Bryston Defines New Product Category With BDP-1 High-Resolution Digital Music Player

Bryston Defines New Product Category With
BDP-1 High-Resolution Digital Music Player

Innovative design concept focuses on performance and ease of use

Peterborough, Ontario June 14th, 2010— Bryston LTD (www.bryston.com), builders of the world’s finest audio electronics has announced the introduction of the BDP-1 digital music player, a companion to the company's award-winning BDA-1 DAC (digital-to-analog converter). The Bryston BDP-1’s sole function is to give music aficionados the ability to enjoy their library of high-resolution digital music files (resolutions of up to 24-bit/192kHz are supported) residing on a USB storage device, which in turn is directly connected via standard USB cable or thumb drive to the BDP-1 digital music player. “The BDP-1’s feature set is unique and we have found that it is most easily defined by clarifying what it does not do,” stated Bryston’s James Tanner. “The Bryston BDP-1 does not contain an internal DAC, a hard-drive, a streamer, a CD player/ripper, noisy fans or switching power supplies. The BDP-1 connects to an external DAC for playback through AES-EBU or BNC digital outputs. Quite simply, the BDP-1 is an ultra high-performance digital music player when connected to an external drive and DAC,” said Tanner.

The face of the ultra-stable Linux-based BDP-1 is adorned with control buttons and a two-line display, making it a fully-functioning digital music player “right out of the box.” Optionally, the BDP-1 can be connected to a home network using a router and Ethernet connection solely to enhance operability via network-enabled devices such as a computer, Apple® iPhone™ or iPad™, which can then provide access to playlists, album artwork, etc. In this scenario, the network is only used to interface with your music library—Bryston’s design philosophy for the BDP-1 eliminates all of the challenges associated with streaming large high-resolution digital files over the home network.

"The BDP-1 is a technically sophisticated digital music player incorporating the finest solid-state electronics,” Tanner explained. “The BDP-1 has been designed to operate either all by itself or link up to your home network to be controlled by a variety of graphic interface devices,” he added. “The BDP-1’s graphic interface operates under 'open source' software protocols, ensuring long-term future proofing and compatibility with the widest possible range of user interface (UI) devices. We are also looking into developing our own web-based Music Player Daemon (MPD) client, which manipulates the database of digital files,” Tanner concluded.

Tech Talk:
· Out-of-the-box playability when connected to an external USB drive—no network required
· Supports 16 and 24 bit files with sample rates of: 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz, 88.2 KHz, 96 KHz, 176.4 KHz & 192 KHz.
· Linux operating system optimized to provide the highest quality audio performance
· Industrial quality motherboard uses only a small fraction of its computing power to optimize sonic performance
· Utilizes Bryston-modified top quality soundcard
· AES-EBU Balanced and BNC (spdif) output section for the highest possible performance
· Electronic isolation of audio components from computer components
· Galvanic isolation employed to prevent charge-carrying particles from migrating section to section

The MSRP of the Bryston BDP-1 is expected to be $2100 USD with a delivery date later in 2010. Warranty on the BDP-1 is five years parts and labor.

About Bryston: Bryston (www.bryston.com) first opened for business in 1962 as a manufacturer of blood analysis equipment, and was named (as an acronym) for its three founders, Tony Bauer, Stan Rybb, and John Stonborough. In 1968, NASA engineer John Russell, Sr. relocated himself and his family to Canada from the US and bought the company, where his son Chris set to work designing the first Bryston amplifier. The Pro 3 made its debut in 1973, and since that time, Bryston components have become legendary for their hand-assembled build quality, performance and reliability in both the pro audio and consumer audio market segments. Bryston amplifiers are utilized in some of the world’s most renowned recording studios and owned by many discerning music industry professionals. Bryston applies manufacturing techniques and materials in the everyday assembly of their electronic equipment that are more typically utilized by the military and aerospace industries. Bryston is now based in Peterborough, Ontario Canada, just northeast of Toronto, and sold through over 150 dealers in North America and 60 countries worldwide.