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Bricasti M1 DAC vs PS Audio Direct Stream DAC

I own a PS Audio Direct Stream DAC that I like a lot but heard my friends system with the Bricasti M1 and I am strongly thinking of changing my DAC and would love your feedback from other members that have heard either or both. I know they are both great but really thinking of changing my Dac from PS Audio Direct Stream to the Bricasti M1 DAC. I use a HP Desk top computer as source with Jplay and JRiver Media 19 and the outstanding Tellurium Q BLACK DIAMOND Reference USB Cable. The rest of my system is below. I listen to Classic Rock, jazz, vocal, some modern music and the usual audiophile stuff.

Thanks

My system for reference.

Ascendo C-8 Renaissance Speakers (Germany) Monitor
Purist Audio Design Corvus Praesto Revision 2.5m Bi-Wire Speaker cable
Cardas Clear Interconnect 1 Meter RCA Interconnect
Darwin TRUTH Pure Silver Reference 1 Meter RCA Interconnect
Darwin TRUTH Pure Silver Reference 1 Meter RCA Interconnect
Audio Research REFERENCE 1 w/Rhodium IEC/NOS Tubes Tube preamp
Decware ZSTAGE External Triode Output StageTelefunken ECC801S
PS Audio Direct Stream DSD DAC w/ Bridge DA converter
Tellurium Q BLACK DIAMOND Reference USB Cable
PS Audio PerfectWave PowerBase Vibration Cancelation/AC Condtioner
Conrad Johnson Premier 12 Mono's 140 Watts Tung-Sol KT120's amps
PS Audio PowerPlant Premier AC Regenerator
BMI Shark Pure Jeweler Grade Platinum AC Power Cable
Sablon Audio Petite Corona 2.0M AC Power Cable
Mad Scientist PC-NEO with Power Purifier AC Power Cable
JPS Labs The Power AC+ 2M AC Power Cable
Synergistic Research Labs Tesla Series SE T1 AC Power Cable
Synergistic Research Labs Tesla Series T1 AC Power Cable
PS Audio Noise Harvester (5) Converts noise to light
OYAIDE RI Beryllium Power Outlets (2)
Hubbell Outlet 5362/5262 Deep Cryo Process
Blue Circle Audio The Yalu Balula Industrial Surge/Spike Protection
JPLAY v5.2 hi-end audio player turns PC into a digital transport.
JRiver Media Center 19 Music Software
fsmithjack
jwm
918 posts
 
Fsmithjack, what I meant to say is the following. Ethernet out of pc into local wireless router. Ethernet out of router into the M5 internal board of the bricasti to reclock and convert via i2s to the dac. Your telling me this switch cleans up the router. I don’t seem to see how this helps as the signal is handled by the M5 in the dac? How does the switch clean the power? I understand how the dac does it.
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
@fsmithjack   Your points, I'm sure, are not falling on deaf ears or closed minds.

Getting the power supplies and the reclockers etc right, as well as with other mods, these devices are delivering. 
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
@jmw I am now confused.

My Bricasti has the M5 board built in to it. That is how I’m able to hook it up to the router through wi fi.
Ethernet out of pc into local wireless router. Ethernet out of router into the M5 internal board of the bricasti to reclock and convert via i2s to the dac.

Can you draw out a flow diagram to help me understand?

Here is what I thought you were doing (but your most recent post is throwing me off):

PC > Wireless Connection > Router > Wireless Connection > Bricasti M1SE w/ M5 board

If it is different, can you type it out? Thanks.

almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Jwm 12-25-2017
Ethernet out of router into the M5 internal board of the bricasti to reclock and convert via i2s to the dac. Your telling me this switch cleans up the router. I don’t seem to see how this helps as the signal is handled by the M5 in the dac? How does the switch clean the power? I understand how the dac does it.
Jeff, thanks for clarifying that your router-to-DAC connection is wireless, which of course makes the suggestion of inserting a switch between them inapplicable unless you decide to try a wired connection.

But if you were to try a wired connection, regarding your question please note the following statement in the first of my posts in which I seconded Fsmithjack’s suggestion, and attempted to provide a technical rationale supporting its plausibility:
...RF content of that signal may find its way around the ethernet interface in the DAC and affect DAC circuitry that is further downstream.
By "find its way around" I mean "bypassing."

My point is that no matter how good a job the DAC does in cleaning up the signal it receives, and no matter how good the design of the DAC may be, signals and noise don’t necessarily just affect or entirely follow only their intended pathway. And the waveform characteristics and the noise characteristics of the signal that enters the DAC will affect how and if RF energy present in that signal may to at least a small degree find its way via unintended pathways to unintended circuit points "downstream" of the ethernet interface and the internal reclocker you referred to.

"Unintended pathways" may include things like grounds within the receiving device, parasitic capacitances, power supply circuitry, or even radiation through the air within the component. "Unintended circuit points" may include the D/A circuit itself, resulting in jitter, and/or analog circuit points further downstream in the component, where audible frequencies might be affected by noise that is at RF frequencies via effects such as intermodulation or AM demodulation.

As I see it Fsmithjack has made a well-intentioned suggestion of an inexpensive tweak which he and others he has referred to have found to be efficacious. And what I am basically saying is simply that from a technical standpoint it makes sense, IMO.

Regards,
-- Al

jwm
918 posts
 
Al I’m using cat 6 from my pc to the router which acts as a local network as it is not attached to the internet. Cat 6 then goes  from the router to the internal M5 board of the bricasti. Which then converts and reclocks the signal via I2S to the chip. I call the router wireless because it allows me to use j river off the pc by j remote to my I pad.
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