Bryston BHA-1 mini review

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by edkoz

[/B][/U]
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

Ed, that's what a great audio forum is all about. We help each other with our findings on various products and help each other reach new pinnacles in our systems, sometimes save money, most of the time help each other spend even more! I'm all about getting a great bang for the buck these days and am happy to share my findings that offer a great value to our members. I am glad I did not simply chalk off the balanced idea as some of our members suggested but instead pushed forward to discover new heights. Hope your experience with Balanced BHA-1 will be similar.

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Not all headphone amplifiers are designed the same way...

Point taken.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Point taken.

Which amp were you thinking of going balanced with?

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Which amp were you thinking of going balanced with?

It’s still a ways in the future, but I’ve lusted after the Woo Audio WA22 for some time now.
http://www.wooaudio.com/products/wa22.html

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

It’s still a ways in the future, but I’ve lusted after the Woo Audio WA22 for some time now.
http://www.wooaudio.com/products/wa22.html

I have not personally auditioned but have heard it is a great amp. The WA22 is Fully Balanced through and through so would be best to drive it with balanced source.

In the manual "If I connect the WA22 with RCA interconnects, will the amp still provide a balanced signal to the balanced output? No, there is no RCA to Balanced conversion in this amp. A source with a true balanced output will work the best with the WA22."

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by PHC1

I have not personally auditioned but have heard it is a great amp. The WA22 is Fully Balanced through and through so would be best to drive it with balanced source.



In the manual "If I connect the WA22 with RCA interconnects, will the amp still provide a balanced signal to the balanced output? No, there is no RCA to Balanced conversion in this amp. A source with a true balanced output will work the best with the WA22."

Good to know. If I ever get there I’d use a Klimax DS Renew with balanced outputs. Of course there is also the Mjolnir 2 to consider

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Good to know. If I ever get there I’d use a Klimax DS Renew with balanced outputs. Of course there is also the Mjolnir 2 to consider

i wanted to try the Mjolnir but it’s constantly backordered. must be in high demand

[edkoz]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Ed, that's what a great audio forum is all about. We help each other with our findings on various products and help each other reach new pinnacles in our systems, sometimes save money, most of the time help each other spend even more! I'm all about getting a great bang for the buck these days and am happy to share my findings that offer a great value to our members. I am glad I did not simply chalk off the balanced idea as some of our members suggested but instead pushed forward to discover new heights. Hope your experience with Balanced BHA-1 will be similar.

It's been a few days now since I received the the Moon Audio Black Dragon Balanced cables. What a tremendous increase in clarity, bass, focus and all the other adjectives we audio people use to describe the music we hear. When I connected the new cables to my Audeze LCD3 the sound just came alive. I would not have believed that these cables and the Bryston BHA1 amp could make such a vivid improvement . They are a top performing pair. They are all I could have ever imagined or hoped for!!!

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by edkoz

It's been a few days now since I received the the Moon Audio Black Dragon Balanced cables. What a tremendous increase in clarity, bass, focus and all the other adjectives we audio people use to describe the music we hear. When I connected the new cables to my Audeze LCD3 the sound just came alive. I would not have believed that these cables and the Bryston BHA1 amp could make such a vivid improvement . They are a top performing pair. They are all I could have ever imagined or hoped for!!!

Ed, glad to hear you are enjoying the Black Dragons and discovering what the BHA-1 is truly capable of. Bryston did a great job on the BHA-1. Enjoy!

[PHC1]

Ed, are you using XLRs or RCA to drive the BHA-1? The BHA-1 seems to be very responsive to cabling besides the balanced vs single ended. I've tried swapping a few XLRs and a few RCA and each brings about a noticeable change. I'll have to try to cook up a good combo to squeeze even more performance out of it. My intuition tells me the Kimber HERO would be a good match for the character of the BHA-1. What are you using?