Upgrading my Auralic Vega G1 streaming dac
I am looking to upgrade my Auralic Vega G1 streaming dac and am considering the following:
Auralic Vega G2.1
Bricasti M3 (with network card)
Exasound S82
Meitner MA3
Weiss Dac501
I would be using the ethernet input, not USB, and will be keeping my Zesto Leto 1.5 linestage so the new dac/streamer would not be serving as a preamp or volume control. MQA and headphone amp are not important to me, but dsd performance is. I can live without DSD256 or 512.
Has anyone had the opportunity to audition and compare any of the above? I would like to narrow the list down to 2 or 3 before bringing them into my system for home audition.
In addition to the Zesto linestage, the rest of my system consists of a Sonictransporter i5 server, Aesthetix Atlas Eclipse amp, and MG 3.7i speakers
We are a bricasti dealer the M3 is an amazing dac however a really god outboard server improves the M3 We pair the M3 with the 432evo music servers and the combination is just remarkable.
Smoth musical great detail and a gigantic soundstage
DAVE and Troy AUDIO INTELLECT NJ Bricastiand 432evo dealers |
@hlkaye take what audiotroy says with 2 grains of salt, he's just trying to push the 432evo he sells. The Bricasti M3 is wonderful straight up. Heard it many times at my dealer. I've been contemplating getting it and trading my M1 in. |
I have compared the Bricasti M3 and the Weiss. In fact, I have both here right now. Both are great but very different. There is obviously a big difference in price. The Weiss is more competitive with the M1 than the M3. I have tested a bunch of DACs in another thread and what you are really looking at with DACs is a compromise between detail and soundstage. The M3 is soundstage king in its price class but not be all end all in terms of detail. Weiss is in a different price class. the M3 is not the most detailed DAC but has a gigantic soundstage. Dead neutral in terms of tonal profile and very musical and engaging. The network card/renderer is far better than you would assume for $1000 upgrade. I have recently had a few folks test this vs some very high end player/server combos and it is competitive with some shockingly expensive gear. The Weiss is incredibly detailed yet still has a wide and deep soundstage. Without filter/dsp, it is a hair forward of neutral. The player/renderer is every bit as good as the M5 if not better and had a silly amount of features that allow you to fine tune your sound. The Weiss is definitely the better of the two DACs but it is also ~$3k more. The M1 SE would be a much fairer comparison and there itbis a small trade between soundstage and detail. i can’t speak about the others though I am in process of evaluating Meitner and will be listening to the MA3 soon. based on your system, I would also look at the Chord TT2 and the Rockna Wavedream Edition as potentially brilliant matches.
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