James...In TAS' original review of the BDA-1, I believe Alan Taffel suggests that the sonics of the BDA-1 through the USB input was less than satisfying, while raving about the sonic qualities through digital coax inputs. Here is one quote from the review:
Quote:
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The biggest sonic difference between these two DACs is heard only when comparing their USB inputs. Neither of them surmounts USB’s inherent limitations, and neither supports high sampling rates or deep bit-depths. However, the ARC’s USB input is clearly superior to the Bryston’s, which sounds dull and cloaked. With the help of a bright-leaning USB cable to compensate, such as the Synergistics Tricon, the Bryston achieves a satisfactory result—which is about as good as USB gets. But the ARC needs no such assistance, since its USB input is neutral from the get-go. Indeed, using the Synergistics cable with the DAC7 places much more emphasis on USB’s high-frequency foibles than anyone should be forced to endure.
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There has been a lot of hoopla about "adaptive" vs "asynchronous" approaches to USB DACs, where in asynchronous mode, the USB bus is slaved to the DAC's clock so that jitter is reduced significantly. Wavelength came out with the original implementation of "asynchronous" USB DACs, and then Ayre subsequently licensed the technology for use in its QB-9, and I believe Simaudio now has come up with it's own approach to asynchronous USB in its new 750D DAC/Transport. I guess my question to you James is if Bryston has any plans to improve the USB implementation in the BDA-1 for enhanced jitter reduction (whether through "asynchronous" or your own approach to the problem) and to support higher than 16/44 resolution file formats?
Thanks and congrats on the great run recently with your latest products.