"Q: A company like Bryston rides the fence between high end and the pro domain. Are those two areas difficult to reconcile?"
"A: Yes and no. Initially, Bryston had the reputation of starting in the pro field and then becoming an audiophile company when, in fact, the reverse was true. We were an audiophile company that became a pro company because our products didn't break and the pros picked up on the fact that they were very reliable. That ability to translate from both sides of the equation kind of helps us in the long run."
"Q: Is there any hope for the newest high-res formats?"
"A: That's going to be a tough one. Most of the feedback I get from the audiophile crowd is, yes, there's a huge difference, but that's not what I've found. The quality of a great 44.1kHz recording can rival a 96kHz. This is, maybe, heresy but it has much more to do with the quality of that original recording. The skill of that recording engineer is far more important than the delivery medium. So unless the differences are demonstrably night and day to the average guy, I don't think he'll care."
"Q: Can you see the end of optical storage like CD?"
"A: My experiments versus computers so far tell me that the optical CD still wins. It might be low jitter but it still wins in terms of space. Will it disappear? If you would have asked me ten years ago that question about turntables, I would have said yes, but I think as long as so many titles continue to exist optical will remain a viable format."
"Q: What do you consider the biggest challenge for the high end?"
"A: Taking the current twenty and thirty year olds and making them understand that there's quality beyond the iPod. My worry is that what's going on with this group is that they collect music rather than listen to it."
"Q: What advice would you give to someone assembling his first system?"
"A: Even though we build amplifiers I would say that getting the speaker/room interface right is your first goal. I've heard average speakers sound great and great speakers sound terrible, and it's that interface that determines which. Once that's done, then I can work on it with you."
