Bricasti Model 1 Series II DAC

@docroasty I owned the Bricasti M3 a year or so ago. And I demoed the Meitner MA3 recently. The Meitner is a very fine DAC. It is very smooth and was to much of a good thing in my system, with my Harbeth 40.2. I needed something with a little more drive and touch less warmth.. Regardless of that, I could still hear the magic in this wonderful Meitner DAC. Very refined and natural. The MA3 is in another league over the M3 and surely more on par with the M1. The M1SE should have a little more in room presence over the MA3. But the MA3 should be the more delicate and organic one. So, smooth, delicate and organic with a great does of musicality, compared to the recording studio quality standards ya get with Bricasti, maybe a touch more accuracy over the personal definition sector of ‘musicality’. 
 

@joc3021 @audphile1 ​​​​​​

many thanks for the replies! really appreciate the comments/comparisons. had not considered ayre before but will look into it. I like Benchmark as a company but somehow just could not enjoy my dac3b, hpa4 and ahb2.. ended up selling all of them.

@jriggy i really enjoy my MA3. I think it is a great dac. the rockna wavelight is not as technically achieved but somehow find myself enjoying the music more with the rockna house sound. if I do change up my dacs, the MA3 may be the one to go. based on your comments, am now a bit more hesitant to try the Bricasti (mainly as it'd be a blind buy of significant cost).. may look in the opposite direction to totaldac (d1 unity) which seems to be in a similar price range. 

Can anyone comment on comparing the current version

of the PS Audio DirectStream mk2 with the Bricasti or Meitner Dax’s?

I recently replaced my DirectStream MKI - heavily modded - with a Weiss DAC 501 MKII. I cannot respond to the SQ of the DS MKII, but I believe the Weiss DAC is much more neutral and noise-free. Also the build quality is much better.

Also the Weiss DAC 501MKII has an excellent Ethernet input and the DirectStream MKII does not.

I did not listen to the Bricasti Model 1 Series II DAC - but it is also much costlier than the PS Audio or Weiss.

Please be aware the Weiss DAC requires plenty of burn-in time and a very musical power cable.

Does anyone know if Bricasti offers an upgrade from a M3 MDx to the M1S2?