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DAC for Bricasti Design M5 Network Player

Would appreciate the forums assistance in choosing a stand alone DAC for the Bricasti Design M5 Network Player. In addition to the M5 I have a Roon Nucleus. I would like to connect the M5 via AES cable to the DAC into Pass Labs XP30 via xlr balanced cables, into Pass Labs Aelph Zero Monoblocks, to Klipsch LaScala speakers. Streaming only Tidal and Quobuz. No CD's or stored media. Budget is $3000.00 I prefer to buy used from fellow Audition member.
thinman2
sfseay's avatar
sfseay
496 posts
 
I owned the M5 and liked it so much I bought a used M3 DAC that had Ethernet streaming, and also purchased the MDX upgrade board too!.  Sold the M5 and got some money back in my pocket.
ddafoe
259 posts
 
Yea, it had a Mar 2020 ship date.  I considered it, but I was told it is $1500 if you don’t have it, so the $1000 seems to be when buying new.  That is my fault for not realizing the difference when I purchased it without the streamer.   Since I found the M3 to be just a little better than my 5 yr old SimAudio DAC I didn’t want to risk the extra $1500 not knowing what the improvement would be like.  
I was thinking spending $1500 on a used M5 might also bump the performance of my previous DAC up as well, keeping the delta about the same.

Anyhow, both the Sim and Bricasti DACs have been sold and I’ll stick with the RME for now.   I’m not sure where to go from here but may just pocket the change and enjoy the RME until something else catches my eye.    I’m driving distance to a Bricasti dealer so if I get a chance to hear the M3 with the streamer vs my spdif RME setup and it blows me away, I could jump back in.   The RME fits in my hand so it will be easy to bring it along to a dealer for comparisons :)


thinman2 OP
37 posts
 
No luck finding a used or demo Bricasti M3. Called Fidelity Premium, Extreme Fidelity, Audio Archon, Divinci Media, Sounds of Silence. And the wait for a new one is several weeks. So, still looking for DAC recommendations for my Bricasti M5 renderer. Any thoughts would be appreciated
rsf507
2,375 posts
 
Haven't heard this one but getting some good reviews. The Gold Note DS10
https://darko.audio/2020/03/gold-note-ds-10-review/
Something to check out. If you do get to hear one please let us know your thoughts.
thinman2 OP
37 posts
 
I ordered an M3 from Mike Kay at Audio Archon. Mike took my M5 in on trade and gave me the best price he could. I was surprised no forum member mentioned a DAC that was preferred to the M3.That tells me that the M3 is the way to go. Had to hit the retirement account and went over budget but who wants to retire anyway. Many thanks to everyone who commented and helped prevent me from making an expensive mistake.
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