Surround setup problem

millercarbon is forever on a crusade to ban and kill any sort of HT multi-channel system, so if you want to remove any possibility of center channel dialogue or surround channels, by all means follow his advice.

It seems like there is a problem either with HDMI output on the Ayre or the HDMI board on the Bryston SP3. It could also be an inadequate or faulty HDMI cable. You could try a different cable. If that doesn’t work, see if you could borrow another bluray/DVD player from somebody to test with the SP3. That should help diagnos if your Ayre HDMI is the problem or if it’s the SP3 problem.

That's awsome!  Thanks for letting us know.

What kind of HDMI cable are you using?  If you are using stuff at the Ayre/Bryston level, then the HDMI cable from the Ayre source can definitely impact sound quality. 

I’d like to make some HDMI cable recommendations for your Ayre DX-5 DSD player. Since you don’t actually know what cable you’re using, it’s probably not super high end (but I could be wrong).

The best "new" cable for the money is Nordost Heimdall 2 HDMI. Always get a 2 meter HDMI cable even though you don’t need the length. A short 1 meter HDMI cable will have problems with lack of high frequency response and also video sharpness due to signal reflects on such a short cable. Retail for a 2M Heimdall HDMI is $800 (unless you can find a dealer who can give a little discount).

If you don’t want to spend that much, you can try to find an old Wire World Starlight 5-2 or Starlight 6. These are excellent cables and the larger 24awg conductors will give better bass response. However, the sound might have a little bright edge because the copper is not as good the Nordost. The Heimdall has better overall audio/video quality, but not quite as strong in the deep bass (it’s a smaller 25awg conductor).

There is a used Silver Starlight 5-2 on ebay from Poland for $200 USD:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wireworld-Silver-Starlight-5-Reference-HDMI-cable-1m-silver-hi-end-HDMI-cab...

The Silver Starlight 5-2 is the only HDMI cable I have seen to use OCC copper conductors. However, this one from Poland is only 1 meter. That being said, I think this cable would potentially still be highly superior to what you have anyways if you didn’t want to "try" the Nordost with $800 retail. If you can find a 2 meter Silver Starlight 5-2, grab it before somebody else does. The Silver Starlight 5-2 is the second best cable I have tested and used (in some ways better than Heimdall). The Heimdall can be less harsh sounding on bad source components because it doesn’t have as thick of a silver clad/plate.

WARNING: don’t buy any Wire World cables that use the newer DNLA Helix design. The Helix uses 2 x 26awg conductors FOR EACH hdmi SIGNAL PIN. This actually isn’t as good as the 24awg single conductors. I’ve tested these. I think it’s partially due to smaller conductors and also timing errors due to unequal length of these 2x26 awg conductors that are twisted in a non-linear way.

The absolute best cable I have tried is Nordost Valhalla HDMI, but you would really want the absolute best outcome to spend this much (2 meter is $4k retail). However, there is no other cable that competes with this.

I was disappointed with Audioquest HDMI cables.

I don't know.  Try another bluray player?