I own the Berkeley Alpha 2 as well as a Bricasti M1 and a W4S DAC2 se.
All 3 DACs sound distinctly different and have their pluses and minuses.
The W4S brings some color and excitement to the table and has a real WOW factor, whereas the Berkeley and Bricasti are more clinical and unexaggerated in their deliveries.
The Alpha 2 is a very sweet sounding DAC, providing excellent HF transparency but against the Bricasti and W4S sounds slightly dynamically lacking - in the upper mids and lower treble particularly. The upper treble can also run slightly hot at times through my B&W 800 Diamonds.
The Bricasti is probably the least initially impressive sounding of the 3 but makes up for it by being ultimately more neutral and less artificial, which is desirable for long listening sessions. It's failings are not in what it adds but rather in what it doesn't quite manage to reveal. I've heard it side by side with a DCS Rossini with master clock and the Rossini won out with its heightened transparency and resolution/ The Rossini clearly provided a more nuanced presentation. IOW, a clearer window into recordings, along with a difficult to describe level of purity. On many recordings I could easily convince myself that I was listening to a pristine analogue master tape.
There's no doubt though that the M1 is a very fine DAC, even if it's not quite the last word. It comes with an excellent feature set and connectivity and is a real pleasure to use. At its price point I would say that it's as least as good or better than anything else available, but as with most DAC's, subject to personal preference.
Re the recent available upgrade, yes I've heard one and while I could hear a subtle improvement it was by no means night and day so I'm yet to commit to it.
Hopefully there will be other upgrades down the track that will raise the bar more significantly.
All 3 DACs sound distinctly different and have their pluses and minuses.
The W4S brings some color and excitement to the table and has a real WOW factor, whereas the Berkeley and Bricasti are more clinical and unexaggerated in their deliveries.
The Alpha 2 is a very sweet sounding DAC, providing excellent HF transparency but against the Bricasti and W4S sounds slightly dynamically lacking - in the upper mids and lower treble particularly. The upper treble can also run slightly hot at times through my B&W 800 Diamonds.
The Bricasti is probably the least initially impressive sounding of the 3 but makes up for it by being ultimately more neutral and less artificial, which is desirable for long listening sessions. It's failings are not in what it adds but rather in what it doesn't quite manage to reveal. I've heard it side by side with a DCS Rossini with master clock and the Rossini won out with its heightened transparency and resolution/ The Rossini clearly provided a more nuanced presentation. IOW, a clearer window into recordings, along with a difficult to describe level of purity. On many recordings I could easily convince myself that I was listening to a pristine analogue master tape.
There's no doubt though that the M1 is a very fine DAC, even if it's not quite the last word. It comes with an excellent feature set and connectivity and is a real pleasure to use. At its price point I would say that it's as least as good or better than anything else available, but as with most DAC's, subject to personal preference.
Re the recent available upgrade, yes I've heard one and while I could hear a subtle improvement it was by no means night and day so I'm yet to commit to it.
Hopefully there will be other upgrades down the track that will raise the bar more significantly.
