[mariusconst]

I am trying to take full advantage of the Bryston SP1.7 audiophile-quality analog pre-amp.

I currently own a pair of B&W Nautius 803, powered by a 9B SST and coupled with a Bryston SP1.7. My source is a cheap Sony DVD player that I use it as transport only via an XLO type 4a digital cable. I also use Transparent MusiWave Plus biwire speaker cables, Transparent MusicLink Plus Balanced Interconnects between amp and SP1.7. I also own a pair of Transparent MusicLink Plus unbalanced Interconnects for a potential future high quality CD player that would be used with the Bryston SP1.7 analog pre-amp in bypass digital mode.

So I started to look for a CD player that would allow me take advantage of Bryston SP1.7 audiophile-quality analog pre-amp in bypass digital mode feature.
It prooved to be a dificult task... What I have auditioned so far was by far less satifying than my current system (the only missing piece so far in my system is that the bad recordings sound bad without being able to do anything in this direction and I am still missing the temporary countour adjustments - ie treble, bass)...
So, on one side I am very happy that I get such a great sound without the need of an expensive source (and this is probably mainly the merit of the SP1.7), however on the other side, I am wondering in case I want to use the analog pre-amp in bypass digital mode feature, how expensive does the CD player need to be in order to see a sound improvement over what I already have?
I listen 1/3 classic, 1/3 jazz, 1/3 rock-pop and this is also probably complicating things even more...

I would appreciate any input from Bryston owners and obviously I would also appreciate if James Tanner would let me know what source has Bryston used to test the analog pre-amp section in SP1.7.

Thanks in advance,
Marius

[kfr01]

I am trying to take full advantage of the Bryston SP1.7 audiophile-quality analog pre-amp.

I currently own a pair of B&W Nautius 803, powered by a 9B SST and coupled with a Bryston SP1.7. My source is a cheap Sony DVD player that I use it as transport only via an XLO type 4a digital cable. I also use Transparent MusiWave Plus biwire speaker cables, Transparent MusicLink Plus Balanced Interconnects between amp and SP1.7. I also own a pair of Transparent MusicLink Plus unbalanced Interconnects for a potent ...

Marius:  Have you considered a computer source with a high quality DAC or a computer source + squeezebox?

[gostan]

I use a Cary CD 303/300 dual SS/Tube outputs and internal upsampling.  It is expensive, but it balances well with my N803's and SP2.  Before obtaining the SP2 I did demo many cdp's before settling on the Cary.I think that everybody's tastes are different and I would recommend that you demo  some CDP's to see what the best sounds best to you at your price point.

[MOZ]

Hi everybody,

Bryston is, i was told, working on a CD player...
Maybe JAMES could answer this question ?

[nicolasb]

I agree with kfr01: don't buy a CD player, buy a stand-alone stereo DAC. An obvious choice would be the Benchmark DAC1, which (according to reviews) outperforms DACs costing twice the price and stand-alone CD players costing 5 times the price.

[James Tanner]

Hi everybody,

Bryston is, i was told, working on a CD player...
Maybe JAMES could answer this question ?

Hi MOZ,

Yes we are working on an outboard DAC, a CD Drive and a CD player.

james

[mariusconst]

Hi everybody,

Bryston is, i was told, working on a CD player...
Maybe JAMES could answer this question ?

Hi MOZ,

Yes we are working on an outboard DAC, a CD Drive and a CD player.

james

Thanks everybody for your input, I will take into account all the sugestions listed in this post.
I've also heard rumours about a Bryston source and tuner, any idea when will they become available?