Bryston BDP-1 & MinimServer

[DavidHB]

An intriguing product. I was prompted to look it up on the web. If the sound quality is what you want, it looks like a good value package.

There is a story I have not got to the bottom of. Early versions of the BDP-1 were explicitly not streamers or renderers; the data source was, I think, USB only. Apparently Bryston were claiming that network streaming compromised sound quality, which is the exact opposite of the line taken by Linn, then and now. The current BDP-1 clearly has network connectivity, and from your description functions as a standard UPnP renderer. It still has USB connectivity, which Linn continues to shudder at. Wouldn't you just like to lock them both in a room for a few hours ...

You mention that you're using MinimStreamer but don't say whether it's transcoding, radio streams or both you've tried with the Bryston. It would be interesting to know how you get on with those, as the reviews say that the Bryston has good format support.

And as regards your final question, I think that we are only now beginning to learn how aspects of digital data manipulation and transmission can affect sound quality (even when the bits and bytes of the digital file remain completely unchanged), and that's before we get into the whole realm of digital to analogue conversion.

David