I'll we be doing some auditioning and I'll be looking at the Bryston BCD-1(can get for $1k plus trade taxes incl.), Simaudio(Moon) Equinox SE(can get for $1,900 without trade), and a Lyngdorf CD-1. Right now I have a Simaudio(Moon) CD-1, which is a nice player but I'd like to upgrade. The rest of my gear is a Bryston SP1.7 Pre/Pro, Sherbourn 5020A amp, and Anthony Gallo Ref 3.1's. I'm looking for other suggestions for players to audition in the $2-$3K range. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
YOu can get the Bryston BCD-1 for a Grand on trade in!!!??? And your even thinking about auditioning any other player?lol IMO opinion there is a hell of a lot of good players out there in the 2-3k range. None of them will come close to a Bryston priced at a grand.lol. Sure...if you had to pay the full price for the Bryston then hell yeah there is lots of competition. Included would be the Saturn Art mentioned. But a Bryston BCD-1 for a thousand dollars??lol Darren I would have already got it by now.
There are tons of brands. Giving his current setup, and the fact he can get the Bryston for a grand (3800 dollar cd player that easily as good as a Naim or Cyrus) I am going to stick to what I would do in his situation. Buy the Bryston CDP. Sorry.
Yes Loc it was $1k plus my Simaudio CD-1, which cost me $1k so look at it as it cost me $2k incl taxes. I talked to another fellow CDN in NB and he went to his dealer and the best he could do was $2400 plus taxes which here in Manitoba would be $2,688. I'd get about the same deal here with the other Bryston dealer in MB. It's still almost a $700 savings. I bought it BTW!
Congrats Darren. If you like Bryston gear as much as I think you do, you'll love what it does. It's definitely the hottest piece in their lineup. They're really shaking things up with their DACs in pre-amps and integrateds, stand alone DAC, and the BCD-1. Very innovative, well built, and excellent sounding. It should be amazing that they've had so much success with digital gear, seeing as how they just got into it within the last year or so, but then again when a great company focuses their efforts into something this is what you get. They took their time and did things the right way the first time instead of chasing the market and quickly releasing something just to catch up and make a quick buck.
BTW, I didn't forget that the price was in addition to your Sim player. My math was pretty much exactly what you stated. I was figuring you'd be saving between $600-$700 in the end. Keep in mind that if for some reason the BCD-1 isn't what you thought it would be, it'll go very quickly on the second hand market for what it ultimately cost you (including your Sim player). Not that I think you'll be disappointed in any way.
Although I dont agree entirely with Nick,it should certainly cost a lot more than it does performance like the Bryston CDP 3 years ago would have costed you in the 6k range or more.
The new McIntosh MCD 301 is an incredible CD/SACD player. It is extremely expensive at $5,000, so I don't think I'll be getting one.
But for those who can afford it, the MCD 301 is one hell of a musical and satidfying player. Depending on your own individual preferences in sound, that is.
F'N EH COTTON!! Nice player Darren, you lucky son'f'a.lol. Can't wait to hear your thoughts. I am as jealous as David. One day David....one day man...we will have that CDP.
Technically, with the direction I want to go with my third system, your way ahead.lol. The Bryston pre-amp will knock your socks off though. I seen some dandy BP20's on Audiogon for around 600. Overall probably a better pre amp than mine. I almost pulled the trigger. Newer, balanced outputs, but not as good of a phono stage as mine. But meh.
I can only dream right now about having a Bryston CDP, still a few years off I think for me. Congratulations Darren! My next move in digital disk players will probably be a BR player - possibly a PS3.
I did not realize that Mac had three cd/sacd players out. Is sacd important to you David? I read somewhere that Bryston did not go with sacd in their player because "In developing the BCD-1 Bryston tried experimenting with SACD playback but found that the drives offering SACD capability were DVD drives that don't use multiples of CD's 44.1kHz sampling frequency. This posed a problem because the DAC Bryston planned to use both upsamples and oversamples the incoming signal. After testing various DVD drives, Bryston's engineers found they couldn't match the sound quality of a dedicated CD drive".
I'm actually thinking along the lines of a Mc power amp, or a Bryston 4B. My 2 channel system is all digital source - I have my CD collection ripped into FLAC, and I control the tunes with my miniature notebook with a wireless connection through a USB DAC.
I'd find it hard to back to using a CDP after the convenience of the notebook.
LOL I was in the same boat as you David. I couldn't decide on Mac or Bryston. I ultimately went with Bryston but that was only from hearing the Bryston stuff. I liked it so much I figured I didn't need to hear the Mac stuff. I would still love to hear a mac setup.lol.
A Mc power amp or a 4b Bryston?lol wow, can you really lose with either?lol That sounds like a battle.
I was just thinking that David, then I seen your post pop up. lol
The other reason I went with Bryston was because its Canadian. I figured, hey throw the money back into our economy and keep our companies thriving. The only piece of Equipment I have in my house that isn't Canadian is the Monitor Audio's. Everyone in Canada sells them though.lol Its hard not to keep running into them.
lol from what I am told they are originated from China. They were given to Royalty as a symbol of their power. lol or some bull like that. lol My boy is a Canuck though. He is the man. lol
