Bryston BCD-1 compared to more expensive players?

Don't know about more expensive players, but in a recent showdown with the Bryston and Sony the Denon DCD A100 ($1500 street price) was the preferred choice. It matched the others in bass and scale but had a more neutral perspective. It didn't have the dryness of the Bryston (as described by Don_c55) and was less upfront than the Sony.

You should try to audition them at home,with your gear,room,
music ect.
I auditioned three players,an Arcam(top player then),
Bryston BCD-1 and an ARC CD-7.
For over a year I had saved for the cd-7 and then I had enough to buy it.
I figured I'll at least AUDITION a few players.
to make this short,I ended with the Bryston and no regrets.
To top it all off they were all plugged into a ARC ref-3.
Anyway I preferred the Bryston,but that's the best way is to
audition for YOU,as you will be the one listening for years to come,good luck.

The Sony SCD-XA5400ES is more natural, and has more depth, space, and smooth sound compared to the Bryston BCD-1.

The Bryston BCD-1 is sharp and dry sounding, with less depth!

Don, could you be more specific as I was going to buy the Bryston, to replace my Shanling, but am now interested in the Sony. Thanks.

Not to say anything negative about the Bryston, I previously owned Bryston pre and power amplification and was very happy with it until I evetually upgraded to the Krell FPB cx series. I did audition the BCD-1 last year and did some careful listening and feature comparisons to the Cambridge Audio 840c. While I felt they were close in audible performance, I also concluded that the feature/performance/$$$ ratio favored the Cambridge player and so I purchased one. The Bryston player's performance was solid though. It's just that I was looking for the sound and DACs that I got with the Cambridge.

The Sony SCD-XA5400ES beats the Bryston BCD-1 at half the price in a head to head comparison!

I have a Bryston BCD-1 and I absolutely love it. I haven't compared it to anything else more expensive nor do I feel the need to. For one thing, I couldn't afford anything more expensive so it would be a waste of time. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best bang for the buck. I was using a Rotel RCD-1072 and the Bryston is far superior.

i have had bcd-1 for at least 10 months - to me it is one of the top 3 players i have ever owned - i don't know if it compares to players 4-5 times its price - but it def sounds very good and it has hard hitting dynamics and has great seperation

It doesn't make bad recordings sound good (the old cliche) - but on good recordings it sounds marvelous

I had a BCD-1, but I can only compare it from memory to a Sim Audio Nova, and the Modwright Sony 999. These players are nowhere near 4-5 times the cost of the BCD-1. They are however comparable at retail price. I would say that if it sounds good in your setup (you used the words "quite amazing"), to me that says the BCD-1 is a really strong match in your setup. Matching components well goes a long way towards achieving optimum performance. In fact, the toughest task in building a satisfying system is matching components well. The BCD-1 wasn't as good a match in my system, but I could still recognize its quality. Since it sounds "quite amazing" my advice is to buy it.