Reprint from
HIFI & Records
The magazine for High-Quality Music Reproduction
Issue 10/2003

"The assignment of the Bryston 60 BRIS is purely and simply the reproduction of music - and nothing else."

The Sweetheart

Test:

Bryston 60 BRIS Integrated Amplifier

Bryston has most successfully updated their classic power amplifiers, now it's the turn of the integrated amplifier - the new Bryston 60 BRIS under test.

What in the world is the matter with Bryston? For years one had the impression that the Canadians were in some sort of "Sleeping Beauty" like slumber, and that they allowed the cluster of trends, modes, and designs of the high-end branch to calmly pass them by, that they just "did their thing" up there in Toronto, i.e. long-lived, extremely reliable, and efficient components, and now, suddenly, within the shortest of times they release one sound-wise top product after the other. They led off with the 14B SST power amplifier with gigantic output capability (two times 850 Watts into 4 ohms, test in issue 3/2003), which they gave themselves for their 40th company birthday. This powerful mammoth sparkles unrestrainedly and openly in a manner that was not available from the Bryston Company until now. No less impressive, still 580 Watts strong and with 3800 Euro considerably more affordable, Bryston then put the 4B SST power amplifier into the running for the audiophile shopper's favor at the beginning of this year. In hifi & records 1/2003 I stated that this amplifier is a "price-breaker par excellence", and now as before nothing has changed in my assessment.

In the referred to 1/2003 article I also admitted, that the 4B SST is the amplifier in the Bryston program which has gained my greatest sympathies. The first test of the 60 BRI integrated amplifier (its designation at the time) is now a few years old (issue 2/99), and since then the Bryston integrated amplifier has become better, more attractive, and more expensive. Today its designation is 60 BRIS, and it still looks just as modest and timeless as before but - even Henry Ford had to endure the revolution - it is now available not only in black, but also in an elegant silver tone. Honestly said, this makes the 60 BRIS integrated amplifier even more desirable, the more so since the predecessor's still visible four front panel fastening screws have now disappeared in the new version. This is the way that I envision an integrated amplifier, superb workmanship, the controls, i.e. the knobs and switches, feel good, are properly dimensioned, and render an impression of solidity. One simply likes to touch components like the Bryston integrated amp, and the heavy remote control with only three buttons (Loud, Soft, and Mute) finally spells out that the mission of the 60 BRIS is purely and simply the reproduction of music, and nothing else.

The Bryston is crafted for this job, and in line with this received a rejuvenation cure. What remained is its genuine double mono construction with separate power supply transformers for each channel, the selected Alps potentiometer, the fully discrete construction, and the confidence inspiring protective circuitry. The output transistors are new, the old bipolar Motorola transistors had to give way to modern 250 Watt types in plastic packages. Bryston also concentrated its efforts in another very highly sound relevant area, i.e. in the power supply. The new filter capacitors with a total capacity of 20,400 microfarad per channel, can tolerate much higher temperatures, which first of all should be noticeable one day by the lifetime of the energy storage, and mathematically the new filter capacitors should last four times as long as the old ones. Over designed? Please consider that during its 40 year company history Bryston has always repaired each of their once in a while failing amplifiers, without charge. That is what the Canadians understand by the word "service", and so that purchasers don't just go home with a promise, they receive it, black on white, in the form of the "crazy" 20 year warranty for the entire product line, notably for the component, and not only for the original owner.

There is still another innovation in the innards of the 60 BRIS, i.e. the main printed circuit board now has components attached to both sides, which presumably facilitates a more professional circuit layout. But even "trifles" like new RCA input connectors and considerably better loudspeaker binding posts have been provided by Bryston. However there was one thing that they could not do, i.e. for Bryston's special Quad-Complementary topology with NPN/PNP pairs used in the 14B SST and the 4B SST amplifiers, at least four output transistors are required for each channel. Therefore the 60 BRIS amp retains the conventional emitter circuitry (speaker output from the collector) for which Bryston admits to a minute amount of transient distortion.

But on the other hand the Canadians couldn't have provided a bigger favor for LP listeners than to finally also offer, as an option (MM, 300 Euro), the frequently tried and proven phono stage of their BP20/25 preamp series for their integrated amplifier. Strictly speaking the 60 BRIS contains within itself an entire BP20/25 preamp only without the balanced inputs and the MC phono stage. For these there is simply and logically no room within the one studio height shallow cabinet.

Since we did not have the previous 60 BRI model available for a listening test, the new Bryston integrated amp had to prove its mettle against other integrated amps, some more expensive, and some less expensive. Especially in the lower price ranges there are a few nice, "weaselfast" little integrated amplifiers (more about these in the next issue) which quite properly and jauntily "make music."

The most important quality of the Bryston integrated amp was a constant dimension, i.e. the measure of its tonal balance, its unobtrusiveness. It neither lapsed into a forward storming gait, nor could one accuse it of the over exaggerated lower tonal response of a brute power amplifier, and the following example will serve to illustrate this. When Alfred Brendel, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Sir Charles Mackerras, strikes up the Allegretto of Mozart's Piano Concerto Nr. 25 (KV 503, Decca 470 287-2) then perhaps a few amplifier "light weights" render a bit more traction into the music than the Bryston, but for that they also must sacrifice some tonal substance. Then the piano strokes no longer sound so wonderfully like "hammer and felt" compared to the Bryston, which does not have to "thicken them up" something huge high-end amplifiers like to do.

If I am not mistaken, the Bryston 60 BRIS has gained in matters of liveliness and purity compared to its predecessor, but despite this it has not become a hectic speed demon by a long shot. Its strength is its balance, and with it voices always have a healthy measure of body, they don't sound bloodless or ethereal. Strings also profit from this, even when it comes down to not being so hastily pushy as "brazen" amplifiers. Such harmony does not make the listener's blood boil, but rather serves much more for relaxed and tranquil music listening. This is what the Bryston 60 BRIS integrated amplifier is all about.

Conclusion

This is one of the most sympathetic integrated amplifiers in the world market, and even if its last revision could not score quite as spectacularly as with the Bryston power amplifiers, nevertheless the 60 BRIS moved forward by a substantial measure. It exhibits super rugged construction, in silver looks damn classy, sounds beautifully balanced, and the 20 year warranty is nothing to sneeze at.
Wilfried Kress

Translated from the German by Peter Ullman

We invite you to experience the Bryston SST² Series amplifiers

20 Year Warranty - A Generation of Music