[James Tanner]

How does one indicate that a group of files is a gapless album?

Hi Steve,

Not sure on that one - would have to ask our software engineers. I just know it was one of the concerns very early on in the release of the BDP-1 and we have had no issues with Gapless file playback as far as I am aware.

james

[SGK]

Thanks.  Keen to hear the answer.  If they're able to answer my somewhat technical questions above I'd appreciate that immensely.

Rgds

Steve

[SGK]

Any progress James?

I'm also confused by a post in this thread http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=107580.0 where it is stated that the BDP-1 can't do 192/24 over USB. Is that true?

[James Tanner]

Any progress James?

I'm also confused by a post in this thread http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=107580.0 where it is stated that the BDP-1 can't do 192/24 over USB. Is that true?

No the confusion is the BDA-1 DAC's USB's input is limited to 48/16 bit.  The BDP-1 can easily do 192/24 and has AES/EBU or BNC outputs which plug in to the BDA-1 DAC's AES and BNC inputs.

james

[SGK]

Ah silly me - I didn't read the post carefully at all.

Still keen to hear answers to my other questions.  Thanks

[kevin360]

Steve,

I can put your mind to rest on one point - gapless playback. If the tracks transition seamlessly on the source (CD, etc), the files (ripped, downloaded, etc) will be played seamlessly. This, for me, was a very big deal as the first serious player I purchased failed to perform this way (which I find inexcusable). 

In all honesty, I think the BDP-1 is a very well executed piece of equipment. I couldn't be more satisfied. It's unique (to my knowledge) in a number of very good ways.

Concerning NAS support: the fact that Bryston worked to add that feature is what prompted me to order mine. Now that I have it (but without the firmware loaded to enable NAS support), I'm beginning to wonder why I was so adamant about needing it (the NAS support). The little USB drives are cheap (500GB for ~$80) and work great - I have one loaded up so far and playback has been flawless.

[SGK]

Thanks Kevin360. I agree re gapless playback - rather basic feature and glad to hear it works well.  Do you just play the album and the tracks within it are automatically gapless? (assuming of course the original was)

I'm not fussed re NAS (at least not for now). But I am about ALAC for the reasons noted before. I'd like to hear more from people re this. Same with multi-channel support.  The BDP-2 needs to support multi-channel in order to be competitive. James hasn't been able to answer whether this requires hardware modifications (e.g. HDMI because AES/EBU doesn't have the bandwidth). The BDP-1 isn't unique.  Meridian and others have very nice products in this arena and I would certainly expect others to be on their way. The BDP was a very timely and excellent product; the question is whether it will be refreshed in order to keep up with the competition.

[James Tanner]

Thanks Kevin360. I agree re gapless playback - rather basic feature and glad to hear it works well.  Do you just play the album and the tracks within it are automatically gapless? (assuming of course the original was)

I'm not fussed re NAS (at least not for now). But I am about ALAC for the reasons noted before. I'd like to hear more from people re this. Same with multi-channel support.  The BDP-2 needs to support multi-channel in order to be competitive. James hasn't been able to answer whether this requires hardware modifications (e.g. HDMI because AES/EBU doesn't have the bandwidth). The BDP-1 isn't unique.  Meridian and others have very nice products in this arena and I would certainly expect others to be on their way. The BDP was a very timely and excellent product; the question is whether it will be refreshed in order to keep up with the competition.

Hi

The BDP -1 will remain Stereo - multichannel audio is really not where it was targeted.

James

[JfTM]

Hi

The BDP -1 will remain Stereo - multichannel audio is really not where it was targeted.

James

No one else is chiming in. 

I support the two stereo focus.   

[SGK]

If a potential customer were presented with two products that were otherwise identical but one did multi-channel and the other stereo, I know which would be chosen. James, you still haven't answered the question as to whether a lot of additional hardware is required for multi-channel but I suspect you don't care to.  I'll be on the look out for the better product.

[James Tanner]

If a potential customer were presented with two products that were otherwise identical but one did multi-channel and the other stereo, I know which would be chosen. James, you still haven't answered the question as to whether a lot of additional hardware is required for multi-channel but I suspect you don't care to.  I'll be on the look out for the better product.

Hi SGK

Yes I agree given your multi channel requirements I do not think the BDP is the right choice for you. Multi channel would require a completely different sound card and output section.

James

[terrycym]

Hi SGK

Yes I agree given your multi channel requirements I do not think the BDP is the right choice for you. Multi channel would require a completely different sound card and output section.

James

If you suplied that as an option for existing BDP-1 owners, I'd buy it.

[James Tanner]

If you suplied that as an option for existing BDP-1 owners, I'd buy it.

Hi Terry

I think it would have to be a different product as the multichannel sound cards we have looked at so far have been sonically disappointing with stereo and especially hi-res.

James

[SGK]

It would require a transport interface capable of multichannel, yes. I don't understand your point about a different "sound card". It's merely reading and sending a bitstream - isn't all the decoding and channel separation being done in the DAC or other device it's connected to?

A friend of mine has the Meridian Soolos system.  Really very nice. I understand a number of other manufacturers are looking at similar digital player systems. We'll have to see what arrives and who can compete.

[kevin360]

I'll wander out on a thin limb and answer your question with a no - it isn't simply reading and transmitting a bitstream. Were that the case, I doubt there would be a need for the player in the first place. It is reading a file and producing a bitstream - a non-trivial distinction. The Juli@ sound card in the BDP-1 is stereo, therefore multichannel is not possible with the current hardware.

I understand the desire being expressed here, but I believe Bryston chose well in producing a stereo device. I look at it as a replacement for my CD player. That saves wear and tear on my player, as it is now relegated to SACDs & DVD/BluRay duties (which is a significant reduction in usage).

[SGK]

Quite some time ago I asked questions with respect to better understanding exactly this point. Rather simple questions. No answers. (One would still need a player to read the file format and deliver the PCM bitstream.)

I'm looking for a player to replace my CD/SACD player and to play both stereo and multi-channel downloads. The BDP-1 seems like a useful part-way solution but I fear it will be dated very rapidly (and I am concerned about the "unstable" ALAC support - to dismiss those who also use iTunes as "not for you" is a surprising response). More so, I'm surprised that Bryston don't seem to want to take it to the next level.

My little and cheap Oppo 93 (there's no point purchasing the 95 if you aren't going to use the player's DACs) has already replaced my DVD player in that I've ripped my entire collection to disk. (The original discs are gathering dust in a storage unit rather than cluttering my living room.) I just play the MKV files from the Oppo. Discs are cumbersome dinosaurs taking their last breaths.  (If I could purchase for download movies with uncompressed master soundtracks I wouldn't buy BDs either.)

The Oppo can also play multichannel FLAC up to 192kHz sample rates. (Annoyingly it doesn't support ALAC - yet. Also annoyingly, it doesn't support gapless.  Hence I continue to look for a solution for my CD and multi-channel collection.) The purist in me likes the Bryston approach - strip everything down to a simple player.  There's a market for this, as has already been demonstrated. I'll keep looking for something good.  If the BDP-1 were to handle ALAC flawlessly I might even buy it as a "filler" until a like-designed product came along that could do multi-channel also. Perhaps Theta will fill the gap.

[James Tanner]

I'll wander out on a thin limb and answer your question with a no - it isn't simply reading and transmitting a bitstream. Were that the case, I doubt there would be a need for the player in the first place. It is reading a file and producing a bitstream - a non-trivial distinction. The Juli@ sound card in the BDP-1 is stereo, therefore multichannel is not possible with the current hardware.

I understand the desire being expressed here, but I believe Bryston chose well in producing a stereo device. I look at it as a replacement for my CD player. That saves wear and tear on my player, as it is now relegated to SACDs & DVD/BluRay duties (which is a significant reduction in usage).

Thanks - all of the above is correct and you would be surprised at how different sound cards can sound. Also different software affects the sound as well. We tried a number of multi- channel cards about 2 months ago to see if we could offer an optional sound card and sadly we found that old digital glare to the sound was back. Also the multi channel cards all had dropouts and glitches with high resolution stereo files.

By the way the sound card in the BDP-1 is not a stock card. We replace the driver section and the output section AES and BNC connections and transformers.

As someone once said - Everything Matters 

James

[SGK]

I am clearly missing something rather basic.  I understand a "sound card" to be a DAC or ADC. (The Juli@ would appear to perform this function.) The BDP-1 operates fully in the digital domain.  It neither digitises analogue sound nor produces analogue sound from a digital file. It reads file containers and processes or decodes these to produce a PCM bitstream. No? Why does it need a DAC/ADC?

There are plenty of SACD players out there handling multi-channel, high-res PCM streams without drop-outs or glitches.

I'm keen to be educated here.

[James Tanner]

I am clearly missing something rather basic.  I understand a "sound card" to be a DAC or ADC. (The Juli@ would appear to perform this function.) The BDP-1 operates fully in the digital domain.  It neither digitises analogue sound nor produces analogue sound from a digital file. It reads file containers and processes or decodes these to produce a PCM bitstream. No? Why does it need a DAC/ADC?

There are plenty of SACD players out there handling multi-channel, high-res PCM streams without drop-outs or glitches.

I'm keen to be educated here.

Hi SGK,

Not sure I understand it totally either - I leave that to the engineering guys - but all I can tell you is I listened to about 5 different sound cards and the one I liked best sonically was the ASUS but it would glitch every so often even on 44.1.  It may be a software hardware combination issues but given that I was much happier with the way the Juli@ card sounded we did not pursue it any further.

Maybe a product like a scaled down Bryston SP-3 which has all types of inputs including HDMI might be something to consider in the future?

james

[SGK]

Hi James

Perhaps you could ask one of your engineering guys to give us a short tutorial as I think their response would be of interest to many here.

On the SP-3, no disrespect but I own the Theta Casablanca III HD with Xtreme DACs. It's the player I am trying to sort out.  Bryston was one of the first power amps I ever owned, a 3B purchased in New Zealand.  Alas, I've not looked at the brand since until I heard about the BDP-1.

Regards

Steve