[mav52]

Hello!

Your 'quick' question may not have a quick answer

The problem is not in the Bryston DAC but rather in the Cambridge bluray player. Obviously, it down-samples everything above 48kHz through the S/PDIF output. This is not uncommon with bluray players and was actually a major downside of this interface in almost all of the DVD players.

Try burning a CD with a 32 and 44.1kHz file and see if the BDA-3 still shows a 48kHz sample-rate.

Remember that the more modern D/A conversion techniques like delta-sigma were actually introduced alongside the first DVD machines, hence the reason why DVD players were thought to sound superior to many CD players of the time. Even if that was the case, the industry never bothered to 'improve' upon the S/PDIF spec to allow for sample-accurate playback. I seem to remember reading a whitepaper about that back in the day and I think the concern was that it would not be compatible with  most outboard DACs of the time which, still depending on traditional linear-type converters, would not be able to work properly. Also, because the recording formats of the time such as Digital Audio Tape and MiniDisc did not work with sampling frequencies above 48kHz (with some exceptions), there was no real need to upgrade the specification. Professional industry didn't care either because the 44.1kHz sampling was chosen specifically to correspond to and synchronize well with the video formats of the time which is all they needed.

In a nutshell, Cambridge must have used an either older or cheaper chipset or did not choose to process the S/PDIF signal on the main DSP instead or quite simply didn't care. Still, I must say, I find it odd because I consider the brand something of a digital specialist and for a while, I was considering the same player. If I had actually bought one, I would have had the same problem as you because that is one of the things I would have liked to do with that player.

Sorry for the bad news, mate. At least I hope I managed to answer your question.

Cheers - Antun

How is his Cambridge going to down sample with NO dacs ?

[R. Daneel]

How is his Cambridge going to down sample with NO dacs ?

Well, obviously, through the use of sample-rate conversion (SRC) which is done on a dedicated chip or a DSP that any bluray player has. SRC has nothing to do with D/A conversion, even if mostly all modern DAC chips have SRC built-in.

[mav52]

Well, obviously, through the use of sample-rate conversion (SRC) which is done on a dedicated chip or a DSP that any bluray player has. SRC has nothing to do with D/A conversion, even if mostly all modern DAC chips have SRC built-in.

interesting, thanks

[Grant Hill]

Hi Antun,

Many thanks for your competent answer, indeed interesting.

I have to decide now if using coax or hdmi when listening disc on the Cambridge connected with the bda3...

[James Tanner]

Hi Grant - use COAX - HDMI has much higher jitter.

james

[R. Daneel]

Hi Antun,

Many thanks for your competent answer, indeed interesting.

I have to decide now if using coax or hdmi when listening disc on the Cambridge connected with the bda3...

Happy to help!

Well, like James said, HDMI has higher jitter. But then, the COAX output on your Cambridge downsamples everything to 48kHz.

You might want to try which one sounds best even though I am pretty confident you wouldn't be able to tell the two apart. On the other hand, if you can't, then you shouldn't worry too much either, right?

If this is critical to you, perhaps you might want to look at some other bluray player to use just for this, though I'd be the last to recommend an upgrade to anyone as I like holding on to equipment for many years.

Cheers - Antun

[zoom25]

James, any chance we can get all asynchronous inputs on a future product and not just USB, so that all inputs could sound the same?

[James Tanner]

James, any chance we can get all asynchronous inputs on a future product and not just USB, so that all inputs could sound the same?

No plans on that front currently.

james

[Grant Hill]

Thank you James and Antun for your suggestions!

[R. Daneel]

Thank you James and Antun for your suggestions!

Cheers!

[Norco74]

I have upgraded from BDA-1/BDP-1 last fall to a BDA 3.14. Needless to say that the sound is more than superb.

I am having some random drop outs issue when playing files from USB hard drive or thumb drive. In the course of an album, the drop outs will happen on mostly each track. The issue seems to be from files that are of 48K-24 bits or higher rate. When the same albums are played from my BDP-1 through the BDA 3.14 DAC SPDIF input, I have no drop out issue. I am not using any third party apps as my only goal is to play files directly from a connected HD using one of the USB ports.

Does anyone having the same issue?

I have tried to contact Bryston twice (email and phone) but didn’t get any feedback from them. James & Chris, what is the best way to have this problemeatic assessed and look at by someone from Bryston?

Cheers,

Daniel

[James Tanner]

Usually dropouts occur because the drive is asking for more power than can be provided.  I am wondering if its drawing too much current from the Pi3.in the 3.14 whereas the BP1 has more capability.  Is there another drive - preferably a thumb-drive you can try?

james

[Norco74]

I have tried 3 HD and 2 thumbs drives. The only thing I didn’t try is a powered HD.

I was thinking about buying a new HD or SSD as a last desperate attempt…   

I didn’t think that the drive power consumption could be a function of the bit rate.

It seems to happen on 48K-24 more than on other higher bit rate. I need to investigate that.

[James Tanner]

OK let me know how you make out - another option would be to try a NAS.

james

[Norco74]

James,

I have tried a few things.

1-I have put a powered hub between the portable HD an the BDA 3.14. Same result when playing 48K-24 files. Ramdom drop outs by bunch of 2, 3 or 4 at a time. Also confirmed that other bit rate files (44, 96 and 192K) are playing fine.

2-Played the files from my PC shared folders. Same results on 48K-24 files. All good with other bit rates.

3-Swap AC cable, redid test in #1, same results. From this point I am not verifying other bit rates.

4-Connect the BDA 3.14 in AC wall outlet instead of Furutech pwr bar. Same results.

5-Redid test in #1 after removing the network cable. Same results.

6-As it seems that the data stream seems disturbed by some odd thing, I also removed all of the LED lighting from the room. Redid test in #1, same results.

7-Launched and control MPD from an iPad instead of a iPhone. Redid test in #1, same results.

8-Shut down all electronics in the room except the ones needed to perform the test. Same results.

9-I also reconfirmed that all is playing ok when using BDP-1 connected to the SPDIF.


Something odd is happening with these 48K-24 files and the Pi3 data stream of my unit. Files are from different artists and from legit downloads from Bandcamp. I didn’t noticed this issue since recently as 48K-24 seems like a new trend on Bandcamp. When streamed from BDP-1 to the BDA 3.14 SPDIF DAC input all is fine.

Let me know if something else can be tried at this point.

Daniel

[abk456]

I found that I had the same problem. It seemed to happen when the device was updating the library while I was playing music. If you have a large music collection that can take a while. Try turning off the automatic update on startup.

[Norco74]

Thank you for your suggestion.

Yes, I have large library, near 40K songs. 

The automatic Update at start-up feature has been turned off long time ago. I usually do not have much songs in the queue either.

It make some sense that some events could possibly use resources and make the Pi3 to stutter.

I am still puzzled as why it only happens at a certain bit rate.

When looking at the disk information page, is it normal to only see the attached HD and no other internal storage? On the BDP-1, the unit internal SD card storage is also appearing in the disk info page.

I opened another support request via email with Bryston.


Daniel

[Calypte]

This is in recognition of Mr. Norco74's problem.  I have the BDP-pi digital player.  I bought it in early 2018.  My music is on a WD Passport hard-disk drive.  I have 46K+ "songs" (really, classical music movements plus a very few actual "songs").  The BDP-pi player is plugged into an Emotiva XDA-2 Gen 2 DAC. 

I get dropouts.  They are infrequent.  Sometimes weeks can go by without experiencing a dropout.  When they occur, there are often several within a few minutes.  The dropouts are not reproduceable.  A replay of the music where I experienced a dropout invariably exhibits no problem.  I've sometimes had the impression that newly-ripped files are more apt to have dropouts than older files, but recently I was surprised to experience dropouts in music that I ripped three or four years ago.  The non-reproducibility is the most frustrating part of this.  I have no way to isolate the issue to the BDP-pi, the Passport drive, the DAC, the software, or the network.  'Tis a mystery!

Edited to add: I don't think my dropout issue is related to the bit rate or bit depth of the files.  It's happened with both hi-rez and redbook files.

[Norco74]

@Calypte

You are right with the reproducibility of the issue. The drop outs are not playtime specific, they are random but predictable when listening to some 48K-24 files. Interesting enough, I also noticed that some newer files seems to exhibit the issue more than old ones. After my last debugging session, I sat for a few hours listening to Red Book files ripped ages ago. After a while, the drop outs appeared again and the BDA 3.14 needed a reset to get out of a stalled mode. Not sure how the other units out there are performing but mine seems unstable. All is fine when I use a BDP-1 for digital files playback.

I think Chris opened a ticket at Bryston and I am still waiting to get contacted. At this point, there’s not much I can do as tech support is required.

Daniel

[James Tanner]

Hi Folks – given the state of the world this seems rather trivial but a review on the now 6 year old Bryston BDA-3 DAC – up for DAC of the Year 2022.

James Tanner