BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )

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rob80b

BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« on: 23 May 2018, 07:41 pm »
Mentioned this a week ago in the BCD-3 thread but thought it should have a thread of its own as it is a testament to Bryston’s on going support by standing behind their products and our investment.
Well my BCD-1 is 10 years old this month,




I picked it up new  in June 2008 ... a few weeks  after it left the assembly line and it hasn’t been smooth sailing … I had on going issues from the get go...I was patient though as the BCD-1 was Bryston’s first foray into something that also had moving parts and as not everyone reported problems I gave them the benefit of the doubt...... first was the weird pop and static like random noises like a stylus encountering a speck of dust… which was at first attributed to static electricity, dirty discs and of course gremlins as it was sent into Bryston a few times but no fault found  :scratch:…(James also kindly offered to lend me his own BCD-1 at one point by driving down to TO...a 300km round trip..couldn't have that though...for a CD player ??? :oops:).... only when the BCD-1 got to point where it wouldn’t play any disc without the infliction rearing its head in nastier ways was the problem finally diagnosed and corrected with a new loader (drive). :?
The inscription on the display also decided to give up the ghost at one point…again taken care of….the remote was also exchanged .  :wink:

What also plagued my BCD-1 forever was that sometimes it would decide to never give back my disc.. :x :x…with some unplugging, multiple button pushing…might also get a little temperamental and declare “error” but would finally give in…to make matters worst is that sometimes it wouldn’t pause between opening and closing… so that one would need to time the disc insertion and removal in quick and unfaltering fashion….lol.
And of course whenever I gave a quick call to Mike at Bryston my BCD-1 would stop misbehaving…guess it didn’t like traveling…. or didn’t like being man handled by couriers .  :duh:

Too bad because a few weeks ago it wouldn’t let me play one disc without getting moody…so another call to Mike and up she went… a week later back safe and sound with the front panel (the one containing all the front buttons) replaced which appeared to eliminate all the current error and loading issues
Well happy to say for the first time I can remember we get to celebrate its 10th anniversary trouble free…it’s only been a week but so far no funny noises, errors, weird tray functions or button problems….just music!
Ok so my BCD-1 has been problematic,  …but bear in mind the BCD-1 was only problematic mostly with the 3rd party parts needed for assembly (the drive and display etc)....let's chalk it up to growing pains....anyway here we are ten years later (or seven years after the warranty supposedly expired :oops:) and Bryston still had my back….



Thanks Guys……hopefully….“BCD-1” will now behave till whenever.  :thumb: :thumb:

« Last Edit: 23 May 2018, 09:09 pm by rob80b »

CanadianMaestro

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #1 on: 23 May 2018, 09:40 pm »
Maybe an alternate titke for this thread would be
"Superb, patient service from Bryston"  :green:

Anyways, I second your observations, Rob. Mine had a few "Errors" displayed but thankfully was corrected with some unplugging and whatever (still did not figure out what happened). MP was attentive by email all along. No shipping needed for mine, knock on wood.

....and importantly, my BCD-1 sounds Great!  :thumb:

Cheers

rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #2 on: 23 May 2018, 10:02 pm »
....
....and importantly, my BCD-1 sounds Great!  :thumb:

Cheers

If it didn't I wouldn't have been so patient....lol
but...."good things come to those who wait"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_things_come_to_those_who_wait
"Good things come to those who wait (Guinness), a UK advertising campaign for Guinness stout in the 1990s and 2000s
     Good things come to those who wait (Heinz), a US advertising campaign for Heinz ketchup in the 1980s
    " Good things come to those who wait", a 1984 song by Nayobe"


I'll take the Guinness.  :beer:

rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #3 on: 23 May 2018, 11:22 pm »
What is important here is that.... there I was back in 2008 thinking if I should invest in another CDP that late in the game....fast forward 10 years and the BCD-1 is still my main music source...irreplaceable. But then there is the BCD-3. nah...let’s  not go there on my retirement income.

CanadianMaestro

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #4 on: 24 May 2018, 12:41 am »
Ever consider a BDP?

rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #5 on: 24 May 2018, 02:29 am »
Had considered it years ago, actually did the laborious job of transferring most of my studio work on reel to reel in real time and some actual  vinyl records that I could not find on CD to digital and then to CD : ) ....... anyway one still needs a device to store them on and another interface to view and access them, not to mention the time required to transfer hundreds of CDs.
Seeing that I only listen to full albums and have them anyway doesn’t really make much sense.
I like shopping for discs, having a library and the ritual of having to pick my music manually....just old school I guess.

rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #6 on: 15 Jun 2018, 05:18 pm »
Friday’s food for thought…I’ve been pondering if I missed out by not transferring all my CDs to disc and jumping on the “convenience” bandwagon….
Having seen too many hard drives eventually bite the dust I was weary to do so ...lets not forget they're also full of "very delicate" moving parts.


 I was also questioning the longevity of SSDs….well one little detail rules them out all together…"unless they’re feed a small charge once and a while"…well just make sure you rotate that music you’re not really into but want to keep for future reference…
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/205382-ssds-can-lose-data-in-as-little-as-7-days-without-power
“With SSDs, you can’t necessarily depend on more than 12-24 months of longevity — and if you bought into the SSD craze from 2008 – 2011, chances are you’ve now got at least one drive you’ll be retiring in the not-too-distant future”
And although the life expediency of USB drives can last decades the data itself may only be retained up to about 10 years under normal… not archival conditions.

So here I’ve commented on my 10 year old BCD-1, which is happily spinning CDs.. some of which I’ve owned for over 30 years.
Mind you I do have a few discs that have succumbed to the dreaded “oxidization” but a little cloning and I have another one as good as new. :thumb:
« Last Edit: 15 Jun 2018, 07:17 pm by rob80b »

NHSkier

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #7 on: 15 Jun 2018, 09:03 pm »
It's a lot less time intensive to clone a hard drive than 1000 CDs though...

gbaby

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #8 on: 15 Jun 2018, 09:25 pm »
What is important here is that.... there I was back in 2008 thinking if I should invest in another CDP that late in the game....fast forward 10 years and the BCD-1 is still my main music source...irreplaceable. But then there is the BCD-3. nah...let’s  not go there on my retirement income.

You are still in the stone ages. You gotta get a BDP as Maestro suggested. I have about 1,500 CDs on mine that sound better than the CD and with all the compositions at my fingertips.  8)

CanadianMaestro

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #9 on: 15 Jun 2018, 09:45 pm »
Hi rob,
I empathize with you about the alleged short lifetimes of SSDs. Although I have never used SSDs for my BDP (crazy expensive), I find that, so far (5 yrs+), my Seagate/G-Drive HDs have not failed me; they are attached to BDP's USB ports. And my BDP is powered up 24/7, so there is some current going to the 2 attached drives. I think that, as long as

1. you handle your drives with care (no drops or shaking or whatever), AND
2. backup your music as you rip them, to at least one b/u drive (I use two)

you should be fine.

I wasn't hot on downloads for a long time. I wanted something tangible, to hold. But now, looking at the classical catalogue, and my shrinking shelf space for discs, I must say, downloads are very attractive. Some older classical recs, from before stereo, are now available in restored/remastered format, something that I don't think is easily attainable on CD. Just one e.g. of the breadth of digital downloads available out there.
(One example: https://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/)

Plus, many album downloads come with the PDF notes, which are much nicer to read from a 12" iPad at my listening chair, than from a tiny booklet a la CD case.

cheers

rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #10 on: 16 Jun 2018, 12:23 am »
Hi rob,
I empathize with you about the alleged short lifetimes of SSDs. Although I have never used SSDs for my BDP (crazy expensive), I find that, so far (5 yrs+),.....
cheers

Hi Pete

When I consider I have some vinyl pressings from the 60s and many have collections much older the digital format relatively speaking... 5 years is still pretty young....although just in terms of dynamic range, fidelity, noise, storage and accessibility, the digital medium is hard to beat.
Guess it comes down to if one is compiling a "physical" library and if longevity is an issue...the problem I see though is that those strictly depending on their storage devices, especially the younger generations, or those not having given much thought if they would like to keep their music as they grow older, as some of us have, may be in for a big surprise decades down the road.
Things are still changing and having lived through punch cards, tape, large and small floppy discs, syquest drives, zip drives, this drive and that drive.....usb drives...SSD  drives...reel to reel, cassettes, 8 tracks, mini discs...not to mention video formats....vhs, beta, video disc, DVD, Bluray.......you get the picture...who knows what's ahead... anyway time to time to crack open a cold one, put my feet up and stream a movie or two...lol 

just to add...Not to mention the cost factor...in 1981 the cost in hard drive space to actually copy a CD (650mb) would have been over $200,000.  :scratch:  copyright piracy was not on the agenda.... :duh:

CanadianMaestro

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #11 on: 16 Jun 2018, 12:42 am »
rob,

Sooner or later, we all settle in with whatever medium gives us the music we love. Not always the latest and greatest, with rapidly advancing tech as you clearly stated....just the medium that we grew up with. LPs. CDs. Hard drives.

In the end, having discs, a BCD-1, AND a digital player like BDP, gives the most versatility.  I still use my BCD-1 quite a bit -- about 30% of the time.  :thumb:

But I dig it -- starting anew, with a digital player like BDP, at this stage of your life (or mine) isn't time well spent (all that ripping of your own CDs is a waste of time, imo). So keep digging into the grooves (LPs) and spinning the discs (CDs). No loss there.

cheers

rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #12 on: 16 Jun 2018, 01:16 am »
Yep..I've hundreds of hours of music on my iphone, keeps me happy when out and with a little $30 Blutooth adapter plugged into my preamp I'm streaming incidental music with it to my my main system   :thumb:


« Last Edit: 16 Jun 2018, 12:12 pm by rob80b »

Calypte

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #13 on: 16 Jun 2018, 05:16 pm »
Quote
(all that ripping of your own CDs is a waste of time, imo)
Before I bought a music server, I felt exactly the same way.  But then I ripped a few, what I considered to be the core of my collection (mostly classical).  Then a few more.  Then a few more.  The process of ripping, by itself, became addicting.  Probably about 2/3 of my collection is now ripped to hard disc.  I rip them when the TV is on and I can't listen to music.  I also started buying downloads.  I can purchase something, and a few minutes later it's ready to play, and I didn't have to find shelf space for it.  I know a professional classical recordings producer who listens entirely to streaming, not downloads, but he lives in Rotterdam, and I don't think the same deep catalogue is available in the U.S.

rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #14 on: 16 Jun 2018, 06:17 pm »
Before I bought a music server, I felt exactly the same way.  ........

I don't believe CM was referring to the act of ripping all of ones CD collection as a waste of time...but once you reach retirement age one would be spending more time ripping than listening. lol
But I brought it up because having the actual CDs for over 30 years they've lived though numerous storage mediums...and having my BCD-1 up and running flawlessly after ten years makes me appreciate the fact that it has outlived most hard drives which may contain all ones music (I've heard folks disposing of all their CD once they've been ripped  :duh:) and should be replaced within 3 - 5 years.  :roll: Even if I still manage to go through a few more CDPs my music collection is still in tact.  :thumb:
But as I noted earlier being able to store hundreds of hours of music on my iPhone or my Fiio X3II for mobile use or send them to my stereo through Bluetooth is a great convenience.  :D

Pundamilia

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #15 on: 16 Jun 2018, 08:36 pm »
As the French say, "Chacun a son gut!" or "to each his own".

When I bought my BDP-1, a few years ago, I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with it or how much I would use it. Since then, my BCD-1 is almost untouched, unless it is used to preview a new CD and decide whether or not to rip it. Like CM, at first I needed to own the physical media, but like him, shelf space became an issue. Being able to instantly listen to any piece of your music and archive the physical CDs somewhere is a real convenience. As to longevity of hard drives, yes they do deteriorate, but now I clone the disk in my Bryston to other drives over the network for backup each time I add anything new. Hard drive storage and even SSD storage is relatively inexpensive these days. (I remember paying almost $1,000 dollars to upgrade to an 80 MB - yes, you read that right - back in the '80's!). Absolute worst case is that I have to re-rip some of my archived CDs. The secret is to not do them all at once or to make it a background task like Calypte.

I don't miss the time spent opening the CD container, and the BCD-1 drawer, putting the disc in and then repeating at the end of the CD. I bought this equipment to listen to music, not to futz around with the technology. I miss the analogous, but even more time-consuming routine with my LPs (several hundred stored in the basement) even less. With the BDP, if I don't like a particular cut, I just skip to the next one or add something else to the playlist. I've even bought a few downloads to augment my CD collection. Isn't technology grand?!  :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Tone Depth

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #16 on: 17 Jun 2018, 01:41 am »
I've used that same Logitech adapter for 2-3 years. Are there higher resolution adapters with a digital output I could run to my DAC, for when I stream Spotify Premium via Bluetooth? If so, I might stream via Bluetooth more frequently.

Yep..I've hundreds of hours of music on my iphone, keeps me happy when out and with a little $30 Blutooth adapter plugged into my preamp I'm streaming incidental music with it to my my main system   :thumb:



rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #17 on: 17 Jun 2018, 11:19 am »
As far as I know....still limited in bandwidth but for $30 I was surprised that the current data stream did not sound all that bad....I use mine just for the occasional background dinner music when I have guests, no need to get up..just discretely use ones smartphone.
 For my dedicated listening, for me it’s like attending a performance, I put and hour or so a side if I can and choose a piece of music or disc (album) for  the BCD-1 or my Rega P25 turntable.
« Last Edit: 17 Jun 2018, 01:12 pm by rob80b »

rob80b

Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #18 on: 17 Jun 2018, 04:51 pm »
You are still in the stone ages. You gotta get a BDP as Maestro suggested. I have about 1,500 CDs on mine that sound better than the CD and with all the compositions at my fingertips.  8)

Well not quite a BDP...but this one works for me. : )





gbaby

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Re: BCD-1 ...ten years and finally going strong. : )
« Reply #19 on: 18 Jun 2018, 02:17 pm »
Before I bought a music server, I felt exactly the same way.  But then I ripped a few, what I considered to be the core of my collection (mostly classical).  Then a few more.  Then a few more.  The process of ripping, by itself, became addicting.  Probably about 2/3 of my collection is now ripped to hard disc.  I rip them when the TV is on and I can't listen to music.  I also started buying downloads.  I can purchase something, and a few minutes later it's ready to play, and I didn't have to find shelf space for it.  I know a professional classical recordings producer who listens entirely to streaming, not downloads, but he lives in Rotterdam, and I don't think the same deep catalogue is available in the U.S.

Ripping became an addition to me too.  :oops: