Playback Designs MPD6 or Bricasti M21?

@acurus,

I like my Bricasti M21 DAC very much because it sounds great. The DAC has a 24-bit delta sigma DAC, a 20-bit ladder DAC and true 1 bit DSD for DSD content. It includes an Ethernet connection so the M21 is recognized as a DNLA device and becomes a powerful media renderer. I switched my music streaming to using Audirvana Studio software on my MAC Laptop Computer (14-inch MacBook Pro M2 12 Core/19CPU). I use Audirvana Studio remote on my iPad to find the albums, playlists, etc. My Bricasti M21 DAC connects to the Internet using an Ethernet cable. This setup has resulted in my music being clearer and more open (replaced my Aurender sever). The Audirvana Studio interface is excellent and is easy to use (yes, there is a slight learning curve). The removal of the music streamer and having the Bricasti DAC connect to the Internet and then to my MAC computer has removed a layer from the Music and made it more musical and clearer. I was not expecting this much improvement.

The use of Audirvana Studio App has substantially improved my sound quality very much. As an example of great product support, my Bricasti DAC was upgraded for $1,000. Their MDx board replaced the existing board in the DAC. The next Bricasti upgrade was a free firmware chip program that needed to be inserted into the DAC to complete the upgrade. Both upgrades greatly improved the DAC for a very reasonable cost. This is an example of a company supporting it customers.

I totally agree with @metaldetektor that listening yourself is the best way to decide on component #1 or #2.  Sometimes this is easy and sometimes it is not.  Audiogon Forum posts and answers are interesting but necessary the answer.  As many people before have said, you have to listen to the equipment yourself and in your listing room to make the right decision.  

@acurus, okay, I understand.  I own the Bricasti M21 DAC very much.  It substantially improved the sound quality in my system and I strongly recommend it.  Their customer support is great and I encourage you to call them to get more info on the M21 DAC AND your questions answered.