Bryston BHA-1 Amplifier Impressions and stuff

Hello all, I have been looking into this amp and it seems to fit the bill for my needs to drive my headphones ZMF Verite and LCD-2 (PreFazor). What I am having trouble finding anywhere, even the Bryston website is the power output from Single-Ended and Balanced output, I understand the Balanced XLR is optimal as this output uses each of the mono-block amps.

Does anyone have any output rating, or insight they are willing to provide on the power output?

 

@KenAR

The main page says 2W @32 ohm... https://bryston.com/amplifiers/bha1/

This one has a bit more at the bottom... https://www.moon-audio.com/bryston-bha-1-balanced-headphone-amplifier.html

I don't know if those are single ended or balanced measurements, but I'd assume single ended if they're measuring distortion at the same time.

 

Thank you @Armaegis, I saw those and that was what confused me even more. I did not see anything consistent, and some of the breakdown from the Moon Audio page had some odd figures. It was a cut and paste job, as I saw the same on some old reviews too.

 

FWIW, I really like the BHA-1 with my LCD-2(F). And with the HD800.

Less so, the Utopia, for whatever reason. Maybe a touch too warm with them.

 

The ZMF Verite is rated at 97 dB/mW. Honestly, the big wattage numbers are academic at this point because if you're stretching 1W of power into them you're hitting roughly 127 dB which is dangerous for your ears.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't sweat the power output. This is also a pretty high gain amp. Too high, really, as it causes some of the volume pot issues mentioned elsewhere. Channel balance seems fine. You just don't get much usable range on the knob. But, whatever, doesn't bother me.

 

You may have understated that. I remember how much I had to turn the knob for the Clear and Borealis. Exactly 3 degrees and it was too f'ing loud, lmfao.

I'm not kidding, you barely touch the thing and it was pretty much where it needed to be.

 

Thanks to all, I let the numbers scare me off, I’ve ordered it. Yes I bought new, despite its age a price on used market. I’ve tried getting one used, they fly before I had a chance to email. 3-4 weeks to arrive,,,,,

 

Yeah, it's pretty silly, really. I use my Lumin or Roon for volume control most of the time.

 

Will echo those sentiments. Snagged a used one about a month ago. The seller had the gain lowering mod done at the factory, and even then, on low gain, it's REAL gain-y/loud into an HD800. I rarely go above 8 o'clock. Very happy with it, though -- massive, dynamic sound, with tube-esque holography and a very big stage vs. the Valhalla 2 I came from, without being too warm, bass heavy, or detracting from the highs as much as I was concerned it might for a HF/treble freak like myself. Will post a review vs. the Valhalla 2 once I get around to it. It would have never been on my radar had it not been for SBAF!

 

Can anyone help me identify a replacement AC power inlet for the BHA-1? Mine is cracked likely due to heavy power cable binding. I really dislike this type of press fit panel mount connector. I have contacted Bryston support in the USA and Canada and I’ve gotten zero response. I do not want to send it in, I just want to replace the plug myself. It would not be difficult if I could actually find the plug.

 

@Greg121986 sent you a pm with an email for their head tech. If that doesn't work, probably anything with the same dimensions would work. Is there no number on the part itself if you look inside?

 

Does the original inlet have inbuilt filtering?
On the inside, which style of connectors does it have, quick connect or solder?

But I'll take a wild guess and suggest you take a look at this:
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Schurter/62004215?qs=ExMueETPIihQ/%2BtqUj/Ncg==

- Snap-in mount, mounting hole size: 27.5 x 31.5mm
- Fused
- Quick connects
- Not filtered

 

Thanks for the responses. It has a PCB inside with a Wago connector. As long as the terminals line up, it should be straight forward to solder the PCB onto a new AC panel. The fuse holder has 2 spots. 1 is inline and the other is a spare. I will take the whole thing apart soon and get actual dimensions. It looks like it has to be a Schurter 6220 or Bulgin PF0011. I use this thing for several hours a day, every day. So it is difficult to find the time to remove it and disassemble.

 

Took part in @Accrued 's loaner tour, compared to ZDS and SW51+ and from memory, Jot 2.
Warning: No amount of treble bothers me, cause I can't hear much of it. Online hearing tests show me as 5db down at 8k, speakers and phones. A lot of staging and placement cues are in that area. My speakers come with a separate optional tweeter for the 7k and up range for just that purpose.
This is a BIG amplifier 17" x 11.25, that's full sized. Exceptionally well made solid as a rock.
The volume dial is a pleasure to use though it is not used much. The gain must be quite high whichever setting you pick because the dial sit's in the lower 1/4 all of the time.
HP's Verite open, HD800S, LTA HP2. The amp does no wrong with any of these headphones and very well with the HD800s.
It would likely be my first choice for the Sennheiser's.
I prefer the Verite with the ZDS. There is some pixie dust with these 2, generating some jaw dropping moments.
BHA-1 does not do anything wrong, plenty of power, black background, good slam, does not get overwhelmed by busy passages and maintains good stage and separation and that's true for all 3 amps.
The LTA HP2 are a unique listening experience. There is much more inner detail available. They could be considered bass light but they go very low at the same time, bass never bleed into mids, heck nothing ever interferes with anything else that I can hear.
This is generally how HP's improve with the SW51+, more inner detail, more open stage. With the BHA-1 and HP2, I experience, well a black background yes but something of a shroud as well, some of that inner detail is cut off. This is the same experience when I compare these phones with other HP's, there is just this cocoon surrounding the sound that is not there on the HP2.
So, new term, the BHA-1 adds cocoon to the HP2. SW51+ does not, the ZDS much less so and The Black Amp adds none.

If I just had the HD800S, I wouldn't mind having just the BHA-1, the rest could go.
Instead, though I will likely be letting the HD800S go.
I did receive Meze Empyreans at the end of this and did not have much time.
My previous Empy tour set had sledgehammer bass with the Jot 2, just too much.
These had good if a bit boomy bass with the BHA-1. Different phones, balanced vs single ended but work much better with the SW51+

I think the Matrix XSabre pro dac may go better with this amp. More sparkle and maybe tighter bass. It's a winner with the Morpheus and HD800S and just very good with my other phones.

Thanks, @Accrued

 

Somehow missed this thread before. Posting BHA-1 loaner impressions below.

BRYSTON BHA-1 vs. SCHIIT RAGNAROK (v1.5)

Chain: Tidal --> Oppo BDP-103D --> Schiit Yggdrasil Analog 2 --> RCA into Bryston BHA-1 /// XLR into Schiit Ragnarok --> Focal Utopia on the amps' lowest gain setting and XLR output. Volume matched by ear, so not exact. I don't have a set list of audiophile reference tracks. For this comparison I listened to tracks on a recording of church hymns on solo acoustic guitar, then some Taylor Swift - evermore, and then some Weezer - EWBAITE.

Sound impressions:

• BHA-1 is warmer and thicker than Ragnarok. A little more treble presence on Ragnarok. Listening to the same acoustic guitar track on both amps, it sounded like a different guitar on each.
• BHA-1 has better deep bass presence. Sounds like it goes way lower. This was awesome to hear on Utopia!
• BHA-1 is less resolving than Ragnarok. I heard less pick on guitar strings and it was harder to delineate intricate finger picking or quick snare drum rolls. Cymbals sounded less like cymbals, a bit more hazy I guess.
• BHA-1 puts the listener further from the stage, so stage seemed slightly wider to me.
• BHA-1 is a bit smoother overall. It doesn't emphasize the leading edge of transients. Good match with Focal in that regard. Focal emphasis on leading edge is partly why I can't tolerate it at anything but low gain on the Ragnarok.
• Ragnarok seemed to present a more cohesive acoustic image as a whole.
• Ragnarok also sounded more 3D and less flat than the BHA-1.

Other impressions:

• BHA-1 ran about as warm as the Ragnarok did when in headphone only mode. Ragnarok runs a bit hotter when it's in speaker or speaker+headphone mode.
• BHA-1 gain is too high. If I owned one, I'd for sure have Bryston do the gain reduction mod talked about elsewhere on SBAF. I was around 8 o'clock or so on the volume knob on low gain using RCA inputs.
• BHA-1 is built like a tank. Very impressive build quality.

I probably won't be buying one, but am glad to have heard it. It certainly does make for an easier listen than the Ragnarok in some respects, but leaves me feeling lacking in others. Thanks @Accrued for sharing the amp with us! The quest for an end game solid state amp continues. Need to try an Eddie Current Black Widow v2, ECP DSHA-3F, and maybe a Pass Labs HPA-1 at some point.

Seems like @dasman66 had similar impressions when comparing to his 3F (linky)

 

Yggdrasil is known to have inferior RCA output and IME BHA-1 do benefit from XLR input, even from the supposedly same output of BF2. I wonder what swapping the inputs would fare in this comparison, but the gain on stock BHA-1 from 4V XLR in would be stupid. idk what headphones the engineer had in mind while designing this amp, K1000 or HE6?

 

Pretty much this. BHA-1 single ended was noticeably worse sounding than balanced when I owned it with Yggdrasil A2. Likely a combination of gimped SE from Yggdrasil and the SE input on the amp not being as resolving or something. But I wouldn't come to any solid conclusions about the amp using SE as it feels like it was meant to run balanced.

 

Can anyone confirm if the BHA-1 is fully balanced throughout or is the balanced input converted to SE internally and then converted back to balanced on the output?

 

AFAIK there is no conversion that occurs. I seem to recall Marv or someone explaining how "fully balanced" is not really a coherent idea here, so I wouldn't claim that either, but I do know that it's supposed to be dual-mono in balanced, and that single-ended input/output supposedly only uses one of the two output stages.

My previous short impressions in this thread with BHA-1 were with BF2, I think, so I wanted to add that with Yggdrasil A2 balanced out, which I'm running now, it's definitely even punchier/gainy-er than BF2 balanced into an HD800. That's not too much of an issue with the HD800, though, since part of its synergy with those cans seems to be its ability to grab those drivers by the balls and give the subsequent impression of "fixing" some of its FR issues. This is all with a BHA-1 that arrived to me already factory modded for gain reduction, and results in my still not being able to, nearly ever, go above 9 o'clock. Low gain mode, of course -- I don't think anyone every really uses the high gain, from what I've seen around the web.