Bricasti Design M21

Those of us who review audio equipment, and even audiophiles who don't, often talk about our reference systems.

- SASHA MATSON

The term implies a certain level of consistency. If you are changing components every week, your system probably lacks the stability to be a true reference. In the case of reviewers, this presents an irony: Those most in need of a reference system are called on to change out components more frequently than other folks. Our reference systems are intrinsically unstable.

How do we deal with this? By maintaining as much stability as we can. When forced to change (as we are often), we change just one component at a time; that way we know exactly what's responsible for any changes we hear.¹

The longest-running component in my system is the Bricasti M1 D/A converter—which, however, has been through several upgrades to reach its current Series II status.

Bricasti Design started in 2004 as a pro-audio company, in Shirley, Massachusetts. Co-founders Brian Zolner and Casey Dowdell—the company name comes from joining the first letters of “Brian” and “Casey”—brought professional audio chops to the new endeavor. Both men came from Lexicon, which was known for pro audio, especially reverbs. At Lexicon, Zolner was the longtime vice president of international sales, and Dowdell was a DSP engineer.

Bricasti's first product was a reverb processor, the M7, released in 2007. Bricasti then made a play for the consumer market by releasing the M1 DAC. Today, Bricasti offers 22 consumer products, in two lines,² and they continue to design and sell professional audio products, including the industry-standard M7 Stereo Reverb Processor. Dowdell designs and writes Bricasti's signal-processing software in-house. Zolner is Bricasti's chief designer and CEO.

Bricasti Design's team engages in what they call “Continuous Innovation.” When they come up with something new, they offer it as an upgrade. My M1 Stereo D/A converter was first upgraded to SE MDX status, and later to Series II. I've stayed current without having to sell anything.