|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
108.169.2.66
In Reply to: RE: Yet another manufacturer going with the OEM StreamUnlimited solution posted by Dave_K on October 3, 2014 at 15:21:18
which uses a custom Intel Atom...
http://bryston.com/products/digital_audio/BDP-2.html
And, the Auralic Aries also does not use the board you mentioned.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/598-auralic-aries-so-far/
That's at least 3.
Follow Ups:
You're right. I knew about the Bryston but just forgot about it. However, I don't see anything custom about the Bryston. It looks to me like an off the shelf mini-ITX computer with the usual commodity computer parts in it. That's not to say it sucks; it could work great for all I know, but it appears to be something that anyone with computer skills could DIY.
Based only on the pictures of the Auralic Aries at Computer Audiophile, it certainly looks like a unique and in-house hardware design, which is something I had only seen before from Linn and Lumin. BTW, I'm not claiming to have seen every network streamer on the market. But I did survey the field and do some research when I was looking to buy.
Concerning the Bryston, you are totally misinformed, and like Abe, I can say with certainty you have never seen or heard one. Bryston has a dedicated team of 3 people working on the firmware, and design on a full time basis, and they have achieved sound quality the other jokers can only dream of.
I would LOVE to see some one attempt to DIY a BDP. If it was so easy it would have been done already.
There is so much misinformation spread on the digital boards.
And this nonsense about OEM parts..so what...90% of all amplifiers and especially speakers use off the shelf parts..and no one uses that to demean the end product.
"There is so much misinformation spread on the digital boards."
Towards clarity and light, just what is your relationship with Bryston? You seem pretty defensive for a mere customer...
Rick
Zero relationship outside of being a retail paying customer.
When I "defend" the BDP series I have in mind ALL purpose built, audio grade, file players.
Why don't you ask the same of the numerous Apple fan boys who "defend" apple on a daily basis and whose ongoing theme is that anything else is overpriced and inflexible.
"Why don't you ask the same of the numerous Apple fan boys who "defend" apple on a daily basis"
They just seem more obvious I suppose...
Nothing wrong with being a happy customer, I was just curious. Your remarks made me wonder if you were involved with their marketing or something, thanks for the clarification.
Rick
It was a legitimate question. No worries.I just have not heard a digital front end, regardless of price, sound as good.
BTW, I take pride in being an anti-fan boy..there is no other piece of Bryston gear I am interested in owning. This is their only product that I think is truly outstanding sonically along with their DAC.
I heard the BDP-1 in a full Bryston system with Dynaudio C4 speakers at a show in 2012. Obviously there's no way I can attribute anything specific to the BDP-1 in that context. I've never heard the BDP-2. More importantly, I never made any claims about its sound quality as a transport. You're the one doing that.
And I don't know what misinformation you're talking about. That is an off the shelf Mini-ITX computer in there. In the BDP-1, it's a PC Engines ALIX.1D . In the BDP-2, it's an iBase MI890-N4 . There is a similarly off the shelf ESI Juli@ PCI sound card providing the digital audio output. Bryston has added two line drivers to buffer the output from the ESI Juia@ card for long cable runs, with one of them converting to balanced for the XLR output. There are two power supplies: an off the shelf Mean Well 5V SMPS , and a Bryston 12V linear supply. Bryston has also added a front panel display and controls. The operating system is Linux, installed on a Compact Flash card. Linux supports the ESI Juli@ out of the box using the ICE 1724 ALSA driver.
The only thing that's difficult for a hobbyist to DIY about this is the front panel display & controls and the IR remote controls; they would take a modicum of engineering to integrate. Bryston's 12V linear supply can be replaced with an off the shelf item of equal of better quality. The line drivers that Bryston has added for the XLR and BNC outputs can similarly replaced with off the shelf items, if you even need them. For short cable runs, you can take the output from the ESI Juli@ as is.
If you don't need the front panel and IR remote, there's no hardware or software engineering that needs to be done. You just need computer assembly skills and you need to know your way around Linux well enough to configure and troubleshoot a stripped-down headless install. There are plenty of resources on the web to help, such as LinuxMusicians . Lots of people have done this.
BTW, I'm not trying to demean the Bryston. Time is valuable and spending $3k for a purpose built optimized audio computer is not a bad deal if you either don't have the skills and inclination to build one or don't have the time. If I were building one, I would end up spending at least $1k on parts alone.
An open question is whether a Mini-ITX computer + sound card works better than an Audivo or StreamUnlimited. Personally, I'm not thrilled about either approach because they both result in sending synchronous SPDIF/AES3 to a DAC which is a fundamentally flawed approach, but that's a whole other argument.
If you want to go ahead and post them, - the differences are dramatic.
nt
They are dramatically different.
If you didn't mean the Mi890, - then please let us know which.
The fact remains that the Bryston, The Aries, and the Sonore, are CUSTOM, and have at least 4 major (MAINBOARD) differences.
That is the board in the BDP-2. The reference photo from the Mouser catalog I posted doesn't have the heat sink installed because it's not sold with the board (it's up to the customer to choose a heat sink based on the thermal environment). I suspect that is what you're getting hung up on. Also, the reference photo is for the D4 board revision which had two DIMM sockets while Bryston appears to using just one DIMM socket which is the D5 revision. But the board layouts are identical down to the detail. I can even see in the Bryston pictures where they have removed the back panel connector block for the onboard audio by pulling it off the pin block and desoldered the VGA connector.
Another thing that made it pretty easy to figure out that they had upgraded to the iBASE MI890 is that it's pretty much the only single board computer available whose form factor and connector layout matches that of the PC Machines ALIX.1. Choosing pretty much anything else would have required more redesign.
I also failed to notice that the Bryston DOES have a PCI slot, - the Bryston has a card in it....
pulling the VGA/video connector will likely improve the sound.
Just to address a few of your points, I appreciate the fact that are trying to forensically examine the Bryston BDP series to educate people about the internals. No problem there.The fact there are three units, the BDP-1, the BDP-2, and the new BDP USB. All three output USB. (Prices are $1800, $2200, and $3000). So you can eliminate SPDIF completely. Secondly, these can be used as file players with directly connected storage, up to 6 drives in the case of the BDP-2, so one can bypass network streaming if one desires, and simply use the network for a control point via Android or iOS.
Bryston's has 8 formal reviews of the BDP series, and 6 of the reviewers purchased the samples. Including both at TAS and Stereophile.
There are other solutions, no doubt. This is not the only game in town.
But I just see this ongoing theme that purpose built audiophile grade streamers/file players/renders or what ever you want to call them are overpriced foxconn assembly line grade computers in nice cases.
re: Bryston: It looks to me like an off the shelf mini-ITX computer with the usual commodity computer parts in it.
It is, but you pay mostly for the casework, imagined differentiation in the market, and a brand name.
Totally uninformed, silly post. You have no idea what you are talking about.
And I am going to guess with great certainty you have never heard one.
"Totally uninformed, silly post. You have no idea what you are talking about."
You yourself said in an earlier post regarding Bryston and Auraliti, " I've posted about them at length. They have it right. Bryston thought so and uses their architecture for the BDP series."
And we've already proven in previous posts that Auraliti is based on a common mini-itx motherboard with PCI riser for horizontal mounting of an analog sound card (as shown below) or USB card.
Auraliti rear panel
Common mini-ITX motherboard. Note rear panel connector layout similarities
Abe you just like to be argumentative, and you have a history of doing so strictly based on conjecture.So your lack of response to my question undoubtedly means you have not heard the Bryston BDP series.
EVERYTHING matters, and Bryston has carefully chosen every aspect of their implementation, from yes, the case work, to circuit layout, to signal path, to parts choice.
Your argument is just nonsense. Does every amp that uses a KT120 tube sound the same? Does every speaker that uses a SEAS tweeter sound the same? Does every solid state amp that is Class A/B sound the same? Does every cable that uses WBT connectors sound the same?
Come of it. It really bugs you that a perfectly formed solution exists out there, doesn't it?
I replied to your post.
And no, I have not heard the Bryston.
Just setting the record straight with what you said about Auraliti and Bryston. Could sound nice, I don't know....
But based on your own comments they are indeed designed around common commodity PC components. Enjoy.
I believe these use different boards.
The Bryston still ranks as #1 for me based on sonics.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: