After months of waiting my BHA-1 arrived towards the end of last week and yesterday I sat down for a few hours to put it through it's paces, all I can say is BHA-1 = OMFG
Actually James I think you should have called it the OMFG-1
What a piece of kit, it was certainly worth the wait.
First of all I tried the BHA-1 as a pre-amp out of curiosity, hooked upto a 4B SST2 with the BDP-1 and BDA-1, all balanced, what an amazing system, it sounded fantastic, I think this feature really shouldn't be overlooked as this system is a cracking set-up and as long as you don't need more than one source hooked up offers fantastic performance
Then for the real test, the BHA-1 connected to the BDP-1 and BDA-1 using balanced cables again, with my Grado PS1000's, un-balanced unfortunately, I played with the gain settings but with the Grado's preferred the high setting. I have to say I really wasn't expecting the quality jump compared to the SP3 headphone out, which is no slouch it has to be said, but the difference really isn't subtle, through the BHA-1 the PS1000's just came alive, it was like I'd bought a new pair of headphones, it does make me wonder how many people have never heard their headphones real performance, I tried various recordings all with the same effect, but when listening to the Eagles 'Hotel California' from the Hell Freezes Over CD, as an example, I was quite simply amazed at the clarity, separation, dynamics and detail that the BHA-1 was retrieving, it was simply astonishing.
I tried the BHA-1 with a Naim streamer connected via RCA's, it still sounded fantastic but was not in the same league as when connected to the BDP-1/BDA-1 combo, if you are into your headphones then I really believe this to be headphone nirvana, it is for me anyway
Over here in the UK, the BHA-1 costs £1425 which I feel makes it the bargain of the century, especially at the moment when Bryston prices in the UK have been questioned a few times, as not only do you get a truly reference headphone amplifier but also a top end Pre-amp, you can't ask for more than that.
Quick question James, I tried to implement into my current setup, this worked quite well but I'm not sure if you'd recommend it ? All Balanced, I run the BDA-1 into the BHA-1 input then run the BHA-1 output into the SP3 input, then when selecting balanced 1 on the SP3 I would get sound from my speakers but nothing out the BHA-1 but as soon as the SP3 was turned off then the BHA-1 came alive, it seemed to work OK but I'm guessing that there would be some degradation to overall sound quality to the SP3 due to not connecting the source directly to it?
All in all though I'm amazed at the performance of the BHA-1, basically I've never heard my headphones driven properly, it is amazing how with the BHA-1 they came alive, well done to everyone involved at Bryston, the BHA-1 really is a true reference product
Here are a few pictures of the BHA-1 in action -
In the Headphone room.
Being used as a Pre-Amp with a 4B SST2
Headphone Nirvana 
