Thread: Bryston BDP-1 vs Aurender S10

Just my $0.02 - the Bryston sounds great, but is a true pain in the rear to operate as a music server. I have only heard the S10 for a few minutes, but it sounded great. Read Chris' review here on CA for a lot more detail and information. I like the remote control capability of the S10, and think it has it all over the Bryston.

-Paul

Aurender S10 Music Server Review/

At $1800 (street) vs $6800 they are seldom compared in the same breath. That being said, I found nothing complicated whatsover about my 1 week Bryston BDP-1 eval. It performed like a champ, and was as plug-n-play as I've experienced.

As a great alternative, look at the SOtM Server at around $2,500. Very close to the Aurender in almost every way. Available from Jesus at Simple designs /Sonore.

My experience with trying the Bryston was it sounded great but I would not buy it because of the clumsy interface options that seem in a continual beta state. Not ready for prime time.

Since you do not seem to be considering Sonore I am going to assume that you have a SPDIF DAC, and are specifically looking foe the best performance you can get via SPDIF?
If that is the case, for the sound quality, what will matter is how the SPDIF output of the server in testing works with the SPDIF receiver in your DAC. The only way you are going to know the answer would be to try both servers with your DAC for sound quality.
If you are looking for USB out, you should be considering the Sonore as well.
Another option, which would still be more affordable than the Aurender (and would offer excellent sonic performance), would be the combination of a Sonore USB out server, and an external Sonore (or Berkeley, etc) USB-SPDIF converter. Using an external converter with its own power supply may have some advantages.

Ha ha ha...

"So USB is better than SPDIF?"

The above is the subject of much debate on these forums, there are a few threads already dedicated to this discussion, so I suggest reading those.

For a short answer, my opinion is "yes", but this is very qualified. Asynchronous USB, when done right, has technical advantages over SPDIF. SPDIF embeds the clock signals and data into a single wire, and then requires on the receiving end that these signals be separated out somehow-this process is problematic at best, and almost always, results in compromised performance. For a really good description of the advantages of asynchronous USB versus SPDIF go to ayre.com, and read the technical papers on the QB-9 DAC.

Don't give up. It is complicated, but there is a good reason why.

Computer Audio is still a relatively new field. Most of the products we use today, in terms of DACs, music players, etc., did not exist a decade ago. That's an incredibly short period of time for a complex and exciting new technology with the scope and depth of Computer Audio to have developed.

Neither a Bryston or Aurender are going to make the process terribly simple to setup, though once setup, they are both simple to operate and use. In the case of the Bryston, far too simple in my opinion, but you might form a different opinion.

Here is what I would really suggest.

Get a Mac Mini or a PC. Either one can later serve as the music storage for a higher end player. I advise a Mac as it is simpler and has less complexity to setup and get music playing, so I will example you with a Mac at first.

Setup the Mac ---> about 15 mins, basically follow the prompt.

Connect the Mac to your preamp --> either directly, via the optical connection, or through a DAC of your choice.

Stick a CD in the Mac, let iTunes RIP the disc.

Play the music.

It doesn't get much simpler than that. You can evolve into any configuration you want from there.
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| Alternative - use a Windows PC
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Setup Windows --> time varies on the machine

Load J. River Media Center v17

Connect PC to your preamp and configure J. River according the instructions here on CA.

Stick a CD in the drive and RIP it to disk.

Play through JRMC.

Again, you have a near infinite amount of choices to move forward from there. The difference is you will have a working base of understanding and experience with the computer audio, which is tricky stuff sometimes.

I really hope you don't give up, and keep working at it, and you don't take the above very simplified stuff as being in any way patronizing. It is just I wanted to be sure you can see that it does not have to be terribly complicated, and that the two devices you choose both require some back end complexity. You would be much more comfortable if you have a solid grasp of all that backend stuff before choosing the front end.

Yours,
-Paul

Ah then - I strongly recommend a Mac with Amarra.

Or a PC with JRMC. If the later, just buy one of Chris C.'s C.A.P.S. v2 servers from Small Green computers. It is easily competitive with any other player out there I think, and all the parts are already put together and configured.

Small Green Computers C.A.P.S. v2



-Paul