2. digital
  3. 159761-150473

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
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.  
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....



rmoyers
18 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.

 

More to discover