2. digital
  3. 132171-1590

Solid state DAC under 12K retail preferably with ethernet

Looking to upgrade from AMR DP-777 and go solid state.
These are the ones I know or read about: Bricasti, Berkeley, Aeris, DirectStream, ODSE, Meitner, Luxman DA-06

Am I missing any other important DACs I should be looking at or reading about?
Currently leaning towards Bricasti M1 SE.

Rest of my system: Coincident Frankenstein Mk 2 300b amps, Devore O96
essrand
everest_audio
285 posts
 
The Hegel HD30 and the new Bel Canto Black EX DAC that will be out shortly could be great options for you with Ethernet. As mentioned earlier as well, the T+A R series player/DACs also have Ethernet.
zavato's avatar
zavato
1,390 posts
 
Best Dac I have ever heard- Bricasti

audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Perhaps I shouldn't care about ethernet for now, since most DACs don't have it yet and I can pick up a network player for 2K.


You should care.  Jitter is the #1 issue with digital playback and Ethernet enables the lowest jitter I have experienced in 15 years of doing this.  This is why I abandoned my XMOS USB interface in favor of Ethernet.  It will not matter how good your DAC is if the streaming interface produces too much jitter to achieve pinpoint imaging.

As with USB, the design and implementation of the Ethernet interface also matters.  They are not all the same.  In the best case, it can produce very low jitter.  In the worst case, it could be worse than XMOS USB.  And a Network player will not solve that for you unless it has a really good clock and interface design/implementation.  Most of them have proven to have sub-par jitter performance using their S/PDIF outputs. They are better using an external USB interface.  If that's any indication, you will NOT be better off with a network player.  It's that last Ethernet interface before the D/A that uses the master clock that matters.

This is the whole advantage of Ethernet.  You don't need to buy any fancy server or a computer with LPS powering it etc...  Any computer on the network will do.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

tdimler
132 posts
 
Bricasti, Berkley, Aeris....all good choices plus they have the benefit of really superior volume control if you need it.  The Mytek Manhattan II which was mentioned is also a good option...I have the Manhattan I and it is great.

Among all, Bricasti would be my choice.  The M1 SE can be fitted with an ethernet module as well which is Roon ready.  One thing you are getting with Bricasti is absolutely top notch customer service.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

I don't believe the Ethernet interface on Bricasti M1 SE is Roon ready.  According to their website, it's DLNA, so it's compatible with Audirvana plus and Jriver, as is the Empirical Audio Overdrive SX. 

Empirical Audio also offers a WIFI solution that sounds identical to the wired Ethernet.

Since these are similar, a shootout would be interesting, like this one:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/absolute-top-tier-dac-for-standard-res-redbook-cd?lastpage=true&page=74#1477560

Steve N.

Empirical Audio


More to discover