Review on Bricasti Design M3 DAC

Terry,

Do you know if the internal streamer can be added later?
I too am a redbook guy but who knows, I might consider streaming sometime.

Hey rja,

Yes, the internal streamer can be added on later.

@teajay
Just read it. Nice job!! If I may, your sentence ..." all rendered in an overall grain-less silky-smooth organic presentation" pretty much sums up my experience with the M3.
It is immensely musical and coherent! I just keep going back to this in my head: ’transparent sonic chameleon’ - it does not add coloration, rather it lets the nature of the recording naturally shine through. This I think is what "organic" might mean. All the other important elements are there: bass extension, treble purity, roundness, devoid of electronic grain, seemingly endless resolution, midrange transparency, etc..it just knocks out all the audiophile requirements. The icing on top is that it manages to tie all this together in a very natural, unhindered manner, in total service to the musical flow. Coupling in flawless Ethernet functionality (goodbye USB and its endless contrivances), glitchless Roon endpoint or native streaming, and you pretty much have a reference level dac that is affordable and JUST WORKS!!
For whatever it’s worth, from one music lover to another, I am immensely impressed with their product.


Supporting equipment and recent experience over past 24 months:
DACS: Ayre Codex, Chord Qutest, Chord TT2 (with and without M-Scaler), Exogal Comet plus, MSB Discrete, PS Audio DirectStream, AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt (solid DAC for peanuts), Meitner MA-1/V2
Servers/Streamers/devices: Aurender N-10, Sonore Ultrarendu, Innuos Zen MKIII, Innuos Zenith MKIII, Innuos Phoenix USB reclocker, AQ Jitterbug, Auralic Aries, Roon ROCK, numerous PC's and Mac Mini
Preamps: Audio research LS27, PS Audio BHK Signature, Luxman C-900U
Integrated Amps: Luxman 507xi, Luxman 509X, Pass Labs INT-250, PrimaLuna HP Dialogue premium, Octave V110 with BB;
Amplifiers: Luxman M-900u, Pass Labs X150.8, X250.8, X350.8, XA30.5, Bryston 4B3, 4BSST^2, Aragon 8002 (heavily modified), McCormak DNA 125,
Speakers: Dynaudio Contour S3.4LE, S1.4, S5.4, Dynaudio Special 40, Dynaudio Confidence 30, Dynaudio Confidence 50, Focal Aria 948, Focal Aria 906, Focal Sopra No 2, Spendor S8e, Spendor S3e, Klipsch KG-4 (rebuilt), Green Mountain Audio Callisto

I spent a lot of time in the Bricasti room at AXPONA 2019. For some reason, it was sparsely attended. They had great music playing in glorious sound, all at realistic and reasonable volumes. The room treatment they brought with them apparently allowed them to get much smoother and better integrated bass than most rooms I was in.

No BOOM, no trite audiophile music, no danger of ear damage. A great sounding system. That few attendees bothered to spend time there made me scratch my head.

@mike_in_nc I was there as well one of the best rooms indeed.

When I read most of these reviews I have found it hard to understand some of the features , or lack of, that a dac has. The M3 sounds fantastic. Appears to be missing MQA? Also, I found roon to complex to figure out and canceled it before the trial ended. I’d like a dac that can stream using my iPad and an easy to use app or stream directly from the tidal app on my iPad. I don’t have a lot of interest in taking classes to understand how to make something work and worse, then having to buy even more  expensive hardware to make it happen. 

@speedbump6 
you don’t need Roon to enjoy the M3; if u get the version with Ethernet, all you need is iPad or iPhone plus the MConnect app; in this MConnect app you configure Qobuz or Tidal or both , find your favorites then press play. Doesn’t get any easier or cleaner than that!
cheers

Great! Does it have to be connected to eithernet then I assume which I can do if needed, and am I correct in that it does not do MQA? I think most manufacturers and reviewers assume that people already have a good understanding of these things and that information is either left out, or unclear. 

I own the Bricasti M3 with the Ethernet option. Worth getting the Ethernet upgrade, at time of purchase so you don’t have to ship the M3 back for the upgrade. Very sweet sounding DAC.
You don’t need to connect it to Ethernet to use SPDIF, AES/EBU, or USB.

i use Roon on my iPad.  I have a Bricasti M5 streamer I’m selling since getting the M3 with the streamer option.  I have A/B tested the M3 streaming via Ethernet and the M5 streaming connected to the M3 USB port using Roon in group mode.  Couldn’t tell the streamers apart.

If one doesn't use Roon, how else can it control network streaming through the built-in streamer?

Any opinions on the headphone amplifier version?

you don’t need Roon to enjoy the M3; if u get the version with Ethernet, all you need is iPad or iPhone plus the MConnect app; in this MConnect app you configure Qobuz or Tidal or both , find your favorites then press play. Doesn’t get any easier or cleaner than that!

Regarding MQA, it is a combination of equalization and lossy compression. That some high-end manufacturers have resisted the pressure to sell it is not surprising.

I think the M3 is new enough that it ships w/ the new MDx board, but has any M1/SE owners upgraded to the MDx yet? I would love to hear some impressions of 1.49 or 1.51 firmware owners who've upgraded to MDx. Thanks.

@mrkoven I believe the M3 has now been available for over a year, first saw/heard it at 2019 Axpona so maybe the initial units did not have the new MDx boards. 

Just purchased the MDx board for my M3 and installed it myself.  Big improvement in soundstage, clarity, and air.

Total price was $720.00 shipped.  Swapping out the board was an easy process and took about 20 minutes.  

I understand that at some point in July the MDx board will increase in price to $1000.00.

Just put in a newly installed MDx board in my M1. The M1 has always been stunning, but I’d say the MDx brings extra precision, yielding impressive and clean dynamics, to the table. Clean clear but without any hint of brightness or glare.

Reminds me of an an experience I had years ago. My first 2 CD players- first Technics then CAL did  some things well, but the music didn’t “make sense”. Vocals were irritating. By 2000 I picked up a meridian 508.24. While dynamics were not its forte, it was the first digital player that made sense and where I liked the vocals. Here, the MDx makes total sense.

Removing the old board, while taking photos, and installing the new board, was easy. My initial mistake was not removing the lock washer and nut from around the S/PDIF input.

These are the tools you need- torx driver for the lid, Philips screwdriver, and a 5/8” driver or wrench for the nut on the S/PDIF (I used a 16mm with masking tape inside). A small flathead screwdriver is needed (or at least extremely useful) as well

cost was $700 plus shipping. You have to return the old board.

Essentially, you get an entirely new digital section. Power supplies and analog boards, which are mature technologies, are untouched.

The only thing so far that I see you loose is auto detect of input source.

If you have an M1 and are ok with the cost, this is a rock solid choice.

I had someone help me install the MDx board in my Bricasti M21 DAC and it is working perfectly. It was an easy install and took about 30 minutes. After the install, we tested the M21 DAC using his equipment (Bricasti M28 power amplifiers). My M21 worked perfectly. The status display also shows MDx.

My M21 DAC is now playing in my system. I need to give it time to break-in but it does sound clearer, smoother with more musical details. I like it very much.

I agree with @zavato above that the MDx board upgrade is a great choice for the Bricasti M1, M3 and M21 DAC’s.

@zavato | I didn’t have to return my old board after installing the new MDx board.  Guess I have a spare part now!

@sfseay, I asked Bricasti if they wanted the old board returned.  They said yes so I shipped it to them.   

Maybe it depends on which old board you have or if maybe they have figured a way to recycle the old board and make a few $

i have no problem sending my old board back. 
I find Bricasti a very good company to deal with. Any issues or questions always resolved or answered by either Joe or Brian 

other companies that are easy and great to deal with in my experience is pass, Bryston and McIntosh. 
Some companies are slow and one i dealt with was definitely on the nasty side. I won’t mention who- 

All the latest M3  have Roon available via your music server or computer 
through a Melco  N10 ,or iinnous zenith , the sound is noticeably better.

 M3 up and running with 75 hours on it connected to Antipodes EX&CX. Very fine machine.

@glory  enjoy

What value fuse does this unit take?
No information is given in the manual.

Manual p.6:
"There are no fuses in the M3 as safety is insured by the use of a rear panel mounted circuit breaker."

https://bricasti.com/images/product_downloads/M3_Manual_6_20.pdf

Antipodes EX CX

Took the EX out (USB hookup)

Hooked Ethernet out of the CX into the M3.

😱😎😂

Blow me down, better SQ.

Ordered the EtherRegen and Dark Matter power Queen to see what that does.

I am currently running a Chord Qutest being fed via USB from my Innuos Zenith mkIII. I was thinking of upgrading the Qutest and the M3 is on my short list, along with the Hugo TT2 and Denafrips Pontus or Venus. Anyone compare the M3 with a Hugo TT2? I don't need the headphone or amp stuff I just need a DAC. I love the Qutest, but I think its the weaker link in my digital chain right now.

I was thinking of upgrading the Qutest

First, I think you should just start a new thread to get a broader response here.  Second, what specific improvements are you looking for over the Qutest?

Curious what MDX version you guys have? I'm at 1.04.

My M3 was largely done changing sound characteristics after 48 hours of constant playing. Beyond that I didn’t pay much attention. This was through the balanced outputs. I never listen to the RCA outputs, so my comments apply only to XLR.

All the latest M3  have Roon available via your music server or computer
through a Melco  N10 ,or iinnous zenith , the sound is noticeably better.

Does the Innuos output goes through, or without the M3 optional server?

I am currently running a Chord Qutest being fed via USB from my Innuos Zenith mkIII. I was thinking of upgrading the Qutest and the M3 is on my short list, along with the Hugo TT2 and Denafrips Pontus or Venus. Anyone compare the M3 with a Hugo TT2? I don't need the headphone or amp stuff I just need a DAC. I love the Qutest, but I think its the weaker link in my digital chain right now.

jmphotography, what DAC did your Qutest replace?
Do you think there's a substantial improvement between the Innous Zen and the Zenith? 

@garynospamm, The Bricasti M3 Manual says "The M3 features 2 fully differential conversion channels, each with its own D/A converter, and analog level control circuitry. With our twin DAC design, the dynamic range for each channel is optimized by using the stereo ADI 1955 D/A converters in a mono configuration for PCM conversion, clocking is implemented with a technique called DDS (direct digital synthesis) which takes clock induced jitter to immeasurable levels. DSD is converted with our own proprietary one bit analog converter".

"The M3 features 2 digital audio conversion paths, 1 for PCM which utilizes a sigma delta type, and for DSD is a true one bit modulator of our own design and unique to the industry. This DSD conversion is a true 1 bit analog converter followed by an analog post noise filter. The result is a true a pure DSD play back unlike any other converter in the market. It is recommended that this feature be selected in the status menu labeled NDSD, setting to DSD PCM will use the ADI 1955 as the multi-bit converter which will impart a different sound character". Please see the Bricasti M3 Manual for more details. 

This means your PCM source albums use the PCM converter setting and your DSD source albums use the DSD setting. My Bricasti M21 DAC requires me to SELECT PCM or DSD based on my source material (PCM or DSD). If you need more info, please call Bricasti Customer Support.

BTW, my Bricasti M21 DAC has a delta sigma DAC setting, a ladder DAC setting and a DSD setting. There is a knob on the front panel that is used to select the required setting.