Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Bryston 4B SST Amplifier (SS) by pturn

Model:	4B SST
Category:	Amplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price:	$2700
Description:	300 watt/channel dual mono amplifier
Manufacturer URL:	Bryston
Model Picture:	View

Review by pturn ( A ) on November 18, 2002 at 08:07:17
IP Address: 64.50.162.83

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for the 4B SST

I have no affilation or experince with Bryston other than at one time having had the BP20 pre.
I have to post my most favorable impressions of this newest power amp from Bryston. After borrowing friendâ€™s for a week I could bear it no longer and ran out and bought one new. Itâ€™s superb. Never have I heard my CDs sound so good.
I've spent the past 3 years obsessing and over that time have in my system 3 transports, 3 DACs, 4 preamps, 4 speakers and countless cables -the only constant has been my trusty Classe 201. The Classe and Bryston are different beasts - the former worked extremely well with B&W and Magneplanar 1.6s producing an open and very warm sound that at times could be holographic - I bought over the 4bst after only a brief home audition.
IMO with Vandersteen 2ces, this new Bryston wins hands down. It has great synergy with this type of speaker especially in bringing out the bass which is full and tight - drum rolls are precisely located and sound natural and powerful.
The mids and highs are sweet and I mean sweet - absolutely no brightness, sibilance or harshness. It does not appaer to color the music in any way; while my in my experience some coloration (midrange/mid bass prominance) can enjoyable at first blush, I now think its a very bad thing - what appaers to fix some CDs makes others sound very bad. With the Bryston, I am left with the impression that I am hearing close what the mastering engineer heard and its made even what I thought were poorly mastered CDs and unlistenable sound listenable and better than I ever haerd before. The specs are impressive clipping at about 350 w per channel into 8 ohms (which could easily turn my speakers inside out, a slight worry) with very low distortion. I think the lack of distortion and flat response across the entire frequency range makes this amplifier what it is.
The best way I can describe it is that now I find myself turning up the volume whereas before it would hurt my ears and I would get frustrated after a while and fall back into the trap of trying to analyze the equipment. This is one of those upgrades that has had me pulling one CD after another rediscovering my collection - I cannnot say this for many of the other "upgrades" I have spend a lot of money on over the years.

Product Weakness: binding posts are a total pain.
Product Strengths: Bass, mids, and highs. Runs cool compared to ST series but warms up nicely after an hour or so.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Bryston 4BSST
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Muse Model 3
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	NAD 541i + Bel Canto DAC 1
Speakers:	Vandersteen 2CE sigs + ACI force sub (sub now seems redundant)
Cables/Interconnects:	Cardas, DH labs
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	rock, new wave, 10% clasical, country etc
Room Size (LxWxH):	20 x 12 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	none, used to think this was the problem but no more
Time Period/Length of Audition:	2 weeks
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	John Risch for sources, none for amp
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	binding posts are a total pain.
Product Strengths:	Bass, mids, and highs. Runs cool compared to ST series but warms up nicely after an hour or so.