Looks very nice! Throw in the BHA-1 experience as well in the bag. I'd love to hear back.
Hi,
Back with some initial results.
Let me say first that I've tested the new setup through a different connection from the one I use in my own setup. I've connected the BDP2 with its new sound card on the USB route, into the 24bit usb BDA2, which is the new option this set would be offering to me, compared to the BDA1 16b usb. I play that through the AES-EBU connection along with the many SPDIF and optical connections for the various other devices, I didn't test in this comparison thoroughly yet. Both are played on the balanced inputs of the BP26, ensuring any differences are Source differences.
These machines would need to offer a significant step-up from my current setup, and that would have to come from the newly implemented techniques. No reason to only test the same setup for that matter.
I must admit it is not an easy task.... The bda1-bdp1 combo as we all know is built very adequately (...) and sound is very satisfactory to my ears. I'm understating here. It might miss several features we love to see in the new devices, but when all is connected and music is playing, well, I tend to forget the device and simply enjoy. Massively.
I do have several issues with playing the BDP in album and artist view, because of the Bryston DB not being able to use my library which surpasses the 20K tracks. Therefor I never use it, and have gotten used to never using it. (So much i missed this option in Roon, and ended that trial.)
The BDP2 is able to load the full library, but has very many wrongly displayed albums. Probably due to my own carelessness of tagging and providing correct images. So, there I have it: the BDP2 is a major step-up in that aspect, but i don't think i will find the courage to straighten things out (tempting myself here...)
Did I hear a significant step-up in sound/music? To be honest: no. The new set did sound a bit louder, but that might also be caused by the fact I tuned down my BDA1 a bit.
I've compared music on the 2 Bryston USB thumbs I have, on directly attached USB drives and on several NAS drives. They all sound magnificently and the BDP1 never showed any musical stress. Neither did the BDP2 of course, which has the better specs and the advantage of more power doing things simultaneously. Playing and copying files, or playing and updating the DB for that matter. BDP2 wins hands down. But that doesn't tempt me to exchange players, and spend several thousands of euros.
The Dac:
that is an ever tougher challenge. I can't hear any difference at all? Starting to doubt my own ears here. Of course there's the 24bit Usb connection. But that would only be useful in the above described setup. I wasn't tempted by that so far (hope to hear from you all for suggestions to pin it down), and my other sources are all 16bit, and so far justly provided by the other input options on the BDA1.
Were I to embark on the DSD route, I believe would have to opt for the BDA3, and thats not on the bench.
In short: both are extremely musical combo's of player and dac, and both sound very similar. I've yet to find music that distinguishes the 2 players /dacs from each other sufficiently to justify the price it would take.
Bot:
Sorry to say, but my fake below 50 Euro drive didn't lose from the over 1000 euro Bryston competitor. Enough said.
The Bryston Bot has got the looks (though it doesn't fit exactly compared with the wider Bryston siblings, might be just the rubber feet), but I didn't find any feature to justify that price difference, other than esthetics. Which are cool of course. What's not so cool is the fact that the LG fake Bot is quieter.... Luckily, the BDP2 should read the cd's in 1 read, and play from memory, rather than the BDP1, which has to read more often because of lack of memory.
Only strange thing is that on each BDP1 power, the cd in the fake bot is ejected
A small sacrifice to be made i guess.
Sorry if this post is lengthier than previously thought, but they're merely my impressions for now. If any of you would point me to some game-changers you'd think, please let me try them. (I'm still hoping to find these and modernize the setup
Cheerio,
Marius
