Brinkmann Nyquist User manual

Manual
Nyquist
D/A Converter and Streamer

1. Safety Informaon
2. Cleaning
3. Warranty
4. Aenon
5. Tubes
6. Power Supply
7. AC Power Cord
8. Digital Module
9. Remote Control
10. Headphone Operaon
11. Unpacking
12. Set up of Nyquist D/A Converter
13. Connecng Nyquist
14. Operaon
15. USB Input
16. Streaming
17. Technical Specicaons
Design + Service
Brinkmann Audio GmbH
Im Himmelreich 13
88147 Achberg
Germany
tel [phone]
fax [phone]
www.brinkmann-audio.com
inf[email protected]
2

SAFETY INFORMATION
Legal regulaon of the European Community:
This D/A Converter had been designed and tested according to the guidelines EN55013 and EN55020,
and it meets the safety requirements EN60065.
Safety Informaon:
Brinkmann products should only be used in dry rooms with an ambient temperature between 55-86
degrees Fahrenheit (13-30 degrees Celsius) and are only designed for 220-240V / 110-120V, 50 and
60Hz alternang current.
Please verify that the voltage rang of your power supply corresponds to the voltage requirement
in your country!
Always keep the D/A Converter and power supply away from moisture, heat, open re and other
extreme condions. Never expose to direct sunlight.
Power Supply:
The power supply is only to be connected to grounded wall sockets.
Please connect or disconnect the power supply from the D/A Converter only when the mains plug is
disconnected from the mains.
Always disconnect the power supply from the mains when the D/A Converter is not used for a longer
period of me (during holidays etc. )
Never leave the power supply unaended while it is connected to the mains.
Never place containers with uids on either D/A Converter or power supply.
Never use solvent or sprays on any part of the D/A Converter or power supply!
There are NO user-serviceable parts inside the power supply.
The Mains Fuse is located externally, in the AC Receptacle Socket.
Never open the Chassis or Fuse Holder while the power supply is connected to the mains!
Aenon, dangerous voltage!
The power supply is equipped with a temperature limiter that switches o at about 150 degrees
F (65°C) ; to guarantee proper funcon please make sure to maintain free space for air circulaon
measuring 12” (30cm) above the power supply and 4” (10cm) on either side. The heatsinks and the
power supply must never be covered!
Aer disconnecng from the mains, the D/A Converter can be cleaned with a dry cloth or so brush.
Do NOT use liquid cleaners! Wet cleaning can cause damage!
Repairs, modicaons etc. are only to be carried out by Brinkmann Audio GmbH itself or by our
specically authorized service centers!
3

CLEANING
The power supply and Nyquist are only to be cleaned with a dry cloth, such as microber. Please
disconnect power supply from the mains before cleaning either chassis.
“Wet” cleaning must be avoided! Liquids may cause a short circuit or other electrical hazard inside
Nyquist or power supply.
The glass top cover should not be removed while Nyquist is connected to the mains.
WARNING: Dangerously high voltages inside, risk of electrical shock!
Failure to follow these safety precauons will void the Manufacturer’s Warranty of Brinkmann
Audio GmbH.
WARRANTY
Brinkmann Audio GmbH warrants this product to be free of defects in materials and workmanship
for a period of three (3) years from the Date of sale. This warranty doesn’t cover shipping costs eit-
her to or from our company for repair purposes.
Repairs and changes to Nyquist should only be performed by Brinkmann Audio GmbH or by Brink-
mann-authorized service facilies.
Brinkmann Audio GmbH may not be held liable for costs of repairs performed by non-authorized
service facilies.
Unauthorized changes or modicaons to the Product, as well as improper use and connecon of
the Product will void the Manufacturer’s Warranty.
Repairs or modicaons performed by non-authorized service facilies will void Manufacturer’s
Warranty.
ATTENTION
Digital components are sensive and need to be powered o when connecng or disconnecng
other components. Should this be forgoen and lead to problems, please switch o Nyquist and
switch it on again when everything is connected properly.
TUBES
Nyquist ulizes four (4) NOS (New, Old Stock) Telefunken PCF803 tubes (two per channel).
The PCF803 was developed in the 60s for use in colour television.
The company “Telefunken” in Berlin was known for highest quality and durability of their products
and for using state-of-the-art technologies for their producon.
Each tube contains two internal circuits: one pentode and one triode.
The PCF803 in the Nyquist D/A Converter are used for the output stage and the analog gain control.
The PCF803 was designed to last for a minimum of ten years of hard use in a colour TV. As Nyquist
does not stress the tubes to this degree, tube life expectancy is much longer. Brinkmann maintains
extensive stocks of this tube, so replacements are readily available. Do not use tubes from other
sources, replace with original Telefunken PCF803—preferably a matched set—which are available
from Brinkmann.
4

POWER SUPPLY
The power supply is housed in a metal chassis craed from anodized aluminium. This chassis is con-
nected to the ground or “Earth” connecon of the power plug. The power supply should ONLY be
connected to the mains with a three-prong power cord.
The power supply includes a transformer that converts the mains voltage into several discrete volta-
ges as required by various circuits within Nyquist.
One of these voltages is reced and stabilized at 22 VDC. The output is short circuit proof for a
current of 1A and will be shut down by a PTC during short circuit. The other alternang voltages
are used in the preamplier secon. It is important to take care that the connecon cable with the
7-pole connector is not damaged or snapped.
AC POWER CORD
As with all Brinkmann Audio products, Nyquist ships with a purpose-designed, 3-pole mains cord.
Unlike the “Commodity” mains cords supplied with many audio products, this Brinkmann Cord has
been engineered and tuned by Helmut Brinkmann to deliver superior sonic performance with our
products. It is hand built by Brinkmann Audio using rigidly specied cabling and connectors. Alt-
hough many customers will prefer to use aermarket cables, we suggest audioning the supplied
mains cable rst.
DIGITAL MODULE
The digital module of Nyquist is easily re-
movable and exchangeable; consequently,
Nyquist can be upgraded to accommodate
future formats simply by replacing the mo-
dule, rather than replacing the complete
product.
The Nyquist D/A Converter ships with
the digital module installed and ready for
operaon.
Removal and Replacement of Digital
Module:
Always disconnect Nyquist from the mains
before removing the digital module!!
Located on the back panel are two handles to facilitate the secure remove and re-installaon of the
digital module. Nyquist needs to be turned upside down and the two screws (shown in the picture)
removed. Next, return Nyquist to upright posion and slowly, carefully pull out the module with the
handles. For re-installaon please follow the same instrucons in reverse order.
There is no need to remove the digital module unless it needs to be exchanged!
5

REMOTE CONTROL
The remote control works with an IR sensor and needs approx.
20cm free space above Nyquist to allow for awless “Line of sight”
funcon.
The top three buons on the remote control are for input selecon
(le and right) and for phase selecon (middle).
The three buons in the second row are for gain / headphone volu-
me (le and right) and for mute (middle).
Pushing the „mute“ buon twice while the headphone output is ac-
vated switches back to regular playback and un-mutes the output.
HEADPHONE OPERATION
Nyquist features a headphone output on the le side of the front panel.
The headphone output gets acvated and the regular output muted aer connecng the headpho-
ne and pushing the “headphone” buon directly above the output.
Pushing the “headphone” buon again switches back to regular playback but the output is sll mu-
ted and needs to be acvated by pushing “mute” either on the front panel or the remote control.
Pushing the “mute” buon on Nyquist while the headphone output is acvated will switch back to
unmuted regular playback.
Pushing the „mute“ buon on the remote control twice while the headphone output is acvated
switches back to regular playback and de-mutes the output.
UNPACKING
Your Nyquist D/A Converter is delivered in a double-carton shipping box with highly protecve inter-
nal packaging material. In the event that your DAC needs to be shipped in the future, this packaging
will protect Nyquist and the power supply from shipping damage. Please keep the packaging, inclu-
ding internal protecve packaging material in order to assure maximum shipping safety for your
product!
Please nd in the top layer of the protecve packaging inlay:
-This Owner’s Manual
-Nyquist D/A Converter including the digital module (installed)
-Remote Handset
-Power Supply including connecon cable with 7-pole plug
In the boom layer:
-USB sck containing this manual and the USB Driver for Windows
-Granite base for the D/A Converter
-AC Power Cord
6

SET UP OF NYQUIST D/A CONVERTER
The weight of Nyquist including the granite base is 24kg (54 lb). Therefore it is important to place
Nyquist on a surface of approx. 40 x 45cm (16” x 18”) that can comfortably support this weight.
The base of Nyquist must have full and unimpeded contact with the surface of the granite base,
which controls vibraons in the D/A Converter.
In the pursuit of resonance control, it is possible to use isolaon devices from other manufactur-
ers between the granite base and the stand; however. DO NOT employ any such devices between
Nyquist and granite slab, as the two items are engineered and tuned as a single unit.
It is important to make sure that any isolaon devices are specied to support the full weight of
Nyquist – approx. 24kg (54 lb) –. Another opon could be the use of thin sheets (for example leather
or rubber) in patches or for the full surface between the granite base and the stand.
There should be 20cm of free space above Nyquist to allow a awless “Line of sight” funcon of the
remote control. The IR sensor for the remote control is located internally, right beside the gain con-
trol under the top glass plate.
In case there is not enough free space above the DA Converter, it is possible to place a small upright
sheet (about the size of a business card) behind the sensor of the remote control to allow for reec-
ng the IR impulse to the sensor.
The power supply should also be placed on a resonance free surface; for example, a small granite
base.
CONNECTING NYQUIST
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Nyquist features RCA and XLR outputs, located on the right and le side of the main back panel and
a 7-pole socket for the connecon of the power supply.
The digital module features several dierent inputs on the small centre back panel:
Ethernet connector: Connect to your local network for Streaming
Toslink (opcal) S/PDIF input: Connect to a digital source with opcal output
USB input: Connect to PC/MAC or a server through a dedicated USB audio cable
Coax S/PDIF input (RCA): Connect a digital source with single-ended 75Ohm output
AES/EBU input (XLR): Connect a digital source with balanced 110Ohm output
Please keep to the following order when connecng Nyquist:
1. connect Signal Inputs from your digital sources to the appropriate Digital Inputs of Nyquist
2. connect the 7-pole plug of the power supply cable to the 7-pole connector on rear panel of Nyquist
and ghten the cap screw
3. connect RCA or XLR outputs from Nyquist to the respecve inputs of the preamplier or integra-
ted amplier
4. connect the power supply to the mains (do this as last step!)
Nyquist does not require external power condioning because its power supply incorporates a so-
phiscated power lter.
A dedicated connecon to the mains without interference is benecial for Nyquist. It is important
not to connect the D/A Converter to the same power distributor as, for example, power ampliers
with irregular power consumpon.
8

OPERATION
Pushing the “on-o” switch lights up both the display and the red LED at the “mute” switch. The
“mute” switch is disabled as long as the display shows “Nyquist”. During this me the tubes are hea-
ted to operang temperature.
Approximately one minute aer turn-on, the display shows the following (le to right, top to bot-
tom) and Nyquist can be de-muted:
1. Actual Format (PCM, DSD or MQA.)
2. Actual sample frequency
(44/48/88/96/176/192/352/384 for MQA and PCM or 64/128/256 for DSD)
3. Input name
aes, coax, usb, tos or ethn
4. Output Gain (0…10 dB) or Headphone Volume (0…99)
5. Phase (0° or 180°)
Since there are no dierences in volume between the dierent digital inputs, Nyquist’s gain and
phase stay the same when switching from one input to another.
Gain selecon changes to headphone volume as soon as the headphone output is acvated.
The rotary knob on the le side of the front panel changes gain / headphone volume and the rotary
knob on the right side of the front panel selects the input.
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USB INPUT
The USB input is intended to connect to a server, either Mac or PC. USB cables can have a major
inuence on the sound; therefore, it is advisable to use a dedicated audio cable of good quality for
this input.
No Drivers are needed for Mac OSX 10.6+ and Linux with UAC2 compliant kernel.
Nyquist USB Audio 2.0 Class Driver soware for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 (32 and 64bit), can be
downloaded from the supplied USB sck or at www.brinkmann-audio.com.
Roon device selecon, when connected to a Mac
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Recommended device sengs running Roon on a Mac
How to download and install the Windows driver: connect the PC to Nyquist via USB cable, either
connect the USB sck to the PC or open the le at www.brinkmann-audio.com, click on the Nyquist
driver le and chose save le, follow the installaon instrucons and chose install USB Audio 2.0
Class Driver, once the driver is installed, Nyquist should be listed as playback medium in the playback
soware of your choice and can be used.
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These instrucons reect current soware. There might be future changes that require a dierent
driver or updated soware. You can nd updated informaon on www.brinkmann-audio.com or
send an email to inf[email protected] with any quesons.
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Accepted USB formats and sample rates:
PCM (Pulse Code Modulated):
44.1Khz, 48Khz, 88.2Khz, 96Khz 176.4Khz, 192Khz, 352.8Khz and 384Khz
MQA (Master Quality Authencated):
All available MQA playback formats.
Please visit www.mqa.co.uk for more informaon on this format.
Nyquist includes MQA (Master Quality Authencated) technology, which enables you to play back
MQA audio les and streams, delivering the sound of the original master recording.
‘MQA’ or ‘MQA.’ indicates that the unit is decoding and playing an MQA stream or le, and denotes
provenance to ensure that the sound is idencal to that of the source material. ‘MQA.’ (Full stop aer
MQA) indicates it is playing an MQA Studio le, which has either been approved in the studio by the
arst/producer or has been veried by the copyright owner.
The MQA logo is a trade mark of MQA Limited. © MQA Limited 2016
DSD (Direct-Stream Digital):
DoP (e.g. Mac): DSD64 and DSD128
Nave (e.g. Windows): DSD64, DSD128, and DSD256
STREAMING
Accepted Streaming formats and sample rates:
PCM (Pulse Code Modulated):
44.1Khz, 48Khz, 88.2Khz, 96Khz 176.4Khz and 192Khz
MQA (Master Quality Authencated):
All available MQA playback formats.
Nyquist includes MQA technology, which enables you to play back MQA audio les and streams,
delivering the sound of the original master recording.
‘MQA’ or ‘MQA.’ indicates that the unit is decoding and playing an MQA stream or le, and denotes
provenance to ensure that the sound is idencal to that of the source material. ‘MQA.’ (Full stop aer
MQA) indicates it is playing an MQA Studio le, which has either been approved in the studio by the
arst/producer or has been veried by the copyright owner.
The MQA logo is a trade mark of MQA Limited. © MQA Limited 2016
DSD (Direct-Stream Digital):
DSD64
To use Nyquist for streaming, the Ethernet plug needs to be connected to your home router through
at least a CAT5 (beer CAT7) Ethernet cable. Nyquist automacally connects via DHCP to your net-
work (Network sengs can be changed with MConnect’s MControl app).
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Once connected, Nyquist should be visible on the network to a controller that is also on the home
network via WIFI or Ethernet cable.
Nyquist supports streaming of PCM data up to 192kHz, MQA up to 384kHz and DSD 64.
Nyquist supports streaming from the following sources:
-Roon Core servers (controlled via the Roon app)
-UPnP servers (controlled via the MControl app)
-Tidal High Fidelity Music Streaming (controlled via the MControl app or the Roon app)
-Deezer Streaming Service (controlled via the MControl app)
-vTuner Internet Radio (controlled via the MControl app)
We recommend MConnect’s MControl app as mobile UPnP controller and for access to vTuner, Tidal
or Deezer. The App is freely available for both Android and Apple tablets and phones. Roon Core
servers can be accessed via the Roon app.
Roon
For the best streaming experience, we recommend Roon. Nyquist is a RoonReady ™ network player.
Please visit the Roon Website for further details on how to setup the system www.roonlabs.com.
Roon will automacally discover Nyquist on your network. There are no specic sengs necessary
to support Nyquist. You need an account to use Roon.
Roon also integrates Tidal High Fidelity Music Streaming and les from connected servers or hard
drives.
Nyquist will appear as Roon ready device under „Networked“
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There is no need for any sengs. You might want to hide the volume control, as it has no funcon.
15

mControl App
Select Nyquist as Playback device
To change sengs or update the rmware of Nyquist‘s Streaming module, select Nyquist in Device
Setup
16

Device informaon and opon to update the rmware when available
17

UPnP
Nyquist provides network connecvity to a media server or NAS. Nyquist is a UPnP compable de-
vice, requiring a UPnP server and controller to stream. A program like JRiver Media Center, available
on both Mac and Windows plaorms, can be congured to act as both a UPnP server and Controller.
Many NAS (Network Aached Storage) come with UPnP servers built into their operang systems.
If you use a NAS, you will control the NAS and Nyquist using a UPnP controller. As controller, we
recommend MConnect’s MControl app, which is freely available for Android and Apple tablets and
phones.
To select the NAS or UPnP server of any type, in MControl, touch the “Browser” icon. Choose the
server to which you wish to connect.
Tidal and Deezer
Tidal and Deezer streaming services are accessible via MConnect’s MControl app. This allows direct
streaming of Tidal and Deezer music to Nyquist via the Internet. You need a Tidal or Deezer account
to access the streaming services.
vTuner
MConnect’s MControl app also oers access to vTuner Internet Radio. This allows you to listen to
your favorite radio staon via Nyquist. In MControl, touch the “Browser” icon to select vTuner In-
ternet Radio.
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs: USB 2.0, SPDIF, AES-EBU, TOSLINK, RJ45 ETHERNET
Formats: MQA and PCM up to 384 kHz (DXD), DSD 64 and 128 via DoP (DSD over PCM), DSD 256
navely
Digital module upgradable
THD/IM distoron: <0.01%
S/N rao: >100 dBA
Gain adjustment: -20 to +10 dB
Output voltage: maximum ± 12 V symmetrical
Output impedance: +/-10 ohms symmetrical
Headphone output: 30-600 ohms
Dimensions (WxHxD): 420 x 95 x 310 mm (with granite base); power supply 120 x 80 x 160 mm
Weight: 12 kg; granite base 12 kg; power supply 3.2 kg
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