Solid state DAC under 12K retail preferably with ethernet

Esoteric has the D-01 streaming DAC that is out with ethernet and everything. Wonder how it's going to turn out. This DAC with ethernet space is heating up.

Essrand,

I would agree with principle but disagree with practice.

In our shop we have quite a number of different pieces of state of the art digital from Lumin, Naim, Emm Labs, T+A, Light Harmonic and Aqua Hifi and many servers Baetis, Innious, Aurender.

It really comes down to the dac.

Right now we are listening to the Aqua Hifi Forumula which is a bit outside of your $12k list it is $14.7k however it sounds freaking amazing!

It has a way with textural cues that is so remakable you are just drawn in.

The Light Harmonic Davinci reference dac beats everything we have compared it to, check out the Davinci in Mattslip’s thread, it even beat the Overdrive as well as a very large number of other state of the art dacs.

Never being exposed to the Overdrive before going over to Matts house, it was fantastic sounding with that being said, there are some very talented people building some amazing digital front ends.

Yes the savings are nice with an ethernet streamer, howerver, you should keep this with an open mind and demo dacs accordingly.

Right now the best digital I have heard to date is from two dacs that accept usb vs ethernet and it is not an issue at all.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

I rarely post comments in user forums but regarding the Bricasti M1 I feel compelled to comment. For the past few months I have owned the M1 limited gold with built in ethernet interface and must say that it is simply the most elegant piece of electronics I have ever had. I have listened to the Berkeley reference dac and have owned the Empirical Audio Overdrive SX but the M1 with ethernet takes sound reproduction to an etherial level. Listening to recordings through the M1 is like hearing them for the first time. Whether red book or high resolution, classical or popular, the imaging and dynamics (macro and micro) is jaw dropping. For the first time ever I find myself experiencing the emotion that the composer intended the listener to experience. It makes listening to recorded music not only pleasurable but exciting. The detail and texture conveyed is simply amazing. Prior to purchasing the M1 I auditioned the Aurender N 10 with my mac mini/Berkeley alpha usb converter and thought the sound was excellent but the M1/ethernet is far superior....and saves you $8000! Before purchasing a high end DAC I urge you to audition this unit. The standard version of the M1 is excellent but the limited gold version is unparalled.

Another vote for the Bricasti M1SE. Most musical dac I've heard.