Not cheap, for sure, but Bryston explains that every product it builds is assembled by hand and individually tested. The BDA-1's "ultra-high-resolution output" is provided by fully discrete Class-A proprietary Bryston analogue circuits, two independent linear power supplies for the analogue and digital sections and Crystal CS-4398 DAC chips.
With the plethora of music servers and digital devices now available, connectivity is comprehensive. The BDA-1 is equipped with USB, coaxial, optical, AES-EBU and BNC digital inputs, as well as both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA phono outputs.
An RS-232 port on the back panel makes this DAC software upgradeable.
It's compatible with CD drives, soundcards, computers and music servers. Remote control is optional, a 12-volt trigger is standard and there are two indpendent power transformers.
The CS-4398 chip operates in one of three oversampling modes based on the input sample rate. Single-speed mode supports sample rates up to 50kHz and uses a 128x oversampling ratio.
Double-speed mode supports input sample rates up to 100kHz and uses an oversampling rate of 64x, while quad-speed supports input rates up to 200kHz and uses an oversampling rate of 3x.
You can also disengage the upsampling feature by flicking a switch on the front panel.
