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Considering Bricasti and Lampizator

I'm looking for a new DAC in the sub 10k range (used). After reading about several options here and elsewhere, the ones I find most intriguing are the Bricasti M1 and the Lampizator Big 7.

Has anyone directly compared these two great DACs? If you have: any thoughts about the differences, and which you preferred?

Just to throw a few talking points out there, here are a few things which make me a bit shaky about each option:

Bricasti M1:

Introduced in late 2011, so it's 3.5 years into its life cycle. Can it really hang with more recent offerings? Is a newer model coming soon?

Lampizator Big 7:

A dizzying array of options (caps, DSD, tube rolling, ...). Is this really the way off the merry-go-round?

Lack of stability in their product line, with new models and options coming out continuously. How does this affect resale value?
rrolack

Showing 2 responses by coli

coli
291 posts
 
PS Audio Directstream is actually pretty good and at a good price, make sure you feed it low jitter input though.
coli
291 posts
 
From another forum

"I've heard three different Lampis (4, and two Big 5s I believe) via a variety of Schiit or EC amps, and they seem to be all over the place. None of them sounded exactly the same. It irks me that there are so many models, making straight comparisons impossible, i.e. "which Lampi?" Then there's the issue of tube rolling - there are a lot of options and tubes to roll inside.

Supposedly the OR5 helps tremendously, but I have not heard a Lampi with an OR5. One thing I feel pretty confident saying is that the analog tube section is fantastic: resolving, clear, immediate without bloat or tooby-ness. Unfortunately, this puts on spotlight on the USB receiver and DAC circuitry which sounded mediocre or pretty darn good but with showstopper type warts (slight treble digititus or grating stridency.)

As things stand, I can not recommend the 4 or the Big 5 to friends, unless they are the type that wouldn't mind spending an additional X amount of tubes, tweaking with caps, etc. You could be just as well off buying a cheapo DCX2496, wiring in a boutique clock board, and connecting the output directly from the DAC chips to a tube amp like the BA. There have been four Lampis on sale (4, 5, 6, and 7) for quite a while now on the 'gon.

Ears I trust say the Big 7 is good, but we are getting into five figures now. "
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