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Old 05-11-2018, 11:43 PM
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GW1800 GW1800 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GloverP View Post
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?
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

Last edited by GW1800; 05-14-2018 at 11:32 AM.
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