Since my posts in April, I have had a loaner BP-26 in my system while the BP-17 cubed was built (some COVID delays) - both with on board phono stages and both with outboard DACs.

So, the BP-17 cubed is extremely silent in my system with no inputs on (very faint white noise, with ear at tweeter), some minor hum at max volume (ear at tweeter).

Muting works without any pops (XLR connections to Bryston cubed amp).

The headphone drive does very well with Audeze LCD 3's.

The BP 26 was also very silent. I do like the very fine volume adjustment on the BP-17 at lower to mid volume setting. I did like some of the toggle switches on the BP-26 though. Retro cool.

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Are you still happy long term? I wish mine was that quiet. I does sound flawless when the music is playing.

What do you think about the sound quality compared to the 26?

So far so good with the BP-17 cubed. Since the BP-26 and 17-cubed were never in the system at the same time, hard to compare. From a functionality viewpoint, I did like the toggle switches and rotary selector on the BP-26 compared to the bank of push buttons on the 17-3. I do like the volume control performance on the 17-cubed (very fine control at lower volume settings).

Only issue, also reported by other members of AA, is occasional 'rogue' LED lightings (i.e a light on when it should be not be lit or a the wrong color (red vs blue for example) , which have no effect on performance and create no noise or pops - I have have two such occurrences, they always clear and then disappear for a long time. I have contacted Bryston regarding this, no information to report as yet. I suspect the logic circuit controlling the LED status might have a static sensitivity issue causing a false state to be triggered from time to time. My guess.

So, hard to say. The BP-26 comes with a dedicated power supply that can drive several other Bryston components such as sub filters, etc. If you were considering those, the BP-26 has a clear advantage. But older design and aesthetic, personal preference there.

Mine has that gremlin too but since I stopped using Trigger 2 it has not come back (many months). If I turn on Trigger 2 a rogue LED will occur within one or two sessions. I have let Bryston know about this too without reply. If it’s not electrical like you say it must be a logic error. If they were to come up with a software fix the units can be updated in the factory.