I have no doubt that Bryston makes fine amplifiers. But Manic Moose is far from cutting edge. The video of Chris (if that is his real name) explaining the new Manic Moose release is positively amateurish, long pauses and whatever. And just look at all the complaints and questions about Bryston digital (except a CD player).
I've lost count of the number of bugs I've taken the time to write-up and post here. Manic Moose is, by a wide margin, the worst audio playback user interface I've ever used (and I've used / seen just about everything).
Part of the problem is Bryston chose to build a web-based UI - for an app like this, that was a catastrophic choice. I'm sure it sounded like a good plan in the beginning.
The second issue with the BDP is that Bryston made some unfortunate software choices, with respect to third-party integration (DLNA, uPnP and TIDAL being stand-outs). Even with MPD, to this day, Manic Moose still struggles reading/processing audio track meta data, something I never encounter with the same audio files using media libraries like Roon, MinimServer, whatever.
Bryston did a nice job with Roon, but Roon is designed for vendors like Bryston that really don't want to build their own UI and Roon does the bulk of the heavy lifting.
A vendor like Bryston really has 2 choices:
1. Go all-in with your own user experience and build your own apps with a dedicated team of software developers (e.g. AURALiC being a good example of this approach that was successful);
2. Delegate to third parties *everything* except basic admin functions (e.g. Sonore's xRendu series being the poster child for this model). If Bryston had partnered with someone, like Volumio, they would have a better MPD player and UI than Manic Moose.
Hindsight is 20/20 and, to be fair, the BDP-1 was designed in a "simpler time" when things like Roon and TIDAL didn't exist and putting music onto thumb drives was something people still did. I have my library on a pair of large thumb drives and use the BDP-1 as an MPD player with Soundirok or as a Roon endpoint. The hardware stands up well in these modes and sounds fantastic.
So, I am not unhappy. But to be honest, I would have a hard time justifying the cost of a new BDP-3 with all of the above as a backdrop.
Bryston needs a new software strategy if they are going to continue selling really expensive digital players.