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I had the opportunity to hear a BDA-2 DAC from Bryston. Very clean sound with lifelike voice presentation. Of course the amp didn't produce the kind of soundstage I was expecting to hear, but I hardly think the DAC is at fault for that. That said Im planning on buying this unit after I get a new used amplifier.
What are peoples thoughts on Bryston DACs in general? The BDA-2 is a 32 bit unit.
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For less than half the price of the Byston, buy a Monarch Audio NM24 DAC...you won't be sorry...its that good.
It really comes down to whether you like it or not. Ultimately that's the key thing. Bryston has a solid reputation and this unit will come with a robust warranty I am sure. So if it turns out you don't love it it is likely you will be able to sell it fairly easily.
Certainly I would try others but if you do you want to try your best to compare them in the same system. If you do this you may find a less costlier solution and the money saved there can allow you to put more money somewhere else.
But I will suggest perhaps an intriguing alternative since I bought one and it will arrive I am told this week. Largely based on the options it offers and relatively attractive pricing and because I really like their CD player (which I also own).
The Line Magnetic 502CA ($1,800 US list). This is both a tube DAC and a SS DAC. So you get the option of both at the flip of a switch.
* Xmos USB audio technology
* High Speed USB 2.0 @ 32 bit / 192kHz
* ESS 9016 DAC chips
* AES/EBU, BNC, USB, Optical and Coax inputs
* asynchronous design
* Tube and solid state outputs
* Tube rectified analog circuits utilizing the 6z4 full wave rectifier tube
* Dual output stages – Tube (12au7 dual triode) output and Solid-State output stage.
It will be much harder to find because they're relatively new to the US/Canada but if you stumble across one give ti a try against the Bryston.
I would suggest you try a non-oversampling filterless DAC - preferably tubed - and compare it to that Bryston before you jump into anything.
Cheers,
Al
I have had good luck with Metrum and their Hex in particular, which is not a lot more expensive than the Bryston. Their Octave can be purchased used well below $1,000 but you will need a USB/spdif converter.
How do you know that the amp, and not the DAC, that was responsible for the disappointing soundstage?
_
Ken Newton
Because the majority of music was D/A'd by a Naim CD player and the soundstaging wasn't any better with it. So it was the amp.
At $2400, it's far from cheap - and, knowing what Bryston as a company stands for, I expect it to be a poor value, from pure sound quality perspective.
My experience is limited to BDA-1, which I bought used, and sold (thankfully, without losing any money) two weeks later. There was NO justification whatsoever for it's $1500 used price, from sonics perspective - let alone $2K (if memory serves me) new.
Do yourself a favor, and listen to anything you can get your hands on, anywhere close (less and slightly more) to its price. I'd bet you can do better.
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