New Bryston BDA-3 DAC with "SACD input" (DSD over HDMI)

This will be the first audiophile/stereo DAC on the market which can receive DSD signals over HDMI, for example from Oppo or Sony Blu-ray players playing SACDs.

It will be available early next year and will cost $3200.

 

All of which any half decent AV receiver for the last two or three years has done and for substantially less . I don't mean to sound "off" Claude but the pace of the two channel manufacturers to get up to speed at times just amazes me. Continents move faster!

 

Just because home theatre receivers have this feature does not mean they can replace (together with a Blu-ray/SACD player) a high end SACD player, in terms of sound quality.

The Bryston has this potential. It opens the SACD format up for systems centered on a high quality DAC.

 

The HDMI interface is nice for two channel use as well.

An easier to read article:
http://www.monoandstereo.com/2014/11/bryston-bda-3-dac-new.html

 

Much as I like the physical disc, my amp handles DSD natively, as well as a pile of other hi res formats, flac, Blu-ray audio, etc.

It's good this thing exists as it might get down to more modestly priced 2-ch gear too.

 

YES!!! A DSD transport option is something I've been wanting for some time. NAD already sells a DAC that takes DSD over HDMI. (EDIT: my mistake, the NAD DAC will not take DSD over HDMI)

Add a relatively inexpensive Sony BD player (one with DSD support), and you've got an awesome audiophile SACD playback system!

 

Really excited about this!!

 

There are indeed two DACs with HDMI input on the market today, the NAD M51 and the Essence DAC, but both support only PCM over HDMI. This makes them useful for Blu-ray-Audio playback, because S/PDIF output from Blu-ray is limited to 48kHz sampling rate (copyprotection restriction), but SACD output from Blu-ray players needs to be converted to 24/88 or 24/176 PCM by the player with these DACs.

Mark Levinson had announced a DAC with HDMI and DSD input in 2012, but it never materialized.

So the Bryston will be a first.

 

The Bryston does NOT appear to support DSD over HDMI. Rather, it supports up to 24/192 PCM over HDMI. DSD seems to only be supported over USB. The way I read the copy, the SACD player will have to convert the DSD to PCM (this is usually done at 24/88.1 resolution) if you are going to use the HDMI input.

 

I agree that the description text is not entirely clear on this, but it would not make sense for a DSD-capable DAC not to accept DSD over HDMI but only over USB. The HDMI DACs mentionned above do not support DSD at all, that's why they require PCM over HDMI.

Someone asked this question to James Tanner from Bryston on the audioshark forum, and his answer wasn't very clear either:

http://audioshark.org/bryston-audio-40/bryston-bda-3-announced-6057.html

BUT:

Why would they mention "SACD through the HDMI inputs" on the flyer if the required signal was PCM converted from DSD by the player?

 

Here's a quote from Bryston on that thread:

 

I asked the question on the Audiocircle forum, where James Tanner is also posting

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=110297.msg1375138

 

Interesting. So my mid-fi Denon AVR-4310ci will decode DSD over HDMI. Is this something unique to Denon?

 

No. My Onkyo TX-NR818 does it, as do several others. It's not an unusual feature these days and has been available for at least five years (Onkyo amps offered this capability back in 2009).

 

So why can't DAC manufacturers do it? Is it an issue of compatibility with multichannel SACDs and stereo DACs?

 

Many do, it's often down to an oversight by amp manufacturers who don't realise a chip has it! Arcam has certainly fallen into this at least once. Noel Keywood at HiFi World tested and measured an Arcam model and though it didn't mention it, the amp was handling the DSD stream!

Can't recall the model but there have been a couple in that mag alone. I expect the guys at Stereophile have done the same. The great advantage of bothering with measurements in reviews!

Stereo gear is hampered by Luddite thinking at times though. It's taken them this long to get HDMI on a bit of 2 channel gear, so don't expect mountains to shift too much here!

 

From recollection I remember reading the (now deleted) white paper from Ayre on their USB Dac where they were quite critical of HDMI as a medium for hi fidelity digital stereo sound. They claimed that USB was a better connection and hence that's why they used it. Now this could well have just been hype because they had a USB Dac.

The lack of HDMI connections in stereo equipment does make me wonder if there is some truth in it?

 

I sure hope the tread doesn't get bogged down into the audiophile merits (or not) of HDMI...

 

Although it maybe more relevant than talking about surround sound receivers in a stereo dac thread?

 

That's where the HATS system comes in.
http://www.hifinews.co.uk/news/article/sony-scd-xa5400es-pound;1200/9163

 

The issue of lack of HDMI support on 'boutique' DACs is simply down to the high cost of HDMI licensing.

 

HDMI does sound good, I use a de-embedder into my DAC, of course it's PCM 88, but it sounds better than my analog out from my old Oppo, The Onkyo handled DSD over HDMI very well, my 709 sounded great

 

So does the Bryston decode DSD over HDMI? Stating it converts "SACD" over HDMI is vague and confusing.

 

You mean like mine? The surround sound receiver that's used in two channel format only, because traditional two channel amps can't keep up? That one? Okay.

 

Is the licensing of HATS technology a substantial cost contributor to the implementation of HDMI?