John E. Johnson, Jr. of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity, recently published an in-depth technical review of the BDA-3.14 Digital to Analog Converter. The Bryston BDA-3.14 keeps all the same features as the award-winning BDA-3 while adding streaming flexibility via a built-in Raspberry Pi. John steps the reader through the process of setting up and configuring the BDA-3.14 for streaming with Qobuz and gives a glowing review of his final setup. A few of my favorite quotes include:
The photograph of the Bryston BDA-3.14 Streaming DAC at the beginning of this review shows my cat sitting on top. That is because it is warm, due to the Pure Class A bias of the analog output stage.
The streamed music sounds every bit as good as music stored on a hard drive. I used the combination of the hard drive and the BDA-3.14 as music sources for this review, and I could not tell the difference. This tells me at least two things: (1) There is no loss in quality of the music that Qobuz serves; and (2) the Bryston BDA-3.14 DAC re-clocks the bitstream beautifully.
The sound of the Bryston BDA-3.14 was fantastic. Excellent clarity, clean, and dynamic. High-resolution adds detail and dynamics.
I am convinced now that music streaming is the future for audio, not just for high-enders but for everyone.
The Bryston BDA-3.14 is an audiophile-grade piece of equipment. It is expensive, but these days, everything is expensive. You eventually will get a streamer if you don’t already have one. Why wait for the inevitable? Get one now and enjoy.
Read the entire review at Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity’s website. You can find more information about the BDA-3.14 on our BDA-3.14 product page or find a local dealer to hear it for yourself. Listening is believing!
