Bryston BDP-1 digital file player

BlueFox

This new forum came along at the right time.

For about three years now I have been using an iPod Classic (120GB), and the Wadia iTransport (170-171), as my digital source with all files as Apple Lossless. I have tweaked it by upgrading the power supply, and using an MIT Magnum digital cable. However, as good as it sounds, the iPod has a few weaknesses. First, it maxes out at 160GB, it is not easily controlled with a remote, and it only supports CD, or lower, file quality.


On the other hand, a computer is to much of a pain to setup and use as a music server. Plus the computer is a hodge-podge of random parts doing nothing for the music, cheap power supply, and it has noisy fans, along with spinning hard drives creating all types of mechanical and vibration noise, which does affect the sound.

So Bryston developed the BDP-1 just to play any and all types of digital files. It has no moving parts, a fan less mother board, and Bryston designed power supplies. Since my iPod is down to 8GB free space, I took the plunge and ordered the Bryston. After learning my lesson in the past, this time I ordered a Shunyata Cobra Ztron power cable, a Shunyata Python Ztron XLR digital cable, and waited for the cables to arrive before hooking up the Bryston. This was last Friday.

Man, this thing is great. It is amazing how much more detail is in a file. I can not believe my ears. While the iPod/Wadia sounded great, this just adds so much more to the music. It seems every song is being heard for the first time, as notes, etc. are being heard for the first time.

I should mention I am also using the Bryston BDA-1 DAC, which complements the appearance.

This thing works by attaching a USB drive to one of 4 ports. I purchased a Toshiba 500GB drive, and created three top level directories; classical, rock, and jazz. I then copied my iTune music into the appropriate folder, and I am in business. I downloaded a free app, mpod, and can control the Bryston from my recliner with my iPad3. I just go to the classical directory and tell mpod to play all files in the directory in random shuffle. Of course, you can create play lists, or play individual CDs, or a single song if you want.

Next on the agenda is going to HD tracks and getting some high-res files. That will be great.

I used to think the iPod/Wadia was the best musical device I ever bought because it reconnected me with music. I have bought hundreds of CDs to fill up the iPod. However, the Bryston has all the benefits of the iPod, and much, much more.

If you are on the fence about going digital then run, don't walk, and buy one of these. It is that good.

http://bryston.com/products/digital_audio/BDP-1.html

mantis

Yes agreed when it works. We had one already go bad. Not saying yours will but keep your receipt and I hope you bought it from a Authorized dealer.

Other then only 1 failure , yes it's a pretty amazing sounding piece. Especially when mated with a complete Bryston system. Remarkable gear to ay the least. I can't really see ever needing anything better then Bryston. For the money what can beat it? Nothing I have experienced.

steveinaz

Nice, so how does the user interface work? Can you drill down directories via the Brystons screen?

BlueFox

steveinaz wrote: »

Nice, so how does the user interface work? Can you drill down directories via the Brystons screen?

The best interface is on either a smartphone or iPad. This is the mpad homepage and shows screenshots answering your question.
http://www.katoemba.net/makesnosenseatall/mpad/ Price is 2.99.


mpod for smartphones also works with an iPad.

The Bryston supplied web based interface sucks on the iPad Safari browser. I never did get it to work. I have not tried it on a PC with IE since I want to control this thing wirelessly from my recliner. The UI is the only weakness so far with this thing, but it does not affect the sound.

heiney9

The UI is a HUGE part of the equation. Without that, it's merely a diskless muti-cdp.

Hopefully they get it worked out to be used with all situations, but UI with a wireless device like a phone or iPad or laptop is how most people will use it.

H9

steveinaz

Cool. Pretty sweet setup for sure.

BlueFox

heiney9 wrote: »

The UI is a HUGE part of the equation. Without that, it's merely a diskless
H9

Yes, that is correct. Bryston appears to be developing their software skills. For them, hardware is easy, hence the 20 year warranty, but software is something new. That said, they are supporting the 'music player daemon' so any client that supports that will work. Which is why mpod and mpad work, but Bryston does need their own UI.

However, I have no problem with using either mpod or mpad on my iPad, and Bryston does have one interface that works great. It is called TV and displays the song, artist, album art, total time, and elapsed time on a full screen. I set my iPad up with the TV on, and can easily see what is going on. If I want to change selections then I switch to mpad, and then back to TV.

steveinaz

I'm just kind of surprised that it has taken awhile for many higher-end companies to put out a network player, and it seems that the squeezebox did a pretty good job of getting it right, early on. I wonder why these other companies don't adopt a remote with screen style approach?

Not trying to be a SQB fan boy or anything, but I'm hard-pressed to find fault with the Touch. Of course I'm using an external DAC, which is a must to get the most bang out of it.

tonyb

Well Steve, SB and Sonos for that matter, jumped on combining a computer with music listening awhile ago.....along with others like Soolos, or Q-Sonic. When you think about it, a cdp is just a file reader too with a built in dac and analog output stage. You seperate those componants, file reader, dac, and you have alot of wiggle room to advance. I almost bought a Q-sonic myself, way too expensive. Sonos and squeezebox will take over the market for digital file servers, nobody else has anything comparable and easy to use for the average household.

BlueFox

Well, the Bryston is doing just fine. After a month, the Bryston, the power cable, and the IC are broken in, and sounding good. I cannot believe how much detail this thing gets out of a digital file. In fact, I was starting to think there was to much detail. On some files each note was razor sharp. I have every piece of gear sitting on Mapleshade Micropoint brass footers, and they suck vibration out of the gear, and this brings a higher level of clarity to the music. Last night it occurred to me that the footers might be making the Bryston to clear, so I sat the Bryston on the shelf without the brass footers. That was just the ticket. The music is still very clear and precise, but now has a warmth, or a less edgy sound. Two thumbs up for Bryston.

stretchl

Having just ordered a SBTouch, this thread is very interesting to me. I'd never heard of Bryston and started to wonder if I'd jumped on the SB too soon. So I checked the price on the BDP-1 and discovered that the price of my SBT is just about exactly one tenth of the Bryston.

I'll sleep well tonight.

EndersShadow

Blue Fox will that app work for me on Windows 7 with iTunes? I am looking for as many options to control playback on my digital file server that will be on its own Ad Hoc Network and I would love to be able to use it with my iPhone to control playback.

BlueFox

EndersShadow wrote: »

Blue Fox will that app work for me on Windows 7 with iTunes? I am looking for as many options to control playback on my digital file server that will be on its own Ad Hoc Network and I would love to be able to use it with my iPhone to control playback.

Good question, and the answer is I have no idea. It is free so give it a try. You can also ask the developer at this site.

http://www.katoemba.net/makesnosenseatall/2012/06/12/connection-issues-with-v1-7-1/comment-page-1/#comment-54690

tonyb

stretchl wrote: »

Having just ordered a SBTouch, this thread is very interesting to me. I'd never heard of Bryston and started to wonder if I'd jumped on the SB too soon. So I checked the price on the BDP-1 and discovered that the price of my SBT is just about exactly one tenth of the Bryston.

I'll sleep well tonight.

Which is why we recommend the SB or Sonos units. Price/performance makes them in anyone's reach. With the quality of add on dacs these days, you can achieve some high end sound for sure. In this hobby, you can spend money like the U.S. government and then some if you want to.

tonyb

By the way Bluefox, that wasn't a knock on you brother. Congrats on the Bryston, looks to be a sweetheart piece for sure. Still need to get an ear on some of these high end digital players myself. The last one I had a chance to listen to was a Q-Sonic 110 which was pretty darn good on it's own. Cost wise though, I think the SQ of these higher end units is definately approachable with a SB or modded Sonos and a very good dac for half the coin. Purely my opinion here. I really dug the Q-Sonic software which is why I went the Sonos route because they are darn close software wise for alot less coin. Soolos used to be top of the heap in software but others are catching up to them quickly. Congrats on the new toy bro, might be a good addition to a get together or polkfest.

BlueFox

So far, the Bryston has been flawless. No issues so far, so I hope the bad one referenced by Mantis was a fluke. Anyway, I have a 500GB drive attached to it, and am continually moving Apple Lossless files onto it. I sometimes think that I am keeping the music industry in business because I keep on buying CDs to feed my music servers. One of these days I need to start buying some HD downloads. I now have a system that can really shine with better source, so I should use it. the absolute sound reviews HD downloads so there are a few I want, and know are high quality.

After I bought the Bryston, I moved my Wadia 171/iPod Classic into the HT. In fact I am listening to that right now. Even attached to my Sony DA-7100ES, used as a pre-pro for the Sunfire TGA-5400 amp, it sounds great. After I upgraded my front and center to PSB Synchrony One models the HT is great for music. It always amazes me when I read threads where people poo-poo listening to music in their HT. Maybe they have crappy speaker and interconnect cables. To each their own.

mantis

BlueFox wrote: »

So far, the Bryston has been flawless. No issues so far, so I hope the bad one referenced by Mantis was a fluke. Anyway, I have a 500GB drive attached to it, and am continually moving Apple Lossless files onto it. I sometimes think that I am keeping the music industry in business because I keep on buying CDs to feed my music servers. One of these days I need to start buying some HD downloads. I now have a system that can really shine with better source, so I should use it. the absolute sound reviews HD downloads so there are a few I want, and know are high quality.

After I bought the Bryston, I moved my Wadia 171/iPod Classic into the HT. In fact I am listening to that right now. Even attached to my Sony DA-7100ES, used as a pre-pro for the Sunfire TGA-5400 amp, it sounds great. After I upgraded my front and center to PSB Synchrony One models the HT is great for music. It always amazes me when I read threads where people poo-poo listening to music in their HT. Maybe they have crappy speaker and interconnect cables. To each their own.

Excellent , glad to hear it's still working without flaw. We never had another bad one so I'm thinking it was just that one unit.

The Sandman

I've been using a BDP-1 for about 6 months and I have to say it's fabulous. So much so in fact that I just purchased a BDP-2 as an upgrade. The BDP-2 sounds pretty much the same, perhaps a shade "blacker" background and a touch more detail, but if so it's very subtle. If you have the BDP-1 I don't recommend upgrading unless you need the additional features.

BlueFox

The Sandman wrote: »

I've been using a BDP-1 for about 6 months and I have to say it's fabulous. So much so in fact that I just purchased a BDP-2 as an upgrade. The BDP-2 sounds pretty much the same, perhaps a shade "blacker" background and a touch more detail, but if so it's very subtle. If you have the BDP-1 I don't recommend upgrading unless you need the additional features.

Congratulations. Good purchase on both pieces of gear.

The main advantages of the BDP-2 are additional USB ports, internal storage option, NAS, and increased internal memory. This mainly affects people with terabytes of music.

I love my BDP-1 so much I plan on buying another for my multi-channel system, even though it will be used in stereo with the BDP1

The Sandman

BlueFox wrote: »

Congratulations. Good purchase on both pieces of gear.

The main advantages of the BDP-2 are additional USB ports, internal storage option, NAS, and increased internal memory. This mainly affects people with terabytes of music.

I love my BDP-1 so much I plan on buying another for my multi-channel system, even though it will be used in stereo with the BDP1

To me, the main advantages of the BDP-2 were the increased memory (2 TB vs 256 MB), increased number of (and power allotted to) the USB 2 ports, and USB 3 (coming soon). The option of the internal SSD, eSATA hookup, and NAS are very nice as well.

That's not to say there is no difference in the sound between them. As good as the 1 is, the 2 has a "blacker" background (lower noise floor) but it's subtle to say the least. The surprise to me was a noticeable improvement in the bass of all things - not all that subtle either. I have no idea why, except maybe due to a beefier power supply for the attached USB drives.

The Sandman

BlueFox wrote: »

Bryston appears to be developing their software skills. For them, hardware is easy, hence the 20 year warranty...

Well, 20 year warranty on analog equipment, but 5 years on digital equipment.

tonyb

The shorter warranty makes sense on digital gear. Digital technology changes so fast, it would be impossible to have inventory of parts over long periods of time. Analog never changes and more parts are interchangeable.

The Sandman

tonyb wrote: »

The shorter warranty makes sense on digital gear. Digital technology changes so fast, it would be impossible to have inventory of parts over long periods of time. Analog never changes and more parts are interchangeable.

I agree with you there. I only mentioned this because Bryston's 20 year warranty policy is so popular and so well known that many people wrongly assume it applies to all of their products.

The Sandman

BlueFox wrote: »

the absolute sound reviews HD downloads so there are a few I want, and know are high quality.

The Absolute Sound reviews are definitely helpful, but I wouldn't go by them alone. For instance, they were right when they said that Traffic's "John Barleycorn Must Die" wasn't very good, but I found the Eagle's "Hotel California" better than they said it was.