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Superb Bryston BDA-3.14

My new Bryston BDA-3.14 was delivered today.


Bryston assured me that the product is compatible with OSX.


Imagine my surprise when I tried to mount an Apple share using the ‘User Friendly’ NAS Setup system only to get the message “apple error” pop up on browser.


Having twenty years experience managing Linux systems I decided to establish an ssh session to have a look at the perfectly setup Debian system.


Well, well, well the 16 year old at Bryston done got forgotten to install the afpfs and afpcmd binaries. Gosh darn Bryston, how did that happen?


The apache log is riddled with PHP errors so it’s not surprising nothing shows up on the beautifully crafted interface when searching for “The Beatles”, no that’s a bit unfair some sort of list pops up 35 seconds later, if you are lucky


Here’s some advice Bryston: just stick to making audio equipment.


So many articles wax poetic about the Manic Moose interface, what a compete and utter joke this is compared to a professionally written software package like Audirvana.


The only saving grace is the DAC itself, but if you cannot navigate easily to the music you want to listen to it’s completely pointless.




shaunmccullagh
13 responses Add your response
rmoyers
19 posts
 

Just received and installed my BDA-3.14.

Oppo 105 connected via HDMI to BDA 3.14 HDMI 4

Cocktail X45 connected via USB to BDA 3.14 USB 2

BDA 3.14 connected via XLR to Krell Showcase processor.

When inserting and playing a SACD in the Oppo 105, the BDA 3.14 generates a noticeable 'pop' when switching to DSD 1x.

When playing a ripped CD from the X45, the BDA 3.14 generates a noticeable 'pop' when switching to 44khz.

Anyone have this 'popping'?

I have to say that with the BDA 3.14 in my system, everything digital sound much better. Streaming from Qobuz using Maniac Moose is way superior to streaming from the X45 using the X45's built-in DAC.

 

shaunmccullagh OP
2 posts
 
I wonder why a manufacturer would want to ship a product without documenting all the features so painstakingly developed?

The 3.14 is shipped with comprehensive DLNA support none of which is mentioned in the manual.

If you navigate to Services on the Dashboard you can scroll down to view all the DLNA offerings. Confusingly there is no scroll bar.

Then select DLNA Renderer, press Start and finally power cycle the 3.14, which is most important otherwise the audio will be constantly interrupted. You can then configure Audirvana to stream to the DAC using the DLNA protocol from the Audirvana Audio Output Selection menu. The Bryston is advertised as ‘bryston-bdp’

What is really striking is Red Book CD ripped files sound way better this way than when replayed using MPD which is the default player.

My 3.14 is now directly connected to a 4B3 which has turned out to be a big success....



nm_mac
5 posts
 
@mahler123:  Good you got Rigelian working; the developer is pretty responsive, and the app has seen continuous improvement, for example the ability to read .pdf liner notes is supposed to be coming.  To your other question, I have used Soundirok as well... a bit less intuitive to me, but some like its features.  The other is Glider... have not used, and has not seen as much development as the others.  

Bryston has been taking a bit of flack on their main forum re. their web app; they imply that based on this they may reconsider their opposition to developing an app for control.  But, I would not hold my breath on this, and people considering Bryston players need to do this based on current control apps.  
Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,947 posts
 
shaunmccullagh
So I might keep it, endure Manic Moose for the time being and buy an Aurender N100H at a later date which has some support for MQA and a business like GUI running on a well designed app.
I'm in the process of trading my Aurender N100H back into my dealer for a Bryston BDP-3. The Aurender software is extremely limited and the company can't even figure out how to have it import/export playlists. While Aurender enjoys an excellent reputation for its support, that hasn't been my experience at all - their responses sometimes reveal that they never even read the initial inquiry.

The Aurender sounds great, but everything else about Aurender I find to be second-rate.
mahler123
3,318 posts
 
Rigelian works now with my BDP, after I reloaded the app.  Not perfect, but an improvement over Manic Moose
goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot
1,370 posts
 
I just bought a BDP Pi today from my local dealer. I plan to run it to my Ayre QB 9 Twenty. Any surprises I should know about?
mahler123
3,318 posts
 
Rigelian won’t recognize my BDP3 .  I’m out 49 cents 
shaunmccullagh OP
2 posts
 
Interested to hear all the responses.

The DAC part really is superb. I got my new unit for very good price, much less than a BDP3.

So I might keep it, endure Manic Moose for the time being and buy an Aurender N100H at a later date which has some support for MQA and a business like GUI running on a well designed app.

Interested to hear if anybody else has tried this combination.

I plan to connect the BDP-pi directly to a 4B3 as this is approved by Bryston, I don’t need vinyl any more, sadly....
mahler123
3,318 posts
 
I own the BDP3 and the DAC3.  The DAC is superb, and it is what lead me to buy the BDP3 when I got tired of Bluesound dying on me repeatedly, and while the BDP3 sounds fantastic I completely agree with everything the OP says about Manic Moose.
  I am curious about nm_mac2 post.  The Bryston won’t work with UPNP Bubble App.  I will investigate Rigelian but what other MPD music players does he recommend?
nm_mac
5 posts
 
Long time Bryston digital player owner here; I would say many Bryston owners do not use their own web app except for updates and admin functions. Since Bryston uses MPD database, there are several generic MPD music players that work well for your own attached music (I use Rigelian which is excellent).  However if you want to use streamed sources like Tidal, you are stuck with the Bryston Manic Moose.  
nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
489 posts
 
Well, well, well the 16 year old at Bryston done got forgotten to install the afpfs and afpcmd binaries. Gosh darn Bryston, how did that happen?

@shaunmccullagh is there any reason you aren't using SMB sharing from your macOS system? The File Sharing feature under System Preferences > Sharing allows you to share folders via SMB as well as via AFP. And SMB should have mounted without any issues.
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,598 posts
 
Bryston
Apple
meh
There are plenty of well written open source code around that I would rather donate to instead of an Audiovarna contract. 
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