transporter and bryston bda-1

[indexit]

Hi,

I spent the afternoon playing a lot of music on my new bda-1 using the transporter to drive it.

As soon as I played the first few seconds of music through the BDA-1 I was surprised to hear it walking all over how the transporter's balanced analog out puts sounded. The BDA-1 is cleaner sounding --- all the way from the top to the bottom. Just sounds very cleaned up from how the transporter sounds to me. A haze, glare, grain or what not is removed from the sound that I didn't know was there. Vocals are better. Also sounds more musical less mechanical too boot. Overall sounds almost like a component has been removed from the signal chain or maybe more like a significant preamplifier upgrade or remvoal of a preamp. Just very very very clean and musical sounding.....

I'm using a bp-26, pair of Bryston 28Bs, and a pair of Nautilus 800s and coaxial output on the transporter with BNC connectors to the BNC Coaxial inputs on the bda-1.

I am a bit suprised that to my ears the bda-1 sounds signficantly better then the transporter (better match for my preamp?). From what most people say on this forum the transporter is kind of the end all killer D/A cost busting converter. I thought that two units would have been a lot closer in terms of sound quality in my system.

I wasn't really dissatisfied with the transporters sound, until now.... The bda-1 this afternoon just seemed to be a lot more involving, has a lot more grove and sounded less fake then the transporter. It sounds like the transporter is doing everything right, but somehow it seems like it is acting vs being the real thing. The bda-1 with the transporter driving it comes closer in my system to the real thing in terms of the music..

the two toghther are worth every penny

thanks

[NewBuyer]

Hi,

I spent the afternoon paying a lot of music on my new bda-1 using the transporter to drive it.

As soon as I played the first few seconds of music through the BDA-1 I was surprised to hear it walking all over how the transporter's balanced analog out puts sounded. The BDA-1 is cleaner sounding --- all the way from the top to the bottom. Just sounds very cleaned up from how the transporter sounds to me. A haze, glare, grain or what not is removed from the sound that I didn't know was there. Vocals are better. Also sounds more musical less mechanical too boot. Overall sounds almost like a component has been removed from the signal chain or maybe more like a significant preamplifier upgrade or remvoal of a preamp. Just very very very clean and musical sounding.....

I'm using a bp-26, pair of Bryston 28Bs, and a pair of Nautilus 800s and coaxial output on the transporter with BNC connectors to the BNC Coaxial inputs on the bda-1.

I am a bit suprised that to my ears the bda-1 sounds signficantly better then the transporter (better match for my preamp?). From what most people say on this forum the transporter is kind of the end all killer D/A cost busting converter. I thought that two units would have been a lot closer in terms of sound quality in my system.

I wasn't really dissatisfied with the transporters sound, until now.... The bda-1 this afternoon just seemed to be a lot more involving, has a lot more grove and sounded less fake then the transporter. It sounds like the transporter is doing everything right, but somehow it seems like it is acting vs being the real thing. The bda-1 with the transporter driving it comes closer in my system to the real thing in terms of the music..

the two toghther are worth every penny

thanks

Hi Jeffrey Muehl,
I saw your similar post over on AudioCircle. I'm wondering please: Why didn't you just get a Bryston DAC card installed into your BP-26? Just curious...

[indexit]

Hi,

The preamp I have has the mm/mc card in it. No room for the D/A card. Also the BDA-1 has more inputs including USB, has some nice status indicators, is a newer design and in the future may have the ability to have word clock added. The BDA-1 sounds darn good , in my sytem to my ears better then the transporter. I haven't listend to a bp-26da in my sytem so I can't comment on how that compares against the BDA-1 with a transporter.

[NewBuyer]

Hi,

The preamp I have has the mm/mc card in it. No room for the D/A card. Also the BDA-1 has more inputs including USB, has some nice status indicators, is a newer design and in the future may have the ability to have word clock added. And mainly it sounds darn good , in my sytem to my ears better then the transporter.

Yes that makes perfect sense. I must admit, the BDA-1 looks like perhaps the nicest DAC I've seen in quite a long time, especially with its discrete class-A opamps which I'm sure contribute a great deal to the resulting sound quality. Glad you're enjoying it!

P.S. Are you comfortable stating where you purchased your BDA-1, and the price?

[indexit]

Sure,

I purchased it from Tim at Audio Advisor for $1,995. Nice guy. They included shipping. I belive Audio Advisor is the only on-line/mail-order retailer authorized to sell Bryston in terms of a manufactor warranty.

[Rodney_Gold]

I bought the tranporter for its so called superior dac - for a headphone rig. And wow , was I dissapointed. It seemed to do everything right in a deconstructed way , and it might measure right , but it sounded cold and lifeless compared to my Jolida CDP or my benchmark DAC.
Maybe the other dacs were coloured and I prefered the colouration-who knows?

[Anne]

I am not surprised really. I have the dac in my Bryston B100, and I have recommended it to everyone. The Bryston is so clean sounding, super transparent, and....its like listening to "nothing" really. Its a Windex comercial in real life actually.
But, to talk about something else, I really feel most of my ripped music in lossless sound like crap, its just the sound on the albums that makes me sad, I dont play my music anymore, I hear radio!
Next step for me is hi-rez downloads, and who knows, maybe a Blu-Ray player now the format is being used for music also.....

[muski]

Interesting. I prefer the Transporter DAC over the one in my BP25DA -- found that the soundstage was noticeably wider. I recently upgraded to a BP26DA (with a beefier external power supply), but haven't had a chance to do any serious side-by-side listening.

I thought about the Bryston BDA-1, but as it had no word clock sync support, I passed on it. I would love to see side-by-side jitter measurements of the Transporter and BDA-1 DACs.

I also find the Transporter DAC to be breathtaking through a high-end headphone rig. The detail is incredible.

[xand1x]

Interesting. I prefer the Transporter DAC over the one in my BP25DA -- found that the soundstage was noticeably wider. I recently upgraded to a BP26DA (with a beefier external power supply), but haven't had a chance to do any serious side-by-side listening.

I thought about the Bryston BDA-1, but as it had no word clock sync support, I passed on it. I would love to see side-by-side jitter measurements of the Transporter and BDA-1 DACs.

I also find the Transporter DAC to be breathtaking through a high-end headphone rig. The detail is incredible.

Agreed. I'm loving the TP through my K1000 rig

[DaveBk]

Agree again. I think the Transporter is a wonderful source, but all our ears are different and we all appreciate different aspects of the listening experience.