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Move on from my Bryston BDA-1?

Given the advancement in DAC technology would I achieve a noticeable (started to say significant) improvement in audible performance by upgrading from my current (but early generation) Bryston BDA-1? I am hesitate on the assumption that the internals of the Bryston (e.g., power supplies, output stage) are still hi-grade but understand the CS-4398 chips have been surpassed. I should mention in the system I stream from a Bluesound Node 2i (and in another use an identical streamer with a Topping D90 DAC). 
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Showing 2 responses by nekoaudio

nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
489 posts
 
I think you may easily find a DAC that provides a significant improvement to the sound quality, depending on what it is you listen to and prioritize when listening to music. The BDA-3 would be a big improvement over the BDA-1, in my personal opinion. But there are lots of other DACs out there that you may prefer.
nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
489 posts
 
Would love to have the BDA-3 but $3,800 is well out of my budget.
@dsands In that case I second the RME ADI-2 DAC FS recommendation above, as a much less expensive option that also uses the AKM chipset. The UI can be a bit daunting and lead to accidental misconfiguration, but once set up properly you can choose to never touch the UI again.

If you are looking for something that (I feel) utilizes the CS4398 exceptionally well, then I can suggest the Prism Sound Callia. While there have certainly been major improvements in DAC architecture over the years, there have also been improvements in people optimizing and maximizing the use of older DAC chipsets.
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