[alanford69]

Another year has passed: is there any update about OS3 release plan?

Thanks for any info!

[zoom25]

BDP-3 has been discontinued with no announced plan of a replacement. I don't expect Bryston to make further big, feature software updates on their digital streamers. I think its use third party apps like Roon with their remaining digital players like 3.14.

It makes zero sense for them to discontinue BDP-3 and then invest time and money into OS3.

If they do end up releasing it, I'll be positively surprised. 

[alanford69]

Makes sense… but a formal announcement would help us to plan where to spend our money. Roon is quite expensive, it requires a dedicated core and an additional subscription to be added on top of Qobuz and, reading what people reported here, on BR-20 sounds little worse than the embedded player.

[cmccaul]

Doesn't the BR-20 still use Manic Moose?  That should still give Bryston motivation to deliver OS3.  Some day...

[zoom25]

Makes sense… but a formal announcement would help us to plan where to spend our money. Roon is quite expensive, it requires a dedicated core and an additional subscription to be added on top of Qobuz and, reading what people reported here, on BR-20 sounds little worse than the embedded player.

Local storage music is dead nowadays. (Speaking as someone who has ripped and downloaded to my digital physical collection for past 20+ years with around 45-50k tracks.) I stopped downloading and further organizing my own local music 2-3 years ago. I went all in on streaming like a lot of people have been doing. I think the reason why BDP-3 in particular was discontinued was due to that trend. The need to organize and keep local music available in digital format isn't as big as it was 10-15 years ago (BDP-1 onset to BDP-2/3). Streaming services (as they are today) and Roon didn't exist back then.

If you are going to use local playback and/or some kind of streaming option, you'll want a quality interface either way. Once you get a taste for a good interface, you can't really go back to the likes of Manic Moose (sorry @gbaby!). If you go purely streaming route, you can just use the native apps for each streaming service - which have all improved quite a bit in past few years. If you want combo, then there is Roon or plexamp. All serious local playback guys with big libraries like to use Roon. It's the standard now within high-end big libraries.

I'm just not seeing what Bryston has to gain from spending time and money (and I think they would need a LOT) to give something that could compete with what Roon and other streaming services offer today. I don't think it's possible resources wise, as well as the lack of market in local playback specialization.

As far as your comment about special dedicated core - I use an Intel NUC7PJYH which is now almost 6 years old. This 6 year old machine has bunch of external hard drives installed and plugged in for 24/7 use. I use it with Netflix, Plex, Amazon Prime, Tidal, Roon, Spotify and general media use. Running  normal Windows 10 for use as a HTPC. I have zero issues with lack of power with any of these tasks. For around $200 nowadays, you can get a similar device like the one I have (but even better) and just use it for anything and everything media wise - audio or video (4K Blu rays). You absolutely don't need to buy a dedicated machine for Roon. I even previously used to run Roon Core on a Late 2009 iMac Core 2 Duo lol and it was perfect.

I use Tidal now for all my lossless playback and still have Spotify for the family. I think Tidal app has made quite the improvement from before. It's right there with Spotify. I have Roon as well that I use at home and Roon ARC in car. You don't need Roon. Tidal on its own is pretty solid honestly. There are things that Tidal does better than Roon functionality wise, so sometimes I use the native Tidal app. Other times, I'll use Roon/Roon ARC.

[cleeds]

Bryston had previously announced that OS3 was in development and even that its release was imminent, so it seems reasonable to periodically ask for an update on its status.

I do not agree that "local music is dead nowadays." That would certainly be news to those who are paying for hi-res downloads. And while I do enjoy Qobuz streaming, I'm not interested in being beholden to any service that lacks some of my favorites and where other favorite recordings seem to come and go without explanation. That would be no fun at all.

[jobiwon]

I been running a Pi for years now, mainly has a Roon Endpoint, which it functions perfectly. I have small attached storage with a few hundred albums but I have stopped buying downloads due to quality issues and rarely purchase CDs anymore. My purchases are now only rare and hard to find vinyl.  Primarily a Qobuz streamer now.

File storage may not be dead but the market appears to be dried up from a business perspective.   I don't know why Bryston couldn't make a product similar to Moons Mind2 streamer or PS Audio's Air Lens.  Maybe like a beefed up Pi.

 I don't even think the PSA Air lens has an interface. 

[zoom25]

I been running a Pi for years now, mainly has a Roon Endpoint, which it functions perfectly. I have small attached storage with a few hundred albums but I have stopped buying downloads due to quality issues and rarely purchase CDs anymore. My purchases are now only rare and hard to find vinyl.  Primarily a Qobuz streamer now.

File storage may not be dead but the market appears to be dried up from a business perspective.   I don't know why Bryston couldn't make a product similar to Moons Mind2 streamer or PS Audio's Air Lens.  Maybe like a beefed up Pi.

 I don't even think the PSA Air lens has an interface.

That's pretty much me now. I'll only download stuff that is not on streaming services and I'll throw it on Roon so it's available along with Tidal. It's actually been relaxing not having to manage downloads, correct metadata as needed, proper folder/file structure, cover art, and do frequent backups.

Home internet speeds, increased cellular data plans, and most services being on the same level as Spotify nowadays has killed local storage. Before I used to have to download and save music on my phone before leaving the house. With high speed, unlimited data plans nowadays, I just stream full lossless quality in the car. No buffering issues either. Only if I'm going somewhere remote or travelling internationally will I save stuff for offline playback.

[zoom25]

Bryston had previously announced that OS3 was in development and even that its release was imminent, so it seems reasonable to periodically ask for an update on its status.

I do not agree that "local music is dead nowadays." That would certainly be news to those who are paying for hi-res downloads. And while I do enjoy Qobuz streaming, I'm not interested in being beholden to any service that lacks some of my favorites and where other favorite recordings seem to come and go without explanation. That would be no fun at all.

Oh of course, I too would be interested if something was released. I just have ZERO expectation for it. Not only is the 'older' BDP-3 gone, but I don't even know what happened to a much newer product that they had announced, BAWD-1. What happened to it?

I had asked for Spotify Connect over 10+ years ago for Bryston BDP players and was told that was in the works. Nothing came of it. The BryFI wireless speaker had it, yet they couldn't manage to do that on BDP-1, BDP-2, BDP-3, or BDP-Pi?

What happened to the plan of making Roon core available within the BDP players themselves? I don't think that's happening either.

Now I may have missed this somewhere, but did Bryston even release a summary/abstract of what OS3 was supposed to be? How was it supposed to differ from Manic Moose? Any new features, or support for more devices, platforms etc. Forget the finished released product, at this point after so many years, I would hope Bryston could at least manage a written paragraph 100 words or so to at least let us know what even is OS3? Surely a paragraph could be manageable after years of work, right!?

In early BDP days, I know it was Chris Rice at the very least working on them. Since the Axiom merger, do we know who/how many people are working on them?

I know my BDP-1 isn't getting anything new. I only use my BDP-1 now as a Roon endpoint and I love it for the sound. Still, I'm hopeful for those with BDP-3 and newer devices getting their 'OS3'.

[alanford69]

Local storage still makes sense since, as you mentioned, Qobuz and Tidal offer almost everything : they don’t have MFSL, AP and most of all sometimes they don’t have best sounding editions. An example: I purchased the latest album from The Pineapple Thieves which sounds poor and compressed on cd but the 2 channels version on the blu ray sounds much better and less compressed!
For this reason I believe the ability to enjoy a seamless blend of internet streaming and local files through a well designed interface is the best solution.

[Stefan_DR3]

The Tidal interface is practically broken. They can start with fixing that at least.  Chris has stated Tidal Connect is in the works and high on the priority list, which would be even better.

James has also stated that OS3 is in test, so at least an internal development build exists. That was many months ago. Need to keep the pressure on!

[James Tanner]

Folks I really do not know the status of this - I expect it will be a while.

[Stefan_DR3]

I guess testing did not go well.
What is the software department working on these days?

[Calypte]

Interesting discussion.  I have a BDP-pi streamer.  I have noticed that Bryston has abandoned digital streamers except for the BDP 3.14.  I have 85k+ digital files, mostly from ripping my existing CDs, and some downloads.  Most of this is classical music, but there's some pop & jazz too.  There's certainly an argument to be made that CDs are obsolete, and why download, since you can stream most of it.  Well, a good bit of it.  I know a successful classical recordings producer who got rid of his own CDs and downloads, and now only listens to streaming.  I have subscriptions to Qobuz and Idagio.  Idagio is (for me) troublesome to use.  But it's been a couple of years since I looked at it.  Qobuz works well for me, but it's a nuisance (to me!) to have to key in a search argument on my cell phone, then to choose among (often) multiple hits.  If it's something I already have, then it's much easier just to select it in Manic Moose.  But when I see a demo disc mentioned on an audiophile Youtube video (usually pop music), it's nice to be able to pull it up on Qobuz to give it a listen.  About Roon, I know nothing.  I've never understood what it would do for me.

[BigGeek]

I have a pile of Bryston gear. Love the sound. Love the service, but let's be real.  They have never cared to or tried to deliver a decent user interface for music playback. Their efforts have been less than reasonable for many years. They have no clue how to create a web interface. The BDP is a primitive device for delivering anything useful to us in this area. Sounds great, no decent web interface

Roon’s interface is good but its connection method is less than ideal and destined to sound less good than MPD. I would rather connect a hard drive directly to the player than stream across a network that is not really designed for music streaming. Personal bias of mine. An interface on an iPad that just sends commands to the player is my preferred method.

It is telling that James doesn’t even know the status of this new interface. Their lack of commitment to this project has been evident for a very long time.

[zeeman]

I have a pile of Bryston gear. Love the sound. Love the service, but let's be real.  They have never cared to or tried to deliver a decent user interface for music playback. Their efforts have been less than reasonable for many years. They have no clue how to create a web interface. The BDP is a primitive device for delivering anything useful to us in this area. Sounds great, no decent web interface

Roon’s interface is good but its connection method is less than ideal and destined to sound less good than MPD. I would rather connect a hard drive directly to the player than stream across a network that is not really designed for music streaming. Personal bias of mine. An interface on an iPad that just sends commands to the player is my preferred method.

It is telling that James doesn’t even know the status of this new interface. Their lack of commitment to this project has been evident for a very long time.

Roon has the best interface and algorithms in the business.  It's not just an operating system, but a personalized record store/curation service.  It is the system recommended by ALL high end manufacturers for best sound quality and user experience.  Your comment that it won't sound as good as MPD is likely based on ignorance.  Roon is bit perfect and in my tests over the last few years sounds as good as Manic Moose and Tidal/Quobuz direct.

[jobiwon]

  About Roon, I know nothing.  I've never understood what it would do for me.

With a few clicks:
Artist overview.
Get a photo and a link to every person who played on the album you are looking at.
The Lyrics to all the tracks.
a list of just about everybody who has covered that track and a link to that album or artist.
a list of all the albums where the artist has been credited with composition.
live radio management. 
The capability to play your music to a remote device. (like your car)
Stream to multiple endpoints.   (active speakers are becoming roon ready like the Macintosh RS150)
parametric equalization (DSP engine)

To name just a few.

[galyons]

With a few clicks:
Artist overview.
Get a photo and a link to every person who played on the album you are looking at.
The Lyrics to all the tracks.
a list of just about everybody who has covered that track and a link to that album or artist.
a list of all the albums where the artist has been credited with composition.
live radio management. 
The capability to play your music to a remote device. (like your car)
Stream to multiple endpoints.   (active speakers are becoming roon ready like the Macintosh RS150)
parametric equalization (DSP engine)

To name just a few.

And not  single item that has anything to do with fidelity or sound quality.  IMO, Roon appeals to folks more interested in eye candy than ear candy. Of course, as in all things, YMMV.

[zoom25]

One benefit of Roon (for sound quality) is that it ensures your various playback devices will be playing correctly at source materials's sampling rate. This might sound trivial, but you'd be surprised how some streaming apps and devices combo don't always get variable sampling rate between tracks correct. Just letting audio (whether my own or Tidal) go through Roon ensures that the playback device will be done right.

Even for devices like all phones that do resample EVERYTHING, if its required, Roon will use better resampling methods for sound quality.

[jobiwon]

And not  single item that has anything to do with fidelity or sound quality.  IMO, Roon appeals to folks more interested in eye candy than ear candy. Of course, as in all things, YMMV.

yeah, I think your wrong.


plus, I wouldn't call having music exploration at your finger tips eye candy.