I'm one of the early adoptees of the Bricasti M1 and for some time I've been a bit of their guinea pig with firmware updates and hardware upgrades. I am currently using what is now the SE version of the M1. It has all the bells and whistles.
One of the things I like about Bricasti as a company is they are always updating the M1 and often these are free or at a minimal cost to the consumer. I recently called Brian Zolner to find out if there is anything new. He told me that there is now an ethernet card for the M1 that when put on a network elevates playback. According to Brian, USB is the bottleneck.
I went for the upgrade and damn he was right. I can only speak in terms of cliches because they all apply - there is more "there there". Everything is fuller, richer, real. Redbook playback is insane.
There is a downside. First you have to be on a network. I have a Synology NAS with all my music files on the network. That part is easy for me. I'm controlling with an iMac but the software you need to use at the moment is JRiver and if you want the corresponding JRemote for your mobile device. That's the only option for Mac users at the moment. I find the interface to generally suck and its a bit convoluted. On the other hand its $70. Bricasti is in the process of getting approved for Roon which I understand is gorgeous and also quite a bit more expensive.
I've been spending so much time with my analog setup that I've really not been doing much listening to digital lately. I think that's going to change...
One of the things I like about Bricasti as a company is they are always updating the M1 and often these are free or at a minimal cost to the consumer. I recently called Brian Zolner to find out if there is anything new. He told me that there is now an ethernet card for the M1 that when put on a network elevates playback. According to Brian, USB is the bottleneck.
I went for the upgrade and damn he was right. I can only speak in terms of cliches because they all apply - there is more "there there". Everything is fuller, richer, real. Redbook playback is insane.
There is a downside. First you have to be on a network. I have a Synology NAS with all my music files on the network. That part is easy for me. I'm controlling with an iMac but the software you need to use at the moment is JRiver and if you want the corresponding JRemote for your mobile device. That's the only option for Mac users at the moment. I find the interface to generally suck and its a bit convoluted. On the other hand its $70. Bricasti is in the process of getting approved for Roon which I understand is gorgeous and also quite a bit more expensive.
I've been spending so much time with my analog setup that I've really not been doing much listening to digital lately. I think that's going to change...
Comment