Bryston SP-4 Processor

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Hi Folks,

Just an update:

We have a review on the Bryston SP-4 Processor coming very soon from Secrets of Home Theater.

Which will be followed by a review in Widescreen Review Magazine.

[Masterlu]

Which will be followed by my review.

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Hi Folks,

The review on the Bryston SP-4 processor will be out very soon from Secrets of Home Theater.


Sneak Peek:

Conclusion:

The Bryston SP4 made my system sound truly spectacular!

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Nice review James, congrats-

https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/...cessor-review/

[Rod#S]

Although it's nice to see the reviewer actually call out that the internal resolution of the unit is limited to only 48kHz (a notable disparity compared to the DAC's actual 192kHz capability) in the specifications at the beginning of the review he does not bring this up at any point during the review.

I don't have the REM or Who discs but with so many music discs being 96kHz, if that's the case here the reviewer neglects to mention the music is actually down sampled with this unit. With CD's and movies (DVD, Blu-ray and UHD) 48kHz isn't an issue as those are either 44.1kHz or 48kHz but with high res music it is as this content has a lot of 88.2kHz, 96kHz and 192kHz. 384kHz is moot because the DAC isn't capable of that.

On a forum such as AA where people are so critical about the finest details of an audio system down to the cables we use in order to extract the best out of a source it's something potential buyers need to be aware of.

As a comparison the SP4's competition are all 96kHz capable (Theta CB IV, Datasat LS10, Trinnov Altitude16) with the Trinnov Altitude32 capable of 192kHz. I'm not sure about the forthcoming Emotiva RMC-1 because the internal resolution specs haven't been published yet.

Now one could argue 48kHz doesn't matter as this is a movie SSP 1st and Bryston does have the SP3 if one wants a high res capable SSP (which also does amazing with movies) but so many people want a one unit for everything device and so the trade off in doing so is simply something to be aware of. I'm one of those people wanting an all in one unit and if it was 96kHz or higher capable I would all ready own it but at 48kHz that's a trade off I personally am not willing to sacrifice.

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by Rod#S

Now one could argue 48kHz doesn't matter as this is a movie SSP 1st and Bryston does have the SP3 if one wants a high res capable SSP (which also does amazing with movies) but so many people want a one unit for everything device and so the trade off in doing so is simply something to be aware of. I'm one of those people wanting an all in one unit and if it was 96kHz or higher capable I would all ready own it but at 48kHz that's a trade off I personally am not willing to sacrifice.

Amen. I was disappointed by this observation as well as the fact that the SP4 forces the digitizing of the analog inputs.

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Hi Folks,

The SP-4 is a modular design so going forward we intend to offer a higher resolution DAC module and an analog Bypass module.

james

[Rod#S]

Originally Posted by James Tanner - Bryston

Hi Folks,

The SP-4 is a modular design so going forward we intend to offer a higher resolution DAC module and an analog Bypass module.

james

By a higher resolution DAC module do you mean one capable of processing the signal internally at higher than 48kHz? The DAC in the unit is already capable of 192kHz so it's not really a DAC issue/limitation per say but simply the internal resolution chosen to do all of the digital processing (Dirac, PEQ, surround codecs, etc.). If you are going to be able to circumvent the 48kHz limitation by bumping to at least 96kHz while maintaining all of the digital processing that would be great. If that were to be extended beyond 2 channel to all of the multi-channel inputs I could kiss you

[James Tanner - Bryston]

HI Rod

From Engineering.


Hi James,

I will first answer about the Analog forced to be “digitized”. In a home cinema environment with Dirac management or other postprocessing, there is no other way than doing it in the digital domain. We do understand that in some systems where front channels would eventually be “full bandwidth” a stereo direct source could be interesting for “pure hifi” use case.

The main reason for us to be at fixed 48 kHz is that in a DSP based platform, managing 32ch system at 96kHz with Dirac capabilities would have required additional 2x SHARCs. Considering most of movies are 48 kHz native, and that Atmos or DTS:X are 48 kHz too, we did put this in the balance.

Our priority market is the residential cinema where the expected performance is more in the correct multichannel rendering with optimal room calibration than in the support of some few HiRes discs. Note though, that this has also some advantages like the single clock precision, that compare to some “multi sampling rate” processing (poorly implemented) might “sound better” in some cases.

That said, we do regard this for the future, but this goes together with the higher DSP capabilities.

Sebastien.

[gbaby]

Originally Posted by Kal Rubinson

Amen. I was disappointed by this observation as well as the fact that the SP4 forces the digitizing of the analog inputs.

The McIntosh MX-160 digitizes everything too. I guess this means you can't have everything.