Memo: To All Bryston Customers
Subject: Bryston BCD-1 CD Player Review in Son & Image Magazine
October 27th 2009
Bryston BCD-1 CD player
At first a little eager in its presentation, the BCD-1 settled down after a couple of days of playing to deliver a truly engaging and consistently musical performance. All my listening so far has been through the RCA outputs and after a month, this player is still surprising me with its resolution and finesse. The BCD-1 has a uniformly unbiased presentation across the frequency spectrum, which makes it a superb instrument for an audio reviewer, providing a true reference point for equipment evaluation.
I've plugged the BCD-1 into four different systems and in all cases, the Bryston has acquitted itself admirably. Ergonomically, the ultra-rapid loading tray is a little unnerving at first (here hand me that - NOW- I will play it!), but speed is not a liability in this case. In fact, it's great when the urge to play DJ grabs you. The backlit remote is a charm and allows you turn off the player?s display for a little extra darkness in your listening room.
One evening with an audio buddy, we connected the BCD-1 to his high-resolution reference system costing more than my mortgage, loaded the Gladiator soundtrack and remained glued to our seats for the next hour. I've never seen my buddy do that before.
The ultimate goal of audio equipment is to fully engage the listener in the musical experience. Never once has the BCD-1 failed in this regard. Disc after disc, I have not succeeded in tripping up this machine. It plays music like it mattered!
So, thank you Bryston for substantially raising the bar in CD playback! no correct that - music playback.
Jan-Erik Nordoen
Reviewer,
Son & Image Magazine