BRYSTON BHA-1 HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER

James Tanner · « **Reply #600 on:** 12 Mar 2013, 10:16 am »

Quote from: Blackstone on 12 Mar 2013, 08:20 am

So I read somewhere that James has added a pair of HD800s to his personal collection. How do they stack against the PS1000 with the BHA-1, I wonder...

HI

Its interesting because I am learning that there are firly large differences in headphones - I guess much like speakers

Anyway the Grados are much more balanced towards the low end so very full and deep. The HD 800's sound more linear to me but at the expense of sliding towards revealing the shortcomings in the source material.

james

hardwarenick · « **Reply #601 on:** 12 Mar 2013, 10:51 pm »

Forum admins - as per my previous post - could this thread please be stickied like all the other Bryston product threads.

Further to my previous post regarding my issue surrounding uneven gain in the volume knob, does anyone else have the same issue or has anyone else even tried to test the scaling of their volume?

Quite simply, if we express two factors, one being total volume output (V) and the other being total physical rotation of volume knob (P), normalised from 1 to 10 with 10 representing the maximum, what has been observed is that:

Where P is between 1 to 4, V scales from 1 to 6
Where P is between 5 to 7, V scales from 6 to 7 (if at all it changes...)
Where P is between 7 to 10, V scales from 7 to 10 (audible but not as strong as the first scenario)

It has taken 11 days and myself following up twice, as opposed to their usual 1-2 day response time(to his absolute credit, James used to respond extremely quickly - within hours, even during non-business hours), for them (James was unresponsive before I copied the same email to Brian Russell who eventually chased this up with his engineers and responded to me) to tell me in literally one sentence that uneven gain across the volume knob is normal.

I'm not entirely sure why this design is as such and would love to see if anybody else with a BHA-1 has the same experience as it just sounds rather peculiar to me.

SHV · « **Reply #602 on:** 13 Mar 2013, 01:10 am »

"It has taken 11 days and myself following up twice, as opposed to their usual 1-2 day response time(to his absolute credit, James used to respond extremely quickly - within hours,"
*********
IIRC, James was quite ill with the Flu for several weeks....might explain some recent delays in customer feed back over the past month.

Steve

hardwarenick · « **Reply #603 on:** 13 Mar 2013, 11:29 am »

Ahh, thanks Steve. Fairplay, it did seem incredibly odd that James had slowed down. I guess it wasn't obvious and I figured looking at this activity and timestamping around the place here that he was still active.

Anyway, posting on another audiophile forum online, a couple of people have told me that such uneven gain in volume is actually normal and part of a logarithmic pot + something that Bryston itself advertised somewhere re the BHA-1. Anyone have any knowledge of this?

I certainly don't profess to be an expert but from my experience trying quite a few different mid/high end amps, this kind of uneven gain doesn't intuitively feel right. Happy for anyone to lecture me otherwise.

James Tanner · « **Reply #604 on:** 13 Mar 2013, 12:12 pm »

Quote from: hardwarenick on 13 Mar 2013, 11:29 am

Ahh, thanks Steve. Fairplay, it did seem incredibly odd that James had slowed down. I guess it wasn't obvious and I figured looking at this activity and timestamping around the place here that he was still active.

Anyway, posting on another audiophile forum online, a couple of people have told me that such uneven gain in volume is actually normal and part of a logarithmic pot + something that Bryston itself advertised somewhere re the BHA-1. Anyone have any knowledge of this?

I certainly don't profess to be an expert but from my experience trying quite a few different mid/high end amps, this kind of uneven gain doesn't intuitively feel right. Happy for anyone to lecture me otherwise.

Hi Nick

I get my evil twin to fill in for me when I am ill.

Anyway I pass on the more technical questions and it appears something went amiss

James

hardwarenick · « **Reply #605 on:** 13 Mar 2013, 10:59 pm »

Ah, makes sense. It totally doesn't sound like the ever-responsive and friendly James that I've dealt with to date, letting something go for a week

Hope you're better.

Have been speaking to Brian Russell who is following up with the engineer(s) but so far, it does appear that it is indeed a function by design.

Thank goodness there's enough volume for me to never even hit/pass 9 o'clock, this isn't really an issue. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have a defective unit. I still do maintain the opinion that this kind of uneven gain is weird.

James Tanner · « **Reply #606 on:** 13 Mar 2013, 11:40 pm »

Quote from: hardwarenick on 13 Mar 2013, 10:59 pm

Ah, makes sense. It totally doesn't sound like the ever-responsive and friendly James that I've dealt with to date, letting something go for a week Hope you're better.

Have been speaking to Brian Russell who is following up with the engineer(s) but so far, it does appear that it is indeed a function by design.

Thank goodness there's enough volume for me to never even hit/pass 9 o'clock, this isn't really an issue. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have a defective unit. I still do maintain the opinion that this kind of uneven gain is weird.

I don't want to speak out of turn as the engineers know better than I but I believe we were concerned that very efficient phones would need lots of range to adjust for volume so the volume control is not linear. Also I am told this approach benefits from a lower noise floor.

James

Marius · « **Reply #607 on:** 14 Mar 2013, 07:43 am »

Hi James,

That seems justification enough, thanks for that.

Elaborating on this topic just a bit, how would you explain that in my BDP/BDA/BP26/28B setup I can only dial up my balanced sources to lets say 9/10 oclock, before the music sounds far too loud (over my ESL63's) while the same sources over the BHA have to be dialed up to at least 11 , but mostly 14 or more, to start being groovy. I cant get it to be too loud on the BHA, gain high engaged, playing the rather easily driven HD800?

Thanks,
Marius

Quote from: James Tanner on 13 Mar 2013, 11:40 pm

I don't want to speak out of turn as the engineers know better than I but I believe we were concerned that very efficient phones would need lots of range to adjust for volume so the volume control is not linear. Also I am told this approach benefits from a lower noise floor.

James

James Tanner · « **Reply #608 on:** 14 Mar 2013, 10:53 am »

Quote from: Marius on 14 Mar 2013, 07:43 am

Hi James,

That seems justification enough, thanks for that.

Elaborating on this topic just a bit, how would you explain that in my BDP/BDA/BP26/28B setup I can only dial up my balanced sources to lets say 9/10 oclock, before the music sounds far too loud (over my ESL63's) while the same sources over the BHA have to be dialed up to at least 11 , but mostly 14 or more, to start being groovy. I cant get it to be too loud on the BHA, gain high engaged, playing the rather easily driven HD800?

Thanks,
Marius

Hi Marius

That is strange as on my HD800's at low gain I get lots of level at 11 o'clock

Are you feeding the BHA from the Tape Outs on the BP-26?

james

Marius · « **Reply #609 on:** 14 Mar 2013, 11:28 am »

Hi James,
No, Im feeding it from the single ended analog outs of the BDA1. Planning to go the full balanced circuit when I finally receive my balanced headphone cable from Sennheiser.

Marius

Quote from: James Tanner on 14 Mar 2013, 10:53 am

Hi Marius

That is strange as on my HD800's at low gain I get lots of level at 11 o'clock Are you feeding the BHA from the Tape Outs on the BP-26?

james

James Tanner · « **Reply #610 on:** 14 Mar 2013, 11:52 am »

Quote from: Marius on 14 Mar 2013, 11:28 am

Hi James,
No, Im feeding it from the single ended analog outs of the BDA1. Planning to go the full balanced circuit when I finally receive my balanced headphone cable from Sennheiser.

Marius

OK can you try the tape Outs from the BP26 and see if it changes.

james

Marius · « **Reply #611 on:** 14 Mar 2013, 02:41 pm »

Check, I will, later.

James, there is some nuance to be applied here: the volume increase between 10 and 16 o'clock is rather insubstantial, as noted before in earlier posts. Dependent of the overall sound-level of the recording, the sound either starts to swing at 16, or already is kinda loud at 10....

My previous post obviously was made after listening to a Tallis Scholars recording, just now I tried a Miles Davis Bootleg, and that had me turn the volume control down for the first time...

Cheers
MArius

Quote from: James Tanner on 14 Mar 2013, 11:52 am

OK can you try the tape Outs from the BP26 and see if it changes.

james

Maxvla · « **Reply #612 on:** 15 Mar 2013, 01:45 am »

Quote from: Marius on 14 Mar 2013, 07:43 am

Hi James,

That seems justification enough, thanks for that.

Elaborating on this topic just a bit, how would you explain that in my BDP/BDA/BP26/28B setup I can only dial up my balanced sources to lets say 9/10 oclock, before the music sounds far too loud (over my ESL63's) while the same sources over the BHA have to be dialed up to at least 11 , but mostly 14 or more, to start being groovy. I cant get it to be too loud on the BHA, gain high engaged, playing the rather easily driven HD800?

Thanks,
Marius

Whoa!
I'm using BHA-1 and HD800 as well, though in balanced operation (4V from DAC), so there's that, but most music with a dynamic range of 5-10 (most popular music) has my volume at 8:30-9:30 on low gain. Even 12 o'clock on low gain is brutally loud.

bobNL · « **Reply #613 on:** 15 Mar 2013, 08:56 am »

The volume issue seems to resolve when the BHA is connected through a balanced connection.
Had the BCD connected directely for a while, when the digital cable was under way, and had the same issue.
After rerouting the BDA through the BDA, I have rarely felt the need to go beyond ten o'clock.

Cheers,
Bob

RLL1 · « **Reply #614 on:** 15 Mar 2013, 09:06 pm »

Quote from: bobNL on 15 Mar 2013, 08:56 am

The volume issue seems to resolve when the BHA is connected through a balanced connection.
Had the BCD connected directely for a while, when the digital cable was under way, and had the same issue.
After rerouting the BDA through the BDA, I have rarely felt the need to go beyond ten o'clock.

Cheers,
Bob

Agreed. I run balanced from the DAC to the BHA-1, and anything beyond 10 o'clock would be far too loud.

Rick

Marius · « **Reply #615 on:** 16 Mar 2013, 03:22 pm »

finally, it arrived today:

first impressions: XLR seems to resolve the volume issue

but most of all: gives a heavenly ambiance, lots of space, airiness in the recording. And it wasn't bad before.....

still connected unbalanced from BDA to BHA. Gain is Low.
Will try unbalanced from BP26 to BHA for James, and, of course, the very reason I bought the BHA in the first place, Balanced from BDA to BHA.

Quote from: bobNL on 15 Mar 2013, 08:56 am

The volume issue seems to resolve when the BHA is connected through a balanced connection.
Had the BCD connected directely for a while, when the digital cable was under way, and had the same issue.
After rerouting the BDA through the BDA, I have rarely felt the need to go beyond ten o'clock.

Cheers,
Bob

bobNL · « **Reply #616 on:** 17 Mar 2013, 09:12 am »

Hi Marius,

Great news!

Also looking forward to your report on the full balanced connection.

Did you order the cable directly from sennheiser?

Cheers,
Bob

Marius · « **Reply #617 on:** 17 Mar 2013, 10:01 am »

Hi Bob,

We ordered a spare standard cable from Sennheiser, and changed the connector into a Neutrik XLR, according to the schedule posted earlier.

Marius

Quote from: bobNL on 17 Mar 2013, 09:12 am

Hi Marius,

Great news!

Also looking forward to your report on the full balanced connection.

Did you order the cable directly from sennheiser?

Cheers,
Bob

Marius · « **Reply #618 on:** 19 Mar 2013, 07:24 pm »

So, in the end, it finally happened, I got to test the Fully balanced system, from source (BDA1) to HD800.

It happens to be the most influencial change made to my audio setup since the introduction of the 28B's in it. Was the unbalanced BHA a revelation, the Balanced cable to the hd800 a volume solution, the balanced connection from BHA1 to BDA1 is a uncomparable full system upgrade.

I just can not believe the change this makes, it 'degrades' the really wonderful setup before sound like a mere nice stereo headphone. In balanced operation, it is a completely different soundstage. Changing the rca to balanced makes you hear the two channels mix to the desired soundstage, and changing back is a no-go. Things really fall in place, thers one big picutre in your head finally. I now understand the raves.

I must say, I'm astonished about the world of difference. It is so compelling, the balanced connection to my BP26 is gone now. Took it out without any doubt. No brainer. Which in itself is too bad really, because right now I don't use the balanced setup my bp26 gives, and was the sole reason I chose the BP26 in the first place..

I really wish for a second balanced out on the BDA2 or 3 or some kind of other Bryston solution to let me play the BDA1 balanced to my headphone and the BP26 at the same time....

James, didn't you say before you'd be able to modify the bp26 rca outputs into an extra balanced set of outputs? I accidentally tried those today, and noticed neither the volume nor the input selector had any influence on the output, only the source-selctor on the BDA1 changed that

Please explain what happened: I've connected the BDA unbalanced out to the Bp26 rca outs (can you believe it

) No real problems occurred, it played fine over the speakers.

Marius

SHV · « **Reply #619 on:** 19 Mar 2013, 07:29 pm »

"I really wish for a second balanced out on the BDA2 or 3 or some kind of other Bryston solution to let me play the BDA1 balanced to my headphone and the BP26 at the same time...."
********
Splitter cable?

Steve