Bryston BDA-3 Digital to Analogue Converter

Overview

A high performance DAC is built upon more than brand- name chips inside. Most comparisons of competing DAC’s are simplified into who supplies the integrated circuit. Our BDA-2 and BDA-3 digital to analog converters start with the most technologically advanced AKM ICs, but those are only the beginning.

Each electrical input is galvanically isolated to completely eliminate the possibility of ground noise from the attached interconnect and device from polluting the signal. The embedded clock signals are thrown out, and all incoming PCM data is re-clocked with our own high-precision internal master clock for the lowest possible jitter. Rather than a single DAC IC, we use two each in balanced mode for even better signal to noise ratio and lower crosstalk. Digital audio is converted to analog and sent to our proprietary discrete class A operational amplifiers for output to your preamp.

To further improve fidelity, our DAC’s feature fully independent power supplies for the digital and analog sections to prevent additional distortion. You won’t find more thoroughly engineered or better sounding high performance DAC’s from anyone else.

The most notable difference between the BDA-2 and BDA-3 is in addition to PCM playback, that the BDA-3 is fully DSD enabled. It can decode up to DSD-256 through the asynchronous USB inputs and even accept SACD input via HDMI. The BDA-3 has a whopping 10 separate inputs including four 2-channel HDMI, asynchronous USB, AES/EBU, TOSLINK, and digital coax. It also includes our network module which facilitates control via TCP/IP and RS-232—a must for modern home automation.

Though the BDA-3 represents our most forward thinking engineering, the BDA-2 sounds fantastic as well. The BDA-2 is limited to PCM data at up to 192kHz / 24 bits and lacks the HDMI interconnectivity and ethernet control of the newer model.

The choice is yours. Are you ready to jump into DSD downloads? Do you want to connect your television or blu-ray player to your stereo system? If so, the BDA-3 is the perfect match. If not, pick the BDA-2 for astonishing sound quality without paying for features you don’t need.