The Bryston Mini T – A New Reference
Over four decades ago, I took my first steps into a special form of insanity: I became a novice audiophile. It is a craziness that consists of reaching for an unreachable end, the sound of “live” music through a process that is entirely artificial, manufactured, in other words, reproduced sound. It is not unlike the insanity of trying to find the “real” potato chip in a highly processed one. The processed one can be delightful, but it can never be a real one. It is an image, a reproduction designed to imitate a real one. Being a audiophile is to become Jason pursuing the Golden Fleece, but knowing that it is unattainable. It is the chase and the stops along the way that keep you going. And on that journey, you have lots of good times and some bad ones. On occasion in chasing the Fleece, you get distracted and end up being fleeced purchasing gimmicks touted to have magical effects.
As a novice audiophile, I was advised to start with the speakers. Buy the best ones you can afford, with best meaning the ones whose sound you like the best, and then buy the electronics. It has been good advice to which I've adhered. I've owned a number of speakers and a lot of excellent electronics, most of which bear the Bryston logo. But the greatest changes always have come with changes in speakers. Early on, I looked for speakers that were linear or balanced, meaning that no frequency range dominated over any other. It was only years later that I added other useful criteria: accuracy, transparency, depth in the sound stage, pinpoint imaging. One knowledgeable audiophile has noted, correctly I believe, that a reference speaker for consumers means the one they like the best. If you are an audiophile, it also is a good idea to like speakers that are accurate, transparent, etc. because the whole point of your hobby (obsession?) is to get a close as possible to what the producers of the sound recording decided to release. If you're on the quest to get near the Golden Fleece of “real” (meaning to get out of the recording exactly what was put into it) you need to have the elements of “real” in as part of your mindset. Ironically, you can love the sound of your speakers, but they should not have any sound of their own. You don't want your glasses to be rose coloured unless all you want to see is roses. You don't want speakers that are all bass unless all you want to hear is bass.
Several years ago, I bought, twice, very expensive and beautiful sounding speakers that were highly coloured (a bass bias). Seduced by a beautiful sounding, but not accurate bass, I had drifted from my early goal of linear and when I finally heard much less expensive but very linear speakers in a side-by-side test, it was a shock. Being out many thousands of dollars, it was difficult to admit that I had misplaced my love. Those beautiful speakers are now gone. It was a pricey mistake, but through it I re-learned that in audio price is not a predictor of performance. This lesson was first taught to me as a Bryston owner. In the high end audio market, there is a segment that caters to those customers who equate price to performance because there are enough rich people who do as well. Bryston, on the other hand, apparently believes there are enough people who are willing to pay for the highest quality product possible, even if that means charging a price lower than could be gotten from rich people. And Bryston has never been willing to squeeze an extra buck out of its customers by attracting them with bling.
It's not surprising then that I was one of the early buyers of the fabulous, bling-free Bryston Model T. It is driven by an all Bryston system: a pair of 7BSST2 amplifiers, BDA1, BDP-1, BIT15 Power Conditioner (under the Torus label). My sound room is fairly good in size and shape, if not ideal.
The Model T is now my reference speaker. Linear, accurate, etc. All I wanted. And more. A critical “more.” Presence - the sense that musicians are playing in the room. I never heard that before in my present or past sound rooms, or indeed in any demo of any speaker I've heard. If the elusive Golden Fleece is to hear “real” music, it is hard for me to conceive how much closer an audiophile can get to this.
So now my main system, the Sound room/Model T/Bryston electronics system, is my reference. I recognize that various applications and their respective environments inherently will be different from my main system environment. But still, I weigh the performance of my car stereo, my headphones, my home theatre my mobile devices with my headphones against my ModelT-based system. Where I find differences, I adjust these other systems, often through equalization, to achieve a closer approximation to my reference system. For example, after buying a number of headphones, I have found that Shure's new SE846 to be as close is possible for a headphone to get to the Model T sound, without EQ. They now are my reference headphones against which I judge other headphones, recognizing that no headphone can sound exactly like speakers that use walls instead of ear canals for acoustic effects.
Recently I decided to attach better speakers to my laptop. Using an Outlaw receiver and B&W 685 bookshelf speakers I got a good result. I added an AudioQuest Dragonfly DAC and it got better. But the audiophile itch is always there. How to make it better? My answer usually has been Bryston, and I was impressed by a recent review by a professional in audio mastering who used Bryston Mini as near field speakers, which is what speakers are in my computer set up. That set up is located at the far end of my sound room. The Mini Ts are about 3-5 inches from an angled wall. Not a great arrangement when compared to the placement at the other end with my Model T. I knew that sound driven through a noisy laptop and a receiver is going to be handicapped when compared to my main system. The B&W 685s sounded good. Voices were trust forward, and as is typical of B&W, the sound, especially in the treble region, was sweet. But to get anything approximating the Model T set up, I had to do quite a bit of equalization, and even then (or because of it) it was not very good bass.
In view of the limitations of the location and the associated electronics, I bet the Mini T would perform better than the B&W685, but not as well as it does.
The Mini T instantly solved the bass problem, as I expected and hoped.
Very close to the Model T sound, albeit without (again as expected) as much depth and weight. I was worried about that the rear ports being so close to the wall would mess up the bass. No problem: no flab or boominess. Visceral. Robust. Controlled. Enchanting. And not a smidgen of EQ. It is not surprising how many reviewers have commented on the T bass in all models. Despite all the other problems using speakers in this location and with these electronics, the Mini T more than approximated my Model T sound in terms of linearity, transparency accuracy, and pinpoint imaging. They may as well be Model Ts. But there is no overcoming the unavoidable reality of this placement and application. The depth is more shallow and the width of the soundstage is narrower. These differences are inevitable.
There is one major point where the Mini T does not approach or approximate my Model T setup. Presence. I believe this is because of the placement lacking the dynamics of normal distances from walls. It may be if I were to set the Mini Ts where the Model T is now, I might find that it, too, has presence. Some reviewers have been so impressed with the Mini T that they prefer it in some respects to the Model T. I doubt that this would be my preference, especially given the inevitable differences in the bass end, where the T has three 8” drivers to the Mini's one. Moreover, I don't expect or need this use of the Mini T to produce an exact copy of my main system's sound. I can turn around, get up, sit in my easy chair, and crank up the main system and listen to the reference Model T system. The merit of getting close to the sound quality and sound signature of the main system is to use a different application, as I do my Shure SE846 with mobile devices over WiFi, without feeling I've sacrificed a great deal.
What is not sacrificed at all with the Mini T used with my computer system is the kind of enjoyment I get with the Model T system. There are telltale signs when the sound is right to my ear and consistent with my predilections. First, in listening to my raft of old favourites, I get the “shiver.”
That knee-jeck emotional response that makes music great and systems that produce it so appealing. The Mini Ts in my testing did this over and over. Second, if I am doing something while listening to music (reading, writing pieces like this one), and the sound draws me away to it, I know I have something special special. This is one the qualities that the Model T and Mini T share in equal measure.
The bottom line is this: the Mini T is a terrific speaker that can make even bad locations, standard electronics, and plain Jane computers sound wonderful. It is now my reference computer speaker, and I wouldn’t be surprised that for many others it will become their main system reference speaker.
Dave
