Hi James;
The BDA-1 arrived safe and sound on Monday. It has taken its rightful place on top of my BCD-1 and BP26.
As my music server is not up and running yet, I could only connect my BCD-1 and Denon DVD-A player to the BDA-1. I first compared the BCD-1 analog output to itself digitally through the BDA-1 via the coax SPDIF connection. Flipping back and forth between the two balanced inputs on the BP26 showed that the sound was identical and I couldn't really tell them apart. However, I did this rather casually and I didn?t spend too much time listening to this comparison critically.
I then moved on to comparing the BCD-1 to the DVD-A player. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that my DVD-A player would not pass 24/96 audio out the digital port due to copyright restrictions (I hope to avoid this when I rip my DVD-A collection to my music server). However, it will pass 24/48 out digitally which the BDA-1 handles just fine. I've spent the last two nights comparing the BCD-1 and redbook CD at 16/44.1 to the BDA-1 and DVD-A at 24/48 through the balanced inputs on the BP26. I have a number of recordings that I have on both CD and DVD-A, and with careful use of the Pause/Play controls I could get the two players cued up pretty close to one another on the same track.
There is still much listening to be done, but so far the BDA-1/DVD-A edges out the BCD-1/CD ever so slightly. At first I thought that I liked the BCD-1 because it had better PRAT, but then I thought I preferred the wider soundstage and more 'air' with the BDA-1. In the end it was really close and I was enjoying either one equally. I've got lots more listening to do once I get my music server going, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Once again I'm thrilled with my latest Bryston component, and I want to thank you very much.
Cheers,
Dan
