New Bricasti Design M12
 

Sitting in the Chicago airport killing time before my flight home. I am incredibly excited about this new product from Bricasti.
DSD playback is remarkable. For those of us that also like vinyl or analog tape it offers a analog input and ladder resistor volume control. More details to come. Really impressive stuff. They also have new firmware available for existing g owners.
Lots of exciting stuff.


http://www.audioaficionado.org/attac...3908163547.jpg

Yup, I'm giving serious thought to getting an M12 to go with my M28's. ;)

Yeah, for sure. We will definitely be pairing it with our M28s.
Were you here in Chicago Ivan? Would have loved a chance to say hello in person...

I couldn't make Chicago; my cup runneth over here in Cape Cod. :p

The M12 will be shipping in a few months, I ordered mine today. :)

Additional details on the new Bricasti M12 can be seen here.

What is the M12? A DAC preamp combo? Bricasti room sounded very good at Axpona with the M12.

Not really a DAC. It's a linestage with network connections and a direct DSD mode that will provide filtering necessary for direct DSD playback while bypassing the M1 DAC's delta sigma conversion. Explained better in the link I provided above.

This is a great looking and very good sounding piece. The Bricasti - Tidal room was one of my favorites. I visited the room at least three times - always playing good music with no chatter. People sat and listened. Very engaging. Kudos to Bricasti!

My understanding is that the M12 has inside an M1 board(s) and an analog board on top of it. The analog outputs of the M1 mono analog boards are feeding the upper analog board to use its analog attenuator. That is why in order to fit both the analog board and the M1 boards the M12 has to be taller.

I listened to it at Axpona and it sounds lovely in addition of how awesome it looks.

If somebody is using an analog source and also wants a great DAC like the M1 this is clearly the way to go.

Bricasti's Best DAC isn't a DAC Anymore?
 

I am a little confused by the positioning of the new M12 Source Controller from Bricasti. I do not own a Bricasti, but was about to pull the trigger on one to replace my current DAC when I learned of the new M12 – which left me a little confused and believing that Bricasti’s best DAC is now not actually their DAC, but rather their new “source controller.” The new M12 would seem to be far superior for D-to-A conversion for DSD files and also features some new tech in the form of a network adapter to use the device as a streamer (something I presume will ultimately trickle down to the M1 – hopefully with support for the same range of file resolutions offered in their USB interface).

I saw a video with Bricasti’s president (Brian) saying they created the M12 to meet a need in the market, specifically, the person who enjoys both analog and digital and wants a minimum number of discrete components. Hence, with the M12, no separate pre-amp needed. Certainly understandable, I imagine there is a real need for this in the marketplace. HOWEVER, in my view this leaves behind the person who chooses to operate a multi-component system as the M12 would not appear to be a reasonable choice to use strictly as a DAC.

In my case, I have a sophisticated high-end tube preamp which I want to continue to use as my source and volume control. It appears there is no “line level/unity” out on the M12 which would be suitable for connecting to an input source on my pre-amp. This doesn’t really make sense to me from a product positioning perspective. A company offering a stand-alone DAC should reserve their best DAC technology for that unit and offer similar or lesser capabilities in their all-in-one integrated products. After all, is not the buyer for separates likely to be the most demanding of functionality? Buyers for integrated units are willing to trade a little bit of capability for convenience.

I am interested in thoughts or opinions. Am I missing something? Are there others thinking about using the M12 with a pre-amp? Or pre-amp users who don’t care about the missing higher quality DSD and Ethernet connectivity?

GloverP, welcome to AA.

GloverP... Welcome to AA! :wave:

Hi GloverP and welcome,

The M1 is our best stand alone DAC, to be used with your favorite pre amp, or even direct to power amps. The M12 is not a simple DAC but an integrated unit, one or the other should be chosen depending on your needs. The difference in performance for the M12 DSD is subjective but overall as a stand alone DAC the M1 is our best.

We always work to support and upgrade our products so you can expect to see some of these features being offered to the M1 as well.

I’m using it direct to M28’s. I like DSD so this was a nice upgrade for me. Was at Axpona don’t quite understand how the M21 fits in the line up but looked nice. Hope MQA rendering is coming soon.

2 Channel: Bricasti M12 DAC & M28's Mono's Black / Aurender N10 Black / Treatments: RPG BAD ARC panels (F, S, Bass Trap & R walls)
Speakers: Martin Logan CLX ART (Dark Cherry) w/30# weights / 2-ML 212's Subs tuned w/PBK
Grounding: Nordost QKore 6 (2-M28, 1-N10, 1-M12, 1-QB8, 1-Router) / 8' Earth Ground Rod / Bricasti M12 w/Acoustic Revive RGC-24
Nordost: 5-QV2 & QK1, 2-QX4 / 12-TC Kones, 27-Sort Fut & 28-LIft / O2/V2 Pwr / O2: SC, Digital & XLR's / H2 Network / V2 RCA Sub's
Misc: Mini iPad / Furutech GTX-DNCF / LED lighting / Aurender AMM / Lovan Rack / SR Quantum Blue Fuses & Black Box
Media Rm: ML: 13A's, 2-Descent i's, 6-Vanquish, Focus / Parasound: 3-A23 &1-31 / Entreq SM /65" LG 4k OLED / Anthem AVM60/ Nordost Tyr 2

I am looking at replacing my streamer / DAC / pre-amp with a unit like the Bricasti M12. I have a great phono pre, that will be difficult to surpass in a combo unit, so I really like the analog inputs of this unit. Now, in 2018, there are a couple of other things I want in whatever I upgrade to.

1) Will the M12 ever upgrade to DSD 256? Or is the DSD board limited at 128?

2) Will the streamer in the M12 ever upgade to Roon Ready? some of the other Bricasti units already have this capability.

Thanks for anyone who knows this. Its a beautiful unit, and would look great on my shelf. Especially with all those extra boxes, cables, small power supplies, gone.

Yes it does stream using Roon but need a dedicated computer or laptop. As far as DSD not sure but on the web site I know it lists. Question. Like 99% of DSD is 64 so why are you concerned

I currently use an i7 NUC as the Roon Server, it upsamples everything to DSD256 currently. Happy to hear that the M12 is a Roon endpoint, as that is not reflected on the website.

More than half of the very small number of DSD albums that I do own are DSD128 & DSD256. I get DSD albums from NativeDSD.com

I ordered an M12 today. I’ll be looking at my DSD albums and try to get the DSD128 versions. As well resetting my Roon server to resample to DoP DSD128. My understanding the user manual on the website.

The newest version of the M12 does do DSD128, and is now labeled a Roon endpoint.

Very excited, my biggest audio purchase to date. Was lucky to get the spousal approval.

Congratulations! Three weeks ago, i had the pleasure of spending an entire afternoon with Brian of Bricasti Audio and listen in on the M12, M15, M28 and the upcoming M21. Fabulous products backed by outstanding service and support. Enjoy your M12.

Any M12 users please chime in.
I don't believe in DACs with volume control they have never worked for me, but the M12 is supposed to be a "proper" active preamp.

How good is the M12 preamp functionality compared to a high-end standalone preamp unit that costs around 10k $, is it comparable in performance?

Or should I go for a M1SE and a standalone preamp?

I did not have a $10K pre-amp to compare with, but the M12 is a silent pre-amp, and does not add color, nor shape sound (other than the DAC filters). These are the qualities I want in a pre-amp. The M12 is easily as good a pre-amp as the Wyred4Sound STP-SE (fully upgraded) was in my system.

Functionality wise, the M12 has 2x SPDIF inputs, USB input, built in ethernet streaming, and both a single end, and balanced analog input. This is enough to allow me listen to streaming, both digital, and analog video, and balanced input from my phono pre.

If you want a euphonic pre-amp, or need more analog inputs, you will need to look elsewhere.

I am not looking for something euphonic or more analog inputs, but am looking for the M12 to be competent active preamp unlike most DACs with volume control that suck as a preamp or most lower-end preamps that do great job in volume control and preserving the lower end and musicality but lose the transparency.

Sorry, the 10k preamp mention was unnecessary.

As I understand it (quite possibly incorrectly) the "gain control" is a resistor ladder system placed at the end of the DAC I/V stage. I saw not mention of an active pre-amp on the website, but that might be what the I/V stage provides. Here is their description from the manual (available on the Bricasti site)

Copied and pasted:

On the left and right sides of the rear you will find the analog inputs and outputs. The lower sets of
connectors are the analog outputs, upper the analog inputs. Both channels are independently powered by
their own linear power supply insuring clean double regulated low ripple power and isolation from any
digital noise from the digital supply.

There are 2 PCBs in each analog section of the M12, layered on top of the other. The top one provides the
analog inputs, pure analog DSD conversion and the R2R ladder resistor level control yielding a pure analog
path when using the M12 as an analog line stage, the signal then passes to the output buffer and connectors
on the lower board. There are 2 inputs, one balanced and one unbalanced and are selected from the front
panel input control.

The lower board contains the PCM dac, clocking and analog output buffers. Each channel’s digital section
has its own Analog Devices 1955 DAC used for PCM conversion, it is coupled with a dedicated DDS
clocking circuit located millimeters away from the DAC, assuring extremely low jitter and minimal trace
length for the clock signal and precise clock synchronization of the left and right boards is handled by the
Sharc DSP on the main digital processing board.

The next stage after conversion is the current to voltage stage which creates the analog wave form, and this
is followed by an analog filter section. This is a fully differential analog design with fast high slew rate
analog operational amps. At this hi gain stage is where the R2R resistor ladder for level control is inserted
for the analog gain control. This is followed by discreet 2 transistor designed output buffer sections,
balanced and unbalanced, each separately buffered and isolated. The balanced output level will reach a
maximum of +16.5 dbm and the unbalanced of 8dbm with the front panel controlled analog attenuator set
at full scale of +8 dB.

I hope that helps. I do love mine

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I bought one last week. It should get to me in a week or so, will let you know how it works out !

Have fun! I was truly startled at how detailed, and immediate the sound was. Very simple to get going. There are a few filter choices, and some decisions on how your files are getting to the streamer. I thought it was much easier than setting up a PC>microRendu>DAC.

Of course, I changed a lot in my system, all at once, and that is always problematic. Happy I am though. I hope it works as well for you.

Now, it would not hurt my feelings if I could re-name the inputs....

Hello
good news for M12 , M21, M1 owners from Bricasti Design

https://www.bricasti.com/en/consumer/mdx.php

I want one for my M12 ����

Wow! Thanks for posting that. I’ll send them an email tomorrow.

Whelps, they are on vacation this week.

7/13 - not too bad - price going up after 7/15