Bryston SP3 Preamp-Processor

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Originally Posted by Chad.Wagner

How will the upgrade for USB work?

Hi

It's a module that gets replaced.

James

[Chad.Wagner]

Originally Posted by James Tanner - Bryston

Hi

It's a module that gets replaced.

James

That will make it easy!

[SoThere]

Greetings, SP3 fans:

You might find Scott Wilkinson's Home Theater Geeks interview with Paul Hales of Professional Home Cinema quite interesting. Mr. Hales makes very good points on the problems with auto- (and even manual) room EQ systems, noting many of the points presented by James Tanner and other highly respected professionals in the audio field. From my view, this is an interesting and provocative argument. The podcast is available on video and MP3 (also from the iTunes Store).

Home Theater Geeks 164 | TWiT.TV

Best fishes,

Rich
________________
Whiney Napa Valley

[fordtudoor]

Rich (SoThere),

Thanks for posting this link to a very informative dissertation on room correction (EQ) by Mr. Paul Hales of Professional Home Cinema. I am always looking for cannon fodder to convince myself that I made the correct decision to purcahse a Bryston SP3 for my home theater. This was icing on the cake. Keep them coming!

Regards,
JLC
Cincinnati, OH

[gbaby]

Originally Posted by fordtudoor

Rich (SoThere),

Thanks for posting this link to a very informative dissertation on room correction (EQ) by Mr. Paul Hales of Professional Home Cinema. I am always looking for cannon fodder to convince myself that I made the correct decision to purcahse a Bryston SP3 for my home theater. This was icing on the cake. Keep them coming!

Regards,
JLC
Cincinnati, OH

Agreed!

[SoThere]

Thanks for your comments, FordTudoor and gbaby:

I doubt that the 2EQ or Not2EQ debate will be resolved, and it's unfortunate that in some forums participants are stridently pursuing their mission to prove that they have The One True Answer. There's lots of noise but little listening. Gbaby has carried his arguments with dignity and openness; I wish that were true for some of the respondents.

It seems to me that user satisfaction is the essential point of high-end audio gear, and I'm highly satisfied with the SP3 and my other Bryston gear. It brings the life and engagement of music and film into our home, and I can't ask for more than that.

Best fishes,

Rich
_______________
Whiney Napa Valley

The means — Bryston SP3 | Bryston 6B-SST(C) - L/C/R; 4B-SST(C) - surrounds; 4B-SST(C) - rears | Bryston BDP-2 Digital Player; BDA-2 D/A Converter; Oppo BDP-105 | Paradigm Reference Signature S8 fronts; C5 center; ADP surrounds; S4 rears; two Velodyne DD15 subs | APC S20 | Pioneer Elite PRO-1130

[TS_de]

I am a great SACD fan and do not like the feature of the newer releases to force players to PCM if a DSD bit stream is detected. Due to the lake of DSD processing of the SP3 I use the analog outputs of my player and the 7.1 input of the SP3 for SACD. With the signal of the SP3 to switch to PCM also the processing of my player switches to PCM. As we all know the result is not as good as with DSD. My workaround is to disconnect the HDIM cable from the player to avoid the switch to DSD. That is not very comfortable.
Until no hardware option is available my suggestion is to implement a software switch in the setup. With this it should be possible to decide whether the SP3 request PCM or the respective HDMI channel is muted. That should enable to use the 7.1 inputs of the SP3 with the full quality of the DSD decoding in the player.

[SoThere]

TS-de, you may be interested in contacting Stan Bleszynski, SP3 software guru and all-around great guy, on DSD: sbleszynski@bryston.com

Stan has just created a new test release of the SP3 firmware: 2013.03d of June 23, 2013. He has reinstated 5.1 pass-through for 7.1 (or 7.2) speaker configurations. Hooray! He's also done lots of cleanup and added some interesting goodies. Release notes below.

Cheerio,

Rich
________________
Whiney Napa Valley


Release Notes: SP3 Firmware 2013.03d 26-June-2013

(Major internal release)

File: SP3.bin 1,521,096 bytes


Note: updating SP3 firmware may cause re-defaulting of an existing user setups, or may cause EEPROM error warnings, if some new parameters are not initialized. If this happens, initialize new parameters manually or run DEFAULT EEPROM option in MISCELLANEOUS, then re-Standby the unit and repower. A correct speaker configuration should be re-entered manually after an upgrade. If the firmware is older than 2012.05e, it is recommended to upgrade in 2 steps, first to 05e.


Description of Changes (since release 2012.12):



Cleanup of DTS and Dolby submenus
Fixed Ls,Rs in Audio Precision DTS-HD test "Type15 ChID5.1 es"

Moved ES flag display from OUT: to IN: line

Added display of DTS stream type in TESTS-->HDMI Stat screen

Removed redundant parameters DTS ES and Dolby EX.

Separated display of DTS-HD from DTS-HDMA (types 15-17 only).

Removed IR reboot cmd (code 255), added IR codes: Select Analog (058), BPSubW ON(061), BPSubW OFF(062), HDMI On(094), Stereo select (018), Surr select(017).

Added SU (set surround) option to LMOD serial command, added discrete zone source
select (102..108) and zone mute on/off (100,101) discrete remote codes.

Added new browser/sources to WebPages2, added SP3-Max web button.

Reduced standby power consumption when Ethernet-in-Stby is OFF

Fixed web page crash in SYSTEM STATUS-->VERYFYING HEX FILES screen

Eliminated spurious display on non-idle screens

Fixed Zone source DIGITAL/HDMI LED bug
Reduced standby power to 0.9W (only if EthernetInStandby=OFF)

Fixed relay rattle caused by the low standby power mod (13p). Release 2012.12

Fixed Standby power leakage, further reduction in standby pwr by switching off PLL

Changing use of DTS to DTSHD for DTS streams type 1-17 to fix AMODE6 etc tests by writeDTSHDRouteCsEnable reset handling of DTSHD, changed Standby LED duty cycling.

Fixed menu_num_speakers

Reduced twait delay in dsp_set_hspeed_mode to 10ms from 100ms

Modified dsp_set_hspeed_mode, changed HSDIO_AudioUnMuteDelay_NO_DELAY point
from HDMIDLY<=2s to 0.3s, DEFAULT_DLYSCALE and DLYDFLT to -95, and DFLTDLYINDX to 3 to fix DTS-HD cert test script startup problem (with APx585).

Fixing loss of back speakers after high speed. (release 2013.01G)

Added DTSHD speaker remapping volume correction

Fixed DeactivateDisplay

Corrected and optimized DTS-HDMA 192k handling

Changed ETH_IN_STBY default to off to conform to European rules.

Reduced delay in dsp_restart_autodetection+RestartDecoder from 400 to 100ms

Made modified port defaults in standby for low power (see also tag (823) in BootLoader project. Bootloader revision incremented from 2012.06 to 2013.01.

Rewrite of all port I/O access code to work-around a compiler bug (Pic32 C) Compiled with optimizing compiler Microchip Pic32 C 2.02, with -Os option. Fixes low standby power issues (0.23W with a new standby power module). (2013.01k)

Speeded up 192k switching, added volume correction for special formats (with height and wide speakers), fixed first time play non-lock issue specific to automated test scripts run on APx585 analyzer.

Added format change notification to trigger menu_update_idle function call, allowing more robust HDMI format detection and stream locking if the source changes the program format on the fly without muting. Changed src names in JBL web page interface. Release 2013.01q

Added NOISE = PINK / "0.5-2kHz" selection in MISC and fixed noise test non-repeat bug
Fixed double mute bug (when HDMI is playing in screen saver state).

Added screen saver gradual dimming.

Speeded up SPDIF switching.

Speeded up HDMI to HDMI channel switching. 2013.01r

Fixed DAE6D Dolby THD handling of unusual speaker layouts for example
BD_8CHID_L_R_C_LC_RC.MLP etc., by calling writeTHDSpeakerRemapDisable.

Added recognition of DSD format displayed as "DSD None"
(DSD playing requires a hardware option, not yet available)
This was removed from EDID, using DSD_ENABLE compile option, normally 0,
to force players to PCM, not to use DSD bitstream!

Pwidth modulation for Standby LED optional.

Improved handling of I2C1 bus hung case.

Speeded up response in DIGITAL-red.

Fixing DTS Legacy compliance, fixing DTS LBR/Express.

Fixing RS232 commands MMUT,ZMUT bug.

Added 10s and 30s screen saver timeout selection.

Implementing MDS work-around for missing backs in some DTSHD 5.1es types 1-5 and other DTS non-compliances, adjusted back volumes in DTS legacy 5.1es matrix

Disabled selecting Dolby PLIIx surround modes under DTS sources and disabled selecting Neo6 modes in Dolby Digital sources.

Added SOURCE SETUP-->DTS-->HDMA 192k and DOLBY-->THD 192k options for handling the high speed streams.

Set DTS HDMA and DOLBY THD 192K default settings to Only 5.1

Fixed "OUT: Pass thru 7.1" display bug.

Corrected Neo6 back levels.

Corrected WEB DLY parameter display.

Speeded up an on-the-fly stream format switching.

Re-enabled the SM01 "passthru" surround selection for 5.1-->7.1 modes, that prevents re-creation of back speakers, leaving 5.1 stream playing as is, even with 7.1 speaker configuration.

Changed behavior of DTS and Dd remote buttons - act as shortcut selecting either DTS Neo6 Cinema or Dolby Prologic2x ex Movie surround 2.0-->7.1 re-creation modes.
Removed redundant LEDTOUT option.

Added quick volume set QVOL (Main) and XVOL (Zone) RS232 commands

Increased DHCP_LEASE_DURATION to 24h

Removed un-necessary "Expan0 short pulses" error message 2013.02q

Made SRCPAR GLOBAL use all source buttons from DVD to BP7.1. Made Triggers always individual per source (JBL specs, added to SP3 as well).

Made SM01..06 5.1-->7.1 modes tie loosely to EF00..14 2.0-->7.1 selections. Selecting the EF00 (pass-thru) automatically sets also the SM01 (pass-thru) for 5.1 streams, similar EF02+SM05 (Music) etc.

Fixed DTS LBR(DXP), Added automatic re-creation of backs 5.1-->7.1 in DTS LBR (DXP) by Neo:6 algorithm. Adjusted Lb,Rb levels in DTS 5.1es.

Slowed down (doubled) IR repetition timing in JBL compile (but not in SP3).

Fixed HDMI off/on loss of sync bug, 2013.02s

Fixed DTSHD Listening 7.1 ES display.

Adjusted auto-repeat by slowing IR auto-repeats but keeping other keys fast.

Adjusted DTS Legacy SPDIF ChID61es back level too high, DTSHD-MA 192k surround level 2dB too low and fixed DTSHD-MA 192k pause/restart glitch. 2013.02U

Adjusted DTS names and ES display format.

Adjusted default noise test level offset by -9dB for JBL option. 2013.02v

Fixed Dd+ special channel downmixing & fmt chng glitch 2013.02w

Slowed down eth task 1ms-->t50ms, extended FIRMUPLOAD_TIMEOUT_s 300-->999s

Fixed sub config check bug. 2013.02x

Fixing noise test non-start when HDMI is pending

Set default HDMI startup = 1+2, Zone Mute=ON after power or stby on.

Fixed Noise Test, optimized main loop task speed 2013.02y

Fixed DTSHD 5.1 LFE downmixing to 2.0 bug 2013.02z

Fixed -CS_EN tristate port definition


Fixed sub level bug in SPEAKER LEVEL menu and in NOISE TEST caused by bass management trim mod.

Extended automatic noise test cycle time to 8s 2013.03a

Fixed Dolby Volume, force DSP-B to 48k in DV when it is set >48k and restore after DV. 2013.03b

Reverted Dolby THD handling of unusual speaker layouts for example L_R_C_LC_RC.MLP as per Dolby request

Removed spurious EX from the "OUT:..." screen line and prevented retries for failed 5.1-->7.1 recreation on DTSHD Master and Dd THD, and prevented calling ActivateMultichEffects repeatedly for those streams.

Save and restore main volume after noise test. 2013.03c

Fixed Dolby Digital+ 2.0 LFE downmix in DRC RF

Added TEST button in the web page (Noise Test)

Fixed bug in main_process_audio_event causing slow HDMI switching

Fixed PLIIxdex noback bug causing PCM 2.0 glitching in 5.1 every 10s

Fixed HDMI EDID bug causing 2ch PCM 192k downmix to 96k

Removed PL2xNatural from the surround selection list, on Dolby Inc. request.
2013.03d


Stan Bleszynski,
Bryston Ltd.

[Masterlu]

TS_de... Welcome!

[Buseto]

Originally Posted by SoThere

TS-de, you may be interested in contacting Stan Bleszynski, SP3 software guru and all-around great guy, on DSD: sbleszynski@bryston.com

Stan has just created a new test release of the SP3 firmware: 2013.03d of June 23, 2013. He has reinstated 5.1 pass-through for 7.1 (or 7.2) speaker configurations. Hooray! He's also done lots of cleanup and added some interesting goodies. Release notes below.

Cheerio,

Rich
________________
Whiney Napa Valley


Release Notes: SP3 Firmware 2013.03d 26-June-2013

(Major internal release)

File: SP3.bin 1,521,096 bytes

I must say Bryston (Stan) has done an astonishlingy job to get the SP3 running better and better!


(And now I hope to get mine back soon - it's been for repair sent back a few weeks ago.)_