I've had a BCD-1 for about 3 weeks now, and have spent a considerable amount of time listening.
My system consists of the following:
-Dedicated music room with ASC IsoWall construction, multiple ASC Tube Traps and ASC Sound Planks.
-Bryston BCD-1-->Bryston BP 26 MC-->Bryston 4B SST C-series-->Focal Electra 1027 Be and B&W 803D loudspeakers. Cabling is Luminous Audio Synchestra Signature interconnects and Synchestra Signature speaker cables.
(-I also have an analog rig and have recently been conducting my own experiment on pros and cons of vinyl vs. digital with the "resurgence" and seeming popularity of analog as of late. I may post on that in the thread on media servers.)
I don't pretend to be an audio expert, have never written a review, and haven't heard many megabuck (think >$30K) systems or uber digital players/separates (say in the >$5K range). Like most of us here, I'm just a guy who loves good music played through a good system that gets it right most of the time, a long-time audiophile/listener who has done alot of analysis and pondering as to what constitutes "good sound" to my ears.
Right out of the box, the sound was initially cold, sterile and edgy. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that Bryston gear gets considerable burn in time at the factory, so my first reaction was “oh no – this is it?!”. By 40-50 hours, it was a completely different story. (Perhaps this unit hadn’t been burned in, or maybe that’s just done on the amps.) Anyway…
To me the BCD-1 is an amazing piece of equipment. It seems to possess virtually every quality I've been looking for in digital playback. Here's my synopsis:
-Tonal balance: Superb. Bass is extended and authoritative (it's a Bryston...) with a good balance, being articulate and punchy but with just enough boom. Highs are quite extended also - not rolled off like some players do seemingly in an effort to be "forgiving" - but also smooth; there's no harshness or excessive sibilance in my system despite the highs being very clean and extended. The midrange/presence region is just about right - neither too forward/bloomy/glaring - which quickly gets fatiguing (especially with rock/pop recordings), nor too recessed - which is plain uninvolving.
-Dynamics: Excellent. Transients are authoritative all along the frequency spectrum. Overall the sound is lively, with lots of energy - which to me is extremely important when it comes to music being presented in an engaging manner.
-Soundstage: Very good. Depth of soundstage/three-dimensionality is great. On many of my discs music seems to be come straight back to the side of the listening position - very cool! Width and height of soundstage are about average. (I've had at least one CDP with a much bigger soundstage through the exact same equipment, so I know my system is otherwise capable of this.) If you treasure a great big soundstage and would call lack of a massively wide/tall soundstage a negative - than this would the only real drawback of this unit as far as I can tell.
-Detail: Impressive. It seems to deliver exactly what most of us crave - extreme accuracy, giving loads of detail without being hyper-detailed/etched/analytical to the point of being unnatural and fatiguing.
-Pace, rhythm, and timing ("PRAT"): This one's harder to quantify or describe, but I get a great foot-tapping/physical reaction with plenty of "flow" and good sense of rhythm from the music.
-Overall perspective: Outstanding. The presentation is neither too forward nor too laid back and point of delivery neither too close nor too far away. In terms of what I refer to as "texture", I would call it about dead neutral - that is, neither tending towards the dry/brittle/cold/analytical side, nor towards the overly warm/lush/rounded/forgiving side. (I've read virtually every review of the BCD-1 that's been published thus far. A couple of reviewers have hinted that the BCD-1 may be a bit on the dry or edgy side of neutral. I believe this has to do with either their associated equipment or personal taste. Having experimented with the BP 26/4B SST combination in conjunction with other components I'm very familiar with, I feel the Bryston gear in general is about as close to neutral as you can get. The BCD-1 is cut from the same cloth. Throw in another piece of equipment that leans one way or the other and the whole system will take on that character. If your taste runs towards sound that is lush, warm, rounded, "tubey", etc., then you might characterize the BCD-1 as being overly cool, dry or analytical and this player may not do it for you. For my taste, it's just about right.)
But what really makes the BCD-1 special in my view is it's ability to do all of the above and then go a step further: to present music with multiple instruments or voices (as most recorded music has) with an incredible ability to separate and keep everything distinct in a three dimensional soundstage - just as it would be heard in a live performance - while at the same time maintaining overall coherence, with the parts always fitting together to make an integrated whole. From the small synopsis of the BCD-1 where it was given a Golden Ear Award in the latest issue of 'The Absolute Sound', this seems to be what Alan Taffel has zeroed in on as well in his upcoming Absolute Sound review of the BCD-1.
-Musicality: Combining all of the above into overall musical satisfaction, the BCD-1 scores a solid A+ here as far as I'm concerned.
The sound I'm getting in my room is truly rivetting. Given that this is a direct reflection of the Bryston DAC, then my next destination is a sever/hard disk drive feeding a BDA-1...
