BDP3/BDA3 Qobuz Update
 

Well, a week for so ago I took the lock off the wallet and went for a one year subscription. It is pretty amazing at what one can find.

Although the sound quality can vary, for the very most part it is very good. As CLeeds mentioned in my original thread, "Spooky Good." Testing a little A to B with AIFF rips of CDs, it can be indistinguishable and at times Qobuz is a bit better. One of the most surprising references here is a "Master Gold" rip of Cream's Disraeli Gears. Something I have heard 100's or perhaps a 1000 times in the past 50+ years. Yes, it's from 1967 but the Qobuz had an edge.

The standard Bryston app works well but the I do prefer the "prettier" interface of the Qobuz app. But... the BDP3 sound is so much better than the laptop!!! Needless to say, the laptop is out of the streaming picture. Perhaps there may be a ROON thing down the road?

In closing, if Qobuz is available I encourage you to give it a try. You can register an account and have access totally free. It will only allow listening to 30 seconds of each song at at very compressed rates but you'll get the drift of what it is on your system.

Maybe we should start a thread with the BEST QOBUZ songs or albums to listen too???

james

James, there are so many!

Classical: more than half of the new releases are 24/88.2, 24/96 or even higher. Older recordings are often offered as high resolution remaster and better my CDs.

Jazz: the Blue Note catalogue offers hundreds of 24/192 albums that sound great (also better than my CDs). New albums equally often in 24/96.

Pop: more and more classic albums in hi-res remaster version.

This streaming thing gets me more and more interested. I just don't fully understand how to stream music though.

John,
How do you stream music from the BDP-3? Do you have a LAN cable connected from your router to the BDP-3 or you are using the onboard WiFi add-in board?

My router is a router/modem all-in-one combo from the ISP and I do have a 50 ft long LAN cable connected to my BDP-2 as my router is about 30 ft away from my system. I only use this cable to control the device, not to listen to music. With my experience with Roon, I noticed that the sound quality was degraded because of the cheapo LAN cable so I am reluctant for this solution. And also, audio grade LAN cable that long would be cost prohibitive. So, if using the onboard Wi-Fi in a BDP-3 what can I expect from Qobuz/Tidal compared to an onboard HDD inside my BDp-2?

That's interesting. What makes you think that the poor SQ from Roon was the result of your LAN cable?

Serge-

I have the built-in WiFi option on my BDP3 so no ethernet cable necessary. I will however run an ethernet cable from my computer to the BDP3 when moving ripped CD's to the Bryston's internal drive. What might take six minutes to transfer via WiFi takes less than two minutes via ethernet. A 50 foot cable is connected to the computer upstairs, tossed over the balcony, down the LR cathedral ceiling to the stereo. Needless to say, not a permanent thing.

Controlling the BDP can be from any computer on the network.

As far as Qobuz, the sound quality (through the BDP3) is very good. There are times it will outshine a ripped CD and there are times the ripped CD is better. As always, recording/remastering dependent. One can use the app (pretty slick BTW) on their computer to add albums to a favorite list and these will show up immediately in the Bryston software.
As you know, the Bryston interface is not as visually slick as some others but it's stable, extremely functional and nice sounding. A new version is being worked on with additional Qobuz integration and their customer support is second to none!

I did try ROON with the 60 day Bryston trial. Initially, the core, server and control were done via WiFi on a laptop to the BDP3. Integration is seamless with the Bryston but the sound quality left a lot to be desired. Moving the core and storage to a desktop connected to the router via ethernet and then using the laptop just for control improved the SQ but not to the level of the BDP3 alone. I suppose that building a ROON only device using a NUC and connecting all together via ethernet would help. Others have had improvements by adding various "audiophile dingleberries."

ROON is a nice software that integrates well with the BDP3 and Qobuz but I prefer the simplicity (and SQ) of just the BDP3.

Hope this long-winded what ever is of some help.

I have been using a Bryston BDP pi streamer and am very happy with it. Quality of sound from Qobuz up to 192KHz and 24 bit recordings is superb over WiFi.



Thank you for your purchase of a Bryston BDP-π; a
state-of-the-art digital music player that can play
back the vast majority of digital music file formats
including today’s most popular lossless codecs
including AIFF, FLAC, WAVE, APPLE LOSSLESS, and
more at resolutions up to 192kHz / 24 bit PCM.
Music stored on both locally attached USB media
and network attached storage (NAS) devices is
aggregated and indexed into a single library. The
BDP-π includes intuitive software for controlling
your BDP that requires no installation and is
accessible from any modern web browser. A wide
variety of compatible third-party applications are
also available for iOS and Android mobile devices.
In stand-alone systems, the BDP-π can also be
controlled via front-panel buttons and the color TFT
display, or with our optional BR-2 IR remote control.



https://ucarecdn.audiogon.com/5d3f1b...lity/lightest/