BRICASTI DESIGN M1SE - REVIEW

The Synthesis of Transparency and Beautiful Music!

Life makes its impressions on us in so many varied ways—socially, emotionally, aesthetically, spiritually/religiously, artistically, musically, etc. Of course, this depends also on how we ‘orient’ ourselves to the world—extrovert/introvert, artist/engineer, compassionate/dispassionate, humble/arrogant, etc. Or perhaps we can be a mix of traits from the various columns—multidimensional. And why not?

Though I am naturally an introvert, I can turn on the extrovert when needed. Many years as a Biotech/IT entrepreneur/executive, and the meet and greets, fund raising, board meetings, staff meetings, etc., refined the extrovert almost to my ruination. I thereafter went home to introversion and my passions—writing and creating, music, art, and design. In this respect, perhaps, I am a bit of a ‘multidimensionalist’ with a heavy emphasis on creativity, music, aesthetics, and a healthy distrust of the arrogant. 

Aesthetic? Mid-Century Modern Design (MCMD) is my favorite furniture/design aesthetic. Comfortable minimalism my favorite way to incorporate MCMD into my home. Impressionism, Black and White photography, graceful, form-follows-function industrial design, and graphic design are for me like triple chocolate cake for breakfast, with strong, dark-roast coffee, of course.

There have been a number of such designs that have found their way into the HiFi Audio world over the years. Some of the most memorable designs include—the original Martin Logan CLS speakers (without the bass monitors), the Meze Empyrean, the EAR Yoshino V12 Integrated, the Davone Ray Speakers, B&W Nautilus Speakers, the Mola Mola Tambaqui, the Gold Note Mediterraneo, the Viva Egoista STX, the Mark Levinson No. 39 CD player—and that is to name but a very few. 

This brings me to the review of the Bricasti Design M1 Special Edition (SE) DAC. Its parents—Bricasti Cofounders, Casey Dowdell and Brian Zolner—were, interestingly, responsible for the development and design of the Mark Levinson No. 39 CD player. And there is more than a passing resemblance between the two elegantly designed digital components. 

For its time, the No. 39 represented, for me, an exceptional step up in musical reproduction via the compact disc format, as well as being elegance defined. From its curved, wave-like, black facade emerged an incredibly slim, black metal drawer, its movement smooth and liquid, as observed by a red digitized display. Fast forward several decades and the Bricasti Design M1SE DAC embodies a not too dissimilar look/feel. And the Bricasti M1SE has taken up a firm grasp of the performance reins from its predecessor. It has moved forward in step with technologists and with technology that has transformed digital playback to a superb maturation far beyond its former self. Now let me count the ways.

REFRAIN: Unlike most reviews, this review will be non-sequential, as it will start with how the component actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/or laying out its various parts, specifications, etc. Think of this review then, as a  non-linear movie—Memento, Kill Bill, Arrival, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, etc—that, likewise, starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.

SOUND

I am grateful in the extreme to be able to curate, evaluate, and review incredible components based upon research and word of mouth. The other products, “the lesser”, I avoid as life is short. And as there are no accidents, those products that I should avoid but have no knowledge of are denied me by companies that I will not name. Providence? There are no accidents and I take this as guidance of a product(s) to avoid. 

The Bricasti Design M1SE DAC, on the other hand, is yet another revelation in sublime resolution and musicality, and it has a dessert menu replete with 15 different voicing choices (filters) that are truly differentiable, unlike some who provide a dessert menu that might as well be vanilla ice cream 1 to X Vanilla. There might be incredibly subtle differences to differentiate between the vanilla flavors, to no differences at all, other than those reported in the marketing materials. The M1SE DAC, however, is multi-star restaurant in this respect and a dream for connoisseurs (read tweakers) and those suffering dessert-menu ADD.

To a reviewer with time constraints, so many menu options can be ponderous. Though I was quickly able to identify my dessert of choice—Minimum 2—which, in truth, appeared to have it all. Its ability to bring forth the ambiance and character of the recording venue is very reminiscent of electrostatics. And when paired with electrostatics it renders a whole-cloth seamlessness of a single driver loudspeaker or, perhaps, a single-ended triode amplifier. 

The Bricasti Design M1SE's treble in Minimum 2 is airy, extended, highly-resolving, and never fatiguing. It will unbury detail much like the Mola Mola Tambaqui, though the Tambaqui may, indeed, have the edge. That said, no DAC to date has even approached the transparency and detail retrieving ability of the Tambaqui. But there is, however, a richness of tone/timbre with the M1SE DAC that sets it apart from the Tambaqui. 

The midrange of the M1SE DAC in Minimum 2 is phenomenal! This flavor— Minimum 2—is transparent, articulate, nuanced, which, in turn, makes every word/lyric, phrase, stanza easily available and easily understood. It is as if Bricasti M1SE’s midrange is the digital reincarnation of the BBC LS3/5A monitor that was created for pristine vocal clarity! In this respect, it is the only DAC whose handling of the midrange is on a par with our Product of the Year for 2021—Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC—or just about. Though via its greater richness of tone/timbre across the midrange, the M1SE DAC provides a different and quite beautiful approach to the extraordinary. 

The Minimum 2 filter sends forward its bass signal, which is interpreted by the various downstream components as formidable (Enleum AMP-23R/ZMF Véríté/Meze Empyrean/Rosson Audio RAD-0) or exceptional (Viva Egoista STX/STAX SR-X9000) or incredibly good (STAX SRM-T8000/STAX SR-X9000). One imagines, based upon the preceding, that ‘formidable’ is the M1SE DAC’s default setting via Minimum 2.

The Bricasti Design M1SE DAC’s volumetric cube—its soundstage—is wide, very deeply set when called for, with excellent height. Positioning, layering are solid and quite exceptional.The M1SE DAC’s top-to-bottom transparency and its incredible resolution of even the most minute, microscopic details make real venue after venue. As mentioned above, voices are the clearest that I have heard to date. It has few peers able to bring together this wealth of traits. And it is the baby of the Bricasti Design line! What the M21 DAC is capable of I can only imagine. 

The Bricasti Design M1SE DAC was paired with the Grimm Audio MU1, Roon Nucleus Plus, LTA Z10e HPA /Integrated, the Viva Audio Egoista STX HPA\E (review coming) and the Blue Hawaii SE HPA\E (review coming). The headphones used were the STAX SR-009S, Dan Clark VOCE, Meze Empyreans, Meze LIRIC, ZMF Atticus, ZMF Véríté, ZMF Atrium, and Rosson Audio RAD-0. Cabling throughout was Audience’s Front Row Cables and AntiCable. Power was handled by the Audience Adept Response AR6-T4  and the TORUS RM20.

BASS

Eiji Oue’s “Infernal Dance of King Kashchey” (Stravinsky, Reference Recording) cues for play. Given what I’ve heard of the Bricasti Design M1SE DAC to date, as allied to the Blue Hawaii SE, the STAX SR-009S, and the Grimm Audio MU1 across several bass tracks. The bass rumbles and it is potent, dynamic, and engaging. Dynamic shifts and transients are lickety-split fast, supremely detailed, and finely resolved. In Dave Holland’s “Emerald Tears” (Emerald Tears, ECM) the detail rendered via Mr. Holland’s bass reaches down to the fingerboard and beneath it as the Bricasti Design M1SE lifts any and all detail while it renders his bass licks tight, fast, and well defined. Marcus Miller’s “Power” (M2, Concord) comes in strong, tight, transient quick, and transparent. 

MIDRANGE

As mentioned above, the midrange of the M1SE DAC is truly phenomenal in the same way that the BBC LS3/5A is, with the clarity of voices its raison d’être—its reason for being. Voces8’s “Prayer to a Guardian Angel” (Lux, Decca) has been freed of any and all hints of opacity via the M1SE and its triode-like rendering and incredible resolution. Shirley Horn’s “Beautiful Love” (You Won’t Forget Me, Verve) begins with Toots Thielemans’ harmonica replete with so many tonal/timbral shadings as to be something new altogether. I am mesmerized. Shirley’s vocal articulation—word formation, breath, the movement of her lips, freed lyrics—are captured with a realism that says live. And this is a song I have known and listened to for decades! Voces8’s “Agnus Dei” (Enchanted Isle, Decca) via the Bricasti M1SE and the electrostatics—Blue Hawaii SE, STAX SR-009S—is another track that comes across as something new and deliciously captivating. 

TREBLE+ 

Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” (Time Out, Columbia-Legacy) cues and what is immediately different about this rendering in comparison with all the others is the naturalness, the organic beauty, the truth of things via the M1SE DAC. Transparency and resolution are superb. The timbre and tone of Joe Morello’s cymbals are beautifully intact and the various timbral shadings are layered, parsed with infinite detail, ease, and suffused with air. Relative to other DACs, it’s as if, from the perspective of tone/timbre, a box of 300 crayons has now been replaced by a box of 1,000 crayons! The only other component I know that was capable of parsing the complexity of tonal/timbral shadings to this degree, was the Audiomat Opera Reference integrated amplifier. Regardless of treble test track—Emmanuelle Bertrand’s “Tout un Monde: Énigme” (Dutilleux & Debussy: Works w/Cello, harmonia mundi), Hilary Hahn’s “Chaconne from Partita No. 2 for Violin in D minor, BWV 1004” (The Essential Hilary, Sony Classical), Trio Karénine’s “Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4:11 Breiter” (La Nuit Transfiguré, Mirare) the M1SE DAC’s rendering was outstanding!

The Wrappings and Accessories

The Bricasti Design M1SE DAC comes in the standard, relatively large, square, brown, nondescript box, with the Bricasti Design trade name and handling instructions on its various sides. 

Inside this box one finds an inner, standard, nondescript box that holds, securely, the M1SE DAC. Within this box the M1SE DAC and its remote control are surrounded and protected by various slabs of thick, gray foam. 

No thrill here folks, but thrills I imagine were never intended. It’s all about the very valuable prize inside— M1SE DAC. “Nothing more to see here folks, move on.”

Design—Look and Feel

The Bricasti Design M1SE DAC itself, however, is svelte with a thin, front profile, medium depth, and a width which supports a very wide wheel-base, as though built for tight cornering. Its black facade with a large, red digital readout is easy to see from across most rooms and is very reminiscent of the Mark Levinson No. 39. The M1SE DAC’s buttons, tastefully done, are gold, as are its four Stillpoints feet and its left and right side panels. 

Spied from above its three cooling vents reveal cities of red lights within as though flying over a densely settled city at night. New York?=

Like great art, one gets a visual idea of it through pictures, but pictures never do great art justice. Nor, in this case, do pictures do exceptional industrial design justice. It is far more elegant in person and would fit nicely amongst Mid-Century Modern decor, just beside the Eames chair. 

FUNCTIONALITY

Bricasti Design M1SE DAC is a breeze to hookup and drive. Its front panel controls are clearly labeled and the large, round knob, set right of center, handles both volume and menu surfing. The remote control, standard, duplicates all the various functions.

The Bricasti Design M1SE DAC features a number of inputs and both single-ended and balanced outputs for connecting to one’s amplification.  The outputs across its back panel are:

• XLR Balanced Interconnect

• RCA Single-Ended Interconnect

• USB-2

• AES/EBU (XLR)

• SPDIF (RCA)

• Toslink (Optical)

• Ethernet and WIFI for over-the-air code updates

For the Bricasti Design M1SE DAC sampling rates, please see “Specifications” below.

CONCLUSIONS

More profundity it seems. Is it because I search out, research, and then curate those components which are consistently at the top of their game? No doubt. But that said there have been those that have not found favor and did not perform as the research had led me to believe. They go forgotten and unmentioned as we do not write bad or flaming reviews across the AudioKeyReviews media. What’s the point?

The Bricasti Design M1SE has proven itself even beyond what the research had led me to believe. Perhaps it was the synergy conjured up by so many exceptional reference components at the time of its review. And, no doubt, the M1SE’s prodigious ability as a high fidelity DAC with a host of options—15(!)—so as to be tailored for most, if not all listening preferences, is but another star for its abilities.

The Bricasti Design M1SE is, indeed, the “The Synthesis of Transparency and Beautiful Music!” Its abilities to extract next-level transparency on recording after recording, as well as its competence to resolve that which other DACs cannot is outstanding and pedigree enough. But the M1SE does not stop there. There is a profound three-dimensionality, a richness, and a palpability generally associated with single-ended triode tubes. And in this respect the solid state M1SE is preternaturally engaging. It stands nearly toe to toe with the exceptional Mola Mola Tambaqui in terms of transparency, though the Tambaqui brings a degree more transparency and sits closer to the neutral zone. The M1SE on the other hand infuses its transparency with a richness that sits it a bit farther away from the neutral zone (though certain filters can shorten the distance).

Vinyl lovers may find the Bricasti Design M1SE DAC irresistible across certain of its filters (minimum). While those wed to the digital experience may find the M1SE likewise irresistible across certain of its other filters (linear). For many, regardless of their listening predilections, the Bricasti Design M1SE DAC may well be an endgame DAC.

Without further ado, the Bricasti Design M1SE DAC stands in exceptional company as our latest DIAMOND AWARD winner for what can only be described as a profound renderer of the zeroes and ones that together weave the signal—the music that we so love. Bravo!

Pros: Incredible transparency and resolution. Three-dimensionality. Single-Ended Triode palpability and richness. Siren-like ability to engage one during a listening session and refuse to let go. Remote control. Sleek. Beautiful.

Cons: Maybe too many filter choices. Maybe. 

The Specifications

Bricasti Design M1SE DAC

Digital Inputs

Connectors: USB: USB-2/ XLR: AES/EBU 24 bit Single 

Wire/ RCA: SPDIF/Toslink: Fiber Optic

Sample Rates: USB: 44.1 kHz - 384 kHz, DSD 64x 128x 

DSD 256x Native and DoP/ AES, SPDIF: 

44.1 kHz - 192kHz/ Toslink: 44.1 kHz - 96kHz

Frequency Response Dig I/O: DC to 24 kHz @ 48 kHz/ DC to 96 kHz @192kHz

Balanced Analog Inputs

Connectors: XLR balanced (pin 2 hot)

Impedance: 40 ohm

Max output level: +22 dbm

Min output level: +8 dbm

D/A Conversion: 24 bit delta sigma 8x oversampling

Frequency Response @44.1k: 10 hz- 20 kHz +0dB, -.2 dB 

Dynamic Range: >120dB A-Weighted

THD+N @ 1k: .0006% @ 0dbfs / .0004% @-30dbfs

Unbalanced Analog Inputs

Connectors: RCA

Impedance: 40 ohm

Output level: +8 dbm (2V RMS)

D/A Conversion: 24 bit delta sigma 8x oversampling

Frequency Response @ 44.1k: 10 hz- 20 kHz -.2 dB

Dynamic Range: >120dB A-Weighted

THD+N @ 1k: .0006% @ 0dbfs / .0004% @-30dbfs

The Company

BRICASTI DESIGN

Bricasti Design M1SE DAC ($15,000) 

info@bricasti.com
www.bricasti.com

The SYSTEMS

1.

Accustic Arts Player II CDP/DAC

Grimm Audio MU1

Dan Clark VOCE

STAX SR-009S

Viva Egoista STX HPA

Audience Front Row

AntiCable

Black Cat TRØN Signature Digital Cable/SPDIF

RSX Power8

TORUS RM20

2.

Roon Nucleus Plus

Dan Clark VOCE

STAX SR-009S

Meze Empyrean

Meze LIRIC

Rosson Audio RAD-0

ZMF Atrium

ZMF Véríté

LTA Z10e HPA/Integrated

Audience Front Row

AntiCable

RSX Power8

TORUS RM20

Audience AdeptResponse