2. home-theater
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Bryston SP1.7 Bypass or Digital In ????

I am looking to purchase the Bryston SP 1.7 pre-processor and was wondering a few thing about the 2 channel bypass-vs-using the digital in. As of now I am using the BP20 Pre. I guess my question would be how well does the processor work as a DAC when I send a digital signal into as apposed to an analog one. As of now I am using a Krell Studio as a DAC. It should be a upgrade to that but I plain to replace my current transport with either the new Krell showcase DVD to rid myself of having both a transport and a DVD player, or if that does not work maybe the 280CD. Is the DAC in the SP 1.7 going to be better then using the analog outs of those players.

How good is the DAC ???, will I be happy using it or should I look to a player or DAC and use the bypass ??? How much of a issue is it that the analog is RCA in only and no XLR ???

Thanks in advance,

Pete
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Showing 2 responses by maril555

maril555
619 posts
 
Distortion, could you please elaborate on "Analog with DSP (outboard DAC)" part of your post. I understand "Bypassed (outboard DAC)" part.
I'm using SP-1.7 in digital mode currently, since I have TacT before Bryston and did't want to introduce extra D/A conversion (Bryston's DAC sounds better to my ears than TacT's DAC).
While we at it: Is SP-1.7 multichannel path a "true" 6- channel analog preamp?, I mean for SACD/DVD-Audio playback.
maril555
619 posts
 
Thank you, Distortion. Actually, I've asked James this same question ("true analog" preamp), and at best, his answer wasn't explicitly clear, meaning, that I'm still wasn't sure, that there is a completely separate MCH preamp, analogous to BP-25-like analog 2-CH bypass. Well, I'm using it for MCH playback, even though was thinking lately about trying dedicated multichannel analog preamp, like McCormack MAP-1, McIntosh C-45, Bel Canto Pre-6 and separate HT processor, or just Dolby Digital/DTS processing of my player.
BTW, I'm very interested if anyone had a chance to compare Bryston SP-1.7 for SACD with the above mentioned analog preamps and if yes, was there an improvement, that could justify such a switch. Regards.
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