INTRODUCING THE BRICASTI M19 SACD/CD DIGITAL TRANSPORT PLAYER
Brian Zolner, CEO of Bricasti Design, shares his thoughts on the new M19 SACD/CD digital transport player concept.
Since we introduced our first product to the market in 2010, we have been asked to bring a high-resolution disk player. Why? Many enthusiasts have vast digital media libraries, primarily stored on CDs and, to some extent SACDs. Some have too many to rip or do not want the inconvenience of using a computer to play their music; we were asked for something simple to operate.
And then there are those in the industry who feel the quality of playback to be far superior when playing physical SACD/CD media. Considering these factors, we felt there was a reason to bring a dedicated new player to the market.
Meet the M19 SACD/CD digital transport.
About six years ago we introduced a network streamer into all our products and pioneered this forefront technology by placing the “player” within the DAC itself. This allowed us to achieve unprecedented results that today have become recognised as the industry gold standard.
Standard Redbook CDs have been around for some time now. Despite an ever-improving online music service database, countless precious albums are only available in this format to this day. It is also ageing well, offering exceptional detail retrieval when adequately implemented.
On the other hand, DSD (Direct Stream Digital), as to be found in standard SACDs, was first and foremost born as a lossless audio-archival storage solution. Because of its high-resolution capabilities, we looked closely at releasing this potential into our range of DACs in the most straightforward possible way.
Simple in every aspect, we wanted a player that would have no need for additional processing such as up-sampling, no DAC, no digital inputs or USB - all of which complicate the digital design and add unwanted noise; this in a bid to keep as faithful to the original mastered media from source as possible.
Someone once said: “Less is more”; however, simplicity comes at the cost of research and development and must be implemented well.
Power is the heart of any product. The M19 power supply design was made by adopting two oversized independent linear power supplies, and we opted for medical grade toroidal transformers: one dedicated to power the drive’s transport mechanical aspects - the motor drive and loader, and the other for the digital elements and those related to the audio path.
After extensive testing, we were satisfied to have eliminated all potential sources of jitter and power supply ripple from the layout, dismissing any unnecessary external power supplies, cables and connectors, as this proved to be of no practical benefit at all: one should note that this is key in handling low current, low voltage DC power. This approach will achieve the best current delivery possible to all aspects of the device in sustaining maximum fidelity.
The M19 is made as one complete assembly in a milled aluminium chassis with both power supplies located near the drive and digital output sections. This significantly reduces the risk of any RF contamination, and most importantly, it ensures excellent isolated current delivery from the supply to the drive motor.
With complete autonomy between the two sections, this guarantees the most stable power for the motor and its mechanical aspects by offering rock-solid motor speeds and removing any potential cross-feed contamination between the drive and the delicate audio path.
The M19 features the latest Sound United D&M SACD/CD mechanism; it can read CD and SACD media and feed it over a single digital SPDIF, AES or I2S cable. CD playback is streamed at the native 44.1k 16bits and from the SACD layer, DSD at the native DSD64 rate as DoP (DSD-Over-PCM). DoP is not a conversion in itself but allows DSD content to be carried in a bit-perfect PCM signal (Pulse Code Modulation) in an unaltered state.
All Bricasti DACs can accept this irrespective of the input used, and similar DACs that can accept a standard base DoP signal will benefit from true-DSD replay via SPDIF or AES inputs.
The M19 also offers our proprietary I2S digital output for exclusive use with all Bricasti DACs. This interface between the player and one of our DACs creates the perfect match between the two devices, as though the DAC was part of the M19.
This enhances the performance with stunning results: a convincing audible gain across the whole sound spectrum, with unmistakable added clarity and enhanced layering thanks to its pure and simplistic design.
The I2S input is now listed as an option for all new Bricasti DACs and can be obtained by previous customers as an upgrade path.
All our products support various means of interfacing with sources and by rendering digital audio by conversion of the highest standards within our DACs, whether by “streaming” and now by conveniently “playing” SACD/CD media. With the addition of the M19 to our product line, we now offer the classic “player” as an added method to stream data into our DACs and allow you to enjoy your favourite silver-disc titles in the highest possible fidelity.
The M19 SACD/CD Digital Transport Player retails at £12,000 at the time of writing.
