Bricasti M1 Series II

Bricasti Design is of New England origin despite the Italian-sounding name. That New England heritage is reflected in the restrained nature of the brand’s aesthetics. Brian Zolner and Casey Dowdell combined their Christian names to create Bricasti, a brand with a 20-year history. Both men worked with Lexicon and Madrigal Labs when the latter made Mark Levinson products. One suspects that this is where they got their ideas for styling. Today, Bricasti makes a range of digital and analogue electronics recently joined by the M19 SACD transport. Here, we’re testing the Bricasti M1 Series II. This is the latest version of the DAC that put Bricasti on the audio map.

The M1 Series II looks like a reasonably simple digital-to-analogue converter. Its front display and the back panel reveal it is more complex. This DAC is a streamer, digital preamplifier, and very competent converter. You will notice the large feet underneath its precisely machined chassis. If you pick it up, you might notice they are two-part isolation feet made by Stillpoints. This indicates the attention to detail Bricasti has brought to this component. It’s a DAC with point-to-point wiring between multiple circuit boards and dedicated linear power supplies for each channel. This indicates that the M1 Series II is a dual-mono converter with separate circuitry for each channel. The placement of analogue outputs at the flanks of the back panel reveals this internal separation almost as effectively as a picture of the internal layout of the DAC.

Dual core

The heart of the Bricasti M1 Series II is the MDx digital processor. This contains the USB receiver, master clock, D/A converter chips, and dual-core Analog Devices DSP processors. These handle upsampling and filter options and essentially run all of the functions this DAC provides. The M1 Series II also converts DoP to DSD, includes clock synchronisation, and all of Bricasti’s work to reduce jitter and distortion.

Connectivity is a strong point on this DAC. It has the usual array of digital inputs, including coaxial S/PDIF on RCA and BNC sockets, AES, Toslink and USB. An RJ45 socket marked Network is provided for streaming purposes. However, it also has a secondary function as an I²S input. This is for use with the M19 transport, which has a matching output. I’ve not come across I²S via this ethernet connector before. However, Bricasti could use any connector they liked as a proprietary signal transmission system.

Internal signal routing

I²S is generally only used for internal signal routing within digital components. Still, it has become a fashionable way of connecting sources and DACs. Typically, these must be from a single manufacturer, as there is no standard for I²S connections.

The M1 Series II has a compact metal remote control with buttons marked level, input, filter and status. It also has up-down keys, allowing users to scroll through each option. The display shows the filter or input selected. It can also show the volume level when this DAC is connected directly to a power amp. The connections are via single-ended or balanced analogue outputs. The same function buttons are on the front of the machine but I didn’t get much use out of those, albeit the rotary saw some action when the Bricasti was controlling volume, it’s a smooth turner as you might expect. 

DSD filters

This DAC is unusual in having filter options for DSD and PCM signals, as the M19 can provide a native DSD signal over the I²S connection, and streaming sources can deliver DoP (DSD over PCM). Three DSD filter settings offer different degrees of noise attenuation: filter zero is a pass-through, filter one has a gentle roll-off between 32k and 64k, and filter two starts at 28k and reaches a stop band at 48k. There are 15 PCM filters split into nine linear phase and six minimum phase options. You can use these on the fly, albeit with a short silence between each.

I ignored these at first but regretted doing so as soon as I discovered the quality of timing via the minimum phase filters. These don’t have the purity of tone produced by the linear phase options, but the sense of engagement is greatly enhanced. There are apparent tonal and image-related differences between the various settings, and it’s interesting to try different ones with different types of music. The linear phase filters work well with some speakers and presumably genres of music. The important thing is that you have the choice and can compare the options on your sofa.

Fine touch

The Bricasti M1 Series II is one of the most natural and delicate-sounding DACs I have enjoyed using. It has an analogue-like transparency that lets oodles of detail through and presents it in an extraordinarily coherent and engaging form. It delivers a richness of detail that you don’t get with more affordable converters. This is, of course, dependent on the quality of the signal. Still, I found that this result was on offer with a streamer and the M19 mentioned above transport, so long as the original recording had a depth of information to present the M1 Series II delivered it in a precise yet effortless form.

Other high-end DACs deliver more apparent power and dynamics at the expense of low-level resolution. They can’t resolve the fine details that combine with the fundamentals and make the music more three-dimensional and real. This Bricasti shows you the timbre and shape of the instrument as well as the acoustic signature of the room in which it was recorded.

Before a note is played

With an excellent recording such as Chasing the Dragon’s Mendelsson Octets, you can feel the atmosphere in the room before the first note is played. It’s an exceptional experience that requires excellent D/A conversion to appreciate fully, and this is an extremely good and highly finessed conversion. 

I tried both AES and USB inputs from the same Lumin U2 mini streamer and heard the characteristics clearly; the AES delivered smooth fluency, while the USB had more detail but didn’t sound quite as relaxed. I ended up combining the two by putting a Mutec MC3+ USB reclocker in the signal path with USB in and AES out to the Bricasti, and that worked a treat, somehow combining the qualities of both connection types and allowing the DAC to deliver greater stereo solidity and image depth. The M1 Series II is excellent for imaging due to the depth of information it reveals, so any improvements made to the incoming signal in this respect were immediately noticeable.

Ins and outs

I also contrasted the I²S input with AES using Tiglon cables supplied by the Bricasti distributor Connecting Music. It should not have been a surprise that the I²S proved superior, albeit the difference was smaller than that between USB and AES (via Network Acoustic cables). What struck me was just how phenomenal a good recording could sound on DSD; I have not been a big fan of the format because it always seemed a bit ethereal and had poor timing compared to PCM.

However, that must have been due to hardware limitations, as the M19/M1 Series II combination delivered superb timing and a full-scale, 3D presence in spades. I don’t think that Jeff Buckley’s Grace has ever sounded as good as the SACD did via these components; the sense of presence produced by the close-miked vocal put me in the studio to uncanny effect. This album alone has made me revise my opinion of DSD, not to mention illuminating just how much Led Zeppelin influence there is in that fabulous album.

You know the rules, and so do I

Not everything played sounded this good, of course. The M1 Series II can only work with what it’s given… and Rick Astley’s ‘Never Going to Give You Up’ was not made for high-end systems, not even those made in the eighties. That said, it’s surprising how much better a lot of music sounds when converted by a DAC of this calibre. The Bricasti has so little ‘digital’ sound that only the absence of analogue source characteristics indicates a digital element involved.

The best analogue components produce huge differences between recordings. Few do so with such a low noise floor and in such a tonally even fashion. I have to say that I had a brilliant time with this Bricasti. Still, I fear that recalibrating for the relatively affordable converter that is my everyday entertainment will be painful. 

Technical specifications

• Type: Solid-state high-resolution PCM and DSD-capable digital-to-analogue converter/preamplifier
• Digital Inputs: One AES/EBU, two coaxial (via RCA & BNC), one Toslink, one USB 2.0, one Ethernet/ I²S (via RJ45) 
• Analogue Outputs: One stereo single-ended (via RCA jacks), one balanced (via XLR connectors). Both outputs are configurable for fixed or variable-level operation
• DAC Resolution/Supported Digital Formats: All PCM from 44.1KS/s to 384KS/s with word lengths up to 24-bit, DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256
• Frequency Response @44.1kHz: 10Hz–20kHz, + 0dB, -0.2dB
• Distortion (THD + Noise): < 0.0006%, 20Hz–20kHz at -30dBFS
• Output Voltage: 5.2Vrms at maximum via XLR, 1.2Vrms via RCA
• User Interface: Remote control, OLED display
• Dimensions (H×W×D): 114 × 432 × 317mm
• Weight: 6.8kg
• Price: £15,000/$12,000

Manufacturer

Bricasti Design

www.bricasti.com

UK distributor

Connecting Music Distribution

www.connectingmusic.co.uk

+44 (0) 131 221 9753

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