JCsix

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from just auditioned it

Summary:
Hi, I was just reading reviews on here and thought I would post one - and somewhat in response to a poor review of this pre-amp that I read earlier. I currently use a Rega Cursa pre-amp in my system driving a Bryston 4b st and a pair of Acoustic Energy AE2 reference. Overall I was happy enough with my setup but started having problems with the Rega pre-amp in terms of reliability and I had also been told that there were much better preamps out there. therefore I decided to audition a Bryston BP-20 - a dealer demo (somewhat broken in) which I had for a few weeks. I noticed a signficant change in my system while I had it - much more transparent, detailed and punchier and very silent!! felt like I was in a vacuum listening to the music. I would say the Rega may have sounded a bit warmer but lacked much of the characteristic and accuracy that the Bryston preamp gave me. Undoubtedly when I have money I will upgrade and probably get the BP-20 or 25 although I may try other pre-amps out in case. In terms of giving this a bad review... I am glad to hear those reviews were honest vs bashing. But I suspect surrounding equipment may have been part of the deception. Bryston gear is very detailed and revealing - I know their amps are almost to a fault when surrounded with a piece of gear that may not be up to par or not well matched to it. And the pre-amp gave me the same impression - very reveiling - so if you didn`t like it - you may want to try something else around it to see what it does... of course we all like a type of sound and perhaps this isn`t for some. In my view it is a great value for the price... and my local dealer who sells an incredibly wide variety of high end equipment considers this the best value pre amp he has available. but he also warns about surrounding equipment... hope this helps!!

Strengths:
neutral, transparent, detailed, good dynamics, incredibly quiet

Weaknesses:
not as warm as Tubes of course - if warmth is what you seek.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I've owned my Bryston BP-20 for almost two years at this point. It was purchased more out of frustration than anything else. Up until that time, I was using an Audible Illusions L-1 for a little over a year, when it began to fail. The sound of the L-1 was not bad, in fact it was very neutral. It sounded more like a solid state preamp than a tubed preamp. Planning on adding LP playback to my system, I swapped the L-1 for the Audible Illusions 3A - read some incredible reviews about this preamp and auditioned it before ultimately deciding to give it a go. As the line stage of the L-1 was said to be used in the 3A, the character of the music was essentially identical. Very neutral, transparent and clinical across the spectrum - definitely not harking back to tubed designs of days gone by. The L-1 and 3A were not meaty and fleshy in the way the Audible 2-D or Conrad Johnson PV-2 or PV-5 were. If you ever get a chance to hear one of these babies (Audible 2-d) jump on it! Very ballsy preamp indeed. Romantic,without a doubt but, it is very musical and seductive and the weight of the music rendered through this preamp is outstanding. Not too long after installing the 3A into my system, did it also begin to fail (blown resistor - had to go back to the factory for 8 weeks). I had had enough of Art and Audible Illusions at that point. I took the 3A back to my dealer and told him I needed a preamp that was "plug and play". I have been a tubed preamp guy for most of my audio journey, so when he suggested I check out the Bryston solid state preamp, my nautral reaction was "oooh nooo". Much to my surprise however, the character of this preamp was extremely relaxed, but in a way that kept me very involved with the music. Unbelievable midrange, with tremendous inner detail. Check out track 7 on Lyle Lovett's Joshua Judges Ruth and listen to Lyle breathing queues to the back-up singers before the Chorus of "hallelujh". Very subtle detail that I had never heard before inserting the BP-20 was into the chain. Startling detail in some cases and delivered through Vandy 2ces - not the last word in transparency and resolution. Like others have already commented, this is one of the quietest, if not the quietest preamp I've ever had in my system. There is a weight and punch to the music that I don't remember getting with the L-1 or 3A. Never etched, bright or fatiguing, unless however, the recording is etched, bright or fatiguing. A wonderful preamp that gets the music right and solidly built to boot. These guys don't leave out any details - separate power supply, balanced ins/outs, polarity switch, you name it. I guess the best indication of how good a product is is whether or not you would buy it again. And to that I answer, most assuredly so. Highly recommended!

Strengths:
Extremely relaxed and musical preamp - very unsolid state like. Transparent and neutral with good extension at the frequency extremes. Incedible inner detail and resolution that pulls you into the music. Very good mid range performance. Betters both the Audible L-1 and 3A in my opinion. Don't be fooled by the new wave of untubed sounding tubed preamps. This puppy beats them at thier own game.

Weaknesses:
Would add a smidge more gain only if it didn't change the character of the presentaion.

Similar Products Used:
Audible L-1, Audible 3A, Audible 2-d, Melos SHA-1 (truly lightweight sounding line stage)

Summary:
Love this pre-amp. Great improvement when replaced my Caztech SPA-1 tube preamp with the BP-20. Perfect match with my Bryston 4BST power amp. Great resolution, low noise, good sound stage and very musical with my ARCAM 7SE CD player. My next upgrade would be a DAC. I think the Bryston will stay in my system for a long while.

At one point, I was debating whether I should get the Musical Fidelity A3cr pre-amp. Love that pair of big toroidal transformers and the chokes. But finally decided on the BP-20. Never regretted it. It fits my principle of "Biggest bang for the buck".

Strengths:
Sturdy build, balanced in and out, low noise, 20 year warranty and most of all, great sound.

Weaknesses:
Nil

Similar Products Used:
Caztech SPA-1; NAD 114

Summary:
I was bitterly disapointed with this preamp. Having read the reviews here, and being in need of a preamp, i decided to give this a whirl.

I had this unit for a 15 day demo. Hooked it up to my Odyssey Stratos amp and my Wadia 861. Was expecting transparent and wide soundstage. All i got was wrinkled tiny sound, as if it the music had been thrown into a small box and just couldnt get out. The sound was very 2D, with slow dynamics and a tendancy to be very lazy with the bass. My audience speakers just weren't stretched to their limit. I removed the Bryston just to be sure, and the Wadia direct into the Odyssey absolutely blew it away.

Alltogether a very bad experience. Dont know why i got this when there are so many positive reviews, but i just have to relate the experience the way it happened.

Equipment used :

Odyssey Stratos
TMC yellow interconnects
Fadel XLR 15 C
Wadia 861
Audience Speakers

Strengths:
Size, build quality and precision of the sound

Weaknesses:
Soundstage, sound delivery and musicality

Similar Products Used:
Krell, Mark levinson, nOrh

Price Paid:  $700.00

Summary:
Extremely neutral and quiet hence as detailed as the recording. Better image depth than the SFL-1. Open high end. Warm mid-range. (I noticed no loss of warmth in leaving the tube hybrid format of the SFL-1 behind.) Bass is excellent. At first, I thought it might be a bit bright, but this varies with recordings, thus the shoe belongs on the other foot. Also, in switching my CD player from the Arcam Alpha 7se to the Alpha 9, I realized the brightness was also due to the 7se and not the BP-20. Complements the full range of my musical interests: classical, jazz, classic rock, indie rock, alt, country, etc. And it does equally well with smaller groups/ensembles and larger, more driving performances. In short, I'm extremely pleased. And with Bryston's transferable warranty, one has some security when buying a used unit.

Strengths:
Deathly quiet, detail, image depth, balanced and RCA inputs/output, Bryston warranty.

Weaknesses:
None.

Similar Products Used:
Sonic Frontiers SFl-1