Bryston or Yamaha?

I owned the BP6 for years, and it’s the most transparent component I’ve ever owned — straight wire with gain personified.  It just gets out of the way and lets everything through with pristine clarity, quietness, solid and precise imaging, and an expansive 3D soundstage.  It’s basically a blank slate upon which you can put anything, and if these are the things you’re looking for it’s an outstanding preamp.  It is not something that’s going to add any flavor of its own, so if that’s what you’re after look elsewhere.  I haven’t heard the Yammy so can’t comment on sound, but personally I don’t want a DAC/digital processing going on in my stereo pre and would much prefer a separate DAC, but I’m more of a purist that way.  Hope this helps, and best of luck.

Yes I agree with you I have a bryston. I'm running 2 Yamaha m40 on it. I don't stream any music. if I don't have record or CD I don't listen to it. This guy my friend knows has the Yamaha cx1000 it's pretty..

Hard to go wrong with either. I find the Yamaha variable loudness function to come in quite handy though.

@soix I doubt the 30+ year old Yamaha is digitizing any analog inputs.

Bryston is likely to be more refined. 

I doubt the 30+ year old Yamaha is digitizing any analog inputs.

@travelinjack  I didn’t say it was digitizing inputs, I said it has a DAC in it doing digital processing that creates noise I don’t want in a stereo preamp.

@soix if they aren’t being used then they shouldn’t be creating any noise. Hard to believe anyone would use those 30+ year old coax and optical inputs over a much better modern external DAC.

@travelinjack  If the DAC is in the preamp it’s receiving power, and if it’s receiving power it’s emitting noise and low-level analog preamp signals are very susceptible to noise.  No thanks. 

The Bryston preamps are notoriously quiet and neutral.

I'm a tube guy but also own a BR-20 which I love.

Not until you get into the $22,000+ range in preamps do you hear better (by only a little bit) sound. 

Yamaha has known how to make ultra-quiet and refined electronics for many decades now. Some will argue that their older stuff is even better than current flagships, so I wouldn’t presume the newer Bryston is superior. I’ve pitted the preamp section of a Yamaha A-S1100 integrated against various $3K—$5K tube and SS preamps and it came out on top every time. It shouldn’t really surprise us though considering how long Yamaha has been at this game compared to most companies. 

The preamp section of even a decent integrated amp is usually the weak link due to parts quality, component space and heat issues. To many unknow variables to verify your claims.

The preamp section of even a decent integrated amp is usually the weak link due to parts quality, component space and heat issues. To many unknow variables to verify your claims.
 

Yeah that is true of a typical integrated amps but not the upper tier Yamahas. But sure, if you’re one who equates price with performance then no Yamaha is going to satisfy your expectation bias. 

@helomech    Thx for taking time to reply. Not outing you but name the preamps in question and the details of the set up when making such a demonstrative statement. Yamaha is a very solid brand that adds very little coloration which sets up a building block for a fine HEA system

What's a Yammy? Is it a vegetable?

I have a Bryston 0.5 Pre that was not overly cared for by previous owner ... it is awesome!  

No experience with Ymaha ... can you compare?

I would love to know which way you go ....