I have reviewed several Bryston components, including the Bryston BDP-1 Digital File Player, which to this day, is the best single digital source I have heard in my home system and at various audio trade shows. I have seen the $2,200 BDP-1 used in $200,000 systems. Scan the internet and you will find a good number of rave reviews, especially when the unit is paired with Bryston’s own BDA-1 DAC.Recently, a number of audiophile grade file players and streamers have been brought to market following Bryston’s lead. They are banking, as is Bryston, that many music lovers do not want to interface with a consumer grade computer while listening to music. Obviously, a computer is needed to rip and organize a music collection, but need not be in the listening room. The BDP-1 is in fact a computer, but one ...

Olive Media Inc. has gained quite a loyal, worldwide following for their user friendly, great sounding series of music servers they created from the point of view of non computer geeks and music lovers. In reviewing the wonderful Olive 04HD server, I confirmed for my self that the excellent touch screen interface, large storage capacity, networking capabilities, and upgradable architecture was not at the expense of authentic high end sound. Currently, there is fierce competition in the digital music field, with various systems, philosophies, and design goals. Competing camps are trying to convince the buying public that their vision is the path forward. Makers of the currently ubiquitous USB DAC claim that their products used with an ordinary home computer and high end playback software is the way to go. Designers of one box solutions like music servers claim their ...

Bryston’s first two forays into digital source components, the BCD-1 CD player and the BDA-1 DAC , have been smashing successes, garnering rave reviews for sound, build quality, and overall value. Those products brought to the table what all other Bryston products are known for. Namely, highly engineered, superbly built, reliable, musical sounding components. I can vouch for this as I have had the pleasure of reviewing the BCD-1, the BDA-1, as well as other Bryston products. Bryston has obviously kept tabs on the growing popularity of computer audio, and the declining popularity of CDs, and optical disc playback in general. The result is the BDP-1 digital file player. This new product has caused quite a stir, and raised many eyebrows for what it does, and for what it does not do. First, unlike the Marantz NA7004 network ...

Logitech has long been known as a maker of spiffy computer peripherals, communication devices, and entertainment products. The company decided they wanted to expand their market beyond computer speakers, mice, keyboards, webcams, and other items into high quality audio products. A few years ago they made a clever acquisition, buying up Slim Devices, a maker of networked, streaming audio players. Their best known product, the Squeezebox, allowed users to access music stored on hard drives attached to computers anywhere in the house, listen to internet radio, and set up multi room systems via Ethernet or WiFi.  I purchased a Squeezebox three years ago on whim, as I had just moved into a new house with freshly installed Cat5 jacks in every room.  I also was a serious live music collector, having downloaded and traded almost 2 TB of live classic ...

20 years ago source components could be divided into three categories: turntables, tape machines, and digital disc players. That was then, this is now. Today, a source component may have no moving parts and require no physical media to operate.  Two of these types include the music server with a built in ripping drive, and the network player with no internal hard drive. The network player allows you to stream files via Ethernet or WiFi from a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, a computer, or directly from a portable USB hard drive. Some of the well known, cost effective network players include the Logitech Squeezebox and the Sonos system, and they have been around for a while. But network players are going upscale, with offerings from established firms like Linn, Naim, Bryston, and startups like Auralati.  To make it all more ...