[Marius]

Feel almost ashamed to post anything after this, so please let me do in a separate post.


On the new pre-amp, would the Dac be identical to the BDA3? I understand the BDP-3 would be heftier than the Rpi4 in the BR-20, couldnt find a side-by-side on the dacs in the 2 devices.


Appreciate if you could comment on that, if you have the opportunity.
Thanks,
Marius

[James Tanner]

Feel almost ashamed to post anything after this, so please let me do in a separate post.


On the new pre-amp, would the Dac be identical to the BDA3? I understand the BDP-3 would be heftier than the Rpi4 in the BR-20, couldnt find a side-by-side on the dacs in the 2 devices.


Appreciate if you could comment on that, if you have the opportunity.
Thanks,
Marius

Hi Marius

Yes it is the BDA-3 DAC

james

[Marius]

thanks James,


In which case, upgrading my bp26 (with external power) and bda-1/bdp-1 would be best done using the new BR-20 and BDP3 combo? Or, could I simply suffice with updating the 2 digital products only. (Still using the sub crossover here, but don't think that makes it any different? Unless the now BR-20 has that onboard also..? might be a great option if not yet available...?)

[James Tanner]

thanks James,


In which case, upgrading my bp26 (with external power) and bda-1/bdp-1 would be best done using the new BR-20 and BDP3 combo? Or, could I simply suffice with updating the 2 digital products only. (Still using the sub crossover here, but don't think that makes it any different? Unless the now BR-20 has that onboard also..? might be a great option if not yet available...?)

Hi Marius

Yes I think upgrading to the BR-20 would be the best option as the BR-20 does represent our latest thinking on preamplifiers.

james

[spotlightaudio]

Are there options on color for the display and LEDs?

[James Tanner]

Are there options on color for the display and LEDs?

HI

Only White for the display and Blue or Green on the LEDs.

james

[GeAllan70]

James,

same height as 2.5B Cubed Dual-Mono Amplifier?

thanks

George

[James Tanner]

James,

same height as 2.5B Cubed Dual-Mono Amplifier?

thanks

George

Hi George - yes same height.

james

[Marius]

Hi James,

please allow me this:

Fully aware you've stated here and elsewhere the built-in BDP-Pi isn't as powerful as the BDP-3, I am still considering it as an upgrade to my BP-26/BDP-1 setup
Thinking I could always forgo with the built-in and upgrade to the BDP-3, I can't help but wondering how the built-in BDP-Pi compares to the BDP-1. Do you have these specs available please?

1 concern I have is the file manipulation capability, as I have rather an extensive library, and the BDP-1 can't finish creating the BrystonDB, nor can it play music while updating a single album, without hiccups and distortion. It updates quickly enough, so I can live with it. However, if updating to the BR-20, I would hate to experience that still.
- Is memory on the Pi large enough to hold the DB, or should we attach a usb drive to hold that maybe?
- My music files are stored on a NAS, so I wouldn't need local drives, would love a built in SSD card option. Is that possible?

2nd concern I have is with the Pi itself. Having 3 Pi's (3 and 4) in the house doing other stuff, mainly Homeautomating, I am fully aware, and have experienced compromised SD-cards more than once unfortunately. They are simply not suitable for heavy read/write operations. How does this influence operation in the BR-20? Does it use the Sd-card at all for R/W operation, or is it only used for the boot sequence.

Sorry to express my doubt, but I would never recommend the PI as a device one's life can depend on, let alone a Bryston Amp

Thanks for your thoughts on the matters above,
Marius

[James Tanner]

HI marius

I will let Chris answer this for you.

I believe the Pi4 does have limitations when it comes to library size and control whereas the BDP-3 can easily deal with a multitude of tasked all at once.

james

[unincognito]

Hi James,

please allow me this:

Fully aware you've stated here and elsewhere the built-in BDP-Pi isn't as powerful as the BDP-3, I am still considering it as an upgrade to my BP-26/BDP-1 setup
Thinking I could always forgo with the built-in and upgrade to the BDP-3, I can't help but wondering how the built-in BDP-Pi compares to the BDP-1. Do you have these specs available please?

1 concern I have is the file manipulation capability, as I have rather an extensive library, and the BDP-1 can't finish creating the BrystonDB, nor can it play music while updating a single album, without hiccups and distortion. It updates quickly enough, so I can live with it. However, if updating to the BR-20, I would hate to experience that still.
- Is memory on the Pi large enough to hold the DB, or should we attach a usb drive to hold that maybe?
- My music files are stored on a NAS, so I wouldn't need local drives, would love a built in SSD card option. Is that possible?

2nd concern I have is with the Pi itself. Having 3 Pi's (3 and 4) in the house doing other stuff, mainly Homeautomating, I am fully aware, and have experienced compromised SD-cards more than once unfortunately. They are simply not suitable for heavy read/write operations. How does this influence operation in the BR-20? Does it use the Sd-card at all for R/W operation, or is it only used for the boot sequence.

Sorry to express my doubt, but I would never recommend the PI as a device one's life can depend on, let alone a Bryston Amp

Thanks for your thoughts on the matters above,
Marius

Hi Marius,

Long time since we've corresponded, hope your doing well.

You bring up many valid concerns, but I think the BR-20 would be a really nice upgrade as not only are you getting our latest DAC and preamp technology but also a much faster and powerful streamer then the BDP-1.  BR-20's will be shipping with a 2GB Pi 4, we chose the 2GB model not so much because there's an improvement over the 1GB version but because they are the same price we figured why not.  We did compare the 1GB, 2GB and 4GB models and found no discernable performance different.  The overall user experience is very similar to that of a BDP-2, both have 2GB of ram and gigabit ethernet; 8x the memory of a BDP-1.  Audio performance of the BR-20 from its built in streamer is also again going to be our most up to date technology as well and implemented in a way that would be very comparable to a BDP-2/3 pared with a BDA-3 DAC.

No built in storage option, that's not to say we could offer it as an upgrade later; not saying we will but if we did do it we would do it in a way that is user upgradeable.  At the same time I feel like your collection might be large enough to keep stored on a NAS.

We had a rough start with micro sd cards our self as I'm sure most BDP-Pi owners can relate, but I think with the BDA-3.14 we've gotten everything pretty dialed in and so far BDA-3.14 units have been far more reliable then BDP-Pi's which have also been switched to the new modules.  With the BR-20, because we switched to the Pi 4 this required updating our Berry Boot based bootloader and made some changes to it.  One of these changes is the option to run the Pi 4 in the BR-20 from a USB drive and I've tested this with a USB enclosure and one of the SSD's we use in the BDP-3 and it works really well and because the SSD is faster then the micro sd card the unit performs a little faster as well in certain tasks.

James is correct to say that the Pi 4 in the BR-20 still wouldn't be quite as powerful as BDP-3, hence my comparison to a BDP-2

Hope this helps,
Chris

[Clive197]

Hi
Waiting for an update on availability for a black BR20 in UK.
THANX

[James Tanner]

Hi
Waiting for an update on availability for a black BR20 in UK.
THANX

Hi

We are starting production in a couple of weeks so it will depend on when it was ordered.

james

[lsolimine]

Hi James.  Do you have a date for the publication of the manual and final specs?  Thank you.

Lou

[James Tanner]

Hi

I know Gary is still working on it.

james

[robbie2771]

Hi

We are starting production in a couple of weeks so it will depend on when it was ordered.

james

Hi James, can you please address if there are long delays in the availability of the black BR-20 units  here  in Canada as I placed an order last week and my dealer told me it could be April or may before I receive it due to new dac chip shortages (fire at there manufacturing facility).
Can you please shed some more light on this topic as I am really looking forward to getting this unit and it will be very hard to wait 5 months or more.
Thank you
Rob

[James Tanner]

Hi James, can you please address if there are long delays in the availability of the black BR-20 units  here  in Canada as I placed an order last week and my dealer told me it could be April or may before I receive it due to new dac chip shortages (fire at there manufacturing facility).
Can you please shed some more light on this topic as I am really looking forward to getting this unit and it will be very hard to wait 5 months or more.
Thank you
Rob

Hi Rob

Yes AKM had a huge fire so DAC chips are getting hard to come by.  Also we have been over-run with orders on the BR20 so any new orders are probably 3-4 months out.

james

[Marius]

With the BR-20, because we switched to the Pi 4 this required updating our Berry Boot based bootloader and made some changes to it.  One of these changes is the option to run the Pi 4 in the BR-20 from a USB drive and I've tested this with a USB enclosure and one of the SSD's we use in the BDP-3 and it works really well and because the SSD is faster then the micro sd card the unit performs a little faster as well in certain tasks.

James is correct to say that the Pi 4 in the BR-20 still wouldn't be quite as powerful as BDP-3, hence my comparison to a BDP-2

Hope this helps,
Chris

HI Chris,

thanks for your accurate answer.

There's no such thing as coincidence, only moments after I wrote the above post, one of my PI's bricked, and I had to re-image it. Thats ok for my experimental setup, its a beta tinkering tool after all in its current stage of development. The Bryston of course couldn't be described as such.

The quote above is meaningful to me, because in my own use with the Pi's that's exactly what we try to do, including booting it. Does the option you describe also include the USB boot sequence?

Coming to think of this, would this take away one of the USB ports of the BR-20, or could this be done internally.... would be maybe a valid option to have it taken care of internally, and keep the external ports free for attaching 'library' usb's?

I forgot to ask in the other post: since this is to be the ultimate digital device, didn't you consider including the BDP-3 as a whole? Making that the BR-20 Pro... given the fact that box is rather empty too, space wouldn't have been the issue And since the aluminum body is the most expensive part of the machine, why not throw in the big brother. 

Put differently: I'd hate to see a BR-20 Pro version released only days after my purchase of the current version..


thanks as always, much appreciated

[unincognito]

HI Chris,

thanks for your accurate answer.

There's no such thing as coincidence, only moments after I wrote the above post, one of my PI's bricked, and I had to re-image it. Thats ok for my experimental setup, its a beta tinkering tool after all in its current stage of development. The Bryston of course couldn't be described as such.

The quote above is meaningful to me, because in my own use with the Pi's that's exactly what we try to do, including booting it. Does the option you describe also include the USB boot sequence?

Coming to think of this, would this take away one of the USB ports of the BR-20, or could this be done internally.... would be maybe a valid option to have it taken care of internally, and keep the external ports free for attaching 'library' usb's?

I forgot to ask in the other post: since this is to be the ultimate digital device, didn't you consider including the BDP-3 as a whole? Making that the BR-20 Pro... given the fact that box is rather empty too, space wouldn't have been the issue And since the aluminum body is the most expensive part of the machine, why not throw in the big brother. 

Put differently: I'd hate to see a BR-20 Pro version released only days after my purchase of the current version..


thanks as always, much appreciated

Hi Marius,

You're probably right if we removed the pi we'd likely have enough space for a BDP-3 or BDP-3 like mainboard, but then the power supply would need to be substantially beefed up, those Intel chip and even AMD still consume quite a bit more current then a Pi.  However as far as I am aware we don't intend to release a version of the BR-20 with a BDP-3 that's been shoe horned in to its chassis. 

I looked at making an internal storage solution an option however I couldn't get it to work at boot and ran out of time before I had to move onto final testing of the bootloader, so currently its just limited to the USB ports on the rear.  However two of those rear facing USB ports or USB 3.0 so this leaves one as a possible BOOT drive while leaving a second available for music and perhaps will further develop this feature to allow a single drive to both boot and store music files.

I may get time to revisit the internal USB 2.0 port that exists and see give booting from it another go after we replace Manic Moose.  If this where to happen I see no reason why we wouldn't be able to offer an upgrade path for this to existing customers.

Chris

[Marius]

Thanks Chris,
Appreciated. Since I use my Nas for library storage, I guess I wouldn't miss out on 1 USB port externally.
Otoh, I decided to go the Nas route because the usb drives I had attached to the bdp-1 took too much power of it. If the BR-20 would be more powerful in that department, I suppose it would be the logical way to start using these usb drives again...