Bryston Headphone Interface

SoundGame · « **Reply #460 on:** 8 Dec 2011, 09:40 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner on 8 Dec 2011, 07:58 pm

Hi Guys

Yes my original thought (as silly as that seems now) -- was a small high quality portable head phone amplifier for those younger folks using the earplugs/ipods/ etc.

But as I was researching what we could do to address that specific market I realized there was this totally sophisticated very serious headphone listening customer that I had no idea existed. So when Stuart (one of our design engineers) and I originally talked he felt he could put together a very competitive small portable headphone amp very quickly and easily. Well that original idea has ballooned into this all out state of the art attempt at a Bryston headphone amplifier.

Maybe there is still room for the portable unit down the road???

james

Hi James - yes, I believe there is but I would say it needs to be very compact and competitively priced with the most popular current options available.

Something like this (desktop/portable) might work - kinda like what NuForce has got out:

Or to catch the more on-the-fly customer - something like this:

DaveNote · « **Reply #461 on:** 8 Dec 2011, 09:52 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner on 8 Dec 2011, 07:58 pm

Hi Guys

Yes my original thought (as silly as that seems now) -- was a small high quality portable head phone amplifier for those younger folks using the earplugs/ipods/ etc.

But as I was researching what we could do to address that specific market I realized there was this totally sophisticated very serious headphone listening customer that I had no idea existed. So when Stuart (one of our design engineers) and I originally talked he felt he could put together a very competitive small portable headphone amp very quickly and easily. Well that original idea has ballooned into this all out state of the art attempt at a Bryston headphone amplifier.

Maybe there is still room for the portable unit down the road???

james

Hi James. As you can tell I'm very interested in the marketing approach you're taking. Would it be competitively sensitive for you to say which brands you think will be competition for the BHA-1?

Dave

James Tanner · « **Reply #462 on:** 8 Dec 2011, 10:23 pm »

Quote from: DaveNote on 8 Dec 2011, 09:52 pm

Hi James. As you can tell I'm very interested in the marketing approach you're taking. Would it be competitively sensitive for you to say which brands you think will be competition for the BHA-1?

Dave

Hi Dave

Well I would hope we would be able to compete with the best out there - as with all Bryston products we do not build to a price point - we do it the best way we know how with the best the state of the art has to offer and it is what it is.

james

bjski · « **Reply #463 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 12:53 am »

James,

I would be interested in a portable headphone amp. I am now using an iQube ($600.00) to power my Shure 530 earbuds along with my Sennheiser 650HD. I just purchased HiFiMan HE-500 and the iQube barley powers them. I am looking foreword to the new Bryston BHA-1 along with a new portable amp would suite me just right.

mamba315 · « **Reply #464 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 03:48 am »

James,
How many watts into 50 ohms? Thanks!

SoundGame · « **Reply #465 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 04:18 am »

Quote from: bjski on 9 Dec 2011, 12:53 am

James,

I would be interested in a portable headphone amp. I am now using an iQube ($600.00) to power my Shure 530 earbuds along with my Sennheiser 650HD. I just purchased HiFiMan HE-500 and the iQube barley powers them. I am looking foreword to the new Bryston BHA-1 along with a new portable amp would suite me just right.

If the BHA-1 works out - perhaps a BHA-mini might be a possibility...

James Tanner · « **Reply #466 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 11:38 am »

Quote from: mamba315 on 9 Dec 2011, 03:48 am

James,
How many watts into 50 ohms? Thanks!

I will find out.

James

James Tanner · « **Reply #467 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 03:37 pm »

Quote from: mamba315 on 9 Dec 2011, 03:48 am

James,
How many watts into 50 ohms? Thanks!

Hi

Do not have the 50 ohms yet but here are 2 of the measurements on the BHA-1.

600 Ohms:
Voltage = 24V,
mW 875

32 Ohms:
Voltage = 11.46
mW = 4100

Remember if you were ever to listen at these levels you would do serious damage to either your hearing or your headphones

james

MellowVelo · « **Reply #468 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 03:49 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner on 9 Dec 2011, 03:37 pm

Hi

Do not have the 50 ohms yet but here are 2 of the measurements on the BHA-1.

600 Ohms:
Voltage = 24V,
mW 875

32 Ohms:
Voltage = 11.46
mW = 4100

Remember if you were ever to listen at these levels you would do serious damage to either your hearing or your headphones

james

James,

Wow! Those are great numbers, guaranteed to drive pretty much any headphone on the market. Do you know if those are the numbers for the single-ended or balanced outputs? Generally, the numbers double for the balanced outputs. Thanks!

James Tanner · « **Reply #469 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 04:08 pm »

Quote from: MellowVelo on 9 Dec 2011, 03:49 pm

James,

Wow! Those are great numbers, guaranteed to drive pretty much any headphone on the market. Do you know if those are the numbers for the single-ended or balanced outputs? Generally, the numbers double for the balanced outputs. Thanks!

Balanced outs with Low Gain setting on the BHA-1.

james

bjski · « **Reply #470 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 04:37 pm »

BHA-1 would certainly power my HiFiMan HE-500. When is the release?

Fsonicsmith · « **Reply #471 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 04:39 pm »

Quote

600 Ohms:
Voltage = 24V,
mW 875

32 Ohms:
Voltage = 11.46
mW = 4100

I have been beaten to it, but I will say it too-wow-great numbers. Matches the best of the competition which I alluded to in an earlier post in this thread-the Violectric V200. Numbers help, but the only way to know how it sounds is to listen and I look forward to trying the BHA-1.

James Tanner · « **Reply #472 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 04:52 pm »

Quote from: bjski on 9 Dec 2011, 04:37 pm

BHA-1 would certainly power my HiFiMan HE-500. When is the release?

We hope to be in production in January 2012.

james

mamba315 · « **Reply #473 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 05:02 pm »

Those are good power figures!

I think a DAC combined with this HP amp in one box should happen. I know it was already mentioned and dismissed, but I think that's a mistake. Many headphone users are space limited, and there is NO technical reason it can't be done. It's a much more elegant solution (reduces wiring clutter) and a better use of resources (only pay for one enclosure).

My 3 cents

DaveNote · « **Reply #474 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 06:25 pm »

Quote from: mamba315 on 9 Dec 2011, 05:02 pm

Those are good power figures!

I think a DAC combined with this HP amp in one box should happen. I know it was already mentioned and dismissed, but I think that's a mistake. Many headphone users are space limited, and there is NO technical reason it can't be done. It's a much more elegant solution (reduces wiring clutter) and a better use of resources (only pay for one enclosure).

My 3 cents

Depends on the quality of the DAC. I had a great combo HP amp and DAC, but because the Bryston BDA was better, I never used the HP amp DAC after hearing the difference.

Dave

mamba315 · « **Reply #475 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 08:04 pm »

I appreciate your point. If it were another company, I wouldn't be so adamant. But Bryston has great engineers and knows how to compete against the best. They have experience in both DACs and amplification. If the will was there, it would be a great product.

I already have two DACs and a full speaker and headphone rig. But I'm tired of the high box count (not to mention the rats nest of wires) and it isn't necessary for state-of-the-art performance. All future purchases will be made with two goals in mind: 1) Top of the line performance 2) Low box count.

The active speakers on my list meet all criteria, and then some. So it's down to finding the same thing for my Audeze headphones. The Bryston amp has the necessary power; all it needs is an integrated DAC and I'm sold. Bryston is the perfect company to pull this off. All they need is the will to make it happen.

2 channel man · « **Reply #476 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 08:17 pm »

Hi James my only question is . Is there really a market for a made in Canada premium headphone amplifiers? . If so go for it , Otherwise forget about it .

srb · « **Reply #477 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 08:18 pm »

Quote from: mamba315 on 9 Dec 2011, 08:04 pm

All they need is the will to make it happen.

Actually they need to have high confidence in meeting projected minimum sales numbers to make it happen. Not every combo product will sell well. The preamps and integrated amps that have the capability to add a DAC card (BP6, BP16, B26, B60R, B100) have been losing sales of the DAC card to the BDA-1 DAC for one or more reasons - i.e. the BDA-1 is a better DAC, has higher resolution, or has more inputs.

Steve

BrysTony · « **Reply #478 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 08:34 pm »

An earlier Bryston Headphone Interface

Fsonicsmith · « **Reply #479 on:** 9 Dec 2011, 08:51 pm »

I have a geeky question for Bryston's chief engineer in charge of this project, Stuart Taylor. Perhaps Mr. Tanner would be so kind as to relay this question to him; is the choice of op-amp utilized the single most critical aspect of the BHA-1's ultimate sound quality and how would the other factors be ranked either ahead of or behind the choice of op amp and in what order? In other words, can you rank from most important to least important the various parts and design choices you made when designing this head amp? Is the op amp really completely proprietary and if not, are you at liberty to disclose what changes are made to someone else's chip? And lastly, are you certain that all the input and output flexibility of the BHA-1 creates no compromises whatsoever in overall SQ and if so, how are you certain? Sorry in advance. If you don't care to answer all of these, would you please answer my first question-that one is the most important one to me.