Bryston BHA-1 mini review
 

It's been over a month since I've added the Bryston BHA-1 headphone amplifier (black color) to my growing collection of "All things Headphones". I purchased it preowned at a very fair price and it had become the cornerstone of my headphone listening. Up until last week I've only listened to it using the 1/4" TRS connector which was standard and included with all my headphones so far. During the last month, I've also acquired a few Schiit headphone amplifiers, specifically the Asgard 2 and Valhalla 2 tubed as playmates and so I can get a good reference point for the various amplifier strengths and weaknesses if any.

Driving my headphones single ended, 1/4" TRS connectors, the Bryston BHA-1 and both Schiit amps are on fairly equal footing. None have any glaring shortcomings. All three are dynamic, resolving, smooth and quite musical with plenty of power to drive the Sennheiser and Focal headphones I have at hand. As far as loads presented, the Senns at 300 and Focal at 80 ohms. Focal headphones also being a bit more sensitive and efficient.

Comparing the 3 headphone amps with the 4 headphones was always fun, yielding perhaps a very slim margin of differences between the 3 individual amps. The Bryston BHA-1 always being my "reference" by which the Schiit headphone amps would be measured and compared. None of them stood head and shoulders above the other. Until last week that is... Little did I know that BHA-1 was fighting with one hand tied behind its back.

Reading over the manual of Bryston BHA-1 which clearly states that the 1/4" TRS jack will yield only half the power since it uses only 1 of the 2 output stages, I've had it in my plans to convert my headphones to balanced to see if there would be any improvement in sound quality. :yes: It was time to give it a try.

Last week I got my first pair of the excellent Moon Audio Black Dragon Balanced cables for the Sennheiser HD600/650 to share.

Plugging in the 4 pin XLR jack for the first time with my HD650s, I was immediately blown away by the increase in the dynamic contrast and improved micro detail retrieval of the HD650 which I did not even think it was capable of since I often compare to the Elear and Utopia Focal headphones which are quite a bit more resolving.

The XLR output of the BHA-1 absolutely brought the HD600 and HD650 to new heights and infused new life into them. It was like listening to a different headphone and amp all together. The HD650 really surprised me with the new level of openness, macro and micro detail retrieval and dynamic contrast that blossomed into quite a bit more bass slam and the slightly recessed and laid back midrange spruced up and took a step forward with a new found level of enthusiasm and purity. It was like a nice upgrade in headphones. I heard no negative qualities after going balanced with the Sennheisers.

Today I received a pair of Black Dragon Cables for the Utopia. Holy Sh#t, now THIS is something else all together. From the first notes that rang out after I plugged in the Furutech XLR terminated, Black Dragon cabled Utopias into the Bryston BHA-1, the Utopia simply blew me away with the most incredible midrange I have heard to date with my setup. Pure liquid gold is the only way to describe it. The vocals carry so much purity and emotion forward that I had to go back and listen to some of my "reference" tracks and there I sat in awe and chocked up from incredibly open, pure, engaging and musical vocal performance.

I am truly blown away. The Utopias driven by the BHA-1 in balanced mode seduced me and opened a window deep into the recording with all the harmonic beauty of each instrument unraveled before my ears to soak it all up. I have never heard some of my favorite recordings quite like this before (with headphones)

The soundstage opened up quite a bit, depth being the most noticeable. The layering of instruments is quite believable and eerie in presence and palpability. I closed my eyes and I was there front row... The recording space comes alive with the subtle reverb heard ever so clearly now. Acoustic instruments are recreated with an exceptional clarity and detail. Harmonic bloom rivals tubes without any softness, overly ripe bass or rolled off highs but the dynamics down low in the bass region are fast, tight, gutsy and punchy without any apparent dryness. Highs are very nicely extended with all the sparkle and shimmer one would expect from a great solid state design but there is no chalkiness or edginess here, all the bite but only when the recording is so and without sounding overly edgy.

Perfect? I'd say the combination of the BHA-1 with Focal Utopia is approaching a level of where I am truly happy and in my system, the Utopia and BHA-1 just became my reference in balanced mode. :yes:

Gentlemen, if you own the BHA-1, do yourself a favor, listen to it to it's full capability. Let the dual mono circuitry in balanced mode take your headphones places they have never been. In single ended mode it will sound like a great headphone amp but in balanced mode with reference grade headphones such as the Focal Utopia or similar, the bar is raised quite a bit higher.


If you do not own a Bryston BHA-1 and don't mind the price tag, do yourselves a favor and place it on a "must audition" along with other headphone amps of desire... just be sure to give it a listen in balanced mode. Trust me, it will be worth your time and effort. :music:

Outstanding product from Bryston when used as intended in balanced mode.

I give the Bryston BHA-1 a rating of :music::music::music::music::music:

Nice write up Serge. Glad you are truly pleased listening to the BHA-1.

Serge
Thanks for your review. I just ordered a pair Moon Audio Black Dragon Balanced cables for my Audeze head phones.
Ed

Excellent! :banana: Let us know what you think. :thumbsup:

Serge.......An enjoyable review of the Bryston BHA-1 and the Black Dragon balanced headphone cable.

I had a quite similar experience with my Sennheiser HD800 headphone and Sennheiser HDVA 600 dual mono Class A balanced headphone amplifier. When I initially received the amp and headphone I had only the stock unbalance Sennheiser cable, which by the way is a very clean silver plated oxygen free copper cable. It sounds very good. Since my Sennheiser HDVA 600 headphone amplifier has both balanced and unbalanced outputs, I ordered the Sennheiser CH 800S balanced headphone cable for the HD800. The CH 800S balanced cable provides two pairs of shielded silver plated, double twisted, oxygen-free copper leads that maintain a symmetrical signal flow to each channel. Like you, I experienced a noticeable performance gain with the balanced headphone cable, particularly with a wider and deeper sound stage presentation. I also sensed an elevated purity, especially in the female voice range. The CH 800S balanced cable remains on my HD800 headphone. Another nice advantage of both of the Sennheiser headphone cables is their complete immunity to microphonic vibrations transferred up the cable to the ear cups from physically touching or moving the cables. I have had other headphone cables where this was a constant nuisance.

Thanks for the interesting review. I may have to take a closer look at the Moon Audio Black Dragon balanced headphone cable.

Bryston BHA-1 mini review
 

Excellent review Serge, I think I’ll have to put a balanced setup in my future plans.

Dan, I am not so sure I would necessarily recommend the Black Dragon to you for a few reasons.

1. If you were bothered by the microphonic vibrations from the cables rubbing on your clothes or physically moving around, the Black Dragon's jacket is made of a stiffer material than the soft Sennheiser or Focal stock cables for that matter. It is no problem for me as I usually listen while sitting down in front of my computer and I loop the cable to the side of my chair with enough free-play so they don't rub. but for you it may be depending on your listening habits. :scratch2:

2. If you already have a Balanced Cable (I did not) we both know the diminishing returns of such things as cables. ;) I think the money you would shell out for this upgrade may not necessarily meet your expectations. I am inclined to say the biggest difference in this equation is exploiting your headphone amplifier's topology to its fullest, not necessarily the voodoo magic of cables.

Guys, as we discussed in another thread on "Balanced Headphone Amplifiers", please look into your headphone amplifier topology whether going balanced is really worthwhile. In the case of Bryston BHA-1 it definitely is. Not all headphone amplifiers are designed the same way...

With the BHA-1, there is a clear advantage, your headphones are being driven by two Class A output stages vs one in SE mode. The 1/4" TRS single ended output connector delivers only half the power in the BHA-1

Serge/Dan
This is the only reason I ordered the Moon Audio Black Dragon Balanced cables.
I had contacted "mike" at Bryston about getting all the potential out the BHA1. He stated the there would be a 2X in increase in power per speaker or, a 4X increase for the headphone using the balanced output to the phones.
Serge, thanks for posting your findings about using the balanced outputs. Honestly, I would have not ever picked up on it if were not for your post!!
Just another reason for joining the AA clan.
Ed

Serge.......Appreciate the insight. . :thumbsup: