[a1uc]

I noticed you bought the M21/M20 pair that was on Audiogon last month but left negative feedback, what was wrong w/ it?

It was a issue with the seller , I sent both in and brain took care of it

 

[koven]

It was a issue with the seller , I sent both in and brain took care of it

Ah I see. Glad you got it sorted out. I only asked because I've bought from that seller in the past and had issues as well, I nearly left negative feedback but we settled on a partial refund.

 

[strojo]

It was a issue with the seller , I sent both in and brain took care of it

The guys at Bricasti are AWESOME...best customer service in the business hands down.

 

[a1uc]

The guys at Bricasti are AWESOME...best customer service in the business hands down.

For sure !

 

[hifixman]

Not sure if it is off topic to talk about M3, which shares a lot of similarities to the M21 I heard at Capital Audio Festival.

Pros: Naturalism, Balance, Colorless, Air

It is the most natural sounding dac and the tuning is actually correct with good spatial information on top of its body and muscle.

It is so natural and realistic that I almost want to sell all my other DACs in the first four to five hours of honeymoon session.

More importantly, compared to even much higher priced so called analogue DACs as Mola Mola, and Mojo Mystique X Se, the M3 is free of Hifi colorization with a very balanced, neutral, and correct tonality! M3 is also more relaxed and less compressed compared to these much more costly DACs.

I even prefer M3 to my Esoteric in the placement of vocals as well as the fuller body.

Cons: Not detailed, clean, controlled enough

As other similar sounding DACs as Metrum/ Sonnet, I keep craving for more details and nuances in my electrostatic system when mated with M3, even after I used DH labs flagship silver PC and detail oriented Silver Snake River interconnect cables to increase the resolution.

When the M3 DAC was mated with Woo Luna, which to some is a bit sterile, they are perfect match. However when Luna is used as a preamp with my riviera power amp, the music processed by M3 sounds too slow, a bit muffled and loose after the multiple amplifications through my pre and power amp. The errors, consonants, as well as noise will be all amplified multiple times with the multiple amplifiers to an extent that is annoying.

This is even after I employed various tools to get rid of consonance, jitters, and noise. via the ARCH (Acoustic Resonance Clarifier) from Ginkgo Audio, Nordost Q Point, as well as my Digital to Digital converter.

What is next?

So… Maybe M21 is for me as everyone is saying it is cleaner and clearer but then I don’t want to lose the body and bass that is the point that Bricasti intrigued me.

But then even M21 sounds a bit bloated and less controlled to my ears in Capital Audio Festival:

 

[samwang]

Hi all, I'm thinking of getting a M21 or a bartok, anyone can give some comparation? Great Thanks!
I only listen to classicals, and use qobuz. I think functionally these two are similar, maybe dcs is easier to use becasuse of Mosaic app.
But I would care more about the sound.
So If you have compared m21/m1 vs dcs bartok or any dcs, please share! Thanks!

 

[samwang]

Not sure if it is off topic to talk about M3, which shares a lot of similarities to the M21 I heard at Capital Audio Festival.

Pros: Naturalism, Balance, Colorless, Air

It is the most natural sounding dac and the tuning is actually correct with good spatial information on top of its body and muscle.

It is so natural and realistic that I almost want to sell all my other DACs in the first four to five hours of honeymoon session.

More importantly, compared to even much higher priced so called analogue DACs as Mola Mola, and Mojo Mystique X Se, the M3 is free of Hifi colorization with a very balanced and correct tonality! M3 is also more relaxed and less compressed compared to these much more costly DACs.

Cons: Not detailed, clean enough

As other similar sounding DACs as Metrum/ Sonnet, I keep craving for more details and nuances in my electrostatic system when mated with M3, even after I used silver coated PC and Silver Snake River interconnect cables to increase the resolution.

When the M3 DAC was mated with Woo Luna, which to some is a bit sterile, they are perfect match. However when Luna is used as a preamp with my riviera power amp, the music processed by M3 sounds too slow, a bit muffled and loose after the multiple amplifications through my pre and power amp. The errors, consonants, as well as noise will be all amplified multiple times with the multiple amplifiers.

This is even after I employed various tools to get rid of consonance, jitters, and noise. via the ARCH (Acoustic Resonance Clarifier) from Ginkgo Audio, Nordost Q Point, as well as my Digital to Digital converter.

Oh, a T2! Extreme！

 

[Doug2507]

Any of you guys gone from M3 to M21? What did you think?

 

[musicman59]

I actually own the M3h, M1SE and M21.
The M1SE is the warmer sounding of the 3.
The M21 is in my main 2 channel system feeding a M20 Preamp.

The M3 and M21 share similar transparency and tonality. The M3 is like 80% of the M21 so with the M21 you get more of the goodness of the M3.

The M3 is really good for the money but the M21 gives you more detail, transparency and robustness of the sound.

 

[Doug2507]

I actually own the M3h, M1SE and M21.
The M1SE is the warmer sounding of the 3.
The M21 is in my main 2 channel system feeding a M20 Preamp.

The M3 and M21 share similar transparency and tonality. The M3 is like 80% of the M21 so with the M21 you get more of the goodness of the M3.

The M3 is really good for the money but the M21 gives you more detail, transparency and robustness of the sound.

Perfect, thanks for the reply, and the PM!