[John Jordan]

Bill-

The Bryston BDP3 stores audio and plays it back. Like a Juke box. It can come from the factory with a hard drive or you can add your own. Installing your own certainly gives more bang for the buck. I installed a 2TB SSD. You can also attach an external drive via USB. I have about 1200 or so ripped CD's in the AIFF format (totally uncompressed) taking up around 0.75 TB.

I am not familiar with your Sony but it appears it does not have a built in DAC. The Bryston BDA 3 has several HDMI inputs.

An iPod (and iPad) are digital players. My first venture into "computer audio" was to use $5 adapter from Radio Shack. It plugged into the iPod headphone jack and had two RCA jacks on then other side. Using RCA interconnects it plugged into an Aux input of my Mc C41 preamp of the time. Although not the best sound form the iPod DAC run through its amp, it got my feet wet. The music was also very compressed. Another topic.

The Bryston BDA 3.14 is pretty new. It combines the BDA 3 with a digital player. I haven't really studied its features; it appears to be a nice piece. Not sure how it compares to using a BDP 3 and BDA 3 but reviews seem favorable. The customer service at Bryston is outstanding and a call to them when you are ready would answer many questions specific to your system.

The digital player would be like your MacBook running iTunes but sound better. There is a Bryston interface that runs from any computer hooked to the internet. The DP would also need to be hooked to the internet via an Ethernet cord or an extender with an Ethernet to the Bryston.

A decent DAC and DP will give great sound. Enough to packing up your CD's after you rip them. I often think to sell my CD player but haven't quite got there yet. This despite the discs having been packed away in the basement since obtaining the BDP3 almost two years ago.

Continue your pursuit and enjoy the hunt. It's all pretty much painless and SNAFU free.