[James Tanner]

Hi Folks,

Got this today from one of our customers and just had to share - YOU KNOW A PRODUCT IS REALLY SUCCESSFUL WHEN PEOPLE START MODIFYING IT


From: Sebastian
To: James Tanner
Subject: Bryston BDP-1 Mod Madness.

"Hello James,

How are you?   I apologize for not getting back to you with pix of the Bryston on Spikes but I put that project aside until a few more things came in for me to finish my complete mod madness for the BDP-1. Oh and by the way, I welcomed another brand spankin' new BDP-1 to my home.  I PROMISE to get you pix when this is done in the next couple days.

The mod list is as follow and they make a significant difference on sound quality.

1.) Internal case dampened with dynamat style dampener and then epoxied(non-corrosive) around edges to prevent any dropping or drooping.
2.) Custom stainless Spikes on thick rubber insulators
3.) Main fuse replaced with gold/silver audiophile fuse.
4.) Chassis screws replaced with heavy custom computer based screws which grip larger surface area and are beveled like the factory ones.
5.) Sound card and slot cleaned with Pro-Gold cleaner and oxidation inhibitor along with all connections.
6.) Tiny bead rf choke and shielding applied to long power cable to main CPU board from power supply board.
7.) Compact flash card transfer to new high speed 4gb cards (NOT DONE)
8.) Near Future - Top steel cover replaced with custom aluminum top to match face panel.

Please don't be upset with me James, I know that you made a beautiful product without anyone having to do anything, but being a lunatic for beneficial tweaks, I can't help myself. OCD is one heck of a disease.There are very few pieces of electronics that I bother to open up mainly because I don't think they are technologically impressive or worth the time to tweak. Those pieces that I do tweak become MY personal pieces and are enjoyed for years, decades even. This is my little way of personalizing them and showing my reverence. Over one year now and I still listen to it at least 5-6 day a week. I absolutely love this thing James and thank you and your team for creating this exceptional player!

The sound coming out of this unit is INCREDIBLE. I can hear the people's breaths in between words along with the hisses or sibilance and the imaging(wide and sweet) along with the bottom end(super tight) are absolutely amazing. There is NOTHING that can touch the performance of this unit. My DCS transport isn't even in the same league as your creation and that thing was 14k.

Btw, I found a machine shop and will get in touch with them to make me an brushed aluminum cover with Bryston engraved on the top, can't wait. I am using the unit right now and the attached is a picture from the front. It is on a black diamond reference shelf and the drives are on top of a symposium and damped by Audioquest sorbothane feet. I am working on this cool hard drive holder with two Egyptian cats holding the drives so the symposium will get removed after the thick 1/4" aluminum top gets put on my baby.

I don't have hours available to me every day to dig through my music collection just to play something so the Bryston solves that by making everything available to me at once, a priceless feature. I didn't just purchase 2 Bryston BDP-1's , I invested in pristine quality musical enjoyment accompanied by ease of use that I had wanted for a long time in a package that doesn't take up ridiculous amounts of space.

I absolutely love listening to music on my BDP-1's and anyone willing to invest in your player James obviously does to."

Thanks,
Sebastian

[DaveNote]

James, I love Sebastian's message to you. I'm not a tweaker, but understand the madness involved in being an audiophile. Therefore, when others, like Sebastian, openly recognize how crazy this hobby can be - and still pursue it! - then all you can say is "been there, done that" and smile ear-to-ear.

But have you ever thought, James, by making devices like the marvelous BDP-1, that Bryston is not so much an audio company but rather an enabler - one that feeds the mania of its customers? 

Dave

[James Tanner]

James, I love Sebastian's message to you. I'm not a tweaker, but understand the madness involved in being an audiophile. Therefore, when others, like Sebastian, openly recognize how crazy this hobby can be - and still pursue it! - then all you can say is "been there, done that" and smile ear-to-ear.

But have you ever thought, James, by making devices like the marvelous BDP-1, that Bryston is not so much an audio company but rather an enabler - one that feed the mania of its customers? 

Dave

Hi Dave,

Yes i guess you are correct - we do enable the mania - but it comes from a good place - passion for what we do   Also I consider myself incredibly fortunate.... I have been able to spend my life building products that truly make people happy

james

[Nick V]

Hi Dave,

Yes i guess you are correct - we do enable the mania - but it comes from a good place - passion for what we do   Also I consider myself incredibly fortunate.... I have been able to spend my life building products that truly make people happy

james

Hi James,

I know I'm reviving a really old thread here, but...

Do you see any real value in pursuing modifications to the BDP's?

I'm specifically looking at the BDP-2 with IAD.

I'm going to have my Esoteric SA-50 SACD player/DAC modified and I'm wondering it it would make sense to mod a BPD as well. I'm not a BDP owner yet, but I'm thinking of picking up a demo BDP-2 w/ IAD.

The Esoteric will be receiving an extensive mod consisting of:

Dexa Neutrino 2 clock
C37 Gold Standard vibration lacquer throughout
Audio Magic Ultimate Black Out Paint (RF Blocking paint that is painted on all mod parts, wiring, power supply etc)
Bybee Music Rails
Transformer coupled analog output stage rebuild to eliminate the AKM 32 bit stock analog output stage
Replace all critical diode bridges with Ultra Fast Diode Rectifiers
Replace all key capacitors in circuit with Rubycon ZL series Ultra Low Impedance capacitors
Shielding the chassis with high grade shielding tape

This type of mod might seem crazy to most people, but I got a really good deal on the Esoteric SA-50, and the price for the mods to completely tweak out the performance are reasonable compared to buying a new SACD player/DAC right now. My cost on the completely modded Esoteric to take it to near state of the art performance will be about $3,500.00 USD when all is said and done (including the cost of the player).

[James Tanner]

Hi James,

I know I'm reviving a really old thread here, but...

Do you see any real value in pursuing modifications to the BDP's?

I'm specifically looking at the BDP-2 with IAD.

I'm going to have my Esoteric SA-50 SACD player/DAC modified and I'm wondering it it would make sense to mod a BPD as well. I'm not a BDP owner yet, but I'm thinking of picking up a demo BDP-2 w/ IAD.

The Esoteric will be receiving an extensive mod consisting of:

Dexa Neutrino 2 clock
C37 Gold Standard vibration lacquer throughout
Audio Magic Ultimate Black Out Paint (RF Blocking paint that is painted on all mod parts, wiring, power supply etc)
Bybee Music Rails
Transformer coupled analog output stage rebuild to eliminate the AKM 32 bit stock analog output stage
Replace all critical diode bridges with Ultra Fast Diode Rectifiers
Replace all key capacitors in circuit with Rubycon ZL series Ultra Low Impedance capacitors
Shielding the chassis with high grade shielding tape

This type of mod might seem crazy to most people, but I got a really good deal on the Esoteric SA-50, and the price for the mods to completely tweak out the performance are reasonable compared to buying a new SACD player/DAC right now. My cost on the completely modded Esoteric to take it to near state of the art performance will be about $3,500.00 USD when all is said and done (including the cost of the player).

Hi Nick,

Its a tough question as we get asked all the time from others about upgrades and generally when we measure these third party upgraded units they do not measure any better and in fact many measure worse,  I think the reason is that when you design a product the individual parts are seen in their entirety as a complete circuit designed to work together in a synergistic way. 

Then someone comes along and decides that part A works better on paper or is perceived as being more upscale and is placed in position A in the circuit.  But that in turn affects the following circuit or preceding circuit in undetermined and unpredictable ways and makes things worst.

So I would say be cautious with these types of upgrades especially if they are third party upgrades. If Factory I would assume they are understood at a deeper level and do in fact provide better performance.

As for our products honestly if we thought we could improve the performance is specific areas we would but generally when we try these suggestions they do not work out.  I think if you look at our products if we find a better circuit or a better performing design we tend to come out with a new product rather than attempting to modify an existing one unless its a reasonable and not to costly upgrade and actually enhances the current performance - EX the IAD board on the BDP's. With things like the Cubed Amps vs the SST2 amps the changes required are too extensive and a newer model is the better option.

Gee's sorry I rambled there.

james

[Pundamilia]

Thanks, James

I appreciate your designer/manufacturer's perspective.

I am always skeptical about these third-party mods. How and why do these people/companies think they can improve performance over the original design which takes into account the complete unit? Are their changes worked out on the basis of solid engineering principles or are they based on trial-and-error tweaks? How scientifically are these mods tested?

A good example  of such a simple tweak is replacing power cords on Bryston equipment. I am sure that if Bryston really believed that the sound of their equipment could be significantly improved simply by the addition of a "premium" cable, you would add it and reflect the additional cost in your pricing. Albeit, pricing and competitive considerations are an important consideration, why would you not upgrade a part in the interests of improving the product?

Unfortunately, in this industry/hobby, we often have so much invested in equipment that the cost to upgrade any individual component is significant. So the prospect of a relatively low-cost enhancement is very enticing. I am sure that that this contributes to the "snake-oil" image which is so prevalent.

[Nick V]

It's definitely an interesting topic.

For example, I use a Wyred4Sound STP-SE preamp in my main system, and Wyred4Sound offers a factory upgrade path that's very similar to a lot of the 3rd party modifications that you see out there:

Stage 1 Upgrade

Our available Stage 1 STP-SE upgrade features 24 Vishay Z-Foil resistors, four premium inductors, four Schottkey diodes. These enhancements which focus on the power supply and input/output buffer circuits present greater fidelity and definition.

Stage 2 Upgrade

The Stage 2 upgrade, includes all of the above plus our discrete proprietary regulators, an upgraded IEC inlet, 48 Vishay Z-Foil resistors located in the resistor ladder volume control, 16 upgraded high frequency filter capacitors, an Premium upgraded fuse, and a green OLED display. Direct attention to the signal path throughout the volume control and filtering circuit yields major enhancements to an already exceptional product.