BRINKMANN
Brinkmann Audio Nyquist
Hi Fi Plus 01 December 2017 Full Review
Old meets the newest of the new in the Brinkmann Audio Nyquist. Although it did make a DAC 30 years ago, Brinkmann is best known for its analogue turntables, tonearms, phono stages, and amplifi ers. This is perhaps why Brinkmann classes it’s Nyquist DAC as an ‘Analogue D/A converter’. The Nyquist itself combines a swappable digital module (to accommodate future developments in digital audio) with an output stage and headphone amplifi er more in line with a valve preamp than a digital device, and an external linear power supply as befi ts its distinctly analogue heritage.
The Brinkmann Nyquist is one of the fi rst high-end designs to adopt the new MQA digital format (alongside PCM and DSD), but irrespective of the kind of digital format or music genres you play through this £12,995 DAC, Hi-Fi+ Editor Alan Sircom felt that “The performance of this device is so effortless, so natural, and so bloody enjoyable sounding, you are drawn ever deeper into your music.” He concluded by saying “The way the Nyquist handles music is with a dancer’s touch rather than an engineer’s. This is particularly true of MQA, but it applies universally to everything the Nyquist processes. Lovely!”