[Art Vandelay]

Well, it's now installed into the system and I've only had a brief audition, but long enough to get a grip on the new sound.

It's perhaps an understatement to say, but thus far I'm very impressed. It's such a neutral sounding DAC - in a very good way. There's no part of the spectrum that's out of place and there's a top-to-bottom coherence that one usually associates with pure analog, and which is a quality that belongs only to dac's of the very highest echelon.

I've had a Auralic Vega in the system for several weeks prior and the Bricasti M1 easily matches the level of resolution and delineation of complex ensembles, but it brings a new level of realism to the table. It's more open as well as liquid at the top, more three dimensional and presents a more natural attack and decay of transients. Oh, and although I'm generally very lenient when it comes to shortcomings in the bass, I need to say that the Bricasti's bass really stunned me; not because it stands out in any way but because it's simply so damn perfect. My attention was drawn to the very lack of artificial fatness and bloom, and that all-to-rare rare combination of speed and extension.

I should point out that I've previously heard the Bricasti in other people's systems, but now hearing it in my own confirms my thoughts about this DAC. It's definitely the best delta-sigma based dac I've heard and it even rivals or bests some of the best R2R dac's out there.

If the Bricasti M1 has shortcomings, and it surely does, they're barely detectable and mostly subtractive rather than additive in nature. In another system several months ago I was able to compare the M1 with a dCS Rossini and a MSB Diamond DAC, and yes I can report that both DAC's raise the bar in certain respects, but IMO only when the Rossini was used with the optional master clock was it clearly superior.

What the Bricasti M1 mostly lacks is the very last vestige of sweetness that the Rossini was able to deliver, and I suspect that that's only possible when all digital artifacts are eliminated; but boy it gets close; really close.

From my POV, the Bricasti M1 is the only DAC under $10k that's up to playing in the big league, so until I can bring myself to part with the cash required for a Rossini + clock this DAC is my new reference.

Note:
FTR, my music source is pc server based - but the pc is 100% silent / fan-less, all SSD and powered by a low noise linear supply, and uses a dedicated jcat usb PCIe card which is powered by its own dedicated linear / low noise series regulator followed by a discrete shunt regulator - which also powers the Bricasti's USB receiver.