I bought my 4BST after having a 4NRB and I can't believe the sonic improvement the ST had over the NRB version,the highs are truly better more air and much sweeter and the mids seem smoother and more natural.As far as the bass I feel the NRB and the ST versions were very close,but overall it's a no brainer get an ST if you want Brystons best. I run a Sony X707es cd player directly into the 4BST feeding my JBL XPL 160's and the sound is superb,from the Who to Holst the system can sing.Of course I rate this remarkable amp 5 stars.And another bonus is the people at Bryston from Chris Russell to Jim Tanner they will help you with any problems you may encounter along the way.Good people make good products and Bryston does make good reliable products.

This might not sound right but 3Bst is a much better amp than the 4b. I compared them both and the 4b was less musical and CLIPPED out normal-high volumes. The 3b sounded just as powerful with a more musical sound to it( clarity). I dont know why this is but they were both hooked up to the same speaker. I also listened to the Aragon 8008BB which clearly killed the 4bst. The Aragon had much much more power and control over the music with a smoother sweeter high. The Aragon nuked the bryston in the bass area and sounded much more refined, with a greater soundstage and acurate mids ( some say a little laid back but I find that not always true on many cds that Ive heard). There is no comparison between the two. I for one am looking for a deal on a 3bst which I fell in love with on the spot. The 3bst and McCormack DNA 0.5 are the only amps in the reasonable price range that realy sound great!!
Aragon 8008BB
Acurus A250
Paradigm Studio 80
Paradigm cc450
Atlantic Tech. suround
Sony TAE9000ES
Sony XA7ES
Sunfire True Sub MKII
D.H lab cable

The Bryston 4B ST is a great amp,good power,good control,good price.Quite musical too,when mated with the right speakers.I give it 3/5.One post here says that the 3B ST and the DNA 0.5 are the ONLY amps that realy sound great!Oh please this is too much,I have the Celeste W4070SE(driving Dynaudio Contour 1.1 surround duty) and it is more musical.
Last thing Trance from NY,the Paradigm 80 are OK speakers,I had a pair and returned those,my Dynaudio Contour 3.3's are so much better its even unfair
to compare.My Dynes are Class B in Stereophile,my main power amp the Celeste
Moon W5 is class A in Stereophile heh heh.Oh yes back to the Bryston,3/5.

I have been in the market to buy a new amp over the past few months, and in the process have listened to a number of different amplifiers in my home system. While the Bryston was a bit more expensive than others I had auditioned, it was the only one which I felt was a clear cut above the others. I had tried out the top of the line two channel B&K, the top of the line Adcom 5802, some QuickSilver monoblock tube amplifiers, the Aragon 8008, and the Bryston 4B ST. I was upgrading from an older B&K ST140 which gave me ten years of trouble free service and decent sound, an amp I can unhesitatingly recommend for its price.
For associated equipment I have a pair of Paradigm Studio Reference 100's, a CAL Icon Mk II CD player, various pre-amps which I have packed up in their boxes in lue of a home-built passive line controller (although I will be auditioning the Adcom GFP 750 soon), and every once in a while I pull my turntable out and listened to records.

I was originally interested in a new amp once I upgraded my speakers. The B&K put a little too much grit into transparent speakers via the mostly CD source I listen too. The higher level B&K had the same overall sound qualities as the older one, but with a fuller bass and a little more air between the instruments. The Adcom 5802 sounded smoother than the top end B&K (which wuprised me very much), but seemed a little overdone in the midbass to me. Piano music seemed to suffer a bit through the Adcom, but overall I would recommend an audition. When I hooked up the Bryston, I was immediately impressed by its ability for low-end control without being biased too much in the bass region. I was worried from reading reviews that the Brystons transparent top end would make my tweeters squeel with CD's. Here is the big suprise, the top end sounded so much better than anything else I had tried that I did not want to unhook it from my system. Yes, the Bryston seems brighter than other amps, but that is only because the highs are so open sounding. No harshness came out of the CD's, but instead a very sweet high end which had me listening to CD's I formerly thought as unlistenable. The amp also has more power than I know what to do with, but I suppose it might come in handy some day when I move the system into a more cavernous room. The Aragon came closest to the sound of the Bryston, but it can be a bit glary on badly recorded CD's. Lovers of tube amps might find the Bryston's midrange a bit recessed, but with careful matching with the proper pre-amp, the Bryston will give a very coherent, musical sound with a nice soundstage in both width and depth. I highly recommend an audition of this amp if the CD glares are making you wince.

High value, five stars

"Not another 5 star review", you moan. Kind of. For $2500 US the Bryston 4B-ST is hard to beat (I'm not going to mention the 20-year unconditional warranty) in terms of sound and value. I have directly A/B'd the Bryston 4BST in a level matched comparison with: Bryston 3B-ST, Sunfire Cinema Grand, Aragon 8008BB, Classe 200, Simaudio Moon W-5. Associated equipment: Proceed CDP, Gershman Acoustics Avant-Garde RX-20 speakers, Kimber Silver Streak, Kimber 8TC (low), Kimber 4TC (high), Monster HPS-2000 line conditioner.
First off, much as I like the Bryston 3B-ST, I do not feel that it is as good an amplifier as the 4B -- I'm not sure why several people feel this way(admittedly I haven't used them as bridged monoblocks). It may be because a certain publication hasn't given them a rating...whatever - for a bit more money you get, A) more power, B) a better frequency response, risetime, step response...the works. I think that it's mostly due to the heavily beefed up power supply, the topology of the two are very similar (if not identical).

I had high hopes for the Cinema Grand (lots of good press), and I was ready to buy it. After auditioning it for a while I had to say that although it is much better than most of the mass market stuff, it is really out of it's league compared to well executed designs over $2000. It beat the pants off of the Adcom amp in the store (dunno which model), but every other amp in this comparison sounded more musical. I did not try any of them in an HT setting though, so that may be it.

The sleeper (for me, anyways) was the Aragon 8008BB...I had heard the Acurus A200 a while back and wasn't that impressed (the Cinema Grand sounded better). The 8008BB is a different beast altogether, and I was impressed by both the musicality and the way the signal remained clean both at low levels (whereas noise should dominate) and at high levels (where distortion should). My final choice was between this and the Bryston.

The Classe 200 was a bit of a paradox - I liked the way it sounded but it was obviously coloured. Some people would call this musicality, and I can appreciate that. But intellectually, I don't like amps that add extra things to the signal. Despite the colouration, the amp was still reasonably clean - although I suspect that the frequency response would show some ringing around the transients. Didn't lock onto the woofer of the Avant Gardes like the others.

The Moon W5 was great. I really, really liked this amp. If I can scrape up another five grand, I'll get one in a year. While not as powerful (170WPC) as the rest, it sounded huge. Definitely the best amp in the lineup, and at twice the price it better be - preferred this to a Krell FPB-200 that I heard. If you're looking in the 5K range, definitely audition this.

And now back to the original subject of the review: the 4B-ST. It really is great...I think that most of the complaints about HF brightness should be tempered with the fact that the amp doesn't do anything to the signal. It is definitely the quietest amp of the lot, and the least coloured - to me this implies transparency. It does seem to present a more forward presentation than the 8008BB, but not in an unpleasant way. Control at low frequencies was outstanding, the mids were extremely good, and the higher freqs were very good. I preferred the Moon W5 for mids and highs, and the Classe for highs. Between the Aragon and the Bryston...really you can't go wrong with either, they are both supremely well-executed. The Bryston has slightly better LF response, the Aragon slightly better HF. Wattage wise, they're both overspecified and have plenty of power. In my setup the Bryston sounded a little bit better, and as an engineer, I was in awe of the design - conservative but functionally perfect.

To wrap up an already long review:
Sound (overall) (HF) (Mid) (LF)
Moon 5 5 5 5
CA200 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.25
*4BST 4.5 4 4.5 5
8008BB 4.5 4.25 4.5 4.75
3BST 4.5 4 4.5 4.75
Cinema 4 4 4.25 4.25
Personal Bias: HF(2.5/10), Mid (3.5/10), LF (4/10)

Appearance (Hey, it matters!)
Moon 5 (Yum)
CA200 5 (this is with their all new Omega inspired look...very, very nice)
8008BB 3.75 (Interesting)
Bryston 3.5 (Clean looking, but not exactly attractive)
Cinema 3 (Yech...so tacky)

Value
Moon 5 (Yeah, it's kinda expensive, but it outclasses a lot of esoterics)
4BST 5 (bang for the buck)
3BST 5 (If you don't need the wattage then just buy it...period)
8008BB 5 (Again, a well executed design that gets 95% of the way there)
CA200 4 (Expensive for what you get, colouration isn't my bag)
Cinema 3.75 (Much above the norm, but outclassed by the 2K+ crowd)

An excellent amplifier.
Unfortunately, I've found it takes at least 5 months to break in. Before that it has a somewhat "white" or mechanical sounding mid treble range. I used some StraightWire Symphony II interconnects to ameliorate this problem(prompted by a dealer). They smoothed the roughness, but also rendered a somewhat "processed", closed in and compressed sound. Still the combination was musical and listenable if not the greatest in clarity or bass solidity.

I am now using these with SilverAudio Silver Bullet 4.0's and I am satisfied.

Great dynamic range and bass capability using PSB strat gold i's, HT should be outstanding. Clarity of midrange. Vocals and violins are now quite decent. Before break-in this was the problem area with the violins on some classical recordings sounding mechanical and some vocals a bit metallic. To be honest, the problem only showed up on older recordings and masterings on CD. These are the problem recordings not the average new digital recordings.

My thinking as of today is that to get a better sound out of my system I would go for an improved CD player or turntable. I am not looking to upgrade this amp. I am using a Denon 1650 AR CDP and a Bryston B60 as a preamp.

I would give this a 4.5 due to sound as well as Bryston's commitment to customer service and 20 yr. warranty. Because I can't do that I will give it a five. Too many of the previous reviewers have shortchanged this amp!

An excellent amplifier across the board. Bass is outstanding: well-damped, well-extended, fast. The amp sounds even better when paired with the BP-25. Associated equipment: BP-25 preamp, Mirage OM-6 speakers, Straightwire MaestroII balanced interconnects, Sony X777ES Transport, Classe DAC-1, Monster 2.4s Biwire spkr cable.

In looking to replace my Classe CA-100 with a more powerful amp, I auditioned the Bryston 4b_st. I am using a CJ-PV10 and M-L Aerius I speakers. After all of the great reviews about this amp, I am a bit dissappointed after hearing it. The dealer didn't carry Classe (as I am going to look at the CA-201 vs. it), but I did hear it versus the McIntosh MA-162. The Bryston definitely had a tighter bass and more pronounced mid-range than the Mac, however the vocals sounded more muffled. The area which killed my ears was in the high end. The Bryston was so harsh on the M-Ls that I was cringing, even when softened by the PV-10. I haven't counted the 4B out yet, nor the Mac, but I think that I will probably get another (more powerful) Classe as it has been a great match with the M-L's. Any suggestions?

Power,value,good sound,flexibility,company dedication to customers.

The unit I have is a 4B NRB. This is the unit that preceeded the ST version. If you own one of these and are not happy with the upper register sound quality try the following. 1] DO NOT play your loudspeakers with their grills removed. This will help amps that have a dull high end, but the Bryston is flat, flat, flat to the top. They do not need the extra help. 2] I am a recording engineer and have used Bryston amps for some time. They have the professional pedigree of dual connector balanced line inputs. This means they will accept the standard XLR connector and a 1/4 inch mono phone plug. Go to Radio Shack and pick up a RCA to Phone connector and put them on your preamp interconnects and input the 4B through the balanced inputs. Make sure you flip the small switch toward the balanced connectors. You will lose about 1 db or so in gain but the sound will smoothen out considerably. I find that the balanced input circuts are superior to the RCA inputs. 3] Don't place the 4B on a carpeted floor. The unit sounds better when put on a solid amp platform and circulating air keeps it as cool as possible. 4] Make sure you have quality AC. No timers, wall switches, digital clocks, etc. on the same circuit. Make sure the 4b sees a solid 120 volts. If in doubt check it with a VOM. It also works better without filtering units. Bryston provides all you will need in the unit itself. Enjoy an oldie but a goodie.

Canadian Eh? Who else gives a twenty year warranty. NOOOBODY. It can be up and running in 5 minutes, they have already done the burn in period for you. Looks tough!! Unmatched customer service. Only sold at quality audio dealers.

Zero

This amp is magic, tight controlled bottom end, tranparent vocals, great staging and depth of soundstage, my speakers finally disappear and it's all about the music. (2001 Model)

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