and happens to be located 20 minutes away from the Bricasti factory. He's actually driving over to Bricasti to pick up my unit and ship it to me. It's reassuring to know I can pick up the phone and call someone who is available & happy to help me. This also gives me the opportunity for a nice upgrade path for future purchases. At the point of starting this thread, I had already determined that sound quality was excellent on both of these units. So it came down to trouble-free operation, feature set & service. Make no mistake, the Lumin is sold by numerous reputable dealers and actually has the edge on feature set. In the end it seems like more of a "lifestyle" piece than the Bricasti, though It certainly is no slouch in the specification department. My needs are a bit unique in that I intend on using my dac and really just need a rock solid roon ready steamer. So my desktop rig is a follows:
hi-speed internet wired connection to EtherREGEN Switch Switch connected to Small Green Computer SonicTransporter Roon Core w/2 terrabyte hard drive with flac files ripped from cd's Roon core connected to roon ready Bricasti M5 Streamer Streamer connected to RME ADI-2 DAC FS DAC DAC connected via balanced XLR to Hegel H120 Integrated Amp Amp connected to Harbeth P3esr xd speakers I have an Audiolab 6000CDT Cd transport also connected to the dac We'll see how it goes.... |
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How did it go? I’m very interested in upgrading from my Bluesound Node 2i and it’s power board mod with LPS. That definitely improved the stock 2i. The M5, a Lumin U1 Mini and maybe an Aurender N150 are in consideration. I only do streaming as i do not have a library of digital music. Qobuz, Tidal, Radio Paradise and TuneIn are my streaming sources. |
@davidrolon Any updates on your M5 experience? The M5 and the new U2 Mini are on my shortlist |
@aberyclark the acquisition process was stellar (more about that in my post from 11/2/21). Could have not asked for a smoother transaction and excellent price. The installation process was all of a few minutes. Plugged in, hooked it up, turned it on. It was up & running in a few minutes. It was recognized instantly by the roon core (SGC). No glitches, no weird behavior. It sounds great, and other than a moment or two here & there, it has not been turned off since day one. Way back when, and for years, I used an old laptop for streaming via the usb port. I used foobar to play ripped cd's ripped to flac from an external harddrive. That worked fine and sounded fine other than the fan noise from the laptop. I graduated to a pro-ject stream box ultra. That was glitchy at first via the streambox app, but worked very well via roon. I ended up selling that to another agon member. From there I went with a cambridge cxn v2. It worked effortlessly, and had a pretty nice color info display. Not exactly sure why, and as has been the case with every cambridge product I've ever bought (100% have been returned,) something didn't sound right. That drove me towards the Bricasti M5. I would have to say, my system sounds great, but that probably has more to do with the other components working well together. Perhaps the greatest compliment is that it has not colored, changed or diminished the excellent sound quality of my system. It is built like a tank in the USA by folks who answer the phone, and know a thing or two about building high quality audio products. I suppose the only downside is there is no fancy color screen, if that is something you care about (I don't). The only little quirk I wasn't expecting was in my black unit, the top surface is actually silver color. If you've ever see a car audio unit before it is inserted in the dash, the M5 upper surface has a similar look to it. That might bug some, but does not affect me at all. I am thoroughly satisfied with my purchase and would recommend the M5 without reservation.. |