Puresound

“Oceanic Distribution has kindly loaned me a series of Brik products. Namingly, Brik DAC, Brik Integrated Amp and the Bluetooth Stage”.

“Upon opening, they look like a sleek little package all standing about 2 inches high and 6 inches wide with relatively good construction quality for something at this price point. The whole package is the same size, so it can be neatly stacked up and look good. If you wish, you can get a “shelf unit” to neatly store them on the corner of your desk”.

“The info on these products can be had here and you can buy them from MyAV or the Koolroom”.

“There is relatively very little information on the internal workings of every bit of the equipment … no DAC chip mentioned in the specs, no class A/B/D/T mentioned for the amp etc. I suppose it all doesn’t matter if it sounds good”.

Integrated Amp (1)

“The amp, is most likely a T or a D amp. 20W output capacity, but probably good enough to drive a small desktop with good sensitivity”.

“It is as most integrated amp is, has RCA inputs, an input selector and volume control and is designed to drive passive speakers”.

“I will try it out to drive my RX6 (floor standing high sensitivity speakers), a Wharfedale Diamond 8.0 (bookshelf speakers) and also drive various headphones straight from the rear output”.

Integrated amp (2)

“The integrated amp from Brik is a standard desktop integrated amp. It comes with a AC adapter type power pack and in silver face like the rest of the Brik range, and in the same size, so you can stack them all up in a neat little stack. It has 2 sets of RCA inputs on the back, and a 3.5mm input on the front… which I am assuming is for plugging in ipods and stuff”.

“The look is neat and nice, with just a power switch, the input, volume knob and the input selector on the nice silver brushed aluminum face plate, and nice weighty black steel around the body. The feel of the volume knob is firm but smooth and even, and does not give any indication of the cheaper price point”.

The test

“I tried it initially with Wharfdale Diamond 8.0 bookshelf speakers and the Brik DAC. The Brik drove them with ease and pulled the best out of the speakers. The sound was warm, but I think that was more from the DAC, as it was quite transparent once the Octave DAC was placed in the chain”.

“I then switched the speakers to Monitor Audio RX6 and surprised to find the little amp capable of driving them pretty well, and to a decently loud level. Of course, the listening in a large room was a little more troublesome for the little 20W amp, but it was perfect for small-medium room, or for a desktop system listening at the desk or only listening from a moderate distance”.

“I think this amp is a T amp, because it has that sort of sound to it. Which usually means very cost effective decent sound”.

“I then connected a headphone socket (6.3mm female) cable to the speaker out, and used it to drive a K702, with a surprisingly good result. (Of course, you need to be careful not to set the volume too high … because you can blow the headphones up … if not deafen you) The sound that came out was dynamic, open, smooth and generally nice to listen”.

Final thought on the Integrated Amp

“The bottom line is, for $200, this is a good amp. Instead of a $500+ active/powered speakers, this gives you an option of getting this amp and a $300+ bookshelves to get a pretty good stereo system. This means you can pick a variety of speakers to your liking, and drive it with a nice little amp that looks great sitting on the corner of your desk. It’s no frills approach just does the job and doesn’t try too hard. It doesn’t change the sound signature too much”.

“This is a perfect little unit if you are looking to get a little amp and passive speakers for casual music listening while you work, but you want future upgrade paths open. This way, you don’t have to get stuck with an audioengine or aktimate sound and amp… you can choose from variety of budget hi-fi speakers like DALI, Wharfdale, Yamaha, Monitor Audio or anything else to your liking and pair it with the amp”.

“I thought maybe it could do with a remote… one of the only gripes”.

“The DAC has been written into the audio recommendation, as it is worthy of a mention. Gives you another option in the $200ish range other than stuff like Tubemagic and HRT streamer”.

Brik DAC

“The DAC, has a mini USB input, Toslink input and Coaxial digital input. It outputs analogue signal via stereo RCA. Again, very little information on what chip is used, what input receiver chip is used or anything else”.

“I will be trying this thing out to drive the integrated amp, and also feeding into an O2 headphone amp. I will also try it being fed through the USB, Coaxial with and without V-link II”.

“Ok, I’ve had some more play with the DAC this afternoon again”.

“The note is smooth, fairly natural and easy to listen to, without any offensive nature to it at all. The bass extension is quite good, and I cannot hear any harshness or brightness. It is definitely not as detailed as very expensive DACs, but I have heard $400-500 DAC that sounds very similar (or even worse). It is certainly not a very ‘digital sounding’ DAC”.

“I mainly fed it to the O2 amp and listened with a K701, and some with it feeding the Marantz PM7003 to Monitor Audio RX6 floor standing speakers”.

“I compared it to the X-fi in movies and music. The Brik gives it more space and clarity, where the X-fi sound a bit more chunky and less instrumental separation”.

“I listened to a wide range of music, and the Brik did a decent job with most. I think some electronica sounded better on X-fi, as the chunkiness gave it more body and the reduced soundstage is not an issue with most electronic music. The warmth and space certainly came to its forte when listening to live instrumental music though, especially when listening to more vocal heavy music and multi instrumental music, such as 14 piece soul/jazz/funk from some old James Brown and some good old school metal”.

“While I muck around, Foobar2000 identifies the Brik unit as utilising a C-media DAC chip… I am not sure what this means, but I know several budget end but well regarded DACs and soundcards do use C-media chip. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there”.

“I changed the USB and Coaxial … I really couldn’t tell the difference in the two. Coaxial may be slightly better, but I could be imagining things, as I know most DACs sound just slightly better using the coax”.

“I then use the Musical fidelity V-link II into Coax. Wow. The change is quite dramatic. Bass tighter and deeper, more detail, better imaging”.

“One thing I am not sure what it’s about, is the “output voltage” switch. It switches the output between 1V and 2V. Of course, 2V is louder … it seems to have better dynamics, but does it really? Or am I just imagining things again because it’s louder? I am not sure what the exact function of this switch is..”

Over all on the DAC

“I think I have heard worse DAC for the price. I think I have heard worse DAC that is twice the price.

For $200 or less, what you get is a nice compact body with aluminum face design, 3 inputs (where you could have 3 sources connected and choose with the selector on the front), plug and play DAC that has a very pleasant sound”.

“What you won’t get, is a detail hogging top of the line DAC. You are stupid if you thought that is what you are getting”.

“More on the Bluetooth and Integrated later”.

“I have just been comparing the DAC with my friend’s Maverick Tubemagic. They are not too dissimilar in sound character. For obvious reasons, Maverick has more of a warm glow to the sound (tube!)”.

“I do think the Brik DAC is a worthy $200 installment”.

“Will be playing more with the Bluetooth stage and the amp this weekend”

Bluetooth Stage

“This is a handy little device that allows you to stream music off your bluetooth device. This little unit has analogue output and digital output. I will try out both … straight to the amp or to the DAC. I will be using it to stream off a Blackberry Bold 9900 phone”.

“Over the next few days, these Brik devices will be listening tested with the above configurations and I will let you guys know what my impressions are”.

“The Brik Bluetooth stage is a convenient little unit that lets you connect your Bluetooth phone or other tablet device etc to your stereo”.

“I tried it with the DAC and without, paired to my Blackberry 9900, using the analogue connection and the digital coax out to the Brik DAC as well”.

“Before I get too far into the review, I’d like to first say that I have a huge gripe with Bluetooth audio. Just clearing that up, so you know. Bluetooth audio is usually unreliable, skips occasionally and makes everything sound so thin …”

“So I got the unit out and the set up process is nice and simple. Get it out of the box, screw the antenna in the back, connect all the cables and power, turn it on, pair it with your Bluetooth device, type in “0000″. Done”.

“As simple as that, and I have music streaming from my device”.

“The first impression using “analogue out” is as with all Bluetooth device. It’s heavily limited by the fact that it utilises Bluetooth …”

”I then got my friends to bring over his Logitech wireless speaker adapter and Voiis. Both much cheaper unit than the Brik, Logitech at $69 and Voiis about $120 last I checked. In comparison, Brik does a credible job despite the fact that it is heavily limited by the capacity of bluetooth. Brik sounds a lot more natural and neutral in comparison”.

“The other point I would like to point out, is that no other Bluetooth unit I know has a digital output. Brik does, and this gives you a lot of flexibility if you have a DAC you like using. I tried the Metrum with the Brik bluetooth, as well as the Brik DAC. The use of DAC alongside, does improve the sound quality somewhat. Brik was no huge leap from the analogue output, but once the Metrum was connected, the sound got a lot crisper and given a little life… although it was still limited by the bluetooth’s capability”.

The final thought on the Bluetooth stage

“If you really want the convenience of a Bluetooth audio in your stereo system, this is a great unit. Especially if you have already got a decent DAC with free coax input”.

“Bluetooth capability in your stereo is probably a handy thing if you have friends come and go and want them to play music off their devices easily, or you have different iphones, phones, tablet PCs or whatever else you use, and want to simply connect and stream music to your stereo”.

“I can definitely see the benefit, but for a dinosaur like me who prefers paper books to an ebook reader, I will stick to a wired DAC for now”.

Prices Benelux

Intergrated Amplifier € 165,00 
DAC  € 165,00 
Bluetooth Stage € 145,00

Information

Manufacturer  www.brik-audio.com

Distributor Benelux  www.durob.nl

Dealer www.hi-stands.eu