Bryston BDA-1 DAC
I have made references to my experiences with the Bryston BDA-1 DAC under my Bryston posts in the amplification section, but this product is so good that I thought it only fair to make a post in the DAC section. Unfortunately, I have not had the option of listening to this DAC in direct comparison to other DAC's in the same system, but I hope that I am a fairly seasoned listener who has heard many different DAC's in many systems, I including most recently at the 2011 CES.
Let me cut to the chase. This piece of electronics is superb and is probably a good run for the money for anything under $7500, which is pretty good considering that it lists for $2150. Although it has most of the main types of inputs, except firewire (allegedly the best and present on the Weiss for $8k), I have only used the Toslink and coaxial inputs due to the components that I am using with it.
If you want to know what the BDA-1 sounds like, go audition some the latest versions of the Bryston 28's because they have essentially the same analog driver sections. This means it sounds highly focused, incredibly fast, absolute pristine highs, state of the art mid bass and bass, and a noise floor so quiet that you cannot tell that you are listening to electronics. While this device sounds great with everything I have put through it, it is remarkable with acoustical stringed instruments and percussion, because you can hear decays and resonances that I presume are normally lost in the noise floors of lesser devices.
This device is so good that my tube preamp has only two of its inputs being used, a balanced input from the DAC and an analog phono. Anything I can run through the DAC I do, because it is SO much better then their analog sections and their D to A conversion. I was about to buy a new CD player or at least a new Blu-Ray, but just for the hell of it, tried a cheap Sony Blu-Ray that I bought in Costco for $230 2 years ago and thus probably inferior to what you can buy for the same price today, and connected its Toslink output to the DAC. Although i expected an improvement, I was not ready for what I got. It far exceeded my ARC CD 3 MK2 and I believe (based on memory) is superior to the $10k Meitner, although I have not had that unit in my system.
I have run several different Mac models through this DAC and they all sound the same, incredible, provided that you have at least 4 Gb of ram. BTW, on the advice of the Meitner engineers, I buy my digital cables from Monoprice.com, typically at a cost of $3-4. Also they say that you must use at least 2 meter lengths with optical cables to minimize internal reflections affecting the primary pulse.
My only disappointment with this unit is that the remote is an extra cost item, which means that I have to manually switch the inputs from my other devices.
Russ
The Mobiusman
