Quote:
Originally Posted by a2k2000
Thank you very much for the detailed response Mr.Tanner. You and your company stand a testimony to what excellent customer service is all about. I do have one question just to make sure I am reading things correctly as I was a bit confused after reading your USB upgrade brochure which states
"SP-3 with version 2/3 or 4 main board replaced with version 5 main board can beupgrade to STEREO plus SURROUND MODES PCM 192/24 as well as STEREOplus SURROUND MODES DSD for $1500"
My unit is one of early ones manufactured which does not have a 4K board. My setup is such where I send the 4K output directly to my projector from the video HDMI out of my Oppo and the audio out via the second HDMI out to the Bryston's HDMI input. (The Oppo is the only input source to the Bryston. I am kind of using the processor more more it's superb preamp abilities than anything else).
1. Upgrade it to the latest 4K board (1000USD) along with the full USBX upgrade with the main board 5 upgrade(1500USD). If I go this route it is clear to me that if I send in a DSD 2 Channel bitstream through the HDMI port on the Bryston then the bryson is capable of decoding it by sending it to the USBX. What happens when I send in a multichannel DSD bitstream input to the Bryston through the HDMI input port. Is it capable of sending this directly to the USBX board and can the DAC on the USB board do a direct Multichannel DSD to analog conversion.
2. If the HDMI input cannot accept and process multichannel DSD then can I go the route of just doing a full USBX upgrade for 1500USD and then send in a multichannel DSD bitstream via the USB input. In this case again can the DAC on the USB board do a direct Multichannel DSD to analog conversion.
3. If the DAC on the USBx board is incapable of doing a direct DSD to analog conversion is my assumption correct that it will convert the DSD to 192KHz PCM and then do the analog conversion.
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Re: What happens when I send in a multichannel DSD bitstream input to the Bryston through the HDMI input port. Is it capable of sending this directly to the USBX board and can the DAC on the USB board do a direct Multichannel DSD to analog conversion.
Only 2 channel DSD sources are supported in HDMI and in USB modes (in both cases DSD stream is processed in the USBX board). The reason fo 2 channels is that the USBX board has got 2 channel dedicated DSD DACs, not 8. If the player tries to send multichannel DSD through HDMI then the "EDID" protocol will prevent it forcing the player to downmix it to DSD 2ch or to PCM.
If you try to output multichannel DSD through USB connection, then the Bryston USB driver in the PC will typically reject it reporting error message.
Note that you can re-create multiple speaker channels out of the 2 channel DSD stream using Surround Modes in the SP3, however, you need to choose option 1 (Mainboard R5.0 upgrade) to be able to do that. But, you can always re-create surround modes when playing 2ch USB PCM, even without the Mainboard upgrade.
Re: In this case again can the DAC on the USB board do a direct Multichannel DSD to analog conversion.
No, there is 2 channel DSD DAC in the new USBX board that handles all DSD from HDMI and from USB connections. That 2ch DAC converts DSD stream directly to analog.
RE: 3. If the DAC on the USBx board is incapable of doing a direct DSD to analog conversion is my assumption correct that it will convert the DSD to 192KHz PCM and then do the analog conversion.
USBX DAC is capable of direct DSD conversion to analog but 2 channels only.
USBX board (the on board XMOS processor) will not convert anything to PCM, it will just decode anything that comes in if it can.
The only cases when a conversion to PCM may take place, is done by the player outputting through HDMI, if EDID protocol excludes a particular format that is not supported - then the player such as Oppo etc will downconvert that to PCM.
Also, when Bryston USB driver (in a PC) rejects a certain format such as DSD 4x or multichannel DSD then the player application software may decide to down-convert it to PCM but that is application software dependent. This behavior is user-configurable, for example in JRiver Media Player software. I found that many other applications will just stop playing and will display a message.
Stan Bleszynski
Bryston