Encounters -The Brinkmann Nyquist DAC

As the plane banked on final approach to Munich?s Franz Jozef Strauss airport I hardly noticed the early morning sun on the Alps or the distant lakes. Instead I focused on the farms. Dead square fences with impeccable farmyards. Only in  Germany. Not even the Swiss do things this way, I felt a cold hand on my heart. I was here for work and  this was Germany and this was far away from ?Boer maak ?n plan? A fun weekend with Elizabeth in Munich was only brief respite as the ICE sped north through  the dreary but oh so perfect northern German plain. To lift my sense of unease I thought of Germans I knew: The bubbly little girl from Potsdam who lightened up our lives for six weeks,the bear of a man who became my father?s substitute father and my substitute grandfather: A big hug, a bone crushing handshake ,always with a hidden coin to the delight of the snotty nosed kid with the Agaton Sax novel under the arm,holding court in a club chair with a whiskey in one hand and a huge slice of cream cake in the other and death defying dashes  in a tiny yellow FIAT  500  through 1970s Pretoria city centre at breakneck speeds with the nigtmarish wheels of trolley busses threatening to crush us. He was Uberliner from the top of his spiky grey hair to his toes and we all loved him to bits-even my exasperated mother.

So what is German hi-fi like then ?  Well hopefully like neither of the above ! I nevertheless felt the same apprehension when Achim offered to send me a Brinkman Nyquist  ii DAC to try. I made it quite clear to him that there was no way I could afford it. I am also pretty sure that even Achim realises that I posses absolutely no ability to influence anybody else into buying  anything.

Normally I would have refused as other people?s expensive stuff make me ill with worry and what if I end up craving this thing? Nah,not likely. I mean it?s not DCS or CH Precision or whatnot and I?m an analogue guy anyway. Way back, long before Achim, I was on the verge of buying a Brinkmann turntable but someone offered me an old Thorens Reference instead and poof ,just like that ,my interest in all turntables ,better or worse ,evaporated . However a fascination with things Brinkmann remains. Anyway those Germans were awfully nice,I learned a lot,we laughed a lot and in one hairy situation the Boer even made a plan. So bring on the blinking thing.

I upgraded my digital rig not that long ago. My long serving Audio Aero Prestige SACD had lost its disc playing capability (again) ,so fearing old French car like flakiness I moved on and ended up with a surprise last minute left field entry. The Berkeley Audio Alpha DAC 2 . That thing needs a matching USB-AES convertor in the form of the (very) expensive Berkeley unit. The Alpha needed a R12k upgrade to become the Alpha MQA . Naturally a good quality USB cable was needed as well as the superb Cardas Clear AES cable from the Croakmeister. This runs of a Sonore Microrendu with Wyred for Sound power supply. If I have to say so myself it sounds very nice for a price about 1/3 to 1/2 of the Brinkmann.  When this digital system gelled it offered a serious challenge to my ageing analogue setup but as always a slight resetting of all cartridges, new tonearm cables,ultrasonic cleaning and WHAM! Analogue is again way out there.

So what was the Brinkmann going to do?

The Brinkmann arrived this morning by courier after a 5 day trip from Cape Town. Maybe they?ve gone green and started using ox-wagons again? I nipped out to receive and as I was there unpacked it. It is brand new ,still sealed. Achim said let it run a few days so I thought of sorting it out tonight. I hate computer stuff. I plugged a network cable into the switch and into the dac. Woof there it was -MQA 192 the little screen said. OK is there sound? Absolutely. By now my phone is ringing and Sandi ,my secretary ,is baying. Even my wife is pulling faces.

3C601168-AAC3-4F7F-A88E-90CF96986DD7_1_201_a by jdza, on Flickr



In the mid 90s both myself and my best friend were going through difficult times. He just got through a messy divorce and I was flip-flopping from one disasterous relationship to another. Late nite/early mornings were the worst. So we did the things men without women do: Driving very fast in fast cars, sitting in all night roadside Wimpy Bars morosely chewing on stale chips and cardboard hamburgers and music,always music. My friend had left his house and with it a dedicated listening room to plonk his gear down in his mother's lounge. That night we played Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman. I have never heard that album so well reproduced as that night on that makeshift system.

Yesterday was his birthday so I streamed that album . It was not close. To check if the Brinkmann is actually producing sound I replayed the album again today. Broken. Not the Brinkmann., my system. Ice cold and brand new The Nyquist ii was flat out the best I have heard Tea for the Tillerman. I have numerous copies of the album,I have it on 1/4 track reel to reel  and CD and here was a 192k MQA stream wiping everything including those memories.

Someone once gushed here that his system sounds so good he can identify the microphone used. We all can ,provided you know the sound of that microphone but here the Brinkmann strips all that electronics away ,scrubbing an entire layer of electronic crud away. The result is uncannily real sound. You can always hear tape hiss on this album  but with the Brinkmann it sounds exactly like the actual hiss from the tape,not a reproduction thereoff. Tonality of acoustic instruments is absolutely spot on ,bass reproduction absolutely perfect. Wow can it do any wrong ?

Yes.After the MQA stream Roon Radio reverted to Elton John and then Billy Joel?s ?Billy the Kid? in 44.1 16 Bit. The sound quality took such a dive it was not even funny. This DAC is not going to polish a turd , I can tell you that.

After an hour I got up and into my car,almost in tears. My wife spotted this and asked what was wrong. ?It makes everything I have sound broken, the turntable, the tapes,  never mind the blinking digital. Maybe tomorrow I?ll feel different ?

In the classic film Charade ,Audrey Hepburn says to Cary Grant ?You know whats wrong with you??Nothing!?  Well by then old  Cary was pretty much mutton dressed as lamb but still. I can (more) honestly find absolutely no fault with build or the ease of use or especially the sound of the Brinkmann Nyquist ii.But is it the best DAC in wjerld  as some oaf so over and over said?

She was  5 feet tall ,if that, dressed in a simple black top and black jeans. Around her neck was a thin gold chain. My friend whispered ?Now that is Class!? I had been watching her surreptitiously  for the past hour ,trying to find just one imperfection. I failed. She got up and walked past us,stopped and asked me something. I turned beetroot red and did a very good imitation of sheep bleating. She was without a doubt the most beautiful girl in the world and no picture of Maud Adams or Elizabeth Taylor in her youth would make me say otherwise. So  in this vein, is the Brinkmann the best DAC in the world?

No. You see as my brain was furiously kicking my hormones into submission I looked around  to see who all saw my gaffe. Nobody took any notice,except a girl at the same table. She was an extremely pretty girl with soft eyes  and an easy smile,except now she was laughing at me. It was not a mocking laugh but a sympathetic laugh, full of understanding . As an incredible sense of peace fell over me, I shrugged and started laughing too, Feelings I had never experienced rushed through 20 year old me and suddenly I understood those silly little things my parents did  together. The Brinkmann is that DAC. The one you want to keep forever,the one you want to listen to every day. The one that makes you care not one iota what other DACs sound like. So yes,to me this is the best DAC in the world without having the foggiest idea what an EMM or MSB or CH or whatever sounds like.

I dared not ask the price but even if Achim dies right now and gets resurrected as Mother Theresa of Calcutta ,I cannot  see him selling this for less than R350 000.I stated quite clearly to him that I could not afford to buy it. ?That?s Okay? he said ?I don?t want you to buy it,I want you to want it.? Game,Set and Match to Achim and Germany.. .Bastards! Doubly so for just quietly observing my antics  (we have never met or even spoken to each other) and from experience,knowledge and wisdom knowing exactly what product in his stable was going to ring my bell,loudly and continually.