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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
pkubica
134 posts
 
Also, have had a better experience with Media Center player software. Are you using a dedicate "music only" computer? With the Lynx card and Bryston it should sound as good as a $5-10K CDP. Something is definitely wrong!
Paul
cmalak
681 posts
 
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 OP
12 posts
 
o I have 'up sampling on', I can try to have it off tonite
o it's my 'music only' PC running Window XP.
What's Media Center player software' - MediaMonkey ?
What do I need to adjust or watch ?
o As I said, I riped CD to wave files (either using media
Monkey or iTune). Isn't ripping CD to wave files is
lossless resolution format? I also checked the bitrate
(1411)and filesizes.
o OK. I will go to computeraudiophile to see if I've missed
any.
Thanks.
cerrot's avatar
cerrot
1,700 posts
 
Make sure you are bypassing windows kernal. go download asio4all. what other gear do you have and what did the new dac replace? I haven't heard the Bryston but I have read a few comments on line that did report what you are saying about the dacs sound.
davide256's avatar
davide256
398 posts
 
the Bryston is an excellent DAC, I've auditioned it... the problem is computer technology. I have several PC's and have done the same PC vs CD player comparison over SPDIF into a DAC. The CD player always wins hands down. Where the game changes is with asynchronous USB into a DAC, when I went that route with the HRT Music Streamer II USB DAC it blew away my DAC/ CD players. Apparently jitter is a big problem for PC digital output unless you use asynchronous USB. Unfortunately most audio DAC manufacturers aren't PC savvy, the USB on their DAC is the older synchronous solution which has no jitter correction between PC and DAC. Since you have 1 of the best DAC's you may want to invest in a Hiface Evo (~$200) as an asynch USB to SPDIF converter
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