Bryston BHA-1 Amplifier Impressions and stuff

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by tommytakis, Jun 16, 2020.

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  1. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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  2. Vlach

    Vlach New

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    Now that you mention it, i do recall reading somewhere that the SE input/output uses only one of the two output stages, therefore i think you are correct in saying it is dual-mono in balanced. I'm not sure how that differs from a fully balanced design? At any rate, thank you for reminding me how the SE signal path works.

    Regarding the low/high gain options, my understanding is that high gain increases the impedance which suits the 300 Ohm HD800 just fine. The 'leanish' HD800 doesn't mind that small mid bass bump.
     
  3. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    I recently took part in @Accrued 's loaner tour (THANKS!) and in a SS showdown, compared the BHA-1 to my 3F.

    Rig
    Pi2AES -> AES -> SESCOM -> BNC -> SFD-1 Mkii SE+ -> XLR -> 3F | BHA-1 -> Bal -> ZMF Auteur (Cocobolo/Eikon Lamb)

    Anner Bylsma Prélude to Bach’s Suite for solo cello No. 1 in G major
    The 5 Browns Malagueña from Andalucia Suite
    Pamela Frank/Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra Mozart’s Serenade No. 7 for orchestra in D major
    John Williams/John Etheridge Extra Time for 2 Guitars
    Duplessy & The Violins of the World Kung Fu
    Kaki King Ingots
    The Beatles Norwegian Wood
    Carl Anderson Heaven on their Minds
    James Brown It’s a New Day, Pts. 1-2
    Earth Wind & Fire Shining Star
    Los Lonely Boys I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love (Live at Blue Cat Blues)
    Led Zeppelin Moby Dick (from How the West was Won)
    Daft Punk Giorgio by Moroder
    Cream Badge
    Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama Take My Hand
    Horace Silver Quintet Finger Poppin’
    Maynard Ferguson Birdland
    Phil Woods Rain Dance (Live from the Showboat)
    Bill Evans Trio Detour Ahead [Take 2]
    Ray Charles/Count Basie Orchestra Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
    Macy Gray Redemption Song
    Joni Mitchell California

    I posted some initial thoughts here, but I thought those thoughts really belong in the impressions thread (I think).

    I found the 3F to be bright side of neutral and the BHA-1 to be the dark side of neutral. I can see where the BHA-1 gets is reputation as a slam-master. The 3F is no slouch, but I think the BHA-1 pulls slightly ahead in slam with the Auteurs. From a mids standpoint, I thought the BHA-1 had a little more heft/substance. Not to say that the 3F was thin, but the BHA-1 was just a little curvier (to use a Marv'ism, the BHA-1 is Sophia Vergara, the 3F is Eva Mendes).

    To me, 3f had sharper transients and sounded more resolving at low volumes. For example, Detour Ahead (Take 2) by Bill Evans Trio was recorded live at the Village Vanguard... for me, the room ambiance plays a large role in the entire album. The clinking glasses, the background murmurs, even the sounds of silverware... all these things really give me a "you are there" feel. I can close my eyes and transport myself into the club listening on the 3F.

    On the BHA-1, those cues seem suppressed at the low volumes I listen to at work (70-75db). It's only when I turn up the volume that I start hearing those sounds come in. With the BHA-1, I don't feel like I'm in the room, instead I feel like I'm listening to a recording where they tried to get rid of those sounds, but didn't quite succeed.

    At first I thought maybe it was just the "brighter" 3F bringing those items to the forefront, but I was also missing some of the detail on lower frequencies like Anner Bylsma's cello, the stringwork on Duplessy's Kung Fu, etc. When turning up the volume, those missing details start to come back, but just seem suppressed.

    From a headstage standpoint, I thought both were excellent, with the BHA-1 being a little wider and the 3F being a little deeper. Both imaged like mad, presumably due to the outstanding blackground on each. No blobs of sound on either amp, instruments were fully defined in space on both.

    I spent a day of general listening with my Verum 1's on both amps, and thought the BHA-1 was a better match for the Verums... but my fuzzy memory is telling me that I liked the Verum's better on the Jot2. (Jot 2 will probably be an impulse buy one day... if they are ever back in stock).

    All-in-all, the BHA-1 is an excellent SS amp. For me, it is a touch behind the 3F and is probably #2 on my short list of SS amps that I enjoyed listening to (I'm more of a tube guy).

    -----edit-----
    all listening with BHA-1 was on low gain... and even then I probably didn't get the volume much past 7 o'clock for my regular listening. When I turned it up, I was only getting to maybe 8 o'clock. Gain on the BHA-1 is insane...
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2021
  4. Vlach

    Vlach New

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    I don't think that's right. Working my way backwards from the SE headphone jack i can see both (red) lines tapping into the output of the 2nd opamp boards. What i see coming out of the 1st opamp (purple line) goes straight to the balanced outputs.
    To my surprise, it looks like the SE path uses all the circuitry.

    Edit: Thank you for the schematics.
     
  5. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    @Vlach I think we're in agreement; just talking on two sides of the same coin.

    The SE outputs tap off the second opamp because tapping off the first could potentially produce an uneven response from the balanced outputs if the SE is plugged in at the same time.
     
  6. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    Yes, the same amp with the gain lowered -12dB, both high and low, is slightly different animal. That can be DiY, Bryston provides the instructions, or done in their factory.
    Even now, after the mod, if I want to run planars like LCD-X 2021 or HEKSE on high gain, and they definitely sound better on high gain, I cannot go past 10-10:30.
    And BHA-1 volume control works a different than any other: volume increase is really up 11, and then after 15:00.
    I thought it was a problem but read the review somewhere, and it is by design.
    The middle is where the volume changes very little when you turn the knob, but you can make those slight adjustments that are almost imperceptible but affect the details you hear.
    I have the same recording of Bill Evans Trio and the effect is exactly as you described, and you can hear the room a bit differently depending of the knob position between 11-15. Weird amp but for me still great.
     
  7. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    After the BHA-1 loaner...here are my thoughts

    Equipment -
    • Theta DS Pro Basic II fed by Metrum Ambre (Raspberry Pi using moOde)
      Headphones
      • HD650
      • HD600
      • JAR600
      • ETA Genesis
      • Denon AH-D2000

    So first off, let me get to the good stuff...which is actually most of the features:
    • High and Low gain
    • Balanced, and 2 sets of unbalanced inputs (RCA & ⅛”)
    • Balance knob
    • Balanced and unbalanced output
    • Line output for driving monitors
    Now the BHA-1 gets a lot of love and a lot of hate. It is all solid state, has TONS of power, and Bryston has top of the line customer service with a 20 year warranty.

    The thing it does well, besides gain because even with HD600/650 low gain still never got above 10 or 11 o’clock (seriously), is that it is pretty clean and pretty transparent. I say “pretty”, because as clean sounding as the top end was in letting in all that plankton, there was still a haze in the high-mids. The speed is amazing, and this should not be surprising because we are talking about solid state. It is polite, but not polite in a British or BurBrown way, more like a light butterfly - and that is more dynamics, which I will get to in a moment.

    As far as the timbre, it is fairly neutral to almost bass lean. The bass was there, just not super defined and rather quick. It almost gets pushed to the background. The top has all the air and plankton you could desire. It can be fatiguing in the high mids, but not piercing. On 600 or JAR600, although some tracks might put you on edge. One of the more neutral amps I have tried, yet I am still using a slamming and slightly dark sounding Theta - so other sources may not play as nice.

    On dynamics, I was honestly expecting more. It is like there is a soft limiter on everything, or I am listening to the radio. Meaning, the textures seem to be as loud as other things and that the low items get brought up. Not sure if this is what is contributing to the harshness or grain in the high-mids, but this is the one thing that really really really turned me off on this amp. I mean, certainly it plays loud, but where is the slam. It makes this amp sound so much smaller. Microdynamics is impressive and they are up in presence, and yet seems kind of flat and not very lively.

    Soundstage wise it is very wide L - R. Very full spectrum, but then there is no depth. It is like the speakers are now wider, and the room is much smaller. The lack of this macrodyamics just made things less enjoyable. It seems like the high end has macrodyamics as peaks and all that plankton stuff does come through, but at a price of a bit of harshness.

    Moving to high gain...ok...there be dynamics here, but now my volume knob is like at 8 o’clock, maybe even 7:30. And even the high gain only solves some of the dynamics and depth issues...still harshness in the high mids, maybe even more now, and now it is more fatiguing. Well, even more fatiguing, because to get good sound, it has to be in high gain and that = loud.

    Even with my Schiit Mjolnir 1, there was much more space between instruments, more dynamics, more grip and control, and just a way that the music just flows out of this amp with such ease. It makes the BHA-1 shouty and like it is grunting all the time. The MJ1 may not be as wide or have nearly the amount of features (like no gain or unbalanced out), but there is a reason this amp is named after Thor’s hammer.

    Unbalanced in was atrocious. Just don’t even try it. Sounded flat and boring and also half as loud.

    I suppose you could use it in high gain mode and use the unbalanced out for lower output, but that still does not

    Songs tested:
    • “Riochet” by David Bowie on the Let’s Dance album. This has lots of ear candy from all over the world. You can really hear how flat the presentation is here on BHA-1

    • “So Misled” by Duran Duran - yes another Nile Rodgers track...sorry...was on a kick this day. However, the gated reverb drum beat and bass line are infectious and funky, and sounds fine on the BHA-1 and clean, however comes ALIVE when I switch to the MJ1 and makes me want to crank the volume (not the other way around)

    • “China Doll” by Bruce Hornsby. I love this track because the cymbal work. If you really want to hear how good (or bad) any system is, listen to this track and see if you can tell the difference in the cymbal hits and hear the shimmer and not just a splashing of crashing - BHA-1 was not kind and the hits were fine, just not super well defined and got mixed in with all the other stuff sometimes. The low end was also way too loose and just mucked up this track a bit. The MJ1 may not have had as much detail come through, but still never broke a sweat.

    • “Runaway Train” by Geddy Lee - I love this whole album that has Matt Cameron (Soundgarden & Peal Jam) as drummer. It is loud, unapologetic, and this just seemed to take away all the fun of Matt Cameron’s drum lines. This was a loudness wars track and the MJ1 just gives it to me. There is also a faint piano part in the back at the end of choruses and in the vamp that the BHA-1 just glosses over, but the MJ1 I can clearly tell it is a piano.
    So the BHA-1 is not like the Jot2 as the Jot2 is warmer and also gets more congested. It does not take much complicated passages to throw Jot2 off, and I feel like the same kind of thing is going here. That as more complicated, it the BHA-1 just kind of gives up the dynamics game and gets flatter, and flatter, and harsher, it just takes a lot more to thow it off it’s game. Although you can tell from the beginning that it is a hefty detailed amp, just one that has still some of that bad stigma of solid state.

    Really the MJ1 and BHA-1 are like Jekel and Hyde, with the MJ1 being the Jeckel and the BHA-1 being Hyde. MJ1 is just slamtastic with balls grip from top to bottom of the spectrum. BHA-1 is like a light as a butterfly that really wants to be a loud dragonfly. I think it would come down to what you are looking for - control, precision or you just want something that is loud that will bring out a lot of details?

    Compared to my Gilmore Dynalo clone, the Dynalo certainly is warmer, more U shaped and skipping over details that the Bryston is. Certainly can hear the limitations of this design for sheer skinny details, and also loudness, but certainly not in enjoyability. On casual listening I would take the Dynalo everytime.

    I never once felt connected with this amp. It never sounded super enjoyable or made me want to turn up the volume (it made me want to turn it down actually). It will get loud.

    ;TLDR - a loud amp with some harshness in the mids with one hefty price tag.
     
  8. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    BHA-1 Impressions

    GEAR
    Pi2AES with NoiseNuke -> Gungnir A1 -> BHA-1

    Headphones: modded HE6seV2 and modded Audeze LCD-X (ie terrible references and not useful at all)

    SE in and SE and balanced out to headphones

    The amp is so wide, I had to put it in my rack sideways so the front is facing to the left. And none of my fancy power cables or IC’s could fit, so I used a regular but good quality power cable (Cable Matters) and Blue Jeans IC’s. You all probably don’t give a shit though. But the rest of my amps have Pangea power cables and JPS labs cables so have a slight advantage but nothing that would explain my experience with the amp.

    Build and Aesthetics

    It’s nicely built, the volume knob is very pleasing with it’s curved edges. Everything feels Pro quality and very solid. I wish it wasn’t as wide and taller instead though. It’s very slim and 17” wide which is inconvenient. But whatever

    Sound

    In Brief
    I don’t like this amp. It has a huge soundstage which is nice with Audeze headphones that can feel kind of cramped. But it has poor tone and resolving ability, it’s kind of dull. It’s sort of halfway to Gilmore territory in tone which is too cold/thin for me. It sounds kind of flat in that Gilmore solid state way. It lacks dynamics. The treble can be a bit thin and tinny too. Aside from the power, I think it’s a total rip off for the money it costs.

    Synergy
    It’s a decent amp for Audeze headphones. It’s dead quiet with the iem like sensitivity of the LCD-X, the soundstage is very nice for the cramped Audeze sound and it’s weaknesses kind of play well with Audeze’s weaknesses. The thin treble (I’m guessing) does good things to the (stock) Audeze’s slightly recessed, grainy, rough treble and the slightly thin tone works fine with the warm tone of Audeze headphones. But I’m sure there are better pairings out there it’s not magical, it just works. I still prefer my SOHA1 with Audeze’s.

    The HE6se sounds like absolute garbage out of the BHA-1. I only listened for about 20 seconds before taking them off my head and ripping the cable out (gently @Accrued). The HE6 has always had a kind of thin, cold tone and this amp makes it much much worse. My mods really help this tonality, but even then, out of the BHA-1 they sounded thin and lifeless and just awful. I don’t need to go into more detail it’s not worth it. I give this combo an F-. Too bad because the amp has the power for the HE6.

    A few more detailed thoughts

    • Bass is tight and punchy with good texture and layering though a little on the light side
    • It has a pretty flat frequency response. It doesn’t feel tipped up or down in either direction in general. It’s not a bright amp by any means despite having thin tone
    • It’s really lacking in technicalities. Dynamics and resolution I think are on par with the Magni3+ from memory (comparing both to my SOHA1). Yes, I’m serious.
    • My 300$, 15 year old DIY SE Cavalli SOHA1 slaughters it in resolution and dynamics and tone, and well everything except soundstage.
    • I had this frustrating experience with the BHA-1 where I kept wanting to turn up the volume. My headphones never felt loud enough, I never got that feeling of hearing everything. I don’t know exactly what cause this. It could have been the dullness but that seems unlikely. Or possibly a midrange recession or haze could do this because you adjust volume for the midrange, though I didn’t notice that specifically in listing to the amp. I wound up listening louder than normal and got fatigued from it.
    • Someone else said there was a sharpness in the midrange. I’m not sure I heard this, but it is definitely not a smooth sounding amp. And it is dull at the same time, lacking fast attacks. That combination is shitty.
    • The treble can be thin and tinny.
    • The soundstage is very expansive, but a bit diffused. My SOHA has a more precise, focussed stage with better imaging despite being smaller in size.

    Final Thoughts
    I don’t like this amp. For the love of God don’t spend 2,300$ on it, Or 1000$ on a used one. There are better options. Like a Magni3+ for 100$ (I’m being serious, I prefer the Magni3+). I don’t know how it would perform with electrodynamics. But I covered it pretty well with a super sensitive ortho and a very hard to drive ortho. One warm and one cold in tone.

    I’m sorry for the bad review @Accrued I really appreciate your generosity loaning out the amp and I did enjoy my Audeze LCD-X with it for a little while.

    NOTE: This amp is heavily marketed as a balanced design so maybe me using SE inputs is part of why it sounded like this I don't know if it converts SE inputs into a blanched signal or not. Something to keep in mind, but I'm doubtful balanced in would change much. It was pretty far from a good sousing amp to me, especially for the price.
     
  9. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    To me the top end just sounds like there is no macrodynamics anymore. Kind of like you just strapped a huge limiter on the highs, kind of like FM radio (although FM cuts off at 10k and uses things like exciters and such to create a false top end - and why the top end always sounds crunchy). Anyway, it just reminds me of that type of processing. And the low end is tight.

    So I can see why someone would say it lacks dynamics.
     
  10. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    It wasn't just the top end for me, but he whole FR range the lacked dynamics. It sounded pretty flat to me. Not as flat as some solid state amps, but not great either. It din't actively sound bad to me, it just didn't sound good at all either. Like I said I would take a Magni3+ over the BHA-1 any day.
     
  11. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I have one in house and it seems to drive my HE-6 just fine. My ultra short thoughts so far:
    the stereotype about slam is true
    lots of power
    staging ok
    transients are on the sharper side, not enough to be called bright though
    "feels" like a V shaped sound with how it delivers bass and treble
    unlike RD, I would easily take this over a Schiit amp (but it's no secret that I haven't found a schiit amp that I've liked yet)
    it is an industry standard rack width; I believe you can even get it with the rackmount ears if you wanted
     
  12. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    A bit of a side note on pricing: Bryston has stated publicly that their pricing is based on cost + 30% (roughly).

    However, they do all manufacturing and certification in Canada, which obviously drives up cost significantly (the certification stuff gets crazy expensive fast too). Unfortunately, in recent years this has really ballooned their MSRP and they have no control over that. I get it, it's tough to compete, not much one can say about it.
     
  13. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Are we listening to the same amp? :confused: Weirdly differing impressions from mine. I generally don't like solid state amps though with only 2 exceptions so far.
     
  14. TamHo

    TamHo New

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    Hi, may I ask the name of the 2 exceptions? Tks
     
  15. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    I sense a pattern...
     
  16. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    The Magni3+ and a First Watt Aleph J Speaker amp. Both have exceptional tonality. The Magni3+ lags behind other amps technically, but it sounds really good. However, I found the BHA-1 to be about on par with the Magni in most technical respects (from memory)
     
  17. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    @Armaegis How does it compare to the phonitor since you've had the two. I've compared the magni 3+ side by side with the phonitor and it wasn't close at all. People can prefer the bryston to the phonitor, I'm scratching my head, on how RD feels the magni3+ is preferred over the bryston. Given I don't have much experience with other SS amps like a thx 789 but the magni 3+ sounded just ok...not stellar...wouldn't pay more than MSRP for it. Its nowhere close to the old schiit ragnorak either.
     
  18. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Could be using SE inputs if @Azimuth thought it was so bad SE. Maybe I should start unplugging everything when evaluating balanced amps and plug them in balanced, but it makes it very cumbersome to compare to my SE SOHA. My whole rig is setup to be SE.

    I think the Magni3+ is fantastic in terms of tonality, the best SS headphone amp in that regard I've ever heard. But it of course doesn't have the technical abilities of better amps with the exception of the BHA-1 fed SE.
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2021
  19. TamHo

    TamHo New

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    Tks. I don't know Schiit improved the 3+ version that much. I liked the tone of the first ver Magni 3 but sold it because of its wall-of-sound effect and weird treble timbre
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2021
  20. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    If it matters, I go fully balanced on all my setups where possible. I have not even tried the SE inputs on the BHA-1. In fact, I don't even have an SE source unless I use an adapter cable for my Prism Lyra, which does technically bootstrap the circuit internally so it's not chopping off one leg. I could try that out later if people really insist, but it's difficult for me to change the cables right now given it's tucked deep into a shelf.

    rapid test setup...Mercury dac feeds to phonitor2, using phonitor preamp control to Bryston, BHA-1 level adjusted to match phonitor headamp output, using switch to bounce between phonitor headout and BHA-1. Both headphones wired for balanced, so I'm obviously using a TRS->XLR4(f) adapter on the Phonitor2 headout.

    Test song: Michael Jackson - Black or White

    HE-6: (unfair comparison as always)
    Phonitor struggles on power obviously; it works but taps out on heavy passages. BHA-1 wins easily here. The difference is exaggerated in my words. The phonitor has lots of power all things considered.
    BHA-1 pulls the vocals out, where they feel smothered on the phonitor


    HD25-13 (600 ohm):
    Phonitor is the study nerd while BHA-1 is the jock.
    Clarity better on Phonitor
    BHA-1 for slam
    V shaped tonality of the BHA-1 is exaggerated here
    Vocals here are better on the Phonitor, they are cleaner, whereas on the BHA-1 they are more upfront
    Instrument are a tossup, they are again cleaner on the phonitor but I like the oomph from BHA-1


    For my thoughts on Phonitor 2 vs X, I have a few posts starting here:
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/spl-phonitor-x-e.3574/page-8#post-346701
     

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