Bryston CD Player

James Tanner · « **Reply #40 on:** 10 May 2006, 09:57 pm »

Hi All,

What we have found is that the quality/performance of different state of the art DAC's are not all that different.

What we have found is that hand-picking the oscillators and the DAC's, independent power supply regulation on each stage, and by a large margin using discrete class A analog circuits at the output of the DAC is by far the more important performance criteria.

james

Phil A · « **Reply #41 on:** 10 May 2006, 10:16 pm »

James has already addressed the fact that the DACs in the pre/pro are not optimized for 2-channel music. In my opinion, it would be a waste to buy a CD transport to use with a SP 1.7 or SP2. I'd agree with James totally that the analog output stage of the DAC is extremely important. I just reconfigured my system and I am using a Marantz DV9600 universal player along with a Micromega Duo Pro DAC. The DAC is 10+ yrs. old and people are still amazed by it. Yes it did list for $2.5k-3k in its day. I was lucky to pick it up for a trade of stuff that was worth a couple of hundred at most and stuff that was not of use to me.

mariusconst · « **Reply #42 on:** 11 May 2006, 02:23 pm »

Quote from: Phil A

Marius if you see my earlier post, HDMI 1.2a can handle SACD signals via a digital output. Here's the press release: http://www.hdmi.org/press/pr/pr_20051227.asp
The HD ...

Thanks Phil for the info, I was not aware of this. However, are there any units that have implemented these specs, as I was aware only about a unit from Denon offering a proprietary encrypted link for a SACD digital output signal?
On the other side, neither SP1.7 nor SP2.0 currently do not offer HDMI interface currently… Maybe the new external DAC will...

Phil A · « **Reply #43 on:** 11 May 2006, 03:45 pm »

Quote from: mariusconst

Quote from: Phil A
Marius if you see my earlier post, HDMI 1.2a can handle SACD signals via a digital output. Here's the press release: http://www.hdmi.org/press/pr/pr_20051227.asp
The HD ...

Thanks Phil for the info, I was not aware of this. However, are there any units that have implemented these specs, as I was aware only about a unit from Denon offering a proprietary encrypted link for a SACD digital output signal?
On the other side, neither SP1.7 nor SP2.0 currently do not offer HDMI interface currently… Maybe the new external DAC will...

I asked James Tanner that question about a page or two back to whether the transport/cd player will have an HDMI out and the DAC an HDMI in. He indicated he will get back to us. He has said I beleive that the SP2 and 1.7 can be outfitted with HDMI. I believe he said they are waiting for HDMI 1.3 to be adopted. I would imagine it would be soon. I'm pretty sure that Sony has indicated their PlayStation 3 to be released on Nov. 17 will be the the 1st Blu-Ray player with HDMI 1.3 and it does support SACD. While I am not a gamer, having a DAC with an HDMI input could put Bryston at the head of the market for those gamers who are also audiophiles and not want to change their current pre/pro/rec'r. I'd imagine the next generation of most home theater stuff is going to have more HDMI inputs. Here is a press release on the Sony:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060508/sfm131.html?.v=42

The price point that the Sony is coming out at and the hotness of the game market may make it an attractive purchase for Blu-Ray. It would be something that would hold its value compared to most things for the near term. A DAC with a good analog output stage could even make it more interesting.

mariusconst · « **Reply #44 on:** 11 May 2006, 07:11 pm »

Quote from: Phil A

I asked James Tanner that question about a page or two back to whether the transport/cd player will have an HDMI out and the DAC an HDMI in. He indicated he will get back to us. He has said I beleive that the SP2 and 1.7 can be outfitted with HDMI. I believe he said they are waiting for HDMI 1.3 to be adopted. I would imagine it would be soon. I'm pretty sure that Sony has indicated their PlayStation 3 to be released on Nov. 17 will be the the 1st Blu-Ray player with HDMI 1.3 and it does support SACD. ...

The current home theatre sources have already adopted HDMI as perefered output for image and image+sound. I fully agree that this is definitely the way to go for true HD resolution image (1080p) and all existing competitive universal disc players are already offering HDMI output.

But I thought that Bryston decided to stay away from releasing universal disc players until the war HD DVD vs Blue-ray will be settled and come up only with a standard CD player/transport for 2 channel music...

James Tanner · « **Reply #45 on:** 11 May 2006, 07:31 pm »

Hi,

After initial discussion I think we will leave the HDMI out for now.

james

Phil A · « **Reply #46 on:** 11 May 2006, 07:55 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner

Hi,

After initial discussion I think we will leave the HDMI out for now.

james

James, so is the current plan still a 2-channel CD/SACD player ($2.5k-3k estimated retail at this early stage?), a separate transport and a DAC (including a USB input?)? Will the DAC (and transport) do SACD or just CD? If the DAC is going to do SACD. will it have some other proprietary input for SACD? What is the estimated time frame for products to get to the market?

Thanks

James Tanner · « **Reply #47 on:** 11 May 2006, 08:00 pm »

Hi Phil,

Looks like the CD player would have SACD 2 channel playback but only ouput analog on SACD.

The Drive and Outboard DAC would be Redbook (no SACD).

james

Phil A · « **Reply #48 on:** 11 May 2006, 08:15 pm »

Thanks, James. Keep us up to date on estimated pricing and anticipated street dates.

mariusconst · « **Reply #49 on:** 11 May 2006, 08:42 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner

Hi Phil,

Looks like the CD player would have SACD 2 channel playback but only ouput analog on SACD.

The Drive and Outboard DAC would be Redbook (no SACD).

james

Hi James,
This sounds great and probably covers almost all case scenarious.
I assume that you will launch all of them at once, any rough estimate for the release date?
Thanks,
Marius

sikoniko · « **Reply #50 on:** 11 May 2006, 11:10 pm »

Quote from: Phil A

James has already addressed the fact that the DACs in the pre/pro are not optimized for 2-channel music. In my opinion, it would be a waste to buy a CD transport to use with a SP 1.7 or SP2. I'd agree with James totally that the analog output stage of the DAC is extremely important. I just reconfigured my system and I am using a Marantz DV9600 universal player along with a Micromega Duo Pro DAC. The DAC is 10+ yrs. old and people are still amazed by it. Yes it did list for $2.5k-3k in its day. I was l ...

I thought that was the point of the 2 channel bypass on the sp2 that is taken from the bp26? educate me please the differences?

Phil A · « **Reply #51 on:** 11 May 2006, 11:36 pm »

Quote from: sikoniko

I thought that was the point of the 2 channel bypass on the sp2 that is taken from the bp26? educate me please the differences?

With a transport, you are just taking the digital ouput into a DAC. A transport is not a player with its own DAC. So if you're taking a transport and hooking it to the SP2, it is via the digital connection, and thus not optimized for music and not going thru the 2 channel analog bypass mode.

sikoniko · « **Reply #52 on:** 11 May 2006, 11:46 pm »

my browser is acting screwy! posts are disapearing...

Levi · « **Reply #53 on:** 12 May 2006, 12:20 am »

I thought the SP1.7 analog-bypass is a BP25.

If a Bryston CD player is to work with SP2 at it's best in 2ch stereo, then it should have an excellent onboard DAC. I just hope it has XLR output to match with my BAT (Balanced Audio Technology) preamp. I still have the my SP1.7 for HT duties and backup for my 2ch stereo. Ha!

James Tanner · « **Reply #54 on:** 12 May 2006, 12:55 am »

Quote from: mariusconst

Quote from: James Tanner
Hi Phil,

Looks like the CD player would have SACD 2 channel playback but only ouput analog on SACD.

The Drive and Outboard DAC would be Redbook (no SACD).

james

Hi James,
This sounds great and probably covers almost all case scenarious.
I assume that you will launch all of them at once, any rough estimate for the release date?
Thanks,
Marius

I hope this summer.

james

mariusconst · « **Reply #55 on:** 12 May 2006, 03:27 am »

Quote from: James Tanner

Quote from: mariusconst

Hi James,
This sounds great and probably covers almost all case scenarious.
I assume that you will launch all of them at once, any rough estimate for the release date?
Thanks,
Marius

I hope this summer.

james

Oh, this is realy good news! I was looking at Sim Audio Equinox CD player, but now I am going to wait until Bryston will release the new player!

One more question, James, are you also looking into the posibility to release a Bryston tuner in the future?

Thanks.
Marius

Bob Reynolds · « **Reply #56 on:** 12 May 2006, 04:59 am »

I realize that you can't satisfy everyone, but I will miss HDCD decoding in the Bryston player.

As far as I know, Cary is the only manufacturer offering HDCD decoding in a high-end player.

James Tanner · « **Reply #57 on:** 12 May 2006, 11:08 am »

Hi Marius,

No tuners planned.

james

sikoniko · « **Reply #58 on:** 12 May 2006, 12:42 pm »

One thing that I am not sure was brought up, what about balanced outs for the CD player?

and how about a future upgrade for the SP2 to include 2 ch. balanaced outs. I have a friend that had the SP2 and recently sold it for the new D2. He said that the ability to use the balanced inputs for his CDP made a significant difference from the standard RCA's.

Levi · « **Reply #59 on:** 12 May 2006, 01:25 pm »

I agree, Balanced topology when implemented correctly in CDplayers yields overall better sonics. Digital out should be disabled when not being used.

Quote from: sikoniko

One thing that I am not sure was brought up, what about balanced outs for the CD player?

and how about a future upgrade for the SP2 to include 2 ch. balanaced outs. I have a friend that had the SP2 and recently sold it for the new D2. He said that the ability to use the balanced inputs for his CDP made a significant difference from the standard RCA's.