From: Lars
Sent: June-01-11 7:55 PM
To: jamestanner@bryston.com
Subject: PDF of the Stereophile review on the BDP-1
Dear Mr Tanner
Bryston power amplifiers worked reliably when I encountered them in the nineteen seventies, and several of them are still in service; I have been able to convince some of my friends to buy 8B-SSTs and they are all pleased with the sound.
I work in two different towns; hence, there is a Stockholm apartment and a villa in a smaller town (and a summer cottage on a remote island). A given CD is rarely where I need it when I want.
Am prepared to rip my largish CD collection to ensure access in these three homes. Have used dbpoweramp and a high-quality external drive for the purpose with good results.
My professional sound recordist friends use FireWire A/D and DACs (Metric Halo, Weiss, Orpheus, Lynx) which can do a remarkable job once handshaking and clocking issues have been reliably addressed; I have found hi-rez files can sound fantastic, via modified computers and optimized installs of Linux, OS X or even Windows XP w/ Service Pack 3.
But to my ears, consumer-grade computer or music server solutions, so far have not outclassed my top-class disc player or reached the SQ of the best pro-level systems.
Sooloos set-ups owned by acquaintances failed to impress me as regards sound quality. Some but not all Mac-based systems have fared better, provided that installation is optimized and the computer is exclusively used for audio file storage and delivery, by FireWire or dedicated hard-wired local network.
A specialized digital computer with special attention to low jitter as well as minimizing noise and interference makes sense to me. Power supply quality, grounding, electrical shielding etc is very important for digital devices. I am no computer phobe, having used Unix-based computers in my research programs for many years, but my wife absolutely hates Windows and PCs.
This was a long-winded way (sorry) to defend my interest in the BDP-1.
Could you please send me the Stereophile review?
Kind regards
Lars B. Backlund, PhD
Sweden
James
Thank you for forwarding the Sterephile and Inner Ear pdf files. Interesting reading.
Reviews and user experiences are important for music lovers in my situation. Bryston components are, as far as I know, not being actively marketed in Sweden (Norway is not in the European union, but Sweden is). I have had no opportunity to listen to the BDP-1, so listening comments from others are of interest to me.
Mr Atkinson's measurement results look impressive. Nice eye pattern; narrow spike… looks good.
Thirty years as an Ethernet end user have shown me some of the complexities of large and small LANs. My computer experiences started out with trying to write FORTRAN code for an IBM System 360 with 16 KB primary memory (ugh) and using PDP-8 minicomputers in measurement systems. Ethernet and other packet-based standards are hardly ideal for streaming music and video. But in the BDP-1 you already have a data buffer that seems to work well.
Apparently, Linn, Naim and PS Audio designers and consultants have had lots of trouble, to say nothing of the situation for end users grappling with UPnP, server programs, file systems, switches and so on - do you think there is a market for a BDP-1-friendly fanless NAS with server-grade SSDs?
Kind regards
Lars
