[terrycym]

Here's an idea...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freecom-Network-Drive-Aluminium-Enclosure/dp/B0018F9OEO

You can access it from your PC via your network and the BDP-1 can access it via USB
You can even put one of your SSDs in it.
I've seen other cases that allow two drives so you can have RAID 1

Any thoughts

[Napalm]

Ok what did it sound like

Lame.

Copy a file from one external drive to another, using any combination of USB cables you can. Now compare the original with the copy. Are they identical bit to bit? Of course they are so how can you explain that there was no "loss of bass and clarity" in this simple experiment?

Nap.

[James Tanner]

From: Barbara
Sent: February 2, 2011 11:41 AM
To: James Tanner
Subject: RE: BDP-1


Hi James,

I have the BDP-1 playing now.   I really like being able to control the player via Minion.     Sounds absolutely wonderful.   

I did an A/B comparison with sourcing the same 44.1 wav music through the bryston vs playing through the marantz receiver SR7005 via the NAS files.   Even the 44.1 music sounds fuller through the bryston (BDP and BDA pair)  which represents the largest volume of my collection.  I did download many files from hdtracks and am loving the hi res music.  I wish more rock and pop type music was available in hi res which I suspect is currently frantically being remastered to meet the expected furture demand for hi res.    I did check out the web sites you sent to me but most were classical and jazz. 

Thanks for listening to my input.   I am a product manager of a software line of business and I always like to receive input from my customers.

Kind Regards,
Barbara

[werd]

Lame.

Copy a file from one external drive to another, using any combination of USB cables you can. Now compare the original with the copy. Are they identical bit to bit? Of course they are so how can you explain that there was no "loss of bass and clarity" in this simple experiment?

Nap.

Nap i used that same crappy usb cable to back up all my tunes on that omega HD. Yes its works, i agree that in normal use computers are setup to work like you say. You would know more about that than me.

The difference is once you start using it in a playback audio system it changes. Its because you now have  your digital source hooked up to an amplifier used to drive loudspeakers. Everything gets amplified. Its mostly due to the quality of gear out right now. Bryston and other manufactures are building really sensitive high energy playback systems. These systems pick everything up now coming off the source. Literally everything and that includes harddrive quality and their power supplies.

I really don't know why the bass was affected, other than something in the lousy Omega power supply crapping out. 

[werd]

Nap

Here is a good visual of what probably happens at Drummermitchels house everytime he fires up his tunes using the 28's and his massive torus array of power recovery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luZQOqF6oYk&feature=related

The gear now is supercharged.   

[drummermitchell]

 ,good one Werd,that explains why I have very little hair,whew,POWER,I like it,even if I don't use it all,I rest easy except for the death grip on my armrests .

[Napalm]

Nap i used that same crappy usb cable to back up all my tunes on that omega HD. Yes its works, i agree that in normal use computers are setup to work like you say. You would know more about that than me.

The difference is once you start using it in a playback audio system it changes. Its because you now have  your digital source hooked up to an amplifier used to drive loudspeakers. Everything gets amplified. Its mostly due to the quality of gear out right now. Bryston and other manufactures are building really sensitive high energy playback systems. These systems pick everything up now coming off the source. Literally everything and that includes harddrive quality and their power supplies.

I really don't know why the bass was affected, other than something in the lousy Omega power supply crapping out. 

Werd, the BDP will read the same sequence of 0s and 1s from the external disk no matter what you do. Unless u use a defective cable or disk but at that point it will probably just lock/crash/refuse to work any further.

What you're saying there with some merit is that if you also connect some externally powered thing to the BDP, then you might inject some analog noise into its analog circuits (ground loops anyone?). But that would affect just the BDP-1 analog outputs if it had ones.

Nap.

[skunark]

Werd, the BDP will read the same sequence of 0s and 1s from the external disk no matter what you do. Unless u use a defective cable or disk but at that point it will probably just lock/crash/refuse to work any further.

What you're saying there with some merit is that if you also connect some externally powered thing to the BDP, then you might inject some analog noise into its analog circuits (ground loops anyone?). But that would affect just the BDP-1 analog outputs if it had ones.

Nap.

Werd, just go pick up a bus-powered USB HDD (aka mobile drive)... Might actually consider an SSD over a HDD to eliminate any spinning noise from the platters.   This would minimize any difference in your system found between the USB HDD and the USB Thumbdrive.

Keep in mind that the wallwart can introduce noise at both the power outlet and device cable.    It's extremely unlikely that any noise would be transferred via the USB cable because of the isolation techniques used.  Switching to a bus-powered USB drive would utilize the BPD-1 power supply and eliminate any concerns one might have with the wallwart. 

Other than the fact that I truly hate all wallwarts for a number of reasons, the OCZ HDD wallwart might be fine.

[Napalm]

Werd, just go pick up a bus-powered USB HDD (aka mobile drive)...

I'll second that, go get one of these:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=15_213_602&item_id=031102

use the supplied cable and forgetaboutit.

It's pretty much silent too.

Nap.

[BrysTony]

...Other than the fact that I truly hate all wallwarts for a number of reasons, the OCZ HDD wallwart might be fine.

The OCZ Enyo SSD is bus powered.

Tony

[skunark]

The OCZ Enyo SSD is bus powered.

Tony

My bad, Werd, what USB HDD were you using?  Guess you didn't state it.

[werd]

My bad, Werd, what USB HDD were you using?  Guess you didn't state it.

I was using an omega Harddrive with a 12volt wallwart adaptor. The bdp was on loan and is back at the store.

[ricko01]

The difference is once you start using it in a playback audio system it changes. Its because you now have  your digital source hooked up to an amplifier used to drive loudspeakers. Everything gets amplified. Its mostly due to the quality of gear out right now. Bryston and other manufactures are building really sensitive high energy playback systems. These systems pick everything up now coming off the source. Literally everything and that includes harddrive quality and their power supplies.

I really don't know why the bass was affected, other than something in the lousy Omega power supply crapping out. 

So now you are onto something...

As per my second post here, its not the cable that makes the difference but the parts on either end... such as the usb signal sender and recievers.... the quality of the disk drive power supply... the  quality of the sender and reciever software... the noise rejection/amplification that sender and reciever have.

In my opinon USB HD is the WORST interface for using in this application because there is no standard for USB enabled components such as disk drives.... they are all consumer based products... so they have no mandate to be they best the can relative to an audio application.

So if a crappy sender/receiver unit in the disk drive has high levels of noise on it (and also remember USB has POWER PLUS SIGNAL down it), then that may work fine connected to a computer but will cause issues in audio applications.

Use the USB stick as a benchmark... and now you will need to do SQ comparisons between different hard drives enclosers.

And then you have the gotcha... self powered or powered hard drive enclosers.

I think Bryston should publish a recommended or "certified" list of HD enclosures that have not caused SQ issues in their opinion... else someone will buy the cheapest one out there and get SQ issues.


Peter

[James Tanner]

Hi Folks,

Got the HIFI Choice review this morning - here is what the concensus was:

Dear All

Please find enclosed a pdf of the Hi-Fi Choice review of the Bryston BDP-1.
In this three page article, reviewer Jason Kennedy says of the BDP-1 "Bryston has taken a brave step by producing such a niche product but the results are pretty impressive."

Awarding a very welcome maximum 5 stars for sound, the still impressive overall score of 4 stars is the result of a lower score for features and value for money. This suggests that despite careful explanation of the reasons for this design route, Jason didn't quite understand the positioning of the BDP-1 as a purist 'does one job extremely well' product, rather than a multi-function device.

kind regards
Phil

Folks - I am really happy with this - Sound quality is the whole reason the BDP-1 exists.

james

[Vipers]

Surely good sound quality is all that matters, I'm going to pop out now to pick up a copy of HiFi Choice so I can read the whole review 

I've been following the extremely interesting debate recently regarding the differences 'if any' that the data cable makes from the HDD, I did some back to back tests myself using the 24bit files on the supplied Bryston thumb drive and putting the same files on my external Seagate 500gb HDD, and for whatever reason there were clear differences in presentation with the thumb drive giving a richer presentation that both myself  and my wife could clearly hear (a computer engineer btw)

So now I'm thinking of using the 500gb HDD for general listening and I was thinking of getting a SSD for my more discerning listening sessions but as this has got to be linked by a cable surely the safest bet is to buy a 64, 128 or 256gb flash drive to elimate the cable altogether and any possible problems, and I re-iterate possible problems

[terrycym]

I've just bought a 32GB thumb drive for £20
The 64GB thumb drives are cheaper (slightly) than SSDs, so I'd go for a thumb drive at that size - no need for USB cables either, as if it makes a difference!
The 128GB SSDs are £200, for that money you can buy 20 32GB thumb drives and have nearly 3 times the storage.
You could sort your music alphabetically and have one thumb drive per letter?

So now I'm thinking of using the 500gb HDD for general listening and I was thinking of getting a SSD for my more discerning listening sessions but as this has got to be linked by a cable surely the safest bet is to buy a 64, 128 or 256gb flash drive to elimate the cable altogether and any possible problems, and I re-iterate possible problems

[Napalm]

I've been following the extremely interesting debate recently regarding the differences 'if any' that the data cable makes from the HDD, I did some back to back tests myself using the 24bit files on the supplied Bryston thumb drive and putting the same files on my external Seagate 500gb HDD, and for whatever reason there were clear differences in presentation with the thumb drive giving a richer presentation that both myself  and my wife could clearly hear (a computer engineer btw)

If there's a real difference (i.e. measurable or detectable in blind ABX) then the only explanation is that the BDP is poorly engineered.

Nap.

[srb]

I've just bought a 32GB thumb drive for £20
The 128GB SSDs are £200, for that money you can buy 20 32GB thumb drives and have nearly 3 times the storage.

I think you might have meant 10 32GB thumb drives or 20 16GB thumb drives.  I guess it depends on how you like to listen to your music.  I often like to random shuffle play across my entire library, not just within an alphabetic or genre grouping, so I would probably opt for a higher capacity SSD or thumb drive even with the higher cost and loading times.
 
Steve

[terrycym]

16GB thumb drives are £10 so you could get 20 of them for the same price as a 128Gb SSD.
But as you say, damn more convenient having one big drive.

I think you might have meant 10 32GB thumb drives or 20 16GB thumb drives.  I guess it depends on how you like to listen to your music.  I often like to random shuffle play across my entire library, not just within an alphabetic or genre grouping, so I would probably opt for a higher capacity SSD or thumb drive even with the higher cost and loading times.
 
Steve

[Ritchief]

I think the answer to my question is no, but  is there a way to shuffle albums / music selections using the Bryston Mini / Max interface??