Anyone hear the Brinkmann Nyquist DAC?

morricab

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2014
9,391
4,986
978
Switzerland
Kuoppis seems to love it no end. Its a tube Dac, so that is a plus. it has an ethernet renderer built in and does full MQA. Downside is its $20K and uses small signal tubes.
Lampi GG2 is a lot cheaper and while ther is no renderer and MQA, the DSD is unbeatable and the R2R PCM is delicious. With the new SuperAmanero board, its gone from excellent to stratospheric. The big clincher is the use of DHT output tubes that can make this Dac tailored to whateve you wish.

Having said that, the Brink seems perfectly lovely.

Have you heard "The Brink"?
 

morricab

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2014
9,391
4,986
978
Switzerland
The Nyquist would attract the same VAT in Europe. Neither attracts EU VAT in CH or USA...just local taxes where applicable.

GG1 is €13K, and GG2 is 15k. All GG2 is R2R, I think. I like many dont do Bal as that makes tube rolling harder. No benefit unless all the system is FULLY balanced.

Germany is 19% VAT, isn't it? Brinkmann is german. Lamp is Polish thus the higher VAT.
 

Legolas

VIP/Donor
Dec 27, 2015
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France
Since you give the price in €, we will have to assume that we are talking about buying it in a CEE country. Well, PVP in Spain of the Nyquist in authorized dealer "Clave Audio Madrid" is € 15,990.

The GG would cost with taxes ( according to the web Lampizator) in its Balanced version (regardless of how you like it, the Nyquist is balanced, therefore the fair comparison is with GG Balanced) € 18,450.
And now I copy literally from the web Lampizator “ Upgrade PCM engine to Balanced Discrete Resistor ladder R2R (1500 Eu)“ that added the VAT are 1.845€.
https://www.lampizatorpoland.com/ordering-golden-gate

Regards

I would look at the Kassandra, it has such a fantastic sound, if you want the best PCM possible at this price range as well.
 

nonesup

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Feb 15, 2017
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For me the problem of the Aries Cerat, is that it is not a Render, and that according to Stavros there are no plans for it to be.
Without being a "sine qua non" condition, Render is important to me.
Anyway, when I decide to take the leap for a new DAC, I will try to listen to the Aries Cerat.
 

Legolas

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Dec 27, 2015
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For me the problem of the Aries Cerat, is that it is not a Render, and that according to Stavros there are no plans for it to be.
Without being a "sine qua non" condition, Render is important to me.
Anyway, when I decide to take the leap for a new DAC, I will try to listen to the Aries Cerat.

Why do you need the Renderer? If you use the Lumin can't you feed it resident sample rate via USB? I used to believe USB was not as good as Ethernet, but hearing how well the USB is designed in the Kassandra with double clocking and isolation, I changed my mind. It beat my previous Rednet DAW with Ethernet.

You can also have AES, SPDIF inputs. Remember half the reason the Kassandra sounds as good as it does IMO is the data is not messed with, no up sampling, no filtering, no data change, no data conversion to DSD etc etc. It is far above my previous Audio Note DAC 5 which was a very high end Dac in it's own right and also an NOS design with the AD1865 chip. Plus that DAC 5 beat the CH Precision C1 and GG in my tests last year.
 

nonesup

VIP/Donor
Feb 15, 2017
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Well I do not know if I understood the part that talks about the Lumin (sometimes Google does not do a good job) but with Lumin the only option is Ethernet. I repeat that it is not a "sine qua non" condition but frankly I am inclined to think that the future is much more Ethernet than USB.
Anyway, this is a movement to which I want to leave some time, as the DAC market advances at enormous speed. I'm changing my two cables Balanced by Göbel cables and that's going to consume a lot of the money I spend on audio.
However, I follow with great interest what is written about DAC, because I know it is an improvement that I have to give to my system. I admit that the revisions on the Kassandra catch my attention.
 

wisnon

Well-Known Member
Dec 12, 2011
3,525
635
1,200
Germany is 19% VAT, isn't it? Brinkmann is german. Lamp is Polish thus the higher VAT.

He is not German but does live there. Polish VAT is roughly the same as German. could be about 21%
 
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Legolas

VIP/Donor
Dec 27, 2015
1,042
387
455
France
Well I do not know if I understood the part that talks about the Lumin (sometimes Google does not do a good job) but with Lumin the only option is Ethernet. I repeat that it is not a "sine qua non" condition but frankly I am inclined to think that the future is much more Ethernet than USB.
Anyway, this is a movement to which I want to leave some time, as the DAC market advances at enormous speed. I'm changing my two cables Balanced by Göbel cables and that's going to consume a lot of the money I spend on audio.
However, I follow with great interest what is written about DAC, because I know it is an improvement that I have to give to my system. I admit that the revisions on the Kassandra catch my attention.

I see your point on the Lumin. But remember, Ethernet is a protocol that is good for long lengths, so around the house if required. In a close system setup, it is not required IMO. The Ethernet renderer has to read in and read out the same as any protocol, no evidence it beats a well designed USB for audio implementation. If you stream via Tidal or into Roon, then that has Ethernet in and in most cases multi output protocols.
 

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