[jaapnr1]

Why are you being so hostile? The review is just my opinion. If you like the BDA-1, be happy with it. I'm not calling names to those that like the product. Eveyone is looking for something else in a product. And you can't be a fool if you bought something you like. Be that a Bryston BDA-1, a NAIM-dac, Classé or what else is out there... It's all about personal taste. I like my coffee black, does that make coffee with milk and sugar a bad choice? No... but that doesn't mean that I have to like it...

And to get to the dac... Yes I did use the other inputs, except for the AES; I don't own a digital source with that output. So, I used: bnc, optical, coaxial and usb. It is clear that the bnc and coaxial inputs sound the best. USB wasn't bad either, but lacked some finesse. My Tentlabs b-DAC (980 euro) uses the same PCM2707, but sound better, because it reclocks better. That's pretty easy to hear actually.

And yes... it loses one star for the cheap usb-implementation. A 2500 euro dac shouldn't have afterthoughts. It's to expensive for that (in my opinion). The other star is because of the fact that it lacked the capability to realy get me in to the music. It sounded to detached. To sterile sometimes. It's that 'wow'-factor you can have with hifi. The Bryston amps definately have that wow-factor... their power- and pre-amps are amazing... that's why I thought I would love this dac as well. Well... I don't. Can't help it.

I hope this explenation helps you understand my choices. You don't have to agree with my conclusion. But please: loose the hostility. I'm not angree either. Just doing my job.

Sorry jaapnr1

The bda is not a USB dac nor was it meant to be.  The design points  to the bpd.
Whether USB is suitable for hi Rez wasn't a factor at all. There are plenty of USB dacs that give you only one input and that being USB. How much do you wanna pay for the xlr or bnc development partnered with a USB 192 capability?
How obvious do you have to make it, it doesn't play higher than red book. It's not a USB dac. If I were Bryston I would drop the USB all together to drive home the point.


You failed the review by misleading the readers into believing there was a USB intent into hi rez. Not only that,you failed to mention if or what other connects you used. Or did I miss that, I apologize if I did miss it.

You should've done your homework and talk to the manufacture before you venture down an avenue Of misinforming your readers on the playback philosophy of the BDA. It's like you bagged out on a great line stage pre  because provided  headphone amp sucks.

Wow fail review or what !!!!

[jaapnr1]

James, what would your take on a "USB DAC" be? Do you think USB at e.g. 32/192 or 32/384 makes sense? Or are other busses like Thunderbolt going to be the best way to maximize performance with direct-to-computer connections?

I haven't read this up until now. Thunderbold could realy mean the next step. Intel developed Thunderbold to be optical at first. (The went to electrical because of some time pressure). The bandwith is amazing (10 Gbit/s is possible), but actually useless for audio.

The thing with Thunderbold is that it has no protocol. That's all up to the manufacturers. That means that Thunderbold can do everything. You want to use it as a display port? No prob... You want data transfers for hdd's? No problem. You want audio streaming? Here you have it... that sounds wonderful, but in order to get some success with interfaces, you got to have a standard. Otherwise you get proliferation of protocols and drivers. And eventually a faillure of something that can be wonderful.

[skunark]

I haven't read this up until now. Thunderbold could realy mean the next step. Intel developed Thunderbold to be optical at first. (The went to electrical because of some time pressure). The bandwith is amazing (10 Gbit/s is possible), but actually useless for audio.

The thing with Thunderbold is that it has no protocol. That's all up to the manufacturers. That means that Thunderbold can do everything. You want to use it as a display port? No prob... You want data transfers for hdd's? No problem. You want audio streaming? Here you have it... that sounds wonderful, but in order to get some success with interfaces, you got to have a standard. Otherwise you get proliferation of protocols and drivers. And eventually a faillure of something that can be wonderful.

Clueless here?   Thunderbolt has a pretty well defined "protocol" .. Yes it's overkill for audio...

[skunark]

But... aside from the usb part. Well: it sounds clean, the signals get properly converted. And yes: it has some nice features like a proper bnc-input. But the Bryston just didn't have the 'X'-factor for me. It didn't sound very involving.. not like the Classé CP800 I had a month or so before the BDP-1. Sure... the Classé is more expensive, but don't forget: the CP-800 has a very nice pre-amp as well. So, on the end of the line the CP-800 will cost just as much (or even less) than a Bryston BDP-1 with a decent pre-amp. Thats why I gave it 3 stars and not more. I think - and yes, it's subjective... aren't all reviews? - that there are better dacs out there. Some even less costly than the bdp-1.

The Classe CP800 has been one of the most disappointing pre-amps I've heard.   The USB input for the CP800, just like the McIntosh C50 has been both disappointing and troublesome.     If you purchase the CP-800 it's not because of the digital inputs or the analog input stages.

[jaapnr1]

Clueless here?   Thunderbolt has a pretty well defined "protocol" .. Yes it's overkill for audio...

Sorry, wrong words... What I meant is that you can do everything with Thunderbord. It's pci-express ánd displayport. And because it's in priciple a pci-express connection (and displayport) it's up to the software to do something decent with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)

[skunark]

Sorry, wrong words... What I meant is that you can do everything with Thunderbord. It's pci-express ánd displayport. And because it's in priciple a pci-express connection (and displayport) it's up to the software to do something decent with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)

Since most sound cards are PCie now, it's more of a licensing/legal exercise than technical to adapt thunderbolt.  Sadly USB3.0 has more steam and PCIe Gen4 will probably be adapted easier than thunderbolt.   AMD even has their counter offer.

[RonCH]

Interesting review.  Considering that the BDA-1 is in my opinion coming to the end of its product life some of the criticisms aren't surprising.  Also, as someone who likes the sound of Bryston products, I accept that the sound is not for everyone – similarly I prefer to listen to a Bryston Hifi over a comparable Naim system.   

I’m yet to hear the Classè CP-800, but comments above raise the point that Bryston don’t have a directly competing product.  James wrote a couple of years ago that they were thinking of making one.  Let’s hope it arrives soon ( I'd like to buy it ).
 

Hi Ron,

We have been thinking about a preamp that would combined the BP26/BP16 and BDA-1 in a single unit?

james

[Sasha]

Berkeley has released their USB add-on gizmo. The guy on Computer Audiophile has been gushing over it like crazy. It would work with the BDA-1 too probably.

Yes, Berkeley has released standalone USB/SPDIF converter, but they say that they will never place USB interface on their DAC.
And the guy on Computer Audiophile has indeed been gushing over it but if you read his post carefully you will see that he did not do any meaningful comparison to any other converters or solutions with soundcard, he has no reference, nothing, so all of that was useless, nothing more than excitement over the new toy.
What again brings us to the subject of utterly useless reviews.

[DaveNote]

I certainly can appreciate the concerns/disappointments of BDA-1 users who must depend on the USB connection to source their music on their computers. However, for BDP-1 users it is, I believe, a non-issue since they probably no longer have a need to access their music files on computers. Indeed, being on the BDP-1 was an inducement to get an iPad to access mPad. That use, in turn, meant not only using my PC less, but, in fact, coming to loath ever using it.

Are there many of you with BDP-1s who also use the USB connection on your BDA-1? If you do, what are you accessing on your computer? I ask because I'm wondering what I may have missed.

Dave

[werd]

.

[werd]

Why are you being so hostile? The review is just my opinion. If you like the BDA-1, be happy with it. I'm not calling names to those that like the product. Eveyone is looking for something else in a product. And you can't be a fool if you bought something you like. Be that a Bryston BDA-1, a NAIM-dac, Classé or what else is out there... It's all about personal taste. I like my coffee black, does that make coffee with milk and sugar a bad choice? No... but that doesn't mean that I have to like it...

And to get to the dac... Yes I did use the other inputs, except for the AES; I don't own a digital source with that output. So, I used: bnc, optical, coaxial and usb. It is clear that the bnc and coaxial inputs sound the best. USB wasn't bad either, but lacked some finesse. My Tentlabs b-DAC (980 euro) uses the same PCM2707, but sound better, because it reclocks better. That's pretty easy to hear actually.

And yes... it loses one star for the cheap usb-implementation. A 2500 euro dac shouldn't have afterthoughts. It's to expensive for that (in my opinion). The other star is because of the fact that it lacked the capability to realy get me in to the music. It sounded to detached. To sterile sometimes. It's that 'wow'-factor you can have with hifi. The Bryston amps definately have that wow-factor... their power- and pre-amps are amazing... that's why I thought I would love this dac as well. Well... I don't. Can't help it.

I hope this explenation helps you understand my choices. You don't have to agree with my conclusion. But please: loose the hostility. I'm not angree either. Just doing my job.

How can you tell if I am being hostile just by reading text? There was no hostility just to the point criticism. I have an opinion just like you. Except mine is about your review.

You've taken the BDA and made it into something its not or intended to be. 50 Percent of your criticism is Based on a low rez input. It's not a low Rez dac. It's a high Rez dac