Berkeley Alpha DAC MK II opinions please..... NOW the Bricasti M1 experience.

I auditioned the Berkeley Alpha 2 for a few days earlier this past summer, but have no knowledge of the Wadia. 

Straight up, it's pro-level gear.  Very neutral.  You will hear the digital source file with minimal editing or colorations.  For me though it was clean to the point of being sterile on some tracks, but I've found my tastes may run a touch warmer of neutral occasionally. Your tastes may vary.

It did a lot of things well, but IMO it didn't do anything spectacularly. But I was considering it at retail price(s) (including the Berkeley USB converter) and not at the discount you'd see.  Compared to the Weiss DAC2 (the generation before the current DAC202) which I auditioned over the same period in the same system, I thought the Weiss was smoother using the FireWire port.  I also didn't like the Berkeley enough to replace my AMR CD-77, which was my reference as both DAC and CD player.  Since I didn't like it better than the Weiss, and you can get those used for about $3k, that's about where's I'd place the Alpha 2; again, using my listening tastes and system as a value reference point.

You are in for a treat.  I have a Wadia 830 and added an Ayre QB9 to my system 18 months ago.  The Ayre was a clear step up with CD quality sources, but it was the higher resolution sources really took my system to a different level.  If I were in the market, the Bricasti would be one of my top choices.

If you wouldn't mind, post your impressions of the Bricasti after you've had it in your system for a while.

hi musicman,

i'm also in the market to upgrade from my wadia 27, which i've bought used many years ago (currently 'ix' version, don't have the later software algorithm mod).

i heard the bricasti at the NY audio show this year and it was fantastic under show conditions, but i never ever trust show conditions with all the unknown variables.

i'd be very interested to hear your opinion.

i'm also wondering about the Berkeley, the EMM labs DAC2 or DAC2X and the Meitner MA-1.  I heard the Berkeley at a shop in NYC, the sound was good but didn't blow me away

(magico V3 speakers and other stuff that I was uncalibrated on, so who knows what part the DAC had).

Have you (or anyone else) had a chance to hear the EMM or Meitner stuff?

Lastly, let me share  my Wadia 27ix experience.  I run my digital sources (primarily a logitech touch or oppo player) into a TACT RCS2.2XP room correction unit (in bypass for headphone) and the TACT gives me a choice of 44k or 96k digital output to the DAC.  I found little/no difference between the two rates when feeding the Wadia with a single ended digital cable.  However, when I (many years too late) experimented with a AES/EBU cable, I was shocked to hear how much better the Wadia sounded when fed by upsampled 96k............huge increase in soundstage and resolution!..............yet 96k over single ended cable did not have the improvement, so i have to assume it is jitter related on the part of either the TACT or Wadia.  I note also that the original reviews of the Wadia 27 said that the ONLY way the reviewer liked the sound was with the optical cable input (which I don't have the ability to use) and that the soundstage collapsed without it, the exact same effect I hear when going between AES/EBU and single ended cable at 96k.....yet neither cable does it right at 44k.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

I'm very interested in your view of Wadia 27 upgrade to Bricasti as well as anyone else who has heard the old (DAC2) or new (DAC2X) EMM labs stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cat6man 

hi musicman,

 

i'm also in the market to upgrade from my wadia 27, which i've bought used many years ago (currently 'ix' version, don't have the later software algorithm mod).

 

i heard the bricasti at the NY audio show this year and it was fantastic under show conditions, but i never ever trust show conditions with all the unknown variables.

i'd be very interested to hear your opinion.

 

i'm also wondering about the Berkeley, the EMM labs DAC2 or DAC2X and the Meitner MA-1.  I heard the Berkeley at a shop in NYC, the sound was good but didn't blow me away

(magico V3 speakers and other stuff that I was uncalibrated on, so who knows what part the DAC had).

 

Have you (or anyone else) had a chance to hear the EMM or Meitner stuff?

 

Lastly, let me share  my Wadia 27ix experience.  I run my digital sources (primarily a logitech touch or oppo player) into a TACT RCS2.2XP room correction unit (in bypass for headphone) and the TACT gives me a choice of 44k or 96k digital output to the DAC.  I found little/no difference between the two rates when feeding the Wadia with a single ended digital cable.  However, when I (many years too late) experimented with a AES/EBU cable, I was shocked to hear how much better the Wadia sounded when fed by upsampled 96k............huge increase in soundstage and resolution!..............yet 96k over single ended cable did not have the improvement, so i have to assume it is jitter related on the part of either the TACT or Wadia.  I note also that the original reviews of the Wadia 27 said that the ONLY way the reviewer liked the sound was with the optical cable input (which I don't have the ability to use) and that the soundstage collapsed without it, the exact same effect I hear when going between AES/EBU and single ended cable at 96k.....yet neither cable does it right at 44k.

 

Of course, your mileage may vary.

 

I'm very interested in your view of Wadia 27 upgrade to Bricasti as well as anyone else who has heard the old (DAC2) or new (DAC2X) EMM labs stuff.

I own the Meitner MA-1, and have heard the latest Berkeley in my system and briefly owned the previous iteration, and the Bricasti in a friends rig. Compared to the Meitner, the Berkeley just didn't make the music come alive for me. In other words, it didn't draw me into the music and make me forget I'm listening to hardware. The Meitner does this in spades for me.

My take having heard it several times at my buddies place is that the Bricasti is almsot as good as the Meitner with hi-rez material, but that I still prefer my dac on redbook stuff and overall. The Bricasti sounds closer to the Berkeley than it does the Meitner....as far as its sonic signature anyway. This was using filters 4 & 6 typically. I have found that you can get it sound poor or great, depending on which filter is used. The fact that the Bricasti doesn't do DSD playback is a big negative for me, as I have quite a 384khz collection going now. Another + for the MA-1.

The DAC2X I have heard, but only in show conditions, so I really don't have an opinion....and since it isn't in my current budget, I'm not really interested in it right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicman59 

Hi, thanks for sharing your experiences. No, I have not heard those other DACs. Yes,, I do believe that the XLR and ST Glass inputs sound better in the 27 than the coax even at 44k.

I will report back after I get the Bricasti.

I was going to suggest the Briscati and see you are getting it.  Congratulations!  It is definitely on my high-end DAC short list.  I'd love to hear the MSB's but they are huge $$

I like that whole past Levinson connection and that it looks a bit like the Levinson gear I used to own.  Please let us know how wonderful it is.  Haven't seen you here in a while since I sold my Woo(Your Black WA5LE was one of the reasons I bought mine-so nice looking) and bought the Cavalli Liquid Fire.