Hi all, this is my first post. I ve just auditioned the lina and It was amazing. I m trying to figure out how to match him properly with an amplifier and I was thinking about Bricasti. Is there someone who is matching dcs with Bricasti amps?
IMHO they sound fantastic and they are fully differential and balanced with a selectable input sensitivity which allows 6v connection
Hi pit and welcome to the forum, I hope that you find it interesting and useful.
My brief answer is that if you like the sound of Bricasti amps there will be no problem in matching Lina or Lina DAC X with one of them ( you haven’t told us which, Bricasti make several different ones) and if you like the resulting sound it will be fine.
To expand , use of direct connection and 6V are not fixed " rules" for best sound. Many dcS owners prefer the use of a pre-amp as well ( think of the split as roughly 50:50).
You do not need a 6V output from Lina for direct connection. Lina provides line voltage output choices of 0.2, 0.6, 2 and 6 volts ( with a source siganl of 0 dBfs ). You find the right voltage to use by judging which provides a reasonable listening sound level for you. This, in turn depends upon the sensitivity of your loudspeakers, room size, and how loud like to listen. In order to set correctly you also need to make sure the the Lina volume control is not set unreasonably low. However, not only can you vary Lina but also Bricasti as their power amps have input sensitivity trims ( found on the rear panel).
So buy with confidence if you decide the sound is for you ( we all have out favourites). When you have it come back if you have any queries. You may as a dCS unit has features not often found with other makes which make them very flexible.
Very useful Pete thanks a lot. My concern is that there is no any Bricasti owner here
I expect that there are many happy Bricasti/dCS users out there in the world at large. It just happens that they are not writing here ( forums like this are self selecting in both who are members and the small percentage of them that actually contribute regularity).
The other important factor seems to be that many buy their amp from the same dealer as the dCS unit ( or vice versa), so rather than a free choice it is down to what he stocks.Hopefully he has made a good selection but he has business as well as sonic considerations. You can look through the “Showing Off” thread on this forum and you will quickly see what are the most popular brands of amp used by members here. None of these are desired by me, however 
.
At the end of the day only YOU, not us, can decide what fits your tastes and needs. I can only remark on any technical considerations that may occur to me.Unfortunately the idea of dealers loaning selections of amplifiers for you to try at home with your own system is not generally available though over the years I have been very lucky ( living in London UK seems to have been one important element in this though perhaps no longer in 2026).
Welcome to the forum @pit. The only thing I would add to Pete’s answer is that there is a Frequently Asked Questions section on our support homepage that you may find helpful. Among many others there’s a white paper on the subject of ”to preamp or not to preamp” here.
Thank you for sharing this important article @AndrewS. IMHO, it is well-written and makes a number of valuable, clarifying statements.
Ciao Andrew, first of all let me thank you for your kind welcome. I will read it for sure however I m convinced about no preamp. To elaborate more, I m a naimer and in a naim eco system I will never abandon the marvellous 332, but here to me it is a DCs ecosystem, which is without preamp imho. I love the atc 50 as well, but in a context of a naim system I will choose the active with 332 or the passive but again with DCS it would be active without pre or passive with a proper amp (atc, bryston or Bricasti). My doubt is coming because I feel Bricasti (in term of architecture, project and implementation) way better than the other mentioned but sadly it is used only with a Bricasti dac….which is far away from DCS imho.