Hi Folks
I would ask you to compare the measured performance of the Bryston BDA-3 DAC.
I will put it up against any DAC out there regardless of price.
Here is a measurement made by Stereophile.
Hi James!
You and I have had our disagreements so you might be surprised if I backed you up on this one! 😉
A few years ago, I had a friend come to my house and listen to some music on my system. Now, he is a professional musician and a very successful singer-songwriter in my country but he’s not much of a critical listener. However, his colleague IS, and it just so happens that he owns a major recording studio here, recognised for routinely excellent production quality. Some well-known artists have made their records there. This guy was adamant on purchasing the BDA-2 from me. I think he was not very happy when I wouldn’t let it go – I guess famous folks think they can get whatever they want. Now, I know they have some pretty amazing stuff in that studio, including very expensive A/D and D/A convertors from different companies so it was interesting to hear him say the BDA-2 was “seemingly truer to life” than what he was used to hearing and that if I’ll give him a few minutes, he’ll go to the nearest ATM and pay me. I don’t think he would have used it for tracking because it’s only two-channel but mastering might be a good application for it and it does have an AES input which is probably what they use in studios.
I have had the BDA-2 for years. In fact, when I got it, it had just come out and the BDA-1 was still in production at that time. While I have had some problems with the power ON/OFF sequence, it was replaced by the distributor and all is well. I must also say that there seems to be a great “synergy” (for a lack of a better word) with the BHA-1 headphone amplifier. I assume it has to do with the sane and proven techniques used to design all your devices.
As for the never-ending story of finding something “better”, those who please can embellish themselves and there are certainly enough companies that will be more than happy to take your money with a promise that “better” is exactly what you’re getting. Unless, of course, you’re not. To be quite frank, if you look at a D/A convertor as a device to convert digital data into an analogue waveform and you expect it to do its job as accurately as possible – or, in audiophile terms, to put music first – then you could spend a great deal more and not get better than what the Bryston offers. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for romanticism and impressionism in your sound, you may want to choose something else.
Cheers - Antun
