[James Tanner]

I am really tempted to try the Bryston with an iPod as remote controll. Will I get up album art on that you think?

Hi niels - I have not used the iPod as a remote - not sure if you can?  You would use an iTouch and a free program called MPod.

james

[RonCH]

Hi niels,

It does support apple lossless - I just prefer and recommend FLAC because it is open source and no one owns it.  So at no time down the road will the ability to play Flac files go away or become obsolete because some corporation decides not to support a specfic format.

james

James,

Did I get this right? The BDP-1 does support Apple Lossless?!?

In http://www.bryston.com/pdfs/09/Bryston_BDP1_LITERATURE.pdf it says that the BDP-1 only supports FLAC, WAV and AIFF.  What other file types does it support?  Will it play MP3 files for example?

Regards
Ron

SPECS
• File Types: FLAC - WAV - AIFF
• Output Sample Rates: 44.1K – 48K - 88.2K – 96K - 176.4K – 192K

[James Tanner]

Hi Ron,

The only commonly used file music system it will not play is WMA.  Although we highly recommend you use the better lossless and non compressed Wave and Flac systems.  Especially Flac because it is an 'open' system owned by no one

james

[James Tanner]

Quote:
Originally Posted by jdandy 
James.......Thank you. The German Translation is much easier to understand. It certainly seems that the Bryston BDP-1 is gathering a world wide fan base.


Hi Dan,

Yes it was a rough start - many people really did not understand where I was targeting the BDP-1 and thought of it as a Server or a Streamer rather than a Player. There was one response to the preliminary press release from England that said "I think Bryston must have the stupidest engineers in the world". Wow talk about a rough start. (Also I think he meant the stupidest Marketing department in the world - me)

The great thing is though that once people see and listen to the BDP-1 they "get it". I realize it is not for everyone but computers are very noisy devices – both electrically and mechanically as well as operating systems that are designed to do many things beyond playing music files.

The BDP-1 is an attempt to reduce these noise issues and operating issues to a minimum. So a dedicated operating system designed to do one thing and one thing only – play a high resolution digital music file - (Linux), a high quality industrial CPU with no moving parts, a dedicated digital transformer coupled output section and separate power supplies for the digital and analog sections add up to a state of the art high resolution digital music playback system that when coupled to a high quality DAC can provide the best performance currently available.

james

[sfraser]

Volume is locked to 100% in the Squeezebox settings. Streaming is set to faad/flac or /sox, pcm and mp3 is de-activated.
I have previously had some questions regarding digital reansfer and gain, but cant seem to get answers.
I have a HD tv decoder, and a year ago I tried using digital coax out to my Bryston dac, but the volume was very low. The analog output was much stronger, and since I could use the decoders remote for volume I choose analog sound from the decoder.
Some months later the box received a firmware update from the cable company, and suddenly the digital output was stronger, now almost equal in volume to the analog output.
As for the squeezebox, I have some music on my computer that I copied to the Macbook. Both machines use iTunes as library. On both machines I can access Spotify, but the computer streams the music to the squeezebox via wireless, the macbook I connect to the Bryston directly from digital out on the macbook to the Bryston dac.
I feel the music comes much more alive when using the Macbook, and my thought is that gain must be higher. I agree that the squeezebox is very convenient to use, but somehow I lost the respect for it after getting the Macbook.

One of my systems has a squeezebox connected via digital coax to Bryston  SP1. I have noticed the volume "gain" appear to be low with my set scenario as well. If i get the opportunity i may troll the squeeze forums and see if anyone else had this issue as well. Interesting enough in another system I have a SB3 and a CD transport both connected to a Benchmark DAC1 and the gain appears pretty constant when i switch between the transport and the SB3.

cheers,

[werd]

So now you are onto something...

As per my second post here, its not the cable that makes the difference but the parts on either end... such as the usb signal sender and recievers.... the quality of the disk drive power supply... the  quality of the sender and reciever software... the noise rejection/amplification that sender and reciever have.

In my opinon USB HD is the WORST interface for using in this application because there is no standard for USB enabled components such as disk drives.... they are all consumer based products... so they have no mandate to be they best the can relative to an audio application.

So if a crappy sender/receiver unit in the disk drive has high levels of noise on it (and also remember USB has POWER PLUS SIGNAL down it), then that may work fine connected to a computer but will cause issues in audio applications.

Use the USB stick as a benchmark... and now you will need to do SQ comparisons between different hard drives enclosers.

And then you have the gotcha... self powered or powered hard drive enclosers.

I think Bryston should publish a recommended or "certified" list of HD enclosures that have not caused SQ issues in their opinion... else someone will buy the cheapest one out there and get SQ issues.


Peter

Yes good points.  It could very well not be the bdp at issue at all. I may have been refering to the quality of the Omega and it's output and not the bdp1. The more i think about it the coments were probably addressing the lousy HD and its usb output quality. I can't see Bryston under engineering anything.

Sorry James if i had misdirected my reactions when it was very likely the HDD.

[ricko01]

Yes good points.  It could very well not be the bdp at issue at all. I may have been refering to the quality of the Omega and it's output and not the bdp1. The more i think about it the coments were probably addressing the lousy HD and its usb output quality. I can't see Bryston under engineering anything.

Sorry James if i had misdirected my reactions when it was very likely the HDD.

Quoting James above "I realize it is not for everyone but computers are very noisy devices – both electrically and mechanically as well as operating systems that are designed to do many things beyond playing music files".. and also the comment about Byston being stupid... I wont go that far but....

The problem is.........USB cables have a very short length limit... and sure you can get extenders BUT these extenders are not certified for USB HD. The cost of a reliable extender that supports a USB HD is in the 100's of dollars.

For my two cents worth, several points.

- While the concept of James to not need a PC for playback is good, technically you do need a PC at some point.... cause you need to rip your CD's... so there is no escaping the PC and therefore some PC skill are needed

- The concept of not needing a PC in the  "direct" playback chain by using USB drives is again good, but see my point about the limited length of a USB cable (and also the lack of a quality mandate in USB devices)...So this means you are almost always forced to have the USB HD in the listening room and potentially have wall warts connected to the same outlets as your equipment.


So... in my view another combination to support would have been to use SAMBA. This would work as below:

1- You rip your CD's to a PC HD and thats where they stay
2- You connect the BDP-1 to your home network via an ethernet cable (which can be run many many metres)
3- You configure SAMBA on the BDP-1 to see the PC and the ripped content
4- away you go
5- You can still have the USB HD options as it stands today


This maintains the concept... and its better because it is techincally not possible for noise to be transmitted over Ethernet... you get any noisey PC stuff (computer/USB HD's etc) out of the room... and with a nice skinny ethernet cable you have no length limitations.

Peter

PS. and of course NAS is conceptually similar to the above... and what I have described is a poor man's NAS.. because you use what PC "stuff" you have today

[James Tanner]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hi Peter

You can transfer files from any remote computer to the BDP-1's attached drive (either USB Thumbdrive or USB Harddrive as long as they are formatted Fat32 (vfat) ) over the network - is that what you mean?

james

[ricko01]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hi Peter

You can transfer files from any remote computer to the BDP-1's attached drive (either USB Thumbdrive or USB Harddrive as long as they are formatted Fat32 (vfat) ) over the network - is that what you mean?

james

Close... but SAMBA takes it several steps further.

Lets ignore the ripping side, cause its common to both approaches.

What I am suggesting is that there is another simple way for the BDP-1 to see content to play:

1- What you currently have .. where the playback software running under Linux sees a USB HD and can therefore read the WAV/AIFF etc file. The connection is via a USB storage chain (USB HD into USB cable into USB port on BDP-1)... OR.....

2- You store the rip content onto a PC HD (and thats where it stays) and use Linux SAMBA to "mount" that PC HD.. this means it looks like a hard drive in exactly the same way the connected USB HD does. Connection is via Ethernet chain (PC HD onto ethernet into BDP-1 where SAMBA mounts PC HD)

The Linux based playback software cant tell the difference... to it both the USB HD and the SAMBA remoted mounted drive are "local" HD's that have content.

Software wise it is a simple change and as I state you get the benefit of the long ethernet cable runs to get potentially noise inducing USB HD well away from your audio components.



Peter

[James Tanner]

OK Peter thanks - i will pass it along to our software engineer.

james

[ricko01]

OK Peter thanks - i will pass it along to our software engineer.

james

I forgot to add thats its a zero cost alternative for the end user.

There are NO changes needed to PC aside from making the PC HD shareable... which most people do... and if not the change is a simple mouse click or two on the PC

And if the PC doesnt have enough storage... just use the USB HD you were using with the BDP-1 with the PC instead.

[ricko01]

Samba is a broad family of protocols. see http://linux-cifs.samba.org/


"The CIFS VFS is a virtual file system for Linux to allow access to servers and storage appliances compliant with the SNIA CIFS Specification version 1.0 or later.    Popular servers such as Samba, Windows 2000, Windows XP and many others support CIFS by default.   The CIFS VFS provides some support for older servers based on the more primitive SMB (Server Message Block) protocol (you also can use the Linux file system smbfs as an alternative for accessing these).   "


Peter

[JimB-MN]

James and Peter,

I hope you can figure this out.  It would be a great upgrade.  I seem to download or purchase CDs a couple times a week and ripping to a PC HD/NAS, then copying to a USB HD, hooking the HD back up to the BDP and waiting for it in reload is a bit of a hassle.  Having said that, I love my BDP.  Good luck!

Jim

[skunark]

This was something originally on the BDP-1 feature list, but I think it was delayed/dropped because of the security requirements to connect up to  NFS/Samba file shares.   The end-user would have to teach the BDP-1 to log into the users computer.   

Sony's DLNA and Zeroconf (Avahi, bonjour etc) are two alternatives that greatly simplifies the security but requires the user to run an application or a background service.  IMO, neither have been that successful with navigating large libraries but probably something to look into.   As an end-user I would want the option to disable this on the BDP-1.

[James Tanner]

This was something originally on the BDP-1 feature list, but I think it was delayed/dropped because of the security requirements to connect up to  NFS/Samba file shares.   The end-user would have to teach the BDP-1 to log into the users computer.   

Sony's DLNA and Zeroconf (Avahi, bonjour etc) are two alternatives that greatly simplifies the security but requires the user to run an application or a background service.  IMO, neither have been that successful with navigating large libraries but probably something to look into.   As an end-user I would want the option to disable this on the BDP-1.

Yes I remember something about that when we discussed it a while back.

I will ask again though.

How does everyone feel about a matching server for the BDP which would be found automatically by the BDP. It would have 2TB storage with an auto 2TB mirror backup in a box that could be placed at the router location (industrial version) and another unit that matched the BDP cosmetically if you wanted it in the same room as the BDP?

James

[Napalm]

Yes I remember something about that when we discussed it a while back.

I will ask again though.

How does everyone feel about a matching server for the BDP which would be found automatically by the BDP. It would have 2TB storage with an auto 2TB mirror backup in a box that could be placed at the router location (industrial version) and another unit that matched the BDP cosmetically if you wanted it in the same room as the BDP?

James

I would feel like you're going the proprietary route instead of standards. Like having custom square shaped connectors on the BP6 and 4B instead of the RCA ones.

Nap. 

[whanafi]

Yes I remember something about that when we discussed it a while back.

I will ask again though.

How does everyone feel about a matching server for the BDP which would be found automatically by the BDP. It would have 2TB storage with an auto 2TB mirror backup in a box that could be placed at the router location (industrial version) and another unit that matched the BDP cosmetically if you wanted it in the same room as the BDP?

James

Don't understand why you would want to add more equipment in close proximity to the music player, particularly when you have no technical or economic advantage as a supplier.  These are commodity items experiencing rapid technological change and rapid price erosion.

Comments from other posters are spot on - this is a job for networks, not more equipment.

[pimandro]

I made a comparison between the Bryston pen drive and my external HD (lacie 2quadra).
There are no differences.
However, the bdp1 is 'excellent, I hope soon to resolve the problem of waiting times for loading hd

[Welly123]

I made a comparison between the Bryston pen drive and my external HD (lacie 2quadra).
There are no differences.
However, the bdp1 is 'excellent, I hope soon to resolve the problem of waiting times for loading hd

I agree that the only drawback to the BDP-1 is the "loading time", I currently leave mine permanently On to avoid this.

I am still hoping that James/Bryston have not forgotten about the earlier suggestions to write an "index" to a connected HDD following a "scan", with the index only updated/overwritten when requested by a user selection (key combination, UI command etc.). Just as another possibility, the mPod App even has the necessary commands available... (Refresh local cache and Update database).

Regards

Russell

[Welly123]

Close... but SAMBA takes it several steps further.

Lets ignore the ripping side, cause its common to both approaches.

What I am suggesting is that there is another simple way for the BDP-1 to see content to play:

1- What you currently have .. where the playback software running under Linux sees a USB HD and can therefore read the WAV/AIFF etc file. The connection is via a USB storage chain (USB HD into USB cable into USB port on BDP-1)... OR.....

2- You store the rip content onto a PC HD (and thats where it stays) and use Linux SAMBA to "mount" that PC HD.. this means it looks like a hard drive in exactly the same way the connected USB HD does. Connection is via Ethernet chain (PC HD onto ethernet into BDP-1 where SAMBA mounts PC HD)

The Linux based playback software cant tell the difference... to it both the USB HD and the SAMBA remoted mounted drive are "local" HD's that have content.

Software wise it is a simple change and as I state you get the benefit of the long ethernet cable runs to get potentially noise inducing USB HD well away from your audio components.



Peter

Hi Peter,
I am also interested in the “convenience factor” behind what you are suggesting. But I don’t see why you think there will be any advantage in avoiding the “USB connection”. Even if the HDD is located in a remote computer and connected to the BDP-1 via Ethernet, the HDD still has a local interface (SATA, IDE, USB etc.) that the files/data must pass-through, none of which have a “quality mandate”.

My primary PC is located in the study, where all of my PC kit resides, about 20 feet from my HiFi rack in another room. When I rip a CD or DL a Flac file, the destination HDD is the one connected to the BDP-1, this is backed-up to a Buffalo Terastation on the same network. Seems to me that this set-up is already delivering what you are suggesting, albeit in a slightly different fashion. The 1TB Lacie 2.5” HDD is extremely quite (can only hear it when within 3~4 inches) and is powered from the USB port (so no potentially polluting wall-wart).

Unless I’m not understanding your point correctly.


On another matter and for those that may be interested, Logitech have finally got the RC codes for the BDP-1 functioning. In a few days you should be able to select in the Add Device facility:
Device - Computer/Media Center PC
Manufacturer – Bryston
Model – BDP-1
and be reported as “Digital Music Server Bryston BDP-1”

Regards

Russell