Bricasti M3 In the house

@garynospamm, please call Bricasti customer support and ask these questions. Please ask them to explain the upgrade options.

I had an M3 for a few years. Very good dac. Moved on to an Ayre QX5, a better dac to my ears. I mostly used roon straight iinto the Ethernet cards on both dacs. These are two of the very best made in usa high performance audio companies. Can't go wrong with either. 

I moved from a PS Audio w/streamer to a Bricasti M3 w/streamer.  Everything I look for got better.  Sound stage expanded, more separation better bass and all my streaming issues disappeared. No more connection issues, drop outs or pauses.  The Bricasti added “life” back into my system.  I could not resist and moved up to the M1SE w/streamer and then upgraded to the SII.  Everything got better. The upgrade path, working directly with Bricasti, was a great experience.  No issues, quick turn around at a very reasonable cost.  What really shocked me was the capability hidden in my speakers.  The only DAC change I would consider would be an upgrade from Bricasti.  Bricasti is a great US based company! 

klh007 -  I have a VAC Signature Mk2 SE, going to a PassLabs X250.8 to B&W 803D4's.  You have me very curious to try how it will sound if I go straight into the amp.

I just got the M3 a week ago, and today received the firmware 1.14 upgrade.  When I install this weekend, I will also try connecting direct to amp.

Did you consider selling the VAC if the SQ is so close?

@garynospamm, The M3 does a great job driving my VanAlstine M225 monos, for evaluations and reviews and weekends I'll take 2 minutes to put the VAC in the system for that extra tube flavor. I think you will be surprised how well the M3 solo will drive your amp.