[James Tanner]

Hi James,

I have been surfing the net tonight and have read a few interviews with you and Brian Russell. I appreciate how candid you are with respects to the future of high end audio.

Firstly, let me state that I feel Bryston’s approach to product design makes the most sense to me going forward. Focus on quality, engineering/design, dependability (not “bells and whistles”) and you will flourish. For those of us customers in “the know”, this is reflected in your quality for dollar ratio. As well, (and as Brian stated) there are many folks who still have massive CD collections as well. So – (as with the resurgence of vinyl amongst the young generation, there will likely be a resurgence of CD’s too!) don’t dismiss “old tech”.

Cultivating the next generation audiophile is a challenge, primarily because of their drift away from “larger scale” sound systems and tendency towards “more is better” (ie 10,000 mp3’s on their “devices” or purely streaming). As well, (and I am in Vancouver) the lack of affordable housing that will accommodate a “large system” listening environment.

I can tell you this however. When I played Tears for Fears “Seeds of Love” through my Bryston 4B3 based system to my MP3 loving son…. His comment when it was done was simply “that was incredible”.

I think we have to educate younger people to the joys of experiencing full range hi end audio in a decent sized listening space where the music is experienced  coupled with the room. I was a lucky teen who grew up in the “golden age” of audio (late 70’s) whose parents let him listen to a lovely 40 watt per channel Kenwood system in his bedroom. That was all it took to sell me on what it meant to spend my hard earned (lawn cutting money) cash to reach for the best quality sound I could get. I have never lost that aspiration and now, as stated in previous email, I am the proud owner of a Bryston system (BP-6/4B3), something I have been waiting for all my life. I have shared the soul stirring beauty of music that your products assist in delivering with my young son. I trust you too can appreciate how that feels and this is “the seed” we must sew for future generations of music lovers!

Thanks again (and I do hope you read all of this!)

RT

[James Tanner]

Hi James

Here is an amplifier recently reviewed that cost over $100,000 dollars.

If I make comparisons with the Bryston 28B that costs less than 20% of this amp, This amps power is less; the 28B clips at around 1300W as compared with this amp at 900W. The amp also has about 3-4 times the 28B's THD, especially at 20KHz.

The measurements show the amps THD rises quite a bit at high power levels, to about 10X as much as around 1W. The 28B's THD stays low all the way to clipping, where it's still below than this amp 1W THD level.  And the amps HF rolloff is too early, it's down about .3dB at 20K.
 
Also the review seems to indicate that the protection circuitry interferes with playing into normal speaker loads.
 
Finally, the amplifier shows a LOT of IM products around the 19+20KHz fundamental.

This amp would not sound nice at high frequencies. I think the high end would be gritty in comparison with the Bryston 28B.

CR

[James Tanner]

Hi James

We seem to have such a tough time calling a spade a spade in this industry.
 
Here we have a really good amplifier wrapped in a hand machined and hand finished chassis.  This hand made chassis will cost you around 10 times the estimated amplifier value.
 
I don’t see the necessity to always try and turn that simple product description into a ridiculous search for reasons the sound quality justifies the price; it doesn’t and it doesn’t even need to.  If you like their industrial design and the quality of their hand machined/hand finished chassis then this is what it will cost you.  If that is not important to you then save yourself $100k +.
 
A good example of how other industries handle it would be that retro fridge we have from Elmira Stove Works.  They have skinned a Whirlpool fridge with beautifully finished retro panels.  It adds thousands of dollars to the cost of fridge and people buy them because they like the design and the quality of the finish.  Not one person tries to say the fridge works better because of it.
 
IC
 

[john1970]

Hi James

Here is an amplifier recently reviewed that cost over $100,000 dollars.

If I make comparisons with the Bryston 28B that costs less than 20% of this amp, This amps power is less; the 28B clips at around 1300W as compared with this amp at 900W. The amp also has about 3-4 times the 28B's THD, especially at 20KHz.

The measurements show the amps THD rises quite a bit at high power levels, to about 10X as much as around 1W. The 28B's THD stays low all the way to clipping, where it's still below than this amp 1W THD level.  And the amps HF rolloff is too early, it's down about .3dB at 20K.
 
Also the review seems to indicate that the protection circuitry interferes with playing into normal speaker loads.
 
Finally, the amplifier shows a LOT of IM products around the 19+20KHz fundamental.

This amp would not sound nice at high frequencies. I think the high end would be gritty in comparison with the Bryston 28B.

CR

Hi James,

From your description I know the amp that you are writing about in this discussion. 

There definitely is a tendency in this industry to believe that if it cost more it must be better.  I was at a hi-fi shop last week where someone was telling me about the virtues of of $15,000 DAC and that it would blow my BDA-3 away.  If one looks at the measurements in a well-known audio publication where both DACs have been reviewed the Bryston actually has better resolution of 21-bits vs. 20-bits.  All other measurements are essentially the same.     

Bryston please continue to build world-class components at real-world prices. 


Cheers,

John

[Elizabeth]

I wrote something, then thought:
Brain Fart. PFFFFFT!! Phew?? What is that STINK??..   
Nothing to see here, the egress is over there...............