Up for your consideration is a prestime Bryston BDA-1 Black 19" Version DAC. The 8/10 rating is do to age only, it's really a 9/10 that was used in conjunction with my Bryston BDP-1 and Musical Concepts Modified Super Elite Adcom GFA-750 a Nelson Pass of Pass Labs design. You can purchase the other items mentioned here in my other listings. Reviews about this item.

Bryston BDA-1 D/A converter

Larry Greenhill | Feb 23, 2010 In February 2009, I reviewed Bryston Ltd.'s first CD player, the $2695 BCD-1, and was very impressed by what I heard. The BDA-1 ($1995) is the Canadian company's first standalone DAC. It's slim, only 2.75" high, with the engraved company name, model number, and infrared sensor grouped at the extreme left of a front panel of polished aluminum. Farther to the right are two columns of four LEDs each that comprise the sample-rate indicator, which identifies the selected input's signal frequency and whether the BDA-1 has locked to it. Closer to the center is the Upsample control, which governs the conversion of the incoming digital signal synchronously to 192kHz or 176.4kHz. The Upsample LED turns green for 192kHz, red for 176.4kHz. Digital sources are selected by pressing one of eight pushbuttons just right of center: two TosLink, four S/PDIF (coaxial), one AES/EBU XLR, and one USB 1.1, the last accepting only signals with sample rates at or below 48kHz. An LED above each pushbutton lights green for an incoming PCM datastreams and red for other types, including multichannel Dolby Digital streams.

image: https://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/210bryston.1.jpg

All of these functions, and the BDA-1's output level, are accessible from Bryston's BR-2 remote control (a $350 option). The BR-2 also can control Bryston's BCD-1 CD player, BP26 preamplifier, and B100 SST integrated amplifier. The remote automatically lights up when you pick it up in a dimly lit room.

On the rear panel, starting from the left, are: balanced and single-ended pairs of analog audio outputs; a single S/PDIF output; a single USB input; an AES/EBU XLR input; four S/PDIF inputs; two optical TosLink optical inputs; a two-pin trigger input to facilitate remote hardwired on/off control; an RS-232 port for uploading firmware; and an IEC 320-C14 power inlet to mate with an IEC-320-C13 AC mains cord.

Internal Details
Just behind the rear panel is the full-width, multilayered printed circuit board that carries the D/A and analog stages. I wasn't able to get inside the chassis because I didn't have a driver that matched its Torx #8 screws; however, the BDA-1's brochure includes a clearly labeled view of the BDA-1's innards. Most of the interior is empty space, with a single ribbon cable joining the circuit board to another behind the front panel.

Starting at the left of the main board are separate toroidal power transformers for the analog and digital power supplies. Nearby are multistage voltage regulation and filtering components, including electrolytic capacitors and a row of heatsunk voltage regulators. Each stage (input receiver, sample-rate converter, DAC) is independently regulated to prevent interaction and to minimize jitter. Careful trace routing is used to reduce the risk of capacitive coupling to achieve greater reduction of noise and distortion, especially for the low-voltage analog signal leaving the DAC. In the center is a Burr-Brown SRC4392 sample rate-converter chip, to the right of which is a pair of DAC chips, these 128x-oversampling 24-bit delta-sigma Cirrus CS4398s, the same as used in the BCD-1, though only one chip is used in the CD player. Finally, on the far right are four rows of components that comprise the discrete analog amplifier's output stages.

Bryston describes the PCB as being constructed of double-sided epoxy glass with clearly printed component markings. All the components are surface-mount types, and high-quality, 0.1%-tolerance metal-film resistors and polystyrene capacitors are used. Soldered and other gas-tight mechanical connections are used for the signal circuits. Bryston's warranty is five years for the digital circuits, including parts and labor, and 20 years for the analog circuits.

Design Considerations
One of Bryston's primary goals for the BDA-1 was to reduce clock jitter, ie, mistimings of the digital datastream presented to the DAC. Unlike the company's BCD-1 CD player, a one-box transport and DAC, the standalone BDA-1 must reclock all signals fed to its data inputs. To maintain timing accuracy, the Bryston engineers used three different methods of maintaining accuracy and keeping jitter to a minimum: impedance-matching transformers to provide the best interface possible, reclocking the signal, and synchronously upsampling the signal.

The BDA-1's Burr-Brown SRC4392 sample-rate converter provides synchronous upsampling: 32, 48, and 96kHz data are upsampled to 192kHz, while 44.1 and 88.2kHz data are upsampled to 176.4kHz. The Compact Disc's 16-bit depth can be increased to 24 bits, the additional 8 bits filled with placeholder information. While the musicality and new information, the conversions of the sample rate and bit depth transform the digital signal into a format that can be optimally converted into an analog signal by the DAC, says Bryston. The D/A conversion is done by a pair of Crystal CS4398 integrated-circuit chips, which feed discrete-component, class-A output amplifiers.

Set-up
Knowing that the BDA-1's USB 1.1 input is limited to sample rates of 48kHz or lower, I used a Bel Canto USB Link 24/96 adapter (see John Atkinson's review in the May 2009 Stereophile, Vol.32 No.5) to connect my Lenovo X61 laptop's USB feed to one of the Bryston's S/PDIF inputs with audio data up to 96kHz sample rates. The BDA-1 is small enough that I could place it atop my BCD-1 CD player. I connected the BCD-1's S/PDIF output to the BDA-1's S/PDIF input via a single Wireworld Starlight coaxial cable. I ran both single-ended and balanced Bryston XLR interconnect cables from the BDA-1's output jacks to my Bryston BP26 preamplifier. I left in place the single-ended interconnects that ran from the BCD-1's analog output to the Bryston BP26, whose front-panel input switch could then switch between the BCD-1's analog output, the BDA-1's analog output via single-ended interconnects, and the BDA-1's analog output over balanced XLR interconnect, all sourced from the BCD-1's CD transport.

The BDA-1 functioned flawlessly while I had it in my system. Digital signals were decoded instantly when an input was selected. As on Bryston's BCD-1 CD player, the BDA-1's status light goes dark when the unit is turned on; in standby mode, it glows red.

Listening
The first hi-rez digital music tracks I played on my laptop was a 24-bit/88.2kHz WAV file from a Naim recording of the Chamber Soloists of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik (from Naim Classical HD126). I also downloaded two files from HDtracks.com: a 24/88.2 file of Beethoven's Symphony 3, "Eroica," performed by Andrew Manze and the Helsingborg Symphony (from Harmonia Mundi HMU 807470); and all eleven 24/96 tracks of Chesky's Ultimate Demonstration Disc, Volume 2 (originally on SACD, Chesky SACD343). The BDA-1 processing these hi-rez tracks sounded light-years ahead of CD-sourced music I've heard in my listening room. The BDA-1 reproduced the music's warmth and fullness with none of the irritating edginess I've heard from earlier standalone DACs.

The resulting soundstage was the most realistic, palpable, and three-dimensional I'd ever heard in my room. Singers were enveloped in a 360° space that extended well behind them, as heard with the performance of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing," from the Chesky sampler. The first movement of the "Eroica" was spellbinding—I could hear subtle ambience cues I'd previously heard only at concerts.

Soundstages were also wider and deeper when I played CDs. There was an enhanced sense of three-dimensionality, with more precise images of the instruments in space, as heard during the percussion solo in "Nardis," from Patricia Barber's Café Blue (CD, Premonition/Blue Note 21810 2). The cymbal appeared at extreme right, the double bass was centered behind the drum kit, the piano was on the right, and Barber's voice floated three-dimensionally between my Quad ESL-989s. Similarly, Mary Gauthier's voice was stunningly real as she sang "Long Way to Fall," from her Filth and Fire (CD, Signature Sound SIG 1273).

image: https://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/210bryston.2.jpg

For the deepest bass notes, I supplemented the Quads with a pair of JL Audio Fathom f212 subwoofers (review forthcoming) and Bryston's 10B SUB external crossover. The BDA-1's recovery of microdynamic details was then most evident, sharpening the leading edge of deep-bass transients and giving the combination of Quads and JLA subs a light, fast quality. The bass notes were integrated in time and space with the rest of the music. Powerful synthesizer bass notes were captured with dead-on pitch definition, adding pace, energy, and emotional weight to film soundtracks. The deepest synthesizer growls and pulses literally shook the room in the tortuous mix of percussion, chimes, gongs, and snare drums that is "Attempt on the Royals," from James Horner's soundtrack score for Patriot Games (CD, RCA 66051-2). The bass remained clean, solid, pitch-perfect, with no spurious noises. I could easily discern subtle changes of pitch in timpani notes in Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Symphony's recording of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (CD, Reference RR-70CD).

The BDA-1's midrange reproduction was effortless and clean, with excellent tonality and instrumental timbres. I was strongly impressed with the rightness of the timbres of guitar and saxophone on L.A. Four's Going Home (CD, Ai Music 3 2JD-10043). Male singers benefited from the BDA-1's tonal accuracy. Willie Nelson's cover of T.S. Bruton's "Getting Over You," from Across the Borderline (CD, Columbia CK 52752), was particularly natural and clean, and entirely free of honk or hollowness. I heard the same rich but totally natural timbre in Buddy Miller's mando-guitar accompaniment in "Prayer in Open D" from Emmylou Harris's Spyboy (CD, Eminent EM-25001-2). I heard layers of resonant male-voice textures from the Turtle Creek Chorale, led by Timothy Seelig, singing John Rutter's Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace, from Requiem (CD, Reference RR-57CD). The solo that opens H. Owen Reed's La Fiesta Mexicana, from Howard Dunn and the Dallas Wind Symphony's Fiesta! (CD, Reference RR-38CD), was unusually lovely, sweet, and captivating.

The BDA-1's highs were clean, open, effortless, grain-free, and extended. Clarity and extension were so good that I heard the subtle sweep of the guitar in the opening of David Bowie's "Putting Out Fire," from the Cat People soundtrack (CD, MCA MCAD-1498). The clarity and openness of the BDA-1's treble response let Patti Austen's soft contralto emerge easily from the Latin arrangement of "Only You," on Arturo Sandoval's Hothouse (CD, N2K 10023). In Emmylou Harris's a cappella performance of "Calling My Children Home," also from Spyboy, the silken, translucent tonality of her effortlessly ethereal voice stood out separately from Buddy Miller's sweet tenor in both location and tonality.

The Bryston BDA-1 reproduced the extraordinary dynamics of Mark Flynn's flash-bang drumming in the opening of "Blizzard Limbs," from Attention Screen's Live at Merkin Hall (CD, Stereophile STPH018-2); Mick Fleetwood's thunderous kick drum, which opens "Dreams" on Fleetwood Mac's The Dance (CD, Reprise 46702-2); and David Hudson's raw, pulsing, raspy bass didgeridoo in "Rainforest Wonder," from his Didgeridoo Spirit (CD, Indigenous Australia IA2003 D). Best, perhaps, was Tito Puente's solo on "Tito," on Arturo Sandoval's Hothouse: the Bryston conveyed an image of his timbales spread across the soundstage, Puente moving back and forth among the three drums, each clean drumstroke producing a sudden snap of drumhead, rim, and stick wood, mixed with trumpet blasts and more rim shots—all without compression. And I delighted again in hearing the sledgehammer-like thudding of the bass synthesizer in "Assault on Ryan's House," from Patriot Games, and a segment of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, from the recording by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (SACD/CD, Deutsche Grammophon 02899 477 5198-2), in which wind instruments are mixed with the thunderous stomping of strings in a pulsing tempo and surging energy that build through the Adoration of the Earth, then erupt into the explosive Dance of the Earth.

Conclusions
The Bryston BDA-1 let me enjoy the best-sounding digital playback I've ever heard in my listening room, outshining even Bryston's own BCD-1 CD player. This might be related to the fact that the BDA-1 has two Crystal CS4398s vs the BCD-1's single chip.

The Bryston BDA-1 has become an essential part of my listening experience. Mated to my Quad ESL-989 loudspeakers and used with Bel Canto's USB Link 24/96, the BDA-1 let me enjoy hi-rez files downloaded from the Internet, producing open highs, detailed imaging, deep soundstaging, and well-defined and authoritative bass that connected me to those crucial elements of music: pace, rhythm, and emotion. And, yes, the BDA-1 also let me enjoy a higher level of musical dimensionality and realism. As Bob Reina did when he added the Audio Research Reference 110 amplifier to his reference system, at the end of my listening sessions for the BDA-1, I put down my notebook and picked up my checkbook. I give the BDA-1 my heartfelt recommendation for the highest rating in Stereophile's "Recommended Components."

Description: Digital-to-analog converter with remote control of digital input and volume. Digital inputs: USB 1.1, four S/PDIF electrical (RCA, BNC); two S/PDIF optical (TosLink), AES/EBU (XLR). Digital input sample rates accepted: 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192kHz (transformer-coupled S/PDIF, AES/EBU); 32–48kHz, USB. Input word lengths accepted: 16–24-bit, S/PDIF and AES/EBU; 16-bit, USB. Digital output: S/PDIF bypass loop output via RCA jacks. Control inputs: RS-232 port via 9-pin subminiature connector; remote 12V power-on/off trigger. Analog outputs: 1 pair each RCA, balanced XLR. Maximum output level: 2.3V RMS unbalanced, 4.6V balanced. Output impedance: 100 ohms balanced, 50 ohms unbalanced. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.1dB. THD+noise at 1kHz: 0.002%. IMD (CCIF): 0.0003%, 19+20kHz. Channel separation: 109dB at 1kHz. Output noise: <4ÊV or –100dB, 20Hz–20kHz (ref. 1V). Signal/noise: 140dB. Dynamic range at –60dBFS: 123dB. Jitter: <250ps peak–peak. Power consumption: 10VA.
Dimensions: 19" (483mm) with rack ears W by 2.75" (44mm) H by 11.25" (286mm) D. Shipping weight: 18 lbs (8.2kg).
Finishes: Black
Thanks for considering this heavyweight dac. This BDA-1 punches with the best of the best costing 5 to 6 times its cost. Don't let this opportunity slip by. If your want a plug and play system with the mega buck $$$$$$$ synergy you can start by buying all three of these work of arts and be in Audiophilia heaven without breaking the bank and spending the time, frustration of trial and error that everyone must do just to get with-in striking distance of these ture heavyweights. See my other listings.