experience with Bryston BDA-1 ?


I recently bought a brand new Bryston BDA-1. It's connected to my pre-amp on one side and PC one the other side. From the PC, I have Lynx AES16 sound card connected to BDA-1 with Lynx cable snake AES. I am using mediaMonkey to play wave files riped from CD or hi-res files.
After playing for 2 weeks, I found that BDA-1 indeed outputs warm music but i) the sound is rather flatten or not as dimensional, and ii) the bass seem to be easily saturated or dull - as compared to the same music played from
my CD player (which is also connected to my preamp).
Am I missing anything , or
any suggestion to improve it to surpass CD music ?
ps: I played some Jazz and vocal (new or old recordings). Also, I turn the volume to 'mid low' level on mediaMonkey.
Thanks.
so_armonk

Showing 2 responses by cmalak

What format is your music stored in on your PC? It could also be the settings on your PC depending on the operating system you are using (Windows XP, Vista, 7, etc...). I would suggest going to Computer Audiophile (www.computeraudiophile.com) and check out many of the articles written on the correct PC settings you need to output but perfect resolution from your PC. Also make sure you are using one of the lossless resolution formats for any CDs you have ripped to your PC. If you are using mp3 or any other lossy format, it will not sound as good obviously versus your CDs.
So_armonk...dCS has put together a Computer Audio primer that ought to help mazimize the performance of your PC through your Bryston DAC 1. Here it is: http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/page/assets/dCS_Guide_to_Computer_Audio.pdf. If you are running Windows (XP/Vista/7), go to page 22 and that is the beginning of the Windows set-up section that will show you all the settings you need to make sure are selected to optimize your set up. There are also sections on specific settings if you are using J River, Foobar, or MediaMonkey as your music management software. If you are using Apple OS then go to page 12 for best settings in that environment. I hope this helps.