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  #11  
Old 12-23-2009, 01:36 PM
James Tanner - Bryston James Tanner - Bryston is offline
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Hi All -

Just got my copy this morning of the January Issue of Absolute Sound Magazine -page 56:

Digital Separate of The Year - Bryston BDA-1 External DAC

james
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  #12  
Old 12-23-2009, 01:38 PM
two dot two dot is offline
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You guys keep racking up the rewards... CONGRATS!!!

Just don't tell Mikey..
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  #13  
Old 12-24-2009, 01:19 AM
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cmalak cmalak is offline
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James...In TAS' original review of the BDA-1, I believe Alan Taffel suggests that the sonics of the BDA-1 through the USB input was less than satisfying, while raving about the sonic qualities through digital coax inputs. Here is one quote from the review:

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The biggest sonic difference between these two DACs is heard only when comparing their USB inputs. Neither of them surmounts USB’s inherent limitations, and neither supports high sampling rates or deep bit-depths. However, the ARC’s USB input is clearly superior to the Bryston’s, which sounds dull and cloaked. With the help of a bright-leaning USB cable to compensate, such as the Synergistics Tricon, the Bryston achieves a satisfactory result—which is about as good as USB gets. But the ARC needs no such assistance, since its USB input is neutral from the get-go. Indeed, using the Synergistics cable with the DAC7 places much more emphasis on USB’s high-frequency foibles than anyone should be forced to endure.
There has been a lot of hoopla about "adaptive" vs "asynchronous" approaches to USB DACs, where in asynchronous mode, the USB bus is slaved to the DAC's clock so that jitter is reduced significantly. Wavelength came out with the original implementation of "asynchronous" USB DACs, and then Ayre subsequently licensed the technology for use in its QB-9, and I believe Simaudio now has come up with it's own approach to asynchronous USB in its new 750D DAC/Transport. I guess my question to you James is if Bryston has any plans to improve the USB implementation in the BDA-1 for enhanced jitter reduction (whether through "asynchronous" or your own approach to the problem) and to support higher than 16/44 resolution file formats?

Thanks and congrats on the great run recently with your latest products.
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  #14  
Old 01-13-2010, 09:43 AM
James Tanner - Bryston James Tanner - Bryston is offline
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Terrific review on our DAC:

The Inner Ear Magazine - Discover High End

james
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  #15  
Old 01-13-2010, 01:23 PM
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cmalak cmalak is offline
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James...thx for the review. It appears the reviewer at TIE used the BCD-1 as transport with the BDA-1 for his evaluation (and hence was accessing the DAC through the SPDIF connection presumably). So not to harp on my post above but I guess do you agree with Alan Taffels assessment of the BDA-1 through USB? And if so, any plans to address it in subsequent version releases? Thanks very much.
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  #16  
Old 01-13-2010, 01:32 PM
James Tanner - Bryston James Tanner - Bryston is offline
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Hi,

I agree that the best sound available on the BDA-1 is with a quality sound card into the AES-EBU or BNC connection.

james
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  #17  
Old 01-13-2010, 01:49 PM
weird weird is offline
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Congratz on the well deserved acknowledgements James

On the USB front i find my Torus isolation transformer really pushes up the performance of that dac including on usb. Not sure where in the signal/component chain the benefits shine through, but the usb is picked up a few notches in regards to the sense of power in voltage drive .... seems to be lacking without the Torus.
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  #18  
Old 01-13-2010, 02:03 PM
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cmalak cmalak is offline
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Thx for the feedback James and Werd...
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  #19  
Old 01-14-2010, 05:09 PM
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cmalak cmalak is offline
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Just received Stereophile's Feb 2010 issue and the BDA-1 racked up another great review from Larry Greenhill, recommending it for his highest rating for Stereophile's "Reommended Component" list, presumably Class A. Congrats to Bryston once again.
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  #20  
Old 01-15-2010, 09:51 AM
James Tanner - Bryston James Tanner - Bryston is offline
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Thanks cmalak,

Yes it was a great review and you know when you get a call from the reviewer and they say "this is not leaving" good things are going to be said!

james
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